IDictotfa Dfstot^ of the
Counties of lEnglanb
EDITED BY WILLIAM PAGE, F.S.A.
A HISTORY OF
LANCASHIRE
VOLUME IV
THE
VICTORIA HISTORY
OF THE COUNTIES
OF ENGLAND
LANCASHIRE
LONDON
CONSTABLE AND COMPANY LIMITED
This History is issued to Subscribers only
By Constable &• Company Limited
end printed by Eyre & Spottiswoode Limited
H.M. Printers of London
INSCRIBED
TO THE MEMORY OF
HER LATE MAJESTY
QUEEN VICTORIA
WHO GRACIOUSLY GAVE
THE TITLE TO AND
ACCEPTED THE
DEDICATION OF
THIS HISTORY
THE
VICTORIA HISTORY
OF THE COUNTY OF
LANCASTER
EDITED BY
WILLIAM FARRER, D.Lrrr., AND J. BROWNBILL, M.A.
VOLUME FOUR
LONDON
CONSTABLE AND COMPANY LIMITED
670
L2VG
CONTENTS OF VOLUME FOUR
Dedication .....
Contents .....
Index of Parishes, Townships, and Manors
List of Illustrations ....
Editorial Note ....
Topography .....
West Derby Hundred (cont.)-
Liverpool .
Wigan . .
Winwick .
Salford Hundred-
Introduction
Manchester
Ashton-under-Lyne
Eccles
PAGE
. . . ... . . . v
ix
.;•'.- . . . . . . . xi
, . . . . . . . . . xiii
. . . . . . xv
Architectural descriptions by C. R. PEERS, M.A.,
F.S.A., and F. H. CHEETHAM. Heraldic draw-
ings and blazon by the Rev. E. E. DORLING,
M.A., F.S.A.
Historical description by Professor RAMSAY MUIR,
M.A .1
Historical description by W. FARRER, D.Litt., and
J. BROWNBILL, M.A. . . . . -57
«• *• «• 122
Historical descriptions by W. FARRER, D.Litt., and
J. BROWNBILL, M.A. . . . . .171
338
352
IX
INDEX OF PARISHES, TOWNSHIPS, AND MANORS
In the following list (m) indicates manor, (p) parish, and (t) township
Abram (Wigan), (t) 1 1 1 , (m) 1 1 1
Agecroft Hall (Eccles), 397, 400
Alport (Manchester), 237
Ancoats (Manchester), 237
Arbury (Winwick), (t) 166, (m) 168
Ardwick (Manchester), (t) 279, (m) 280
Ashton-in-Makerfield (Winwick), (t) 142, (m) 142
Ashton-under-Lyne, (p) 338, (m) 340
Aspull (Wigan), (t) 118, (m) 118
Bamfurlong (Wigan), 113
Barlow (Manchester), 298
Barton (Eccles), (t) 363, (m) 364
Bentcliffe (Eccles), 369
Beswick (Manchester), (t) 281, (m) 281
Bickershaw (Wigan), 114
Billinge Chapel End (Wigan), 83
Billinge Higher End (Wigan), 83
Birch (Manchester), 305
Birchley (Wigan), 85
Bispham Hall in Billinge (Wigan), 83, 85
Blackley (Manchester), (t) 255, (m) 255
Bolton, Little (Eccles), 395
Booth Hall in Blackley (Manchester), 256
Booths (Eccles), 382
Boysnope (Eccles), 370
Bradford (Manchester), (t) 274, (m) 275
Brindlache (Eccles), 394
Bromyhurst (Eccles), 373
Broughton (Manchester), (t) 217, (m) 217
Burnage (Manchester), (t) 310, (m) 310
Byrom (Winwick), 151
Cadishead (Eccles), 371
Cayley (Winwick), 140
Cheetham (Manchester), (t) 259, (m) 259
Chorlton-upon-Medlock (Manchester), (t) 251,
(m) 252
Chorlton-with-Hardy (Manchester), (t) 297,
(m) 298
Clayden (Manchester), 240
Clayton (Manchester), 282
Clifton (Eccles), (t) 404, (m) 404
Collyhurst (Manchester), 241
Croft (Winwick), (t) 168, (m) 168
Crumpsall (Manchester), (t) 262, (m) 262
Culcheth (Manchester), 271
Culcheth (Winwick), (t) 156, (m) 156
Dalton (Wigan), (t) 97, (m) 97
Davyhulme (Eccles), 372
Den ton (Manchester), (t) 311, (m) 311
Didsbury (Manchester), (t) 293, (m) 293
Droylesden (Manchester), (t) 282, (m) 282
Dumplington (Eccles), 374
Earlestown (Winwick), 132
Eccles, 352
Ellenbrook (Eccles), 391
Failsworth (Manchester), (t) 273, (m) 273
Garrett (Manchester), 240
Gidlow Hall (Wigan), 120
Golborne (Winwick), (t) 148, (m) 148
Gorton (Manchester), (t) 275, (m) 276
Gotherswick (Manchester), 270
Greenlow (Manchester), 254, 277
Grindlow. See Greenlow.
Haigh (Wigan), (t) 1 1 5, (m) 115
Hardy. See Chorlton
Harpurhey (Manchester), (t) 270, (m) 270
Haughton (Manchester), 322
Hawkley (Wigan), 81
Haydock (Winwick), (t) 137, (m) 137
Heaton Norris (Manchester), (t) 323, (m) 324
Hey (Winwick), 134
Hindley (Wigan), (t) 106, (m) 106
Hindley Hall in Aspull (Wigan), 120
Hindley Hall in Pemberton (Wigan), 80
XI
INDEX OF PARISHES, TOWNSHIPS, AND MANORS
Holcroft (Winwick), 160
Holt (Manchester), 308
Hope (Eccles), 394
Hough End Hall (Manchester), 291
Hough Hall (Manchester), 268
Houghton (Winwick), (t) 166, (m) 166
Houghton, Little (Eccles), 389
Houghton Peel (Winwick), 167
Hulme (Manchester), (t) 335, (m) 335
Hulme Hall (Reddish), 328
Hurst (Winwick), 163
Hyde Hall in Denton (Manchester), 3 1 6
Ince (Wigan), (t) 101, (m) 102
Irlam (Eccles), 371
Kempnough (Eccles), 388
Kenyon (Winwick), (t) 154, (m) 154
Kersal (Manchester), 219
Kingnull (Winwick), 163
Kirklees (Wigan), 12 1
Kirkmanshulme (Manchester), 271
Levenshulme (Manchester), (t) 309, (m) 309
Lightbowne Hall (Manchester), 265
Lightshaw (Winwick), 149
Litchford Hall (Manchester), 259
Liverpool, (p) i, (m) 2
Lowe (Wigan), 108
Lowton (Winwick), (t) 150, (m) 151
Manchester, (p) 174, (t) 222, (m) 230
Markland (Wigan), 82
Middleton (Winwick), (t) 166, (m) 166
Monks' Hall (Eccles), 368
Monsall (Manchester), 272
Monton (Eccles), 369
Mossley (Ashley- under-Lyne), 347
Moss Side (Manchester), 302
Moston (Manchester), (t) 264, (m) 267
Newchurch (Winwick), 164
Newham (Eccles), 370
Newton (Manchester), (t) 271, (m) 271
Newton-in-Makerfield (Winwick), (t) 1 32, (m) 1 33
Norley (Wigan), 79
Nuthurst (Manchester), 265
Occleshaw (Wigan), 1 1 3
Openshaw (Manchester), (t) 287, (m) 287
Ordsall (Manchester), 210
Orrell (Wigan), (t) 89, (m) 89
Peasfurlong (Winwick), 159
Pemberton (Wigan), (t) 78, (m) 79
Pendlebury (Eccles), (t) 397, (m) 397
Pendleton (Eccles), (t) 392, (m) 393
Platt (Manchester), 303
Reddish (Manchester), (t) 326, (m) 326
Risley (Winwick), 161
Rusholme (Manchester), (t) 303, (m) 303
Salford (Manchester), (t) 204, (m) 205
Shoresworth (Eccles), 397, 403
Slade (Manchester), 306
Smedley (Manchester), 261
Southworth (Winwick), (t) 168, (m) 168
Stalybridge (Ashton-under-Lyne), 347
Strangeways (Manchester), 260
Stretfbrd (Manchester), (t) 329, (m) 330
Swinton (Eccles), 389
Tetlow (Manchester), 218
Trafford (Manchester), 330
Tunstead (Wigan), 8 1
Upholland (Wigan), (t) 91, (m) 92
Walkden (Eccles), 390
Wardley (Eccles), 384
Weaste (Eccles), 396
Whittleswick (Eccles), 374
Wigan, (P) 57, (t) 68, (m) 70.
Winstanley (Wigan), (m) 83, (t) 87
Winton (Eccles), 370
Winwick, (p) 122, (t) 140, (m) 141
Withington (Manchester), (t) 288, (m) 288
Worsley (Eccles), (t) 376, (m) 376
Worsley Mesnes (Wigan), 80
Xll
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Old Dock and Custom House, Liverpool, 1721 ....
Liverpool : Plan, 1765 ........
„ Old Haymarket, 1850
„ Old Tithe Barn \
„ St. John's Lane, 1865 )
„ Lord Street, about 1798 .
„ in 1680 .........
„ North Shore Mill
„ Shaw's Brow j
„ St. Nicholas's Church /
„ St. Peter's Church . . . .
„ Old Bluecoat School j
„ Goree Buildings, 1828)
Wigan Church from the North-west, showing Towerl
Upholland Priory Church looking East /
Billinge : Bispham Hall \
Abram : Bamfurlong Hall J
Upholland Church : Plan .
Dalton : Scotts Fold, Douglas Valley •»
„ Stane House, Douglas Valley/
Winwick Church from the South \
,, „ North Arcade of Nave)
Newton in Makerfield : Newton-le-Willows Hall "i
„ „ Village Street looking towards Church/
Manchester and Salford : Plan, about 1650 .
,, » „ Map, 1740 .
» » Plan, 1772 i
Salford : Bull's Head Inn, Greengate j
Manchester : General View from Mount Pleasant ....
„ Cathedral, from the South-east .....
„ „ Plan .
„ „ The Quire ......
„ „ Stalls in the Quire . . .
„ „ The Nave, showing Screen and Organ .
„ „ View across the Nave from the South-west .
Salford : Ordsall Hall : General View from the North-east, 1875 .
„ „ „ Bay Window of the Hall, &c., 1875
„ „ „ North Face of the Hall after removal of Plaster
„ „ „ Window of the 'Star Chamber,' c. 1875 .
„ „ „ Plan in 1 849 .
„ „ „ Plan . . .
Broughton : Kersal Cell : The South Front
„ Hall : The West Front . . . . . .
Manchester : The Market Place, about 1825 |
„ Chetham's Hospital, 1797 J
„ „ „ Plan . . .'* .
„ „ „ The Cloister \
The Great Hall J
xiii
PAGE
. frontispiece
full-page plate, facing 2
>» » » 4
» » » 14
» „ ,. 22
., ,, „ 26
34
44
»> » >» 4^
» » >» 54
» » >» 5°
>» » » °4
»> »> « 9^
98
» >» M 124
174
178
180
coloured plait, facing
fall-page plate, facing
184
186
188
190
190
192
194
2IO
2IO
212
212
214
2I4
22O
22O
224
"4
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Manchester : Chetham's Hospital, Corner of Reading Room | ^ _ fall-page plate, facing 226
The Screens
M „ The Gatehouse
Poet's Corner
The Seven Stars Inn .
St. Ann's Church • 247
Moston : Hough Hall, Back View . .269
Droylsden : Clayton Hall, from the South-west . • .284
Plan • • • • • • • • .286
Withington : Hough End Hall : South-west Front . J full-page plate, facing 292
„ „ „ from the South-east .
Didsbury Church : Plan . 294
Chorlton-with-Hardy : Barlow Hall . .... ... 300
Rusholme : Platt Hall . ... . 3°5
Slade Hall, East Front . • • 3°7
Denton Hall from the North-west . . ....... 3 1 3
„ „ Plan . . .314
„ Hyde Hall, Entrance Front . - 3 » 7
„ „ „ South Front .... • .318
St. Laurence's Church • 32°
Hulme Hall: the Courtyard in 1843 . . . • full-page plate, facing 338
Ashton-under-Lyne : Old Hall . -343
„ Parish Church : Glass in South-west Window \
of South Aisle . .... , - . ,
> full-page plate, facing 346
./•^l • HJT* 1 II XTT* J f ~ • ^ * " ^ '•
„ „ „ Glass m Middle Window of J
South Aisle .
„ „ „ Glass in East Window of South Aisle „ „ „ 348
„ „ „ „ Glass in West Window of North Aisle „ „ „ 350
Eccles Church : Plan ... -354
„ „ South View ..... . . fall-page plate, facing 356
Barton : Monk's Hall 368
Worsley : Wardley Hall : The Gateway 385
„ Plan . .... 386
„ „ „ The South Front full-page plate, facing 386
„ „ „ Courtyard from South-east . . . . . . . .387
„ „ ,, from the South-west t
Pendlebury: Agecroft Hall, North-east Angle of Courtyard, c. 1875 J ftt 'W P ate> factnZ 3**
Worsley : Kempnough Hall . . . . . . . . . . . .389
Pendlebury : Agecroft Hall from the South-east ..... fall-page plate, facing 400
„ „ „ ............ 401
,t „ P^n . .... -403
LIST OF MAPS ' ,
Index Map to the Parish of Wigan . . . . . . . . . . -57
» » Winwick , . 123
„ Hundred of Salford . . . . . . . . ... 172
„ „ Parish of Manchester . . . . . . . . , -175
.> <. „ Ashton-under-Lyne . . . . . . . . -339
„ „ Parishes of Eccles and Flixton . 353
EDITORIAL NOTE
THE Editors are desirous of expressing their thanks to Mr. C. W. Sutton,
M.A., Mr. Ernest Axon, and Mr. H. T. Crofton, for their assistance
with regard to the history of Manchester and in many other ways ; and
in addition to those whose help has been acknowledged in previous
volumes they desire to record their obligations to the following : The
Earl of Wilton, the Earl of Ellesmere, Sir Humphrey de Trafford, bart.,
Mr. T. H. Davies-Colley, Mr. H. T. Folkard, F.S.A., Mr. S. Mills,
Mr. J. J. Phelps, and the Town Clerks and Librarians of Eccles and
Salford.
For the use of plans and for information regarding the architecture
of the county, the Editors are indebted to the late Mr. Alfred Darbyshire,
F.S.A., Mr. John Douglas, Mr. Harold Gibbons, Mr. A. Corbett and
the Manchester Society of Architects, Mr. Frank Oakley, Mr. George
Pearson, Mr. R. Basnett Preston, and Mr. Henry Taylor, F.S.A.
For the use of photographs for illustrations the Editors desire to
express their obligations to Mr. Fletcher Moss, J.P., and Mr. James Watts
for permission to reproduce those of Chetham's Hospital in Mr. Moss's
' Pilgrimages to Old Homes,' to Mr. A. E. H. Blackburn, and also to the
Editor of the Manchester City News for the block of Platt Hall.
Owing to unforeseen circumstances the publication of this volume
has been delayed, and although an attempt has been made to bring
the information up to the date of finally going to press, it has been
impossible to do so in every instance.
It should be noted that the class of documents at the British Museum
here cited as c Norris Deeds ' has been re-named ' Aston Hall Charters.'
The Towneley Manuscripts denominated G G and R R are in the British
Museum ; C C is in the Chetham Library.
XV
A HISTORY OF
LANCASHIRE
TOPOGRAPHY
THE HUNDRED OF WEST DERBY
(Continuation}
LIVERPOOL
Liuerpul (1207) ; Leuerepul (1229) ; Liuerpol
(1266) ; Lyuerpole (1346) ; Leuerpoll (1393) ;
Lytherpole (1445); Letherpole (1545); Litherpoole
otherwise Liverpoole (1752). The form in th is found
mainly in the I5th and i6th centuries.
The city of Liverpool extends for 6 miles along the
eastern margin of the Mersey estuary, covering the
western and part of the eastern slope of a ridge which
runs from north to south, roughly parallel with the
river, and varying in height from looft. to 200 ft.
In the southern part of the city this ridge rises by
gradual stages from the water's edge ; in the north-
ern part it is more abrupt, and stands back at some
distance from the river, leaving a broad margin of
comparatively flat ground. The modern city (1906)
includes not only the ancient township of Liverpool,
but also the townships of Kirkdale, Walton, part of
Fazakerley, Everton, West Derby, Wavertree, the
Toxteths and Garston, as well as Smeddon or Smith-
down, the Esmedun of Domesday. These areas have
been added by successive enlargements in 1835, 1894,
and 1902. The continuous house-covered or urban
area economically dependent upon Liverpool includes
also the townships of Bootle, Litherland, and Great
Crosby. The history of these townships is separately
treated elsewhere in this work, and the original town-
ship of Liverpool is all that has to be considered
here.
There are few cities whose modern development
has more profoundly modified the original topo-
graphical features of its site. The water-line has been
pushed out for a considerable distance by the erection
of a continuous line of 6 miles of docks. The first
of these docks, opened in I7I5,1 was made out of
the mouth of a tidal creek re-entering from the
estuary, the upper reaches of which were at the
same time filled in. This creek, known as the Pool,
curved inland in a north-easterly direction along
the line of the modern Paradise Street, Whitechapel,
and the Old Haymarket for a distance of nearly
half a mile.* It was fed by two streamlets, one
coming from Everton at the northern end of the
ridge, while the other ran a more rapid course from
a marshy expanse, called the Mosslake, which lay half-
way up the slope to the south-east, between the
modern Hope Street and Crown Street.* The latter
stream fed the chief water-mill of mediaeval Liver-
pool. At the inner or north-eastern end of the Pool
there was a stretch of wet ground known as the
Moor Green ; the path which led to it from the
village (the modern Tithebarn Street) was known as
Moor Street until the 1 6th century. This ' moor '
may have given its name to the great Liverpool family
of Moore, More, or de la More. Between the Pool
and the Mersey a small peninsula was thus inclosed,
roughly triangular in shape, with its base to the north
and its apex overlooking the mouth of the Pool. The
peninsula sloped gently from each side and from the
level ground on the north, reaching its highest point,
about 50 ft. above sea level, near the apex of the tri-
angle, at the top of the modern Lord Street. This
point was the obvious site for the erection of the
castle ; while the whole peninsula formed a natural
fortress, easily defensible except on the north until
the age of artillery, when it was commanded from the
ridge behind. The Pool divided into nearly equal
halves the total area of the township, which amounted
to 1,858 acres, and almost exactly corresponded to the
modern parish.
Until the middle of the I7th century all the
houses and all the cultivated lands lay to the north of
the Pool and of the stream which ran into it from the
Mosslake, while the southern half of the township as
for as the wall of Toxteth Park (marked by the
modern Parliament Street) lay waste. It appears that
the limits of the Liverpool common were not pre-
cisely determined on the south-east ; for in 1617 the
copyholders of West Derby laid claim to a part of it,4
apparently the Mosslake, which was valuable for tur-
bary. The Mosslake in the 1 5th century seems to
have been known as the West Derby fen.
From the earliest date all the streets of the
borough were clustered in the form of a double cross on
the gently rising ground within the small peninsula:
Juggler Street or High Street across the modern Ex-
change Flags forming the centre from which Castle
Street struck off to the south, Oldhall Street to the
north, Water Street or Boncke Street and Chapel
1 See below. a See map.
8 The evidence for these and other topo-
4
graphical details is to be found mainly
in the numerous local deeds of land-trans-
fer preserved by the Moore and Crone
families. 4 See below.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Street to the west, and Dale Street and Moor Street to
the east. All these streets are known to have existed
in the i-j-th century,* and no others were added until
the I yth.
The geography of the fields of early Liverpool forms
a very obscure and difficult subject. The chief authori-
ties for them are the numerous deeds of transfer of
lands from the I3th century onwards, which were
preserved in the muniments of the Moore and Crosse
families ; but it has not yet been possible to construct
a detailed map of the mediaeval field system. Many
field-names are given in the deeds, the chief being the
Old Fields (Great and Little), the Heathy Lands
(Nether and Over), the Brecks, the Dalefield, the
Wallfield, the Milnefield, the Sheriffacres, the Castle
field, the Whiteacres, the Wetearth.6 Some of these
doubtless represent approvements from the waste ; but
only one of these approvements can be definitely
dated. This was the Salthouse Moor, of which
45 acres were inclosed between 1296 and 1323,*
and 19 more between 1327 and I346.8 The Salt-
house Moor probably lay at the north-west of the
township by the Mersey shore, but it is not possible
to be certain.9
Next to nothing is known of L1VER-
MJNOR POOL before the creation of the borough
in 1207. In Domesday it is almost cer-
tainly one of the six unnamed berewicks attached to
the manor of West Derby.10 What degree of depen-
dence upon the parent manor was involved in the
berewick period cannot be determined ; but probably
the Liverpool tenants did suit at the West Derby
halmote, as the tenants of the other berewicks long
continued to do.11 At some date between 1 166 and
1 189 Liverpool was granted by Henry II to Warine
de Lancaster, along with other lands, and this may
have involved separation from West Derby and the
institution of a distinct court. The deed of grant
does not survive, but is referred to in an undated
confirmation " granted to Henry son of Warine by
John Count of Mortain, after his succession to the
honour. But Liverpool was not long permitted to
remain in the hands of a mesne lord. On 23 August
1207 John reacquired it,13 giving the township of
English Lea near Preston in exchange. Five days
later the so-called ' charter ' " was issued which turned
the vill into a borough. Henceforward the descent
of the lordship of the borough follows the descent of
the honour of which it formed a part ; except during
the brief interval, 1315-22, when it was held by
LIVERPOOL. Argent
a cormorant sable beaked
and legged gules holding
in his beak a branch of
sea-weed called lover in-
verted -vert.
Robert de Holand under grant from Thomas Earl of
Lancaster.13
Liverpool is distinguished from most
BOROUGH other boroughs by the fact that it owes
its foundation absolutely to an exer-
cise of the royal will ; there is no evidence that the
place was a centre of any trade before the date when
John fixed upon its sheltered
Pool as a convenient place of
embarkation for rnen and sup-
plies from his Lancashire lands
for his Irish campaigns. He
may have visited the place in
February 1206, on the way
from Lancaster to Chester ; K>
and probably the creation of
the borough should be re-
garded as part of the prepara-
tion for the great expedition
of 1 209. Some part of the
new population which was
necessary may have been found
by a transplantation from West
Derby, which is described in 1208 as having been
remota usque ad Liverpul ; 17 others doubtless came in
response to the 'charter,' which may more accurately
be described as a proclamation of invitation ; and the
original tenants of the township appear all to have
been enfranchised. For the reception of the new
population John had set apart a number of burgages
facing on the seven main streets of the borough.
The number of the original burgages it is impossible
to determine. There were 168 in I296,18 and there-
after the number remained fixed. But it is probable
that there were fewer to begin with. Nor is it pos-
sible to be precise about the area of the burgage
proper, i.e. the building lot. It was big enough to
be divisible into minute fractions, as small as -^ or
-jV19 Probably each burgage was a selion. In 1346
the commonest holding was half a burgage, and it is
likely that the burgages were divisible from the outset.
At the same date large holdings are found of 2, 3, 4,
5, and even 8 burgages. To each burgage proper was
attached one Cheshire acre in the town-fields, usually
consisting of two strips in different fields.20 The rent
for burgage and field-holdings together was I ^d. per
annum,21 payable half-yearly, a figure which suggests
the influence of Norman parallels. Or, rather, it
would be more accurate to say that the rent was charge-
able for the burgage, but ' acquitted ' also the corre-
6 Moore and Crosse deeds, passim.
4 The positions of these lands (in some
cases conjectural) are indicated in the
map. The names of most frequent
occurrence are the Oldfields, the Heathy
Lands, and the Dalefield, and it is prob-
ably in these that we should look for
the original town-fields. It may be con-
jectured that the Dalefield formed origi-
nally a part of the Little Oldfield, which,
lying round the village, was naturally
broken up by the streets ; that the two
Oldfields thug reconstructed formed the
lands of the township on a two-field sys-
tem before the constitution of the bor-
ough ; and that the Heathy Lands (as the
name itself suggests) were an approvement
from the waste on the north between
Liverpool and Kirkdale, made at an early
date, probably to meet the requirements
of the new population whom King John
introduced at the creation of the borough.
Other field-names may represent either
the original demesne (e.g. Castlefield), or
distinct portions of the older fields (e.g.
Milnefield, part of one of the Oldfields),
or more recent approvements (e.g. Wet-
earth).
7 See Muir in Trans. Hist. Soc. (new
ser.) xxi, 16, 17. Cf. Inq. p.m. 25
Edw. I, no. 51, with L.T.R. Enr. Accts.
Misc. 14, m. 76 d.
8 Ibid, and Add. MS. 32103, fol. 140.
9 The name seems to have been an
official one, not popularly adopted, for it
does not appear in the Moore or Crosse
deeds.
10 V.C.H. Lanes, i, 283.
11 See Lanes. Ct. R. (Rec. Soc. of Lanes.
and Ches. xli), passim.
13 Original at Hoghton Tower. Printed
in Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 432.
18 Chart. R. (Rec. Com.), 17 it. In
the Charter Rolls the date is given as Aug.
xxviii ; but this is a mistake for xxiii. The
deed is dated from Worcester, where John
was on the 23rd (Itin. of John) ; on the
28th he was at Winchester.
14 Orig. in Liv. Munic. Archives.
Printed in Hist. Munic. Go-vt.in Liv. 153.
15 Inq. p.m. i Edw. Ill, m. 88.
16 Itin. of John prefixed to Pipe R. of
John.
17 Pipe R. of 1207-9 'n Lanes. Pipe R.
220, 228, 234 ; where an allowance of
£9 8j. is made to the sheriff ' in defalta
de West Derbei quae est remota usque ad
Liverpul, per breve Regis.'
18 Inq. p.m. 25 Edw. I, no. 51.
19 Moore and Crosse deeds. Also Add.
MS. 32103 (extent of 1346).
20 Moore deeds, passim.
ffl Add. MS. 32103.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
spending holdings in the fields ; for, as the Moore and
Crosse deeds abundantly show, these could be separ-
ately sold or let by the tenant, still being ' acquitted '
so far as the lord was concerned by the burgage to
which they were originally attached. The I zd. rent,
together with suit at the borough court, constituted
the whole of the 'service' due from the tenants."
There is no evidence for the payment of a heriot,
such as was exacted in Salford.23
The privileges which John promised to the occu-
pants of the burgages are included under the general
phrase ' all the liberties and free customs which any
free borough on the sea has in our land.' This, if
taken literally, would place Liverpool from the outset
at the same level of burghal liberties as Bristol and
Southampton ; but probably nothing of the sort was
intended,24 and the phrase is to be taken merely as
securing to the burgesses personal liberty, freedom
from service, free tenure of land, and exemption from
the payment of tolls within the limits of the borough,
though seemingly not beyond them. The grants of
John are essentially promises to individuals, not formal
concessions of powers to an organized community.
During the next twenty-two years the borough was
doubtless governed by a royal bailiff or steward, and
the burgesses were represented, as in the rural period,
by a reeve.85 Probably, however, 1207 saw also the
establishment of a weekly market and an annual fair,
the erection of a mill,16 and perhaps of a chapel.*7
The gradual progress of the new borough is best
illustrated by the history of its yield to the royal
exchequer. From 1211 to 1219 the profits of Liver-
pool seem to have been included in those of West
Derby, from which it may be inferred that the borough
was administered in these years by the steward of the
neighbouring manor. In 1222 and the following
years " an assized rent of £9 was charged on the
borough, being answered for by William de Ferrers as
sheriff of Lancaster. How much was covered by this
rent it is not easy to determine,29 but if it included
mills, ferry, and courts as well as the burgage rents
the borough must have been poor enough, or the
sheriff have made a substantial profit. Possibly the
burgesses may themselves have paid the assized rent,
but more probably the borough was farmed for this
sum by the sheriff. The tallages assessed on the
borough during the early years of Henry III show,
however, a steady advance. In 1 2 1 9 30 Liverpool
paid half a mark, West Derby a mark, Preston 10
LIVERPOOL
marks. In 1222" Liverpool paid 5 marks, West
Derby I mark, Preston 15 marks. In 1227" Liver-
pool paid 1 1 marks js. 8</., West Derby 7 marks
4/. Afd., Preston 15 marks 6V. In these years the
parent manor of West Derby had been completely
outstripped, while the new borough was rapidly over-
taking Preston.
A very important step forward was taken when on
24 March 1229 Henry III granted a charter" to
Liverpool, the burgesses paying for it 10 marks. The
payment shows that they had learnt to take common
action ; perhaps they had formed an illicit gild. The
charter of Henry III is of the first importance, as
it remained the governing charter of the borough
down to 1626, all the intervening charters being
merely confirmations with or without modifications.
The charter is on the most ample scale. It opens by
conceding that Liverpool should be a free borough
(liber burgus], for ever ; but this, though it secured,
probably did not extend the privileges already con-
ferred by John. In the second place it grants inde-
pendent jurisdiction to the borough court in the
regular formula of sac and soc, thol and theam, and in-
fangenethef, and exempts the burgesses from suit at
shire and hundred-courts for their holdings in the
borough. In regard to trade, the exemption from
tolls in the Liverpool market granted by King John
was now extended to all markets within the king's
dominions, and the Liverpool traders were thus placed
on a level with the burgesses of the most favoured
boroughs. But the most important concession of the
charter was the right to have ' a gild merchant with a
hansa and all the liberties and free customs pertaining
to that gild ' ; the privileges of trade, previously con-
fined to holders of burgages, being now limited to
members of the gild, while in future no one might be
permitted to trade in the borough without licence of
the gild. No evidence whatsoever survives as to the
mode of organization of the gild thus granted, or its
relation to the ordinary governmental machinery of
the borough. Doubtless all holders of burgages were
entitled to membership.34
During the first century of the borough's existence
it is as difficult to say anything definite about the
borough government as about the gild. With regard
to officers, in 1246 the 'vill' was represented at the
eyre of the justices by twelve jurors, including
' Ranulf de Moore, reeve of the vill,' 35 but this seems
to be the only mention of a reeve ; probably he was
22 Add. MS. 32103 ; Reg. St. Wer-
burgh Hall MS. 1965, fol. xviii£.
28 For discussion of this, see Hist.
Munic. Go-vt. in Liv. 1 3 n. 3.
24 Ibid. 15-17.
25 A reeve is mentioned in I 246 ; As-
size R. 1404, m. 1 6.
26 The mills certainly existed from
1256, and probably from 1229.
a? The small chapel of St. Mary del Key
was in existence before 1257 ; see below.
28 Pipe R. 10 Hen. Ill ; Hist. Munic.
Go-vt. in Li-v. Z95.
29 Trans. Hist. Soc. (new sen), xxi, 6, 7.
80 Pipe R. 3 Hen. Ill, m. 12 d.
81 Ibid. 6 Hen. Ill, m. 5 d.
82 Ibid. II Hen. Ill, m. I.
88 Orig. in Liv. Munic. Archives ;
Chart. R. 13 Hen. Ill, m. 9; Hist. Munic.
Go-vt. in Liv. 155.
84 In the 1 6th century it had become
the practice to admit to the freedom of
the gild all sons and apprentices of free-
men (Munic. Rec. passim) on payment of a
small fixed fee, whether they held bur-
gages or not ; and as early as 1525 non-
resident merchants were admitted in large
numbers ; Duchy of Lane. Misc. vol.
95, fol. 36^ ; Hist. Munic. Govt. in Li-v.
402. Whether or no this practice
existed from the beginning it is impossible
to say ; but in any case the grant of gild-
powers rendered possible the admission to
trading privileges of persons other than
burgage holders, and thus prevented the
limitation of these privileges to a narrow
landholding oligarchy. But the non-
burgess members of the gild, in so small
a borough, must always have been few ;
and there can have been little distinction
between the burgess body proper and the
gild. Hence it is probable that, as in
other cases (Gross, Gild Merchant, i, chap,
v.), a single assembly and a single set of
officers served for both.
There is, indeed, throughout the Middle
Age no allusion in any document to
separate officers of the gild. In the i6th
century gild business and borough busi-
ness were indifferently transacted in the
same assemblies and by the same officers.
In 1551 there were elected two 'sene-
schals of the Gild Court ' (Munic. Rec. i,
za. But they were then only keepers of
the gildhall), whose existence suggests
that there had once been a distinctive
court for the enforcement of trade regula-
tions, which would not naturally fall
under the review of the borough-court.
But that is the only mention of any such
officials. Probably, therefore, the gild
added little to the complexity of burghal
organization ; and it should be regarded,
not as a distinct body, but rather as simply
adding certain new executive and legisla-
tive powers to the existing ruling bodies
of the borough. The question is dis-
cussed at length in Hht. Munic. Go-vt. in
Liv. 31-6. 86 Assize R. 404, m. 16.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
replaced by a bailiff. In 1292" the burgesses asserted
that they ' had been accustomed to have ' a bailiff ' of
themselves,' i.e. elected by themselves ; numerous
local deeds,17 the earliest dating from 1309, show,
however, that there were two bailiffs. The pro-
bability is that the burgesses normally elected one, and
that the lord appointed the other to look after his dues.
When the burgesses held the farm of the town
they may have elected both bailiffs. In the only roll
of the borough court M of Liverpool which survives
from the mediaeval period, the lord's steward pre-
sides ; but this may be because the burgesses did not
then hold the farm of the town."
The great advance marked by the charter of
Henry III was completed by the concession to the
burgesses on the following day, 25 March 1229, of a
lease of the farm of the borough40 at a rent of
£10. The lease is in the most general terms, but it
is clear from the items included in the same rent in
1256" that it comprised the burgage rents, the
market tolls, and the profits of two water-mills and a
windmill." If at this date the burgages at all
approximated to their ultimate number of 1 68 the
burgesses must have made a substantial profit on this
lease. But the lease was only for four years, expiring
in 1233. While it lasted, the lease freed the bur-
gesses from the intervention of royal agents.
The burghal system of Liverpool had no sooner
been completed by these deeds than the borough
passed from royal to baronial control, as a result of
the grant of the borough, along with the rest of the
Lancashire lands of the Crown, to Ranulf, Earl of
Chester.4* During Ranulfs occupancy, which lasted
for three years only, and that of the three Ferrers,
Earls of Derby, whose tenure extended (with the
interval of the minority of Robert de Ferrers,
1254-62 (?)) until 1266, the material for the history
of the borough is singularly scanty. But the Ferrers
family appear to have respected the burghal liberties,
and to have renewed the lease of the farm (which fell in
in 1233) regularly at the same rental throughout the
period of their control.44 In 1266, just before his
last rebellion and confiscation, Robert de Ferrers con-
firmed the charters 4A of Liverpool ; probably as a
means of raising money.
The most important event of the period
C4STLE was the erection of the Liverpool Castle,
which had taken place before 1235 and
may safely be attributed to the first William de
Ferrers.46 There had long been a castle at West
Derby ; it was in ruins in 1296,^ but it had been
in existence in 1232," when
the first Ferrers took posses-
sion ; when his son succeeded
him, Liverpool Castle had
been built ; 49 probably the
one was intended to take the
place of the other. No re-
cord of its erection survives,
nor any account of the fabric
before a late date. It was
demolished in 1720, and no
satisfactory views or plans of it
IATX7
XAA7
XAAZ
survive.60 It stood at the top
FERRERS, Earl of
Derby. fairy or and
gulet.
of the modern Lord Street
that is, on the highest point of land in the town, imme-
diately overlooking the entrance to the Pool. Occupy-
ing an artificially created plateau, almost exactly 50 yds.
square, it was surrounded by a moat some 20 yds.
wide, cut out of the solid rock." The main fabric
consisted of (i) a great gatehouse surmounted by two
small towers, which stood at the north-eastern corner,
and looked down Castle Street ; (2) three circular
towers at the three other corners ; one of these,
probably that at the south-east corner, was built later
than the rest of the fabric, in 144.2 ; the south-
western tower seems to have been regarded as the
keep of the fortress ; (3) curtain walls connected the
four main towers ; on the eastern side the wall rose
from the edge of the rock-plateau ; on the north and
88 Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.),
381.
•7 Moore D. passim.
M Roll of 1324; Lane. Ct. R. (Rec.
Soc. xli), 77-88.
89 As to lesser burghal officers there is
no evidence before the i6th century,
when we get the titles (Munic. Rec. i, za)
of a hay ward, two burleymen, two moss-
reeves, two ale-founders, all of whom
must have had mediaeval predecessors ;
and two water-bailiffs, four merchant
prysors, and two leve-lookers, who were
probably officials required by the gild
powers obtained under the charter of
Henry III (Gross, Gild Merchant) ; the
1 6th century also shows us in exis-
tence a body of jurats like those of
Leicester (Bateson, Rec. Leic.), Ipswich
(Little Domesday of Ipswich), and other
towns. They numbered twelre or twenty-
four, and made regulations for the better
government of the town, besides making
presentments in the portmoot. Their
decrees were at that date disregarded, but
they were considered to be the representa-
tives of an institution which had once
been powerful (Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec.
i, 52). It is likely, therefore, that in
mediaeval Liverpool, as in Leicester, Ips-
wich, « and all the other boroughs of Eng-
land ' (Little Domesday of Ipswich), there
was a standing body of jurats who exer-
cised a general control over the adminis-
tration carried on by the bailiff and other
elected officers.
In the i6th century all the officers
were elected at an assembly of all freemen
held on St. Luke's Day, 18 October.
Other assemblies were summoned for
special business as occasion required.
There were also two solemn courts, or
portmoots, in each year ; the great port-
moot being held a few days after the
electoral assembly. In the mediaeval
period the only general bodies of which
there is mention (Add. MS. 32103 ;
Court Roll of 1324, Lane. Ct. R. 77-88)
were two great courts, corresponding
to the portmoots of the i6th century,
at which all burgesses were bound to be
present, and a lesser court held theoreti-
cally every three weeks, but in practice at
irregular intervals. Thus in 1 3 24 twelve
courts were held, at intervals varying
from a week to three months.
It is likely that the i6th century
differentiation between the portmoots for
legal business and the assemblies for
general business did not exist in the early
days of the borough ; but that the single
governing organ of the borough was the
portmoot, at which all burgesses were
entitled to be present, and, on two solemn
occasions a year, required to be present.
For a fuller discussion of the burghal
constitution under the charter of Hen. Ill
see Hist. Munic. Govt. in Liv. 20-36.
40 Pat. 1 3 Hen. Ill, m. 9 ; Hist. Munic.
Govt. in Liv. 296.
41 Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xxi, 8.
4a On the history of the mills and
milling soke of Liverpool, see Bennett and
Elton, Hist, of Corn-milling, iv, chap, iv,
where the facts are fully marshalled.
48 Cal. Close, 1227-31, p. 221 ; Chart.
R. 1 3 Hen. Ill, pt. i, m. 2.
44 This is a fair inference from the
fact that in 1256, during the minority of
Robert and the occupancy of his lands by
the king's son Edward, Edward's bailiff
renders account for the farm of the vill of
Liverpool at the old rent ; Duchy of
Lane. Mins. Accts. bdle. 1094, no. n ;
Hist. Munic. Govt. in Liv. 39, 296.
45 Hist. Munic. Govt. 156. Original in
Liv. Munic. Archives.
46 Cal. Pat. 1232-47, p. 89.
4' Inq. p.m. 2$ Edw. I, no. 51.
48 Cal. Close, 1231-4, p. 169.
49 Fine Roll, 32 Hen. Ill, pt. i, m. 14.
*° The best discussion and reconstruc-
tion of the castle is by E. W. Cor,
Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), vi.
&1 Mr. Cox has been followed in infer-
ring these main features of the castle
from (i) the Extent of 1346 ; (2) de-
tailed instructions for repairs in 1476
(Duchy of Laac. Bk. of Orders, etc.
Edw. IV, fol. 140) ; (3) report of com-
missioners on demolition of the castle,
1706, Okill MSS. iv, 337.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
LIVERPOOL
south it was recessed so as to be commanded from the
towers ; on the west it formed an obtuse angle, the
angle touching the edge of the rock ; (4) the hall
and a chapel probably lay respectively along the
western and southern walls, and were connected with
the south-western tower ; (5) there were also a brew-
house and a bakehouse, the sites of which cannot be
determined ; they may have been in the north-west
angle, near which a postern gate led to an under-
ground passage from the moat to the edge of the
river.5* The courtyard seems to have been divided
by a wall running from north to south. A survey
of 2 October I55952agives further interesting details
of the building. It was at the time ' in utter ruin
and decay,' there having been no lead on any of
the buildings within the memory of man. The
great tower, probably that at the south-west, had
a slated roof, and the commissioners suggested that
it should be repaired and used for the keeping of
the * Quenes Majesties Courtes for Her Graces
Wappentacke of West Derbyshyre, being a very greate
soken,' and for the storage of the court rolls. The
* ringe walle ' or curtain and the masonry of the
towers seem to have been fairly sound, and only
needed protection from the weather, and the com-
missioners strongly advised the putting of the castle
into substantial repair at a cost of about £100,
' otherwaies it were a grate defacement unto the said
towne of Litherpole.' No mention is made of any
moat in the report, and there is some tradition that
none existed till the Civil Wars, but no proof of this
is obtainable.
There was a dovecot under the castle wall, and an
orchard ran down the slope to the Pool on the east.
Out of this orchard Lord Street was cut in the 1 7th
century. Thus the first period of baronial suzerainty
had resulted in the overawing of the burgesses by a
formidable fortress.
On the rebellion and forfeiture of Robert de
Ferrers Liverpool, with other possessions between
Ribble and Mersey, passed to the hands of the
Crown. Henry III at once granted them with the
honour of Lancaster to his second son, Edmund ; to
whose representatives Mary de Ferrers, wife of the
forfeited earl and niece of the king, was ordered to
surrender the castle of Liverpool in July I266.53
This begins the second part of the baronial period of
Liverpool history, extending over the earldoms of
Edmund and Thomas of Lancaster, 1266-1322.
Both of these earls seem to have treated the borough
with some harshness. In the first place the lease of
the farm was not renewed. Earl Edmund took the
administration of the town into his own hands,54 or
at least broke up the farm into several parts ; and the
total yield under the new system in place of the old
rent of £10 amounted to £25 los. in the latter
years of Earl Edmund and about £30 by the end of
the reign of Earl Thomas ; the tolls of market and
fair alone brought in as much as the old rent ; but
there seems reason for believing that a farm of these
tolls was held by the burgesses.55
The greatly increased yield of the town affords
evidence, however, that the earl was doing his best
to develop its resources, and the beginning of a period
of prosperity may perhaps be attributed to this time.
In addition to the suppression of the lease of the farm,
Edmund overrode the chartered rights of the burgesses.
In 1292 the bailiffs and community of Liverpool
were summoned on a quo warranto 56 plea to Lancaster.
No bailiffs came ; but several men came for the com-
munity, and, producing the charters of John and
Henry III, stated that they had been a free borough
with a gild, &c. ; but that Earl Edmund suffered
them not to have a free borough, or to elect a bailiff
* of themselves ' ; wherefore they did not claim these
liberties at present. The further hearing of the case
was adjourned, but there is no record of the decision.
Whatever the decision, the burgesses did not regain
their rights till the beginning of the reign of
Edward III.
During this period the growing importance of the
town (or the power of its masters) is recognized in the
summons of burgesses from Liverpool to the Parliament
of 1295, and again to that of 1307." The first
Liverpool members of Parliament were Adam son of
Richard, and Robert Pinklowe. After 1307 the
borough did not again return members to Westminster
until the middle of the 1 6th century.
During the earldom of Thomas of Lancaster the
steady progress of Liverpool appears to have continued.
It is to this period that we
must attribute the inclosure of
Salthouse Moor, of which no
mention is made in 1296, but
which was in occupation and
yielding rent in I322.48 This
is the only large approvement
from the waste of which there
is any trace, before the I7th
century. The area first in-
closed amounted to 45 acres ;
which were in 1 346 59 divided
among 5 1 free tenants and 47
tenants-at-will, and in 1322—7
yielded 4O/. of rent. Most of the tenants in these new
lands already held burgages in the borough, but 32
of them were not included in the burgess roll, and
this involved that they were a new class of tenants,
not sharing in the liberties, but directly under the
control of the lord. He could hold a distinct court
for them if he wished ; and though this does not
seem to have been done at this period, that was only
because the lord's steward was presiding over the
borough-court. At a later date questions of the first
THOMAS, Earl of Lan-
caster. ENGLAND -with
a label of FRANCE.
53 A rock-cut passage still runs under
James Street, from tomewhere near the
position of the castle, towards the river.
It was entered and examined in May 1862
by Mr. P. M. Coogan (Rep. in vol. 2,
p. 132 of the Misc. Rep. in the City En-
gineer's Office), and a plan and sections
were made, showing that it varied in
height and width, averaging about 8 ft. in
height, and has in its floor on the south
side a channel, which, when lately sounded
on the suggestion of Mr. Robert Glad-
stone, junr., has proved to be as much as
7 ft. 6 in. deep. It was again examined
by the city engineer in 1908, and a new
plan made. That it had some connexion
with the ditch of the castle seems pos-
sible, and its depth is said to be sufficient
to allow the river water to reach the ditch
at high water.
62a Duchy of Lane. Special Commis-
sions, no. 9.
68 Pat. 50 Hen. III.
64 Inq. p.m. 25 Edw. I, no. 51 5
L.T.R. Enr. Accts. Misc. no. 14, m. 77.
Perhaps this may have been the result of
his visit to Liverpool in 1283 ; Whalley
Coucher, 507.
K Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xxi,
II.
"Plac. de Quo War. (Rcc. Com.),
38 1 1.\ Hist. Munic. Govt. in Li-u. 41, and
397-
W Par I. Writ*, i, 39 (18).
68 L. T. R. Enr. Accts. Misc. no. 14,
m. 77.
M Extent of 1346, Add. MS. 32103, to
which a full list of burgesses and tenants
in Salthouse Moor is appended.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
importance were to arise from the existence of this
group of tenants.
This was not the only new use made of the waste
by Thomas of Lancaster. In the year 1310, on a
visit to the borough, the earl granted to the burgesses M
6 Cheshire acres of moss ' adjoining the mill-pool of
the vill of Liverpool ' at a rental of one silver penny
per annum. This was in exchange for the right
which they had previously possessed of digging peat in
Toxteth Park. Important as being the first piece of
corporate property owned by the burgesses, this patch
of moss lay at the upper end and on the eastern side
of the Pool, and formed part of the Mosslake. The
rent of it appears among the revenues of the town
during the remainder of the I4th century ; in the
1 5th it disappeared, being merged in that general
control over the whole of the waste which the bur-
gesses of that period quietly usurped. But in spite
of this gift the earl does not seem to have attached
much value to the borough, for in 1315 he granted
both castle and borough to Robert de Holand. But
no charter was sealed, nor did the tenants do homage ;61
in consequence of which Holand's son, after the death
of Thomas of Lancaster, failed to obtain restitution
of the estate, though he petitioned Parliament and
obtained a favourable report from the treasurer and
the barons of the exchequer.6'
The confusion produced by the turbulence of
Thomas of Lancaster and the weak government of
Edward II was felt at Liverpool as elsewhere. In
1315 Adam Banastre, Henry de Lea, and William
de Bradshagh raised a rebellion against the earl ; and
marching from their rendezvous at Charnock by way
of Wigan, under the standard of Adam Banastre, made
an assault upon Liverpool Castle.63 They were driven
back, and then fell upon West Derby. This is the
only occasion on which the castle is known to have
been attacked before the Civil War.
On the attainder and execution of Thomes of Lan-
caster royal agents reappeared in the borough. The
very full accounts64 which they rendered from 1322
to 1327 supply some of the most valuable material for
ascertaining the condition of the town ; and it is to this
time that the single court roll for the mediaeval period
— that for the year 1324 — belongs. In 1323 King
Edward II himself visited Liverpool, staying for a
week in the castle between 24 and 30 October. In
preparation for him the castle was thoroughly repaired
and victualled ;M and the sum of is. $>d. in particular
was expended in mending the roof of the hall.66
During the last troubled years of Edward II, the
bailiffs of Liverpool were kept busy carrying out
feverish orders : such as to hold ready for the king's
service all ships of sufficient burthen to carry 40 tuns
of wine, to make returns of such ships, to warn
mariners to beware of pirates, 67 to proclaim kindly
usage for Flemings.68 When, in 1326, the situation
became really critical, the bailiffs were ordered to send
all ships of 50 tons and upwards to Portsmouth j69 to
search all persons entering or leaving the port, and to
seize letters prejudicial to the king ; 70 and to prevent
the export of horses, armour, or money.71 So, amid
feverish feeble strife, the reign of Edward II came to
an end. With it ended an epoch for Liverpool.
The century from 122910 1 3 27 had seen a serious
diminution of burghal liberties, but it had also wit-
nessed a substantial expansion of the borough's re-
sources. In the next age this expansion continues,
and is accompanied by a remarkable revival of the
privileges of the burgesses, which attained their highest
point at the end of the century.
The disorders which had marked the later years
of Edward II continued to disturb Liverpool in the
early years of his successor, and their echoes are
audible in the trials of the period of which record
remains. In 1332 Robert son of Thomas de Hale
slew Henry de Walton at Liverpool, in the church
before the altar ; a few days later Simon son of William
de Walton struck and wounded Henry Ithell, and on the
next day his brother Richard struck and wounded Robert
the Harper." In 1335 Sir William Blount, sheriff
of the county, was murdered in Liverpool while en-
gaged in the execution of his office,73 and four
years later five men, in consideration of their hav-
ing ' gone beyond the seas ' in the king's service,74
were pardoned for this crime and also for the murder
of Henry Baret and Roger Wildgoose. As late as
St. Valentine's Day 1345 there was a serious disturb-
ance of the peace in Liverpool : 7i a body of lawless
men having entered the town in arms, with banners
unfurled as in war, forced their way into the court
where the king's justices were in session, and after
hurling * insulting and contumacious words,' ' did
wickedly kill, mutilate, and plunder of their goods,
and wound very many persons there assembled, and
further did prevent the justices from showing jus-
tice . . . according to the tenour of their commis-
sion.' Three weeks later special justices were appointed
to deal with the offenders, and in July a large number
of persons, many of them being men of position in
the county, were pardoned at the request of the Earl
of Lancaster, on condition that they went at their
own charges for one year to do service to the king in
Gascony.
A condition of society such as is indicated by these
events could scarcely be favourable to the growth of
peaceful trade ; nevertheless, the growth of Liverpool
continued. In 1338 the earl appears to have made
an addition to the approved lands in Salthouse Moor,
and enfeoffed a number of tenants at fines of 5 marks
to the acre ; 76 and the details of the assessment for the
levy of a ninth in 1340 show a number of substan-
tial persons to have been resident in the town.77 We
now obtain the first clear indications of the extent and
nature of the trade of the town, of which something
will be said later ; it would appear that Liverpool had
become one of the most considerable ports of the
west coast. As such, during the Scottish wars of the
early years of Edward III, and during the Irish wars
of the later years of his reign, it proved very useful as
60 Original in Liv. Mimic. Archives.
61 Inq. p.m. i Edw. Ill, m. 88. The
manor of West Derby was granted to
Holand 3 Feb. 1320. The charter was
inspected and the grant confirmed by the
king 22 Feb. 1320. Cal. Pat. 1317-21,
p. 431.
•a Rot. Par!, ii, 1 8.
68 Coram Rege R. 254, m. 51.
64 L.T.R. Enr. Accts. Misc. no. 14.
65 The walls, towers, houses, and gates
of the castle were ordered to be repaired
and the castle victualled 7 Feb. 1323.
Cal. Close, 1318-23, p. 627.
66 L.T.R. Enr. Accts. loc. cit.
6? Cal. Close, 1323-7, p. 183.
68 Ibid. pp. 367, 378.
89 Ibid. p. 641.
6
7<> Ibid. p. 537. 71 Ibid. p. 546.
73 Assize R. no. 1411, m. 2.
78 Cal. Pat. 1334-8, p. 580.
7< Ibid. 1338-40, pp. 217, 229, 232,
235-
75 Ibid. I343-5. PP- 495-95 Coram
Rege R. 344, m. 8.
76 Add. MS. 32105, GG. 2901.
77 Exch. Lay Subs. bdle. 130, no. 15.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
LIVERPOOL
a port of embarkation ; and it is probably to the
attention thus directed to it that we must attribute
the revival of the town's political fortunes.
In 1327 the constable of Liverpool Castle was
ordered78 to receive within the castle men fleeing
from the invading Scots. Next year the bailiffs of
Liverpool were ordered to have all vessels in the port
of 40 tons burthen in readiness to resist the king's
enemies from Normandy and Poitou.79 In 1333 the
bailiffs were commanded to retain all vessels of
burthen sufficient for 50 tuns of wine, and to pre-
pare them hastily with double equipment for the
defence of the kingdom against the Scots,*0 and the
mandate was repeated in the next year, a royal com-
missioner being told off to supervise the preparations.81
In 1335 a clerk of the Exchequer was told off to pro-
vide two ships of war fully manned and armed, to
sail from Liverpool in pursuit of a great ship loaded
with wine and arms, coming from abroad, and destined
for the aid of the king's enemies in the castle of Dum-
barton.82 These ships seem also to have been used to
carry supplies for the royal army to Skymburnesse, at
the mouth of the Solway.63 In the same year six of
the largest ships to be found on the west coast be-
tween Liverpool and Skymburnesse were ordered to
be manned and armed and sent against the Scottish
ships.8*
In the French wars of the middle part of the reign
Liverpool naturally took less share ; M but the inse-
curity of English waters which marked the first part
of the war is indicated by the receipt of an order to
the Liverpool bailiffs not to permit vessels to leave the
port for foreign parts save in great fleets and under
escort,86 while on more than one occasion Liverpool
ships were summoned to southern ports to help in
dealing with threatened French attacks.87
In the later part of the reign of Edward III, and
during the reigns of Richard II and Henry IV, Liverpool
was still more actively engaged in connexion with the
Irish wars than she had been at the commencement
of the period with the Scottish wars. In 1361 ' the
whole navy of the land, competently armed,' was
brought to transport Lionel of Clarence and his army
to Ireland from Liverpool and Chester;88 in 1372
all ships between 20 tons and 200 tons burthen
between Bristol and Liverpool were ordered to be
collected at Liverpool for the transport 89 of William
de Windsor, * governor ... of our realm of Ireland,
.and of the men at arms and others about to depart
in our service in the retinue of the said William.'
In the next year all ships between Southampton and
Furness were ordered to be brought to Liverpool for
a similar purpose.90 The port was constantly uti-
lized for the embarkation of troops, and the Patent
Rolls contain frequent notices of the assemblage of
78 Rot. Scot, i, 209.
79 Cal. Close, 1327-30, p. 307.
80 Rot. Scot, i, 248, 258.
81 Ibid. 306, 309.
82 Cal. Close, 1333-7, p. 414 ; Rot. Scot.
i, 321. 83 Pipe R. 9 Edw. III.
84 Cal. Rot. Scot, i, 355.
85 It has long been supposed that one
Liverpool ship took part in the siege of
Calais ; Baines, Liverpool, 152 ; Kaye's
Stranger in Liv. (1825 ed.), 1 5. It is clear,
however, that this vessel hailed from
Mersea in Essex, and not from the River
Mersey, as pointed out by Mr. Robert
Gladstone, jun. See the Liverpool Courier,
26 Dec. 1905.
ships and considerable forces of men in the town on
the way to Ireland.91
This frequent use of the port for royal purposes,
which doubtless brought with it an expansion of trade
to both Scotland and Ireland, is beyond question the
main reason for the favour now shown to Liverpool
both by the king and by the earl.91 The first sign of
this is the grant of the right to collect certain dues for
paving the town, first made in 1328 for a period of
three years, and renewed several times during the
century.93 The collection of these dues and the
spending of them represent a new kind of corporate
action on the part of the burgesses, and therefore
mark a stage in the development of municipal govern-
ment. The money does not seem always to have
been used for the purpose for which the grant was
made, for in 1341 a commission of investigation had
to be sent to Liverpool, as the king was informed that
much of the money collected had been misappro-
priated.94 In 1333 a still more valuable favour was
received from the king in the grant of a new charter.95
The charter contains no new grant, being merely a
confirmation of its predecessors. But we have seen
that such a confirmation was highly necessary, and we
may assume that from this date the free exercise of
chartered liberties, prevented since the accession of
Edmund of Lancaster, recommenced.
Still more important than the charter, the lease
of the farm of the borough is gradually regained
during this period.96 At the beginning of the reign
of Edward III the burgesses seem to have held a
lease only of the tolls of the market and fair.97
The first great advance is marked by the extent
of the lands of the second Henry of Lancaster,
made in 1346 after his succession to the earldom.
In this deed there is a combined farm of the
mills, tolls, and ferry for £24 per annum, which
has been held for some years by an unnamed farmer,
almost certainly representing the burgesses, and which
is henceforward to be raised to ^26.98 In 1357
there comes a highly important new lease of the
farm," at a rent of £33, which was granted to eight
leading burgesses on behalf of the community. This
lease included the burgage rents and the profits of
courts, in addition to the rights covered by the
previous lease.100 From this lease, however, the rents
of the new inclosures in Salthouse Moor seem to be
omitted, and it would appear that while the burgesses
resumed control of their own borough-court, a separate
court was now instituted for these tenants. Apart
from this, the sole reservations were the castle with
its purlieus, forfeitures of lands, and (probably) escheats.
By 1357, therefore, the burgesses had again attained
to all but the highest degree of municipal liberties.
The 1357 lease appears to have been continued
88 Rot. Scot, i, 467. 8" Ibid.
88 Pat. 35 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 24.
89 Ibid. 47 Edw. III. Printed in Baines,
Liv. 165-6, from Okill's transcripts.
<JO Ibid. 48 Edw. Ill ; Baines, op. cit.
166.
91 Cal. Pat. 1377-81, p. 385 ; 1385-9,
p. 163; 1388-92, pp. 134. 405, 385;
1399-1401, p. 164, &c.
92 Ibid.
93 Ibid. 1327-30, p. 231; 1330-4, p.
396 5 J334-8, p. 223 ; 1381-5, p. 130.
1 Ibid- I340-3. P; 3*3-
93 Original in Liv. Munic. Archives.
Hist. Munic. Go-vt. in Liv. 158.
96 The steps in this process are analysed
7
in detail in Trans. Hist. Sec. (new. ser.),
xxi, 1-27.
9<" Ibid. 13 ; L. T. R. Enr. Accts. Misc.
no. 14, m. 77.
"Ibid. 19; Add. MS. 32103; Hist.
Munic. Govt. in Liv. 299.
99 Duchy of Lane. Chan. R. no. 2 ;
Hist. Munic. Govt. in Liv. 302 and 47.
See also Trans. Hist. Soc. loc. cit. 23.
100 In view of these additions the rent
is extremely moderate, for the burgage
rents of £8 more than make up the
difference between the old rent of £26 and
the new rent of ,£33. Possibly the rea-
son for this moderation was that the town
suffered severely from the Black Death.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
regularly until I393,101 when it was replaced by a still
more extensive lease granted by John of Gaunt, which
represents the highest point attained by the municipal
liberties of Liverpool during the Middle Ages.103
The rent was raised to £38, but the lease included a
grant of control over the whole of the waste, a power
which the burgesses were never to lose, though it is
not mentioned in later leases ; it included all the
lord's jurisdictional rights (embracing, apparently, the
right of holding a court for the Salthouse Moor tenants,
which brought these tenants under the control of the
borough courts and officers) ; and it included the
right of taking escheats and forfeitures. In brief, the
effect of this lease was to extrude the feudal power
entirely from the borough, except within the walls of
the castle. The lease was for seventeen years, and
expired in 1410. It thus extended well into the new
period which began when, by the accession of the
House of Lancaster to the throne, the borough was
once more brought into direct relation with the
Crown.
The extension of municipal powers represented by
these leases was accompanied by a development of
the burghal system of government. In 1351 there is
the first mention of a mayor of Liverpool.103 No
royal or ducal grant of the right to elect such an
officer survives, and the probability is that his appear-
ance is the result of the re-acquisition of the lease of
the farm, and perhaps dates from 1346, or even earlier.
Up to that time it seems probable that the burgesses
had only elected one bailiff,104 the other being nomi-
nated by the lord ; and as the functions performed
by the latter (collection of dues and presidency of the
court) were much the more important, he would be
very definitely major ballivus. When these functions
pass into the hands of the burgesses, they elect their
own major ballivus. It was as major ballivus that the
mayor began,10* but later he nominated a bailiff of
his own. It is instructive to find that this second
bailiff was always regarded as representing the Crown
(i.e. the lord) as well as the mayor.196
It is possible that the same period also saw the
institution of another element in burghal government
— the Court of Aldermen.107 Each of the leases from
1357 was granted to a group of leading citizens, most
of whom repeatedly occupied the mayoral chair, and
who were probably selected as substantial men, able to
stand surety for the payment of the rent. In the
lease of 1393 they were formally empowered to hold
the borough courts. Both in its functions and in its
personnel, this group closely resembles the Court of
Aldermen as it is found in the 1 6th century, when
records begin to be abundant.
Thus the 1 4th century, in spite of the disorders of
its first half, and the distresses caused by plague and
war in its second half, witnessed firstly a steady growth
of the town and a steady expansion of its prosperity ;
and secondly a striking revival and development of its
municipal liberties. One exception to this statement,
however, must be made. Though there is no trace of it
in the records, it would appear that the influence of the
Peasants' Revolt extended to Liverpool. One of the
demands made by the rebels was the withdrawal of the
monopoly enjoyed by the privileged burgesses in
towns ; and it is probably to some such demand that we
must attribute the grant of the charter of Richard II in
1382, the year after the rising.108 The only distinc-
tive feature of this charter is its revocation of the
power of prohibiting trade by non-members of the
gild which had been contained in the earlier charters,
and it is inconceivable that the burgesses can have
applied for this. But in spite of this charter, clearly
the little borough was thriving ; and it is possible,
through the greater abundance of material, to get
some notion of its life and working at this, the moment
of its greatest prosperity.
The burgess roll appended to the extent of 1346
shows that there were 196 householders in Liverpool
paying rent to the lord. On the usual basis of calcu-
lation, this would give a population of just under
1,000. But as the more substantial burgesses, who
held large holdings in the fields or engaged largely in
trade, must have had dependants not included in this
estimate, the population may perhaps be put down at
something like 1,200. It probably did not increase — it
may have decreased — during the second half of the
century, for Liverpool suffered severely from the
Black Death ; in 1360 the deaths were so numerous
that the dead could not be buried in Walton
Churchyard, and a licence was obtained from the
Bishop of Lichfield for burials in St. Nicholas's
Churchyard.109
This population must be regarded as being still, for
the most part, except on market days, engaged in
agriculture. Every burgess had holdings in the fields.
The commonest holding was half a burgage, with
about I acre in the fields, but some of the leading
townsmen held much larger allotments. The will of
William de Liverpool,110 the leading burgess in the
second half of the I3th century, survives, and an
inventory of his property attached to it shows that his
wealth was almost purely agricultural in character.
He has grain in his barn worth £6 i$s. 4^., and
24 selions of growing wheat in the fields, worth £j.
He has nine oxen and cows worth about 101. apiece,
six horses worth about js. each, and eighteen pigs
valued at is. 6d. each. His domestic furniture is
valued at £j 6s. %d. But no merchandise is included
in the inventory. As we shall see, William de Liver-
pool derived most of his wealth from milling.
The trade of the borough was probably mainly local
in character. The weekly market, held every Saturday,
and the annual fair on St. Martin's Day, probably
mainly dealt in agricultural produce from the neigh-
bouring parts of Lancashire and Cheshire. The ferries
over the Mersey were of first-rate importance for this
purpose ; of these there seem to have been three.
There seem to have been two ferries included in
101 Irant. Hilt. Soc. loc. cit. 26-7 ; Hist.
Munic. Govt. in. Liv. 47-54, 304-6.
101 The original of this is lost. A copy
it printed in Gregson's Fragments, 352 ;
there is another copy among Okill's
manuscripts in the municipal archives.
Printed in Hist. Munic. Govt. in Liv.
306.
10» Elton, 'Early Recorded Mayors of
Liv.' Trans. Hist. Sec. (new ser.), xviii,
1 1 9 ff. gives a catalogue of the early
mayors, taken from the witnesses to the
deeds in the Moore and Crosse collections.
104 They only claim one bailiff in the
Quo Warranto Plea of 1292.
105 Willielmo filio Ade tune maiore de
Lyverpull, Roberto filio Mathaei tune altero
ballivorum ibidem ; Add. MS. 32105, GG.
219.
06 Thus in 1647 Richard Williamson
8
nominatus et electui est Ballivus fro
domino rege et majore burgi predict! ;
Johannes Sturzaker nominatus et electut
est Ballivus pro villa et burgo predicto.
107 On this see Hist. Munic. Govt. in
Liv. 51.
108 Original in Liv. Munic. Archives ;
Hist. Munic. Govt. in Liv. 52 and 159.
109 Lich. Epis. Reg. v, 44-5.
110 Crosse Deeds, 77.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
LIVERPOOL
BlRKENHEAD PRIORY.
Quarterly gulei and or,
over all a crazier erect
proper, in the fir tt quarter
a lion of England.
the Liverpool farm,111 one to Runcorn, the other
(probably) to Birkenhead. In addition, the prior of
the Benedictine monastery in Birkenhead enjoyed,
from 1330 at the latest,111* the right of ferry from
Birkenhead to Liverpool. In
1 3 1 7 m Edward II granted to
the prior the right of build-
ing houses of entertainment
for the use of the ' great num-
bers of persons wishing to
cross there,' who were 'often
hindered,' by reason of 'con-
trariety of weather and fre-
quent storms.' From the re-
cord of a Quo Warranto inquiry,
to which the prior was sum-
moned in I354,us we learn
that the ferry tolls from the
Birkenhead side were : for a
man on foot, \d. ; for man and
horse, id. On Liverpool market days a man on foot
was charged \d., and if carrying baggage \d. Probably
the fares on the Liverpool ferry were the same. The
connexion of the Birkenhead monastery with Liverpool
was intimate. The prior held in Water Street a house
and barn for the storage of corn waiting for the
market.114 There is no evidence as to the nature of
the tolls charged in the Liverpool market and fair.
They yielded in all never less than j£io a year during
the 1 4th century.
With regard to the sea-going trade of Liverpool the
evidence is equally scanty.115 The appointment by
the Crown of the mayor as deputy steward for the
prisage of wines in the Port of Liverpool in I364116
seems to indicate that there was some importation of
wines from Gascony, and this is borne out by other
notices. Probably the sea-going trade of Liverpool at
this period, as in the 1 6th century, was mainly with Ire-
land, and consisted of an exchange of rough manufac-
tured goods and iron, against cattle and hides. The fact
that down to the 1 8th century Bristol, Waterford, and
Wexford were the only ports 117 in which Liverpool
merchants claimed, and to whose traders the Liverpool
burgesses habitually conceded, that right of exemption
from dues which the charters granted in universal
terms, seems to show that it was the Irish trade which
was alone developed to any considerable extent.118 In
1350 we get a glimpse of the nature of a Liverpool
merchant's goods from a suit in which William de
Longwro sued Adam de Longwro, his bailiff, for an
account of his stewardship during the previous year,
and his use of twenty entire woollen cloths (pieces),
IO quarters of barley, 40 quarters of oats, and iron
worth £ i oo, and of I oo/., which he had received to
trade with.119 Lancashire and Yorkshire woollen goods,
iron from Furness, and corn seem to be the staples of
export trade. Perhaps salt from Cheshire may be
added.
Nor can much be said about the industries of the
borough. There is no trace of the existence of craft
gilds in the mediaeval period. Two such gilds are
recorded to have come into existence in the i6th
century, but they were then novelties ; If° probably
the number of craftsmen was too small — a few weavers
and smiths may have exhausted the list. Two gold-
smiths are named in the burgess roll of 1346. But
the industries were doubtless merely the normal
industries of a rural market-town. Brewing seems to
have been carried on very actively. In the single
year 1324 m there were thirty-five prosecutions for
breaches of the assize of ale, and this involves that
many more were brewing and selling ale on legal terms.
Not only the demands of market days, but especially
the healthy thirst of the soldiers who were constantly
encamped in Liverpool during this period, makes it
natural to imagine almost every burgess as making some
profit in this way.
The mills play an important part in the life of the
borough.1" In I2561" there had been three mills,
two water-mills and a windmill, probably all at or
near the same place, on the stream which ran into
the upper end of the Pool, where a mill-dam remained
long after the mills had vanished. By 1 296 one of
the water-mills had disappeared ; m by 1 3 2 3 the second
had been replaced by a horse-mill,125 probably in
Castle Street. The single windmill was that of
Eastham, on the rising ground south-east of the Pool,
behind the modern art gallery. By 1348 m a second
windmill had been added. This was the Townsend
Mill, which stood close to the Eastham Mill, near the
site of the Wellington monument. The horse-mill
still survived, and the three mills were included in the
leases held by the burgess body from (at the latest)
1348 ; each of them being separately sub leased to a
working miller. At one or another of these mills all
inhabitants of Liverpool were bound to grind, and
they may also have been used by some of the neigh-
bouring townships.117 Much the most important of
the mills was that of Eastham, for which, in the next
century, twice as much rent was paid as for the
Townsend Mill."8 In 1375 it was leased to William
son of Adam de Liverpool, the most important burgess
of the period.119 The lessors were Richard Nunn, the
parson, and John Heathorn, who may have acted on be-
half of the burgess body. The Townsend Mill, and per-
haps the horse-mill, may have been held by the Moore
family, who held them both at a later date ; Sir Edward
Moore, in the I /th century, claimed that his ancestors
had built the Townsend Mill.130 Thus the mills of
the borough were probably in the hands of its two
chief families.
It would be possible to give, from the Moore and
Crosse deeds, the assessments for subsidies, and the
burgess roll of 1346, an account of a number of
principal families in the town. Some of these were
branches of important county families, or landholders
in neighbouring townships. Such were the Waltons,
lords of the manor of Walton, who held the serjeanty
111 Duchy of Lane. Mins. Accts. bdle.
103, no. 1821.
"1* Harl. MSS. 2101, fol. 208.
118 Pat. ii Edw. II, pt. i, m. 14.
"'Chester Pleas, 27 Edw. III.
114 Moore D. 280 (20), 297 (38), 309
(50), &c.
115 The pavage grants give long lists of
commodities upon which dues may be
charged, but in all probability these were
conventional lists, and cannot be taken as
representing the actual commodities dealt
in. "6 Close, 40 Edw. Ill, m. 22.
"7 Picton, Munic. Rec. i, 77. "8 Ibid.
"'Duchy of Lane. Assize R. no. 2. pt.
2, m. 4 d. lao Picton, Munic. Rec. i, 74.
121 Lane. Ct. R. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches. xli), 77.
laa Bennett and Elton, op. cit. iv,
125-210.
128 Duchy of Lane. Mins. Accts. bdle.
1094, no. ii.
124 Inq. p.m. 25 Edw. I, no. 51.
185 L.T.R. Enr. Accts. loc. cit.
138 Duchy of Lane. Accti. various, bdle.
32, no. 17.
la/ Everton, e.g. which had no mill of
its own.
198 Duchy of Lane. Mins. Accts. bdle.
101, no. 1800.
129 Moore D. no. 450.
"» Moore Rental (ed. W. F. Irvine),
63 ff. 87.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
WALTON or Walton.
Sable three swans ar-
gent.
of the wapentake of West Derby,"1 and provided at
least one constable for the Castle of Liverpool ; 1M in
1 346 Richard de Walton held four burgages in Liver-
pool;133 or the Fazakerleys, or the Irelands of Hale, or
the Booties of Kirkdale, or
the hereditary reeves of West
Derby, all of whom held lands
in Liverpool. Among the
more purely burghal families
something might be said of
the Barons, the Corvesors, the
Longwros, the Mariotsons, the
Tippups. But two families
stand out in such marked pro-
minence as to deserve special
mention. The first of these
was the family of Liverpool,
which from the mere fact
that it habitually used the place-name as its sur-
name may be supposed to have been settled in the
borough from a very early date. In 1346 the
various members of the family seem to hold among
them something like fifteen burgages,134 and the
Moore and Crosse deeds show them making constant
ac ]uisitions. The earliest notice of a member of this
family, Richard de Liverpool, occurs between 1212
and I226;135 and it may be his son, or grandson,
who, as Adam son of Richard, is recorded as one of the
first Liverpool members of Parliament. From the
beginning of the 1 4th century their genealogy can be
traced in detail.186 Adam de Liverpool, who in 1346
held five and five- eighths burgages, had in 1332 paid a
larger sum towards the subsidy on goods than any
other person in Liverpool ; 137
and he was one of the jurors
in the Inquisition into the
earl's lands in 1346. His
father, his uncle, his brother,
and his nephews, each in their
generation appear in more or
less prominent positions. But
the most distinguished member
of the family was William son
of Adam, whose will has been
already referred to. He lived
through the period of the re-
vival of burghal liberties, dying
in 1383, and he played a principal part in securing this
remarkable advance. He was the first recorded mayor
of Liverpool in 1351, and though the list of mayors is
JL
LIVFRPOOL. Quarterly
gules and or a cross
formy argent.
far from complete, he is known to have held the
office eleven times.138 As mayor he received, and
probably took a large part in obtaining, the writ for the
erection of the chapel of St. Nicholas in 13 56."' In
1357 he is named first among the lessees of the great
lease of the farm of the borough which forms so remark-
able a landmark in the history of burghal liberties.140 In
1361 he was rewarded by Duke Henry, for * the good
and free service' which he had done, by the grant of
a pension of zos. for life from the profits of a West
Derby manor.1" We have already seen him a tenant
of the principal mill of Liverpool. In addition he
owned a bakery in Castle Street,141 and seems to have
controlled a fishery, probably leasing from the duke
the weir which he had erected near Toxteth Park.148
In short, he is at once the wealthiest and the most
public-spirited Liverpool burgess of his day.144
William de Liverpool left two sons, by different
wives, both named John, one of whom founded the
chantry of St. John in the Liverpool Chapel,145 perhaps
in memory of his father ; but his lands and his mill
presently passed into the hands of Richard de
Crosse, a son of his wife by another marriage.146 With
him begins the connexion with Liverpool of the Crosse
family, who are to play an exceedingly prominent part
in the affairs of the borough during the next century.147
The other branches of the Liverpool family seem to
have adopted various surnames, especially William-
son 14S and Richardson, and to have become indistin-
guishably merged in the mass of burgesses.
The other principal Liverpool family of whom
mention must be made was
that of the Moores, for whom
their descendant Sir Edward
Moore claims that they were
established in Liverpool from
the earliest date.149 This claim
is probably not without justi-
fication if, as seems likely,
they took their name 15° from
the moorish piece of ground
which lay to the north of
the upper end of the Pool,
at the end of Moor Street
or Tithebarn Street ; and we
may regard them as the rivals of the Liverpool
family throughout the first three centuries of the
borough's history. Their seat, More Hall, lay at
the northern end of the house-covered area, and
its gardens ran down to the estuary. When in
MOORE 01 ivl o r e
Hall. Argent three
greyhounds courant In
pale sable collared or.
181 See V.C.H. Lanes, iii, 3.
811 Lane. Exch. R. 20 Edw. I.
138 Extent of 1 346 already quoted.
134 From the burgess roll appended to
the Extent of 1 346. But owing to the
dropping of the surname, it is not possible
to be certain in the allocation of their
lands.
m Margaret, relict of Adam de Garston,
married Richard de Liverpool between
1 21 2 and 1226 ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents
(Rec. Soc,), i, 128 ; Whalley Coucher,
579-
86 Mr. Elton has given an account of
some of the principal members of the
family in his paper on « William the ton
of Adam,' Trans. Hist. Soc. (new sen) xix-
"» 133-
"7 Exch. Lay Subsidies.
188 Elton, 'Early Recorded Mayors of
Liv.' Trans. Hut. Soc. (new ser.), xviii.
189 Pat. 29 Edw. Ill ; see Okill, iv, 415.
140 Duchy of Lane. Chan. R. no. 2.
141 Close R. of Duke Henry, 52.
142 Moore D. no. 257.
148 Ibid. ' Quoddam gurgitum vocatum
le ffisheyard juxta parcum de Toxtath'
is mentioned in the Extent of 1346 (but
in no other document) as yielding 6r. per
annum.
144 His will contains one of the few
personal notes surviving from the me-
diaeval period. ' I bequeath my soul to
God and the blessed Virgin and all saints
and my body to be buried in the Chapel of
Liverpool before the face of the image of
the Virgin, where is my appointed place of
burial. I leave to be distributed in bread
on the day of my burial three quarters of
wheat. I leave six pounds of wax to be
used about my body. I leave to every
priest in the chapel of Liverpool fourpence.
IO
I leave the rest of my goods to Katherine
my wife and our children born of her* ;
Crosse D. no. 77.
143 Raines, Lanes. Chantries (Chet. Soc.
lix), 82.
146 Add. MS. 32105, GG. 2301, 2840.
147 Perhaps their mansion of Crosse
Hall, with its croft sloping down to the
Pool near the town's end on the south side
of Dale Street, may represent the original
home of William son of Adam.
148 In 1668 Sir E. Moore writes of
Richard Williamson and his relations.
4 There is a great faction of them . . .
They have always been enemies of me and
all yourpredecessors time out of the memory
of man' ; Moore Rental (ed. W. F. Irvine),
58 and note.
149 Moore Rental (ed. W. F. Irvine), 8,
in.
150 Moore D. 377 (120) et passim.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
LIVERPOOL
the 1 5th century they acquired a large amount of
land in Kirkdale,151 and built a new mansion, Bank
Hall, there, the More Hall came to be called the
Old Hall ; and has given its name to a modern street.
They appear in prominent parts in the borough
affairs, contemporary with the Liverpools. In 1 246
Ranulf de More appears as reeve of Liverpool,15* and
in 1292 John de la Mor, along with Richard de
Liverpool, represented the burgesses at the Quo
Warranto plea already referred to.153 Down to the
middle of the 1 4th century they are frequently found
acting as bailiffs.154 The younger members of the
family seem often to have acted as clerks, and in that
capacity to have written and preserved many deeds of
land-transfer ; 155 hence the archives of the family
included numerous deeds not relating to their own
lands. In 1346 the holdings of the family in Liver-
pool included sixteen and one-eighth burgages,156 so
that they slightly surpassed the Liverpools. In 1348
it was John del Mor who held, probably on behalf of
the burgesses, the farm of the tolls, market, and mills.157
But after that date the leadership of the borough seems
to have been wrested from them by the Liverpools.
While William son of Adam held the mayoralty at
least eleven times, and his intimate friend and ally,
Richard de Aynsargh, nine times, the name of Moore
is conspicuously absent from the roll of mayors until
1 38 2, 1M when William de Liverpool had practically
retired. Thereafter the Moores in their turn have
almost a monopoly of the mayoralty.159 There seems
here to be indicated a keen rivalry between these two
leading houses, which would doubtless be accentuated
if, as has been suggested above, both were rival millers.
This rivalry found vent in the law courts when in
1374 Thomas del More sued William de Liverpool
for having dispossessed him of the Castle Street bakery,
the fishery and some turbary.160 The matter was
compromised by William's remaining in possession,
but paying More an annual rent of 3*. These are
the dim echoes of what was probably a pretty lively
feud.
Outside of the liberties of the borough, but con-
stantly affecting its fortunes, was the castle. It was
ruled by a constable, receiving an annual salary of
£6 6s. %d. ; 1S1 the constable was generally, if not
always, also keeper of Toxteth Park, and sometimes
also of Croxteth and Simonswood Parks,163 for which
he received a further salary of £2. The connexion
of Toxteth Park in particular with Liverpool was so
intimate that in the next century the Crown found it
necessary to make a special statement in the farm
leases reserving it from the farm.163 The names of
several constables survive ; 16< the office at this period
being not yet hereditary, as it became in the next
century. The constable did not usually reside in the
castle, but in a house just outside of its gate.165 In
normal times there was no standing garrison in the
castle, and the permanent paid staff seems to have con-
sisted of a watchman and a doorkeeper, each of whom was
paid I \d. per diem.166 There were, however, several
houses within the castle,167 where there may have been
permanent rent-paying residents, though they may
have been reserved for the use of the officers of the
forces, which constantly passed through the town. A
detailed list of the castle plenishment survives ; 16S it
includes 186 pallets, 107 spears, 39 lances, 15
bal/istae, ^ engines, 7 ' acketouns, old and weak,' I
large vat for brewing, and a considerable amount of
domestic furniture.
The 1 5th century, for many English trading
ports a period of advance, was for Liverpool a period
of retrogression — in population, prosperity, and politi-
cal freedom. The process of decay does not perhaps
become evident until the reign of Henry VI ; but
already, before that date, the causes which were to
contribute to it were making their appearance :
namely, the weakness of the Crown, and the turbulence
of the uncontrolled nobility. In I4o6169 Sir John
Stanley obtained licence to fortify a house in Liver-
pool. This was the Tower, at the bottom of Water
Street, which remained in the possession of the house
of Stanley until the Commonwealth. This is the first
appearance in the borough of a family which from that
time onward was to play a mightily important part in its
history. The reason for it was that, having acquired
the Isle of Man as a result of the forfeiture of the
Percies after the battle of Shrewsbury, Stanley needed
a base for communications with his new dominion.
The Tower seems to have been, at any rate occasionally,
used as a residence by the family ; it was frequently
occupied by troops. Thus the town was burdened
by the presence of a second feudal fortress, only a
bowshot from the original castle.
By the accession of Henry IV, which united the
duchy of Lancaster to the Crown, Liverpool again
came under direct royal control. It might have been
expected that this would redound to the advantage of
the borough, but the reverse was the case. The lease of
the farm of the borough of 1393 was, it is true, con-
firmed by Henry IV ; 17° but only for the remainder of
its term, which expired in 1410. Immediately on its
expiration serious trouble began. From an interesting
memorandum inscribed on the back of the confirma-
tion 171 it appears that the burgesses had resolved to
apply not only for a renewal, but also for a supple-
mentary charter, conveying to them new powers, in
particular the right to hold courts under the Statute
of Merchants and the right to make arrests for debt.
Henry V did actually grant a charter 171 in the first
year of his reign, probably as a result of this applica-
tion ; but it was merely a confirmation of the previous
charters, and its sole advantage was that by disregard-
ing the charter of Richard II it restored to the bur-
gess body the right of prohibiting non-members of
the gild to trade in the town. But it was over the
renewal of the lease that the chief difficulties arose.
151 See under Bootle and Kirkdale for
the lands of the Moores outside of
Liverpool.
152 Assize R. 1404, m. 16.
lss Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 381.
154 Moore D. fatsim. lss Ibid.
168 Extent of 1 346, loc. cit.
1J7 Duchy of Lane. Accts. various, bdle.
32, no. 17.
158 Elton, loc. cit. ; Moore D. 255.
1S» Ibid. Thomas del More held the
mayoralty at least 16 times — more often
than any other Liverpool man has ever
done.
160 Moore D. 190, 230, 231, 257.
161 e.g. Harl. Cod. 433, fol. 317*.
162 e.g. Reg. Due. Lane. 46 Edw. Ill,
fol. 50, 232 ; 14 Hen. IV, fol. 29.
168 Duchy of Lane. Mins. Accts. bdle.
117, no. 1934.
164 A partial list is given in Gregson's
Fragments.
II
185 Moore D. 452 (169*7).
188 L.T.R. Enr. Accts. Misc. 14, m.
77-
W Duchy of Lane. Book of Orders, &c.
Edw. IV, 140.
16» L.T.R. Enr. Accts. loc. cit.
169 Pat. 7 Hen. IV, pt. ii, m. 14.
17° Hist. Munic. Go-vt. in Liv. 308.
1^1 Original lost ; printed in Gregson's
Fragments, 352 ; Hist. M unic. Go-vt. in Li-v.
309. VS Ibid. 1 6 1.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
being forgotten on both sides. This was the control
of the waste, which from this time remained burghal
It appears from the memorandum already referred to
that the mayor and leading burgesses had to face
opposition on the part of a section of the inhabitants property.
described as ' those that hold of the king in Liverpool/ Itjs not known what was the^ result of the petition
and, in order to frighten these recusants into line,
hought of obtaining a privy seal ordering them all to
appear before the king's council in London, unless
they came to an agreement with the mayor. * Those
that held land of the king ' can only have been the
tenants in the recent inclosure in Salthouse Moor. It
has already been suggested that these tenants had been
separately governed up till 1393, when the great lease
put them under the control of the burgess body. If
they had been since that date forced to pay 'scot
and lot,' to bear their share of burgess burdens without
being admitted to burgess privileges, it is easy to
understand why they should object to a renewal of
the lease, and should prefer to return to the state of
things before 1393. It is probably due to their
opposition that the lease was not renewed in all its
amplitude. No lease at all, indeed, survives for the
period 1411-21. But such evidence as exists goes to
show that the burgesses obtained a partial farm con-
sisting of the market tolls, ferry and burgage-rents ; the
perquisites of courts and the mills, together with other
miscellaneous rights, being reserved by the Crown and
administered by royal agents, who now reappeared in
the borough for the first time since 1393, or perhaps
since 1357. The rent paid by the burgesses seems
to have been £22 17*. 6J."*
But trouble at once resulted from this arrangement.
In 1 41 3 m the royal agents do not appear to have
been able to collect any money at all ; and in the
following years they got only £2$ to £26, including
the burgesses' payments, in place of the ^38 paid
under the old lease. There is no entry at all in their
accounts for perquisites of courts ; the only moneys
they were able to get over and above the ' rent and
farms' which represent the burgesses' payment was
a payment for mills, generally largely swallowed
up in repairs. The explanation of this curious state
of affairs is to be found in an interesting petition sent
by the burgesses to the House of Commons in 141 5,'"
in which they ask for protection against the ' officers
and servants ' of the king, who, * since the confirmation
(of 1413) and not before . . . have come, usurped
and held certain courts ' in the borough, in defiance
of the terms of all the burghal charters, and of the
king's own confirmation. By right of the grant of
sac and soc contained in these charters, the burgesses
claimed to ' have at all times had and continued a
court ' and to ' have taken and received the perquisites
of the said court with all the profits belonging
thereto.' The assertion that the king had no claim
to the profits of burghal justice is directly contra-
dicted by the whole preceding history of the borough :
it was only since 1357 that the burgesses had taken
these profits, and then only in virtue of a special
grant in the lease. But the episode is a striking
illustration of the difficulty of regaining rights
once conveyed by lease. One right included in the
lease of 1393 was not even claimed by the Crown,
to Parliament, which was referred to the king's
council. But the burgesses continued to resist the
royal agents, and to hold the courts themselves ; and
apparently they also quarrelled with the Crown over
some question of tolls — possibly customs duties such
as the prisage on wine, which in later leases the Crown
is careful to define as not being covered by the lease.
At length in 1420"" the steward of West Derby
Hundred was ordered to summon all the mayors and
bailiffs of Liverpool for the preceding seven years to
appear before the Exchequer Court of the duchy at
Lancaster ' to render us account for the time they
have held our courts at Liverpool . . . and for the
tolls and other profits levied by them in the mean-
time.' This summons, however, had no better result.
In the next year (1421) Henry V found it necessary
to grant a lease '" of the whole farm, without limita-
tion, for a year, pending an inquiry into the terms on
which it ought to be held. The rent paid was £23 ;
that is, 2s. 6d. more than the burgesses had been
paying for their partial farm, and £15 less than they
had paid up till 1410. Before this inquiry could be
completed Henry V had died, and during the
minority of his son it was npt to be expected that
rights would be enforced which the vigorous father
had failed to defend. The burgesses continued to
hold a lease, at the slightly increased figure of
£23 6s. 8</., until I449-178 Thus the conflict with
the Crown had ended in a burghal victory ; the bur-
gesses were left in possession of several royal rights,
above all the control of the waste and the supre-
macy of the Borough Court over all the inhabi-
tants.
In the meanwhile, however, the disorder and tur-
bulence of the district had been increasing. In 1424
a violent feud broke out between Thomas Stanley
and Sir Richard Molyneux.179 Ralph RadclifFe and
James Holt, justices of the peace for Lancashire, were
sent by the sheriff" to keep order. They found Stanley
entrenched in his father's tower in Liverpool, with
about 2,000 men, waiting for the attack of Sir Richard
Molyneux, who was advancing from West Derby with
1 ,000 men or more in battle array. The two pro-
tagonists were both arrested by the sheriff, and forced
to withdraw, Stanley to Kenilworth, and Molyneux
to Windsor. Record of this episode, which nearly
made the streets of the borough the scene of a pitched
battle, survives because the period of full anarchy was
not yet begun. The episodes of the age of the war
are left unrecorded.180
In February 1421-2 Sir Richard Molyneux ob-
tained a grant of the constableship of Liverpool
Castle, together with the stewardship of West Derby
and Salford, and the forestership of Toxteth, Crox-
teth, and Simonswood.181 In 1440-1 the offices
were renewed for the lives of Sir Richard and his
son, and five years later they were made hereditary.181
In 1442 the castle was further fortified by the erection
1'8 Duchy of Lane. Min». Accts. bdle.
731, no. 1202 id; Hist. Munic. Govt. in
Li-v. 56 n. 4, and 58 n. I.
^Mins. Accti. B 731, 12017, 1*019*,
12027.
"s Rot. Par/, iv, 55 ; Hitt. Munic. Govt.
in Li-v, 399.
176 Duchy of Lane. Misc. vol. 17, fol.
87.
17" Ibid. fol. loo.
V* Ming. Accts. bdles. 117, 732, 733 ;
Hist. Munic. Go-vt. in Liv. 112, 717.
™ Dods. MSS. 87, 89.
180 The outrage at Bewsey in 1437 in
12
which the leader, Pooie, is described as a
Liverpool man, it another significant
episode.
181 Reg. Due. Lane. Bk. 17, fol.
75-
183 Ibid. ; Com. Hen. VI, fol. 57*;
Okill Transcripts, iv, 275.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
LIVERPOOL
of the south-east tower.183 The cost of the addition
was £46 1 3*. i oj</. The stone was obtained from
Toxteth Park, the wood from the royal forest, now
controllel by Molyneux, and the money from the
Dachy Exchequer. Throughout the period the
expenditure in repairs of the castle was large and
constant.184 The effect of the establishment of the
Stanleys in the tower, and of the Molyneuxes in the
castle, was to leave the borough very much at the
mercy of the two great noble houses entrenched
MOLYNEUX. Asairt
a crust moline or.
STANLEY. Argent
on a bend azure three
harts' heads cabossed or.
in their midst, especially at a period when the
Crown was perfectly incapable of maintaining order.
Simultaneously, the prosperity of the borough steadily
diminished,184 and it was not till the beginning of the
1 7th century that it again stood on the level to
which it had attained at the beginning of the i$th,
either in population or in trade.
The decay is most strikingly demonstrated in the
history of the lease. The last of the continuous
series of burgess leases which followed the quarrel
with the Crown expired in 1449, and apparently
the burgesses found themselves
unable to offer to continue
it. A royal agent, Edmund
Crosse,186 of the local family
already noticed, appears ; but
could only collect a little less
than £19 in 1450, and
£15 14*. in 1452, as com-
pared with even the reduced
rent of £23 6s. %d. long paid
by the burgesses. The most
striking decline is in the
market-tolls, which in 1450
yield only £2, though in
1327 they had yielded £10, and in 1346 much
more. The failure of Crosse to produce increased
revenues enabled the burgesses to get a new farm
in I454187 at the low rent of £ij 6s. 8</., but they
were 5/. in arrears on the first year, though they
had never been in arrears when they had to pay £38.
In 1461 Edmund Crosse again rendered account188:
the town was at farm, whether held by himself or
by the burgess body it is not possible to say. But
it was a * new farm, ' and the rent was only £14. Dur-
CROSSE. Quarterly
gules and or a cross po-
tent argent in the jirit
and fourth quarters.
ing the period of this lease the Crown, disregarding its
terms, made a special grant of one of the mills 189 and
of one of the two ferry-rights,190 apparently with the
desire of increasing the yield. The burgesses held a
lease at £14 from 1466 to 1471 ; but for the last two
years of the period no account was rendered. The
civil war had broken out afresh after Warwick's insur-
rection, and the burgesses were either suffering from
its effects, or seized the opportunity to withhold pay-
ment. When Edward IV was again safely established
on his throne, he did his best to exact arrears for these
two years ; but never succeeded in getting from the
poverty-stricken burgesses more than £9 of the ^28
due from them.191 He did not renew their tenure,
but granted a lease, this time unquestionably a per-
sonal lease, to Edmund Crosse (1472) at ,£14 2J.191
The burgesses never regained the lease. But even
Crosse was unable to pay so modest a figure. Three
years Iater(i475) his son, on having the lease renewed,193
got the extra ^s. knocked off again, and obtained also a
concession of the two rural mills of Ackers and Waver-
tree, in addition to the burghal mills. But this was
not enough. In the next year (1476) he obtained a
revised lease,194 by which the rent was reduced to £ 1 1 .
This represents probably the lowest ebb of Liverpool
prosperity. When, in 1488, the lease passed out of
the hands of the Crosses and was granted to David
Griffith,195 the rent was raised to .£14; this was in-
creased to £14 6s. %d. in I528,196 and at that figure
it remained. Evidence is lacking as to the trade of
the port during this period ; but its absence is in itself
significant. And indeed it is needless to ask for more
striking evidence of the decay of the borough than that
afforded by the leases of the farm. At the same time
the very misery of the place, removing it from all
envy, saved to it some valuable privileges.197 The
control of the burgess body over the waste, their right
to conduct their own courts, and the extension of their
governmental authority over the non-burgess inhabi-
tants, should probably be regarded as having been estab-
lished by usage in this period of helplessness and poverty.
It is with the Tudor period that the material for
Liverpool history begins to be abundant. To the
regular records of the borough, which begin in 1555,
there is prefixed a collection of ' elder precedences,'
some of them dating from 1525; and in addition,
the national or duchy muniments provide ampler
material than before. But the reign of Henry VII,
the period of transition, is still very scantily supplied.
Substantially all that is known of this period is that
in 1488 Henry VII gave a lease of the farm to
David Griffith,198 in whose family it remained till
I537199 at the increased rent of ^14 ; that in 1492
he empowered Thomas Fazakerley 20° to form a fishing
station on the shore of the waste, between Toxteth
Park and the Pool ; that in 1498 the burgesses were
summoned to a Quo Warranto™ plea which does not
seem to have been heard ; and that in 1486 he made
to one Richard Cookm a grant of ferry at £3 per
183 Okill Transcripts, iv, zo8 ; Cox,
4 Liv. Castle,' Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.)
vi, 195 ff.
184 Okill, iv, 208, has summarized these
expenditures from the Mins. Accts.
184 A like decline is observable in the
prosperity of Preston at this period,
though the circumstances, apart from the
•weakness of the Crown and the distress
caused by the war, were different from
those of Liverpool.
is« Duchy of Lanes. Mins. Accts. bdle.
101, no. 1800; 117, no. 1941.
18'Ibid. 101, no. 1804.
188 Ibid. 102, no. 1820.
189 Duchy of Lane. Chan. R. 3 Edw. IV,
no. 54 ; Hist. Munic. Govt. in Lii>. 318.
190 Chan. R. 8 ; Hist. Munic. Go-vt. 319.
191 Duchy of Lane. Mins. Accts. bdle.
1 02, no. 1818.
193 Duchy of Lane. Chan. R. no. 55 ;
Hist. Munic. Govt. 321.
'3
198 Chan. R. 55 } Hist. Munic. Govt. 324.
194 Chan. R. 57; Hist. Munic. Go-vt. 325.
194 Duchy of Lane. Misc. no. 21.
196 Croxteth Mun. (Liv. box 10, R 2,
no. 2).
19? On this see Hist. Munic. Govt. 62-6.
198 Hist. Munic. Go-vt. 328.
199 Ibid. 329, 330, 331.
200 Duchy of Lane. Reg. Bk.
801 Hist. Munic. Go-vt. 401.
202 Ibid. 327.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
annum, and for icven years, in place of a grant for life
and without rent, which had been made two years
before by Richard III.*03
In the first half of the 1 6th century Liverpool
seems to have begun slowly to emerge from the
profound depression of the previous period, though
even in the second half she is still described as a
' decayed town.' Perhaps the revival was partly due
to the renewed use of the port, under Henry VIII,
for transport to Ireland. Skeffington's army in 1534
shipped from Chester and Liverpool ; 1M and a
memorial of 1537 for the instruction of the king
states that the army in Ireland ' must be vitelid with
bere, biskett, flowre, butter, chease, and fleshe out of
Chestre, Lirpole, Northwales and Southwales and
Bristow.' wi Some of the bullion required by the Irish
army was also exported through Liverpool.*06 Probably
the Irish trade of the port revived as a consequence.
Leland, in a brief note on Liverpool,107 says that
' Irish merchants come much thither, as to a good
haven ... At Liverpool is small custom paid that
causeth merchants to resort. Good merchandize at
Liverpool ; and much Irish yarn, that Manchester
men do buy there.' Thus already Liverpool was
importing raw material for the nascent industries of
Lancashire, and exporting the finished product.80* We
hear of one Liverpool merchant*09 trading with
Drogheda, who in 1538 had for sale 1 2 Ib. of London
silks, and 1 2 pieces of kerseys, white, green and blue ;
three of the latter sold for £15 izs. But the trade
of the reviving port extended beyond home waters.
Edmund Gee of Chester and Liverpool, who is
spoken of as the 'chief man and head merchant' of
Liverpool,110 persuaded a Spaniard, Lope de Rivera,
to import into Liverpool large quantities of wine ; *u
in 1 5 34 the deputy- butler for Lancashire complains
that William Collinges has imported 1 8 tuns of wine
into Liverpool without paying prisage ; "* while in
1545 we hear of a Biscayan ship 'stayed at Liver-
poole.' m When the embitterment of the Reforma-
tion struggle led English traders to prey upon
Spanish ships, Liverpool sailors seem to have taken
some part in these piratical adventures : in 1555
Inigo de Baldram, a Spaniard, complained to the
Privy Council that he had been robbed by 'pirates
of Lierpole and Chester.' *u But the Spanish trade
can only have been of the smallest proportions ; even
that with Ireland, the staple of Liverpool traffic, was
humble enough.
Within the borough a modest development can be
traced. In 1516 Oldhall Street was, by agreement
with William Moore of the Oldhall, made an open
road to the fields.*15 From 1524 a deed survives*16
in which the burgesses granted to Sir William
Molyneux at a rental of 6s. a few roods of waste land
beside the Moor Green, for the erection of a tithe-
barn to hold the tithes of Walton Church, which
belonged to the Molyneux family. Moor Street now
becomes Tithebarn Street. The importance of this
deed is that it shows the burgesses acting as owners of
the waste ; and this is still more clearly exhibited
in a borough rental of 1523,"' prefixed to the
Municipal Records, in which eight tenants pay
among them js. ^d. for patches of common. A
rental of the king's lands in Liverpool *18 dating from
1539 yields further interesting particulars. The
total value was £10 is. ^d.t which was, of course,
included in the lease of the farm. It is significant that
only 3f burgages are enumerated ; which appears
to indicate that the burgage as a distinctive holding
was passing out of use. Twenty-six burgages were
included among the endowments of the four chantries
in I546.*19
The early years of the century saw the establish-
ment of the last of the chantries, that of the priest John
Crosse, who provided that the chaplain should also
teach a school.*20 His will contains also a bequest to
the ' mayor and his brethren with the burgesses ' of
the * new [house] called our Ladie house to kepe their
courtes and such busynes as they shall thynke most
expedient.' Thus by one act the borough became
possessed of a school and a town hall.
The period, however, witnessed a number of dis-
putes between the burgesses and the Crown or the
lessees of the farm. In 1514 (David Griffith with
his wife and son being then the lessees) *21 a com-
mission *** was appointed by the Crown ' on the be-
half of our farmer of our toll within our said town
of Liverpool ' to inquire whether ' the Mayor and
Burgesses . . . for their own singular lucre and
advantage now of late have made many and divers
foreign men not resident nor abiding in the said
town to be burgesses of the same town to the intent
to defraud us and our right of toll there.' The result
of this inquiry (which was probably due to dissatis-
faction with the yield of the farm) is not known.
But it shows the burgesses trying to recoup them-
selves for the loss of the farm by taking payments
for the admission of non-burgesses to that exemption
from dues which was their chartered privilege. In
I528*2S another commission was appointed to
' survey search and examine the concealments and
subtraction of all and every such tolls customs and
forfeitures as to us rightfully should belong ... of any
goods . . . conveyed to or from our port of Liver-
pool.' In the next year a new cause of quarrel
appears. Thirteen men had been working a ferry
from Liverpool to Runcorn. This ferry-right the
lessee, Henry Ackers, claimed to be covered by the
farm ; and as a result of his complaint to the Crown, the
mayor was ordered m to put an end to this illegal
ferry. The order seems to have been neglected, for
908 Hist. Muntc. Go-vt. 326. As a ferry-
right was also included in the farm
lease, this grant is only explicable on the
assumption that there were two ferries.
The probability ie that Cook's ferry plied
between Liverpool and Runcorn.
«">« State Papers, Hen. VIII, ii, 205.
*» Ibid, ii, 4!5.
908 Acts of P.O. 1552-4, p. 104.
807 Leland, Itin. vii, fol. 50, 44.
**See Duchy Plead, v, m. 2 (19
Hen. VIII).
*» Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lane*,
and Ches. xxxv), ii, 119.
910 In the judgement in the case of
Molyneux v. Corporation of Liv. ; Hist.
Munic. GO-HI. 411.
211 Duchy Plead, ix, c. 10, p. 47.
212 Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches. xxxv), ii, 50.
918 Acts of P.O. 1542-7, p. 248.
814 Ibid. 1554-6, p. 236.
a6 Okill Transcripts, xiv, 118.
814 In the Municipal archives.
V Munic. Rec. i, 5.
818 Printed in Gregson, Fragment*, App.
Lxv«
219 Raines, Lanes. Chant. (Chet. Soc.
lix), 82-93.
220 Duchy of Lane. Depositions, P.
& M. v, m. 3 ; Inventories of CA. Gds.
(Chet. Soc. cxiii), 97-8.
821 Duchy of Lane. Misc. zi ; Hist.
Munic. Go-vt. in Li-v. 329.
222 Duchy of Lane. Misc. 95, 366 ;
Hist. Munic. Go-vt. in Li-v. 402.
828 Duchy of Lane. Misc. 22 ; Hist.
Munic. Go-vt, in Li-v. 403.
224 Duchy of Lane. Misc. 95, fol. 104 b ;
Hist. Munic. Govt. in Liv. 403.
ii mi mi
LIVERPOOL : OLD TITHE BARN
{From a Water-colour Drawing, c. 1800)
LIVERPOOL : ST. JOHN'S LANE, 1865
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
in the next year Ackers petitioned the Chancellor of
the Duchy for redress.225 The dispute was settled
by the lessee granting a sub-lease226 to the burgess
body, whereby they undertook to collect all the
customs, tolls, and ferry-dues, and pay half of the total
proceeds and £10. The royal rents of j£io and
the mills (separately leased at 5O/.)227 were excluded
from this sub-lease ; and as the sub-lease must have
yielded to the lessor at least .£20, his income from
the town must have amounted to over £32, yielding
him a handsome profit after he had paid his £ 1 4 6s. %d.
to the Crown. Incidentally these figures show that
the town was regaining much of its prosperity, and
approximating to the conditions of 1394, when the
rent was £38 ; though it should be remembered
that the value of money had in the meantime
materially declined.
Of the effects of the first stages of the Reformation
there is little to record. The only monastic property
connected with the borough
was the house and barn in
Water Street and the ferry-
right over the Mersey, which
belonged to the Priors of Bir-
kenhead, and passed with the
manor of Birkenhead to Ralph
Worsley. But the later con-
fiscation of the chantries affect-
ed Liverpool deeply. There
were now four chantries in the
chapel of St. Nicholas ; their
lands in 1546 had been worth
£21 us. 3//.,228 paying in
chief rents to the king I o/. 3</.22*
The lands of two of these chantries — those of the
High Altar and of St. John — were sold, though the
priests attached to them seem to have remained resi-
dent in the town.230 Among the purchasers 2S1 were
many of the burgesses of Liverpool, who were thus to
some extent committed to support of the Reformation.
The lands of the chantries of St. Nicholas and St.
Katherine remained in the hands of the Crown, and
their revenues were respectively devoted to the main-
tenance of a priest for the Liverpool chapel and of a
schoolmaster for the parish of Walton,232 the pre-sup-
pression chantry priests remaining to perform these
functions.233 In 1565 the administration of these lands
seems to have been transferred from the Duchy officers
to the mayor and burgesses,234 who added further
revenues raised among themselves,234 and henceforth
controlled the appointment both of the priest and of
the schoolmaster of the town.
Difference of opinion on the religious question may
WORSLEY. Argent a
cheveron sable between
three falcons of the last
beaked legged and belled
LIVERPOOL
have helped to precipitate a serious quarrel between
the borough and the lessee of the farm. This had
been since 1537 in the hands of Sir William Moly-
neux236 and his son Sir Richard, who however had
continued the arrangement of their predecessors
whereby the burgesses administered the various powers
and collected the dues,237 retaining half of them on
payment of .£10 per annum. In 1552 a mysterious
lease was issued by Edward VI to one James Bedyll.238
It never took effect, but it may have been intended as
an attack by the Protestant court upon the Roman
Catholic Molyneuxes. If we suppose the burgesses
to have been concerned in obtaining this lease, the
quarrel with Molyneux which broke out immediately
on the accession of Mary is easier to understand. Moly-
neux obtained a renewal 2S9 of his lease, though his
previous lease was still unexpired, and, the sub-lease
to the burgesses having expired,2" he put in his own
officers to collect the dues and hold the portmoot.
The burgesses on their side obtained a confirmation
of their charters,241 though, having apparently over-
looked the charter of Henry V,242 it was the less favour-
able charter of Richard II of which they obtained a
renewal. They seem to have trusted to this to justify
their claim to collect the dues and hold the portmoot,
which they proceeded to do in spite of the lessee, even
throwing his agents into prison.243 The question was
tried before the Chancery Court of the Duchy244
which gave its award on every point in favour of the
lessees, awarding them * all and singular tolls and other
profits in any wise appertaining to the said town,'
whether paid by freemen or by strangers, and also
definitely declaring that the lessee had the right to
* keep courts within the said town . . after such sort
... as the courts . . have been used to be kept,'
and that suit at these courts must be rendered by all
inhabitants.144 This was a serious blow to the bur-
gesses ; and, while space does not permit of an exam-
ination of the question, it seems clear that the burgesses
were deprived of some rights which justly belonged to
them.14' Two years later, on the intercession of Lord
Strange and the attorney of the Duchy court, the
quarrel was compromised by the renewal to the bur-
gesses of the old sub-lease, which seems to have been
continued throughout the remainder of the cen-
tury.247
The municipal records from 1555 enable a clear
account to be given of the mode of government to
which the burgesses had now attained. At an as-
sembly of burgesses held on St. Luke's Day,! 8 October,
a mayor and one bailiff were elected, a second bailiff
being nominated by the new mayor at the same
meeting.248 Other assemblies were held as occasion
225 Duchy of Lane. Judic. Proc., Plead-
ings, iv ; Hist. Munic, Go-vt. in Li-v. 404 ;
Lane. Pleadings (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches. xxxii), i, 186.
Probably the ferry in dispute was not
the farm-ferry, but a continuance of that
district ferry-right granted by Henry VII
to Richard Cook.
228 Croxteth Mun. Liv. Box 10. R2,
no. 7 ; Hist. Munic. Go-vt. 335.
M7 Croxteth Mun. loc. cit. no. 3 ; Hist.
Munic. Go-iit. 333.
228 Raines, Lanes. Cbant. (Chet. Soc. ix),
*2-93-
*» Rental of Hen. VIII, loc. cit.
230 Munic. Rec. passim.
231 The list of purchasers is printed in
Gregson's Fragments, Ixiv.
233 In the list of official payments of the
Duchy printed in Gregson's Fragments, 3 1,
' the stipend of a clerk to serve in the
chapel at Litherpoole ^4 \js. $d. and the
fee of a clerk and schools mr. of Walton
£5 i3'-4^'
283 Munic. Rec. i, 13^ and 390.
231 Ibid. 39.
235 Ibid. 13*.
236 The details of the history of the
farm during this period, and copies of the
leases, will be found in Hist. Munic. Go-vt.
in Liv., 70-7 and 336-53.
23' Ibid. 338.
238 Ibid. 345 and 71 n.
*>» Ibid. 349.
2:3 The previous sub-lease had been for
15 years.
15
241 Original in Liv. Munic. Arch. Hist,
Munic. Go-vt. 1 64.
942 This appears from their pleading be-
fore the Duchy court, Ibid. 408.
8 "Mun. Rec. i, 17*.
844 Duchy of Lane. Misc., xcv, 104*.
Hist. Munic. Go-vt. 403.
M6Hist. Munic. Go-vt. 412.
946 For an analysis of this question, see
Hist. Munic. Go-vt. 73-6.
"W Croxteth Mun. Liv., Box 10, no.
13, R. z. Printed in Hist. Munic. Govt.
352. But in 1588 a new quarrel broke
out with Sir R. Molyneux over the
milling soke ; Duchy Plead, cxlvii,
m. 2.
248 Mun. Rec. i, 3*
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
demanded."9 Attendance was compulsory on all bur-
gesses on penalty of a fine of is.tM The assembly
elected freemen,1" and occasionally expelled them
from the liberties.1" Distinct from the assembly was
the Portmoot and Great Leet, held twice yearly.
The Great Portmoot immediately followed the annual
assembly, and elected all the minor officers, among
whom may be named the serjeant at mace, two
churchwardens two leve-lookers, two moss-reeves,
four mise-cessors and prysors, two stewards of the
common-hall, a water-bailiff, a hayward, two ale-
testers."5 The portmoot was the lineal descendant
of the old manorial court, and as such the right to
hold it was claimed by the lessee of the farm. When
this right was exercised, as in 1555, portmoot and
assembly were at war,"4 but normally almost all
business was indifferently transacted at either. At
the portmoot presentments of breaches of burghal
custom were made by a jury of twenty -four or twelve
burgesses impanelled by the bailiffs ; they also * ap-
pointed and set down ' all sorts of orders or by-laws,
indistinguishable in character from those passed by the
assembly of burgesses, and including many affairs not
properly coming within the sphere of a manorial court,
but rather belonging to the sphere of the gild-
merchant.
The mayor exercised supreme control over the
whole executive business of the borough, the bailiffs
and other officers being under his orders. He was
always either a leading merchant, or a country gentle-
man of the neighbourhood. He presided over the
ordinary sessions of the borough court, now called the
mayor's court, which does not seem to have been
claimed by the lessees. With him acted * the Mayor's
Brethren ' or aldermen, who were not popularly
elected, but seem to have consisted of the ex-mayors.
It is clear that this system of government was breaking
down ; and it was to undergo great changes in the
next period.
In the second half of the century it becomes possi-
ble to trace in more detail the movement of popula-
tion and the development of trade. In 1565 there
were 144 names on the burgess rolls,2" but some of
these were non-resident, and the number of resident
burgesses was probably about izo. In the same year
the number of householders is given as ijS.256 In
1572,*" of 159 names in the burgess roll about 130
may have been resident, while in 1589 *58 there were
190 names on the roll, of whom over 150 were
resident. The number of houses rated for a subsidy
in 1581 was 202. K9 Including therefore resident
burgesses and other non-burgess inhabitants, we may
estimate the population at about 700 or 800 in the
middle of the century, increasing slowly to about
1,000 or 1,200 at its close. In other words, the i6th
century only succeeded in bringing the population
back to the figure it had already attained in 1346.
The explanation of this slow growth is to be found
largely in the ravages of the plague which repeatedly
attacked Liverpool during the period. The visitation
of 1558 was so virulent that the fair was dropped in
that year, no markets were held for three months, and
over 240 persons, or one-fourth of the population,
are said to have died.*60
The progress of shipping was equally unsatisfactory.
A return of I 5 5 7 Kl shows that there were in the port
one ship of 100 tons and one of 50 tons,161 together
with seven smaller vessels, while four vessels of
between 10 and 30 tons were at sea ; there were 200
sailors connected with the port. In 1565 16S there
were fifteen vessels, three of which belonged to
Wallasey ; the largest was of 40 tons burthen, and
the number of seamen was about eighty. In 1586 184
sixteen vessels can be counted in the entrances and
clearances for a single month ; probably the list is
not exhaustive. The character of the port's trade
continued unchanged. Manchester, Bolton, and
Blackburn men frequented the market to buy Irish
yarns,*65 and sell ' Manchester cottons ' (coatings) ;18S
the outgoing trade was mainly to Ireland, and consisted
of mixed cargoes of coals, woollens, Sheffield knives,
leather goods, and small wares. The return cargoes
from Dublin, Drogheda, and Carlingford were invari-
ably of yarns, hides, and sheep skins or fells. The
foreign trade was of small proportions, and seems
mainly to have been conducted by foreigners. But we
hear of a Lancashire family sending to Liverpool to buy
' 44 quarts of sack, 8 5 quarts of claret, 4 cwt. of iron,
4 lb. of pitch.' K7 French and Spanish ships were
sometimes brought as prizes into Liverpool, but not
by Liverpool captains.263 Piracy was rampant, and
government had much ado to keep it in check even in
the Irish Sea.169 There were, it is true, one or two
merchants in Liverpool who traded with Spain ;*"
one of these spent twelve months in a Spanish prison
in 1585-6, and on returning was the first to give
details of the preparation of the Armada.171 But the
trade with Spain was on so small a scale that when
the monopolist Spanish trading company was estab-
lished in 1578,*" the Liverpool merchants were con-
temptuously excused from submission to its regulations
on the ground that they were only engaged in small
retail trade. Even from the payment of tonnage and
poundage duties Liverpool was exempt until the
reign of Elizabeth,173 no doubt because the yield
would be so small as not to be worth the cost of
collection.
It was probably for this reason that during the
reign of Elizabeth the central government treated
Liverpool as part of a large customs district which
included the ports of North Wales, and had its centre
at Chester. Orders of various sorts were frequently
transmitted to the Mayor of Liverpool through the
Mayor of Chester ; *74 in one writ Liverpool and
Chester were treated as a single port,875 while in
another Liverpool was actually catalogued with Chester
**' Mun. Rec. i, pattim.
**°e.g. Ibid, i, izb, ijA.
•" Ibid, i, 6a, yb.
»»Ibid. i, 12*.
**• See especially the elections of 1551
and 1558 ; Munic. Rec. i, 34, and 394.
254 Mimic. Rec. i, iza, 13*.
855 Ibid, i, 131*.
«*« Ibid, i, 32*. M7 Ibid, ii, 21.
•M Ibid, ii, 375.
*** Ibid, ii, 210.
*o IbiJ. i, 39..
961 Ibid, i, 320.
363 These may have come from other
ports, as there is no mention of ships of
this size in Liverpool later in the cen-
tury.
Ks Munic. Rec. i, 144.
964 This list of clearances is printed
from the Munic. Rec. by Raines, Liver-
pool, 242 ff.
868 Picton, Munic. Rec. i, 76.
868 Acts of P.C. 1558-70, p. 308;
Picton, Munic. Rec. i, 88.
16
267 Stewards Accts. of the Shuttlewortht
(Chet. Soc. xxxv), 1 8.
M8 Act: of P.C. 1 558-70, pp. 271, 305 }
1580-1, p. 212.
269 Ibid. 1558-70, pp. 278, 288.
270 Picton, Munic. Rec. i, 39.
271 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, App. i,
578.
272 Picton, Munic. Rec. i, 44.
278 Munic. Rec. i, 15611.
274 e.g. Acts of P.C. 1580-1, p. 214,
275 Acts of P.C. 1589-90, p. 298.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
LIVERPOOL
and ' Ilbiye ' as one of the ports of Cheshire."6 This
was made the basis of a claim on the part of Chester
to superiority over Liverpool. This was not merely
due to the claim of the Mayor of Chester to be vice-
admiral of Lancashire and Cheshire ; nr Chester
claimed that Liverpool was only ' a creek within its
port,' and that all ships entering the Mersey should
pay dues through Chester. This claim, first formally
advanced in i$6$,176 was, in spite of backing from
London, entirely repudiated by the Liverpool bur-
gesses.*79 They petitioned the Crown for protection;
and eventually a commission sent down to investigate
reported in Liverpool's favour.280 When Chester in
1578 made the more limited claim of supremacy over
the Cheshire shore of the Mersey,181 equal vigour was
shown in repudiation. The question was not settled
during this century ; it reappeared in the early part
of the I 7th century,*8' and was not disposed of till in
1658 283 an award was given in favour of Liverpool by
the Surveyor-General of Customs — an award which
was later confirmed by the first Restoration Surveyor-
General in 1 66o.*M
The administrative arrangement which gave to
Chester the pretext for this claim had been dictated
largely by convenience in organizing the transport of
troops to Ireland, which went on with great vigour
throughout the period. In 1573 Essex and part of
his army were transported from Liverpool,285 and sub-
stantial forces also left the port in 156$™ I574,*87
I579,'88 I588,189 1595,"° and 1596.*" The trans-
port of these troops was not unprofitable ; z/. a head
was allowed for food during the passage/91 and the
cost of transport was more than £ i a head,193 while
during the stay of the troops in Liverpool, which
lasted sometimes for a long period,*94 3</. a head was
allowed for each meal, and \d. a day for a horse's
fodder.294 But the visits of the troops were trouble-
some. Quarters and food had to be compulsorily
provided. Even when they were promptly paid for,
it must have been difficult for a town of less than zoo
houses to provide for large forces ; but the payment
was often long delayed.*96 Moreover the troops were
often riotous. The town records give a vivid account
of an affray which broke out among Lord Essex' men
in I 5 73, m and which brought out all the burgesses
in battle array on the heath, while in 1581 there was
a formidable mutiny*98 which was only suppressed
after sharp and exemplary punishment. A third in-
convenience arose from the fact that the shipping of
the port was often withdrawn from trade and detained
for long periods in harbour, waiting for troops which
never came. In 1593 it was only the intercession of
Lord Derby *" for ' the poor masters and owners of
vessels stayed at Liverpool ' which obtained their
release, though no troops were nearly ready.
This was by no means the only occasion on which
Lord Derby came to the aid of the burgesses. He
was almost officially described by Walsingham as the
' patron of the poor town of Liverpool,' so° and was
appealed to on every occasion. One of the seats in
Parliament (to which Liverpool had resumed the
right of election in I545),301 was always reserved for
his nominee ; the other was usually placed at the dis-
posal of the Chancellor of the Duchy, from whom, in
all probability, Francis Bacon received the nomination
which made him member for Liverpool in the session
ofi588-9.so* When in 1562 m the burgesses cele-
brated their reconciliation with Sir Richard Molyneux
by nominating him to the seat usually reserved for the
Chancellor, that official was so angry that he made a
separate return, so that two sets of Liverpool members
appear in the lists for that year,304 and it was only the
protection of Lord Derby which reassured the town
against his direful threats. Nothing can exceed the
pitiful submissiveness of the burgesses when they have
the misfortune to offend Lord Derby,305 nor the
lavish enthusiasm with which they welcomed him in
his visits to the town.306 He was their one protector
against aggressive lessees, greedy rival towns, crushing
monopolist companies or angry chancellors.
It follows from the use they made of their Parlia-
mentary privilege that the burgesses took small interest
in the progress of national affairs. They lit bonfires
on the Queen's birthdays,307 but the only reflection of
the excitement of 1588 which their records contain
is the note of the erection of one gun on the Nabbe
at the entrance to the Pool.308 Even the change of
religious opinion is but faintly reflected in the records*
As time went on they became more and more Protes-
tant ; their patron, the fourth Earl of Derby, was one
of the keenest of Protestants by profession, offering
the use of the Tower for the safe-keeping of recu-
sants.309 Towards the end of the century we find the
burgesses ordering the closing of all ale-houses on the
* Sabbath ' day, demanding a sermon or homily every
Sunday, and engaging, in addition to the ' minister,'
a zealous and faithful preacher at £4 per annum.310
For the burgesses indeed, the development of their
own institutions (which now entered on a striking
new phase) was more vital than political or religious
events. Probably it was the series of disputes into
which they had been drawn, and which had so seri-
ously threatened their liberties, that led to the de-
velopment of an executive committee within the
assembly of burgesses, hitherto supreme.311 The
assembly was unsuited to carry on these struggles,31*
and after several experiments with councils elected for
a limited period, which all failed through the jealousy
of the burgess body, in 1580 a permanent self-renew-
ing council of twenty-four ordinary members with
*7« Actt of P.O. 1558-70, p. 288.
977 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1625-6, p. 430.
*78 Munic. Rec. i, 143^.
a7' Ibid, i, 1590 ; ii, 31.
980 Ibid, i, 15612.
281 Picton, Munic. Rec. i, 37.
888 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1619-23, pp.24, 34,
43-
288 Picton, Munic. Rec. i, 153.
284 Ibid. 306. The award is printed
in full by Baines, Hist. Li-v. 242 n.
285 Actt ofP.C. 1571-5, p. 113.
286 Ibid. 1558-70, p. 264.
1& Ibid. 1571-5, p. 279.
888 Ibid. 1578-80, p. 223.
a8' Ibid. 1588,?. 331.
990 Ibid. 1595-6, pp. 280, 314, 422.
291 Ibid. 1596-7, pp. 165, 478.
MS. 1926, Art. 10, foL
29
998 Acts of P.O. 1588, p. 331.
994 Ibid. 1578-80, p. 296 ; 1571-5,
279.
295 Ibid. p. 296.
996 Ibid. 1571-5, p. 279.
"7 Picton, Munic. Rec. i, 109.
998 Acts of P.O. 1580-1, pp. 64, 96.
999 Ibid. 1 592-3, p. 439.
soo picton, Munic. Rec. i, 44.
801 Pink and Beavan, Parly. Rep. oj
17
Lanes. 350. In this work will be found
a full list of the members, with biograph-
ical notes.
«>8 Ibid. 184.
808 Picton, Munic. Rec. i, 62 ff.
8<x Return of Memb. of Par I. 438.
808 Munic. Rec. i, 43.
808 Ibid. 48 and passim.
»°7 Ibid. 48.
808 Ibid. 93.
809 Acts of P.O. 1580-1, p. 270.
810 Munic. Rec. passim.
811 On this movement see Hist. Munic.
Govt. in Liv. 79-86.
812 Picton, Munic. Rec. i, 68.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
twelve aldermen was appointed."1 Though it was to
go through some vicissitudes, this body remained in
control of the borough till 1835.
The records of this period present a very vivid
picture of the social condition and customs of the
borough. Space does not permit of any summary of
these, but something must be said on the methods of
conducting trade.114 The regulation of trade was in
the hands of the mayor and aldermen, acting under
by-laws laid down by the portmoot or the assembly
of burgesses. In the weekly market for local traffic
no outsider was allowed to purchase corn until the
wants of the burgesses had been satisfied. Forestalling
and regrating were severely punished. Ingate and out-
gate dues were charged for goods brought to or from
the market ; from these the burgesses and also the in-
habitants of Altcar and Prescot were free. The masters
of ships bringing cargoes into the Mersey, after paying
anchorage dues, had to obtain permission from the
mayor before offering their goods for sale. First the
mayor determined whether he should offer to take
the whole cargo as a * town's bargain.' If he decided
to do this, a sum was offered which had been es-
timated by the merchant prysors. If the importer
refused this offer he must either leave the port or
agree with the mayor as to the sum he must pay to
« make his best market,' i.e. to offer his goods for sale
in open market. It was a system of high protection
for the burgesses and minute regulation, so vexatious
and hampering to trade that it was already breaking
down by the end of the century.
The first three decades of the iyth century saw
the prosperity and the burghal liberties of Liverpool
safely re-established. The port was largely used for
transport to Ireland during the reigns of James I and
Charles I S15 — more largely now than Chester. In 1 62 5
five transports containing 550 men were wrecked on
the coast of Holyhead on the way to Carrickfergus,
and less than two hundred men were saved.518 The
loss of five vessels was a serious blow to a small port,
and the mayor feared that ' unless the king compas-
sionates the town, it will be the utter overthrow of
that corporation.' Pirates, too, still haunted the Irish
seas ; frequent levies of money had to be raised for
dealing with them,317 and even under the firm rule of
Wentworth in Ireland a ' Biscayan Spanish rogue '
took up his station off Dublin Bay, ' outbraved the
two kingdoms,' and captured two Liverpool vessels,
one of which had cargo to the value of £3,000, while
another bore * a trunk of damask ' belonging to the
lord-lieutenant himself."8 Nevertheless the prosperity
of the port steadily increased, and gained especially
from the development of Irish industries under Went-
worth. In 1618 the number of vessels in the port319
was twenty-four, with a total tonnage of 462. In
the next year Chester had to represent to the Crown
that it possessed no ships, trading only in small barks."0
The superior rival of the previous century had been
distanced ; and this being so, it is not surprising that
Liverpool should have repudiated, with even greater
vigour than in I 565, the claim of Chester to supremacy,
which was revived in i6i9.S21 To retain a share of
the trade in Irish yarn, Chester had to make special
treaties with Irish exporters ; 32a but even then Liver-
pool more than held its own.818 Foreign trade as
well as Irish trade was increasing,824 especially with
Spain ; a part of the salt of Cheshire, hitherto almost
monopolized by Chester, came to supply outgoing
cargoes ; malt was brought from Tewkesbury to Liver-
pool by the Severn and the sea ; 32i and there is even
a record of one cargo of tobacco 326 brought direct
from the Indies — the beginning of Liverpool's Ameri-
can trade.
This growing prosperity is reflected in a growth
of population, despite a visitation of the plague in
i dog.8*7 The number of freemen rose from 1 90 in
1589 to 256 in 1620 and to 450 in i645.818 Though
some of these were non-resident, there was also a con-
siderable non-freeman population in the borough, and
the population on the eve of the Civil War may, per-
haps, be estimated at 2,000 or 2,500. At the same
time the corporate revenue undergoes a remarkable
expansion. In 1603 it was ^55 ; in 1650 it had
risen to £273™
The borough was comparatively little troubled
during the early years of the century by the diffi-
culties by which it had been faced in the preceding
age. In 1617 the copyholders of West Derby,
instigated by Sir Richard Molyneux, raised a claim
to a part of the Liverpool waste,33' now administered
by the borough ; but the mayor and bailiffs were
instructed to * make known untc them . . . that
time out of mind the liberties which we claim have
belonged to our town, and that we have evidence to
maintain the same,' and the question was not pressed.
In 1620 there was an obscure dispute with Six Richard
over the levying of prisage duties on wine,331 tht issue
of which is unknown. Several times during the period
the borough authoritiei came in conflict with the
Duchy courts on the question of the competenct of
the borough courts to try all cases arising within the
liberties,33* a right which was vigorously and success-
fully maintained. But the questions which occupy
most space in the records are internal disputes, espe-
cially concerning the powers and duties of the burghal
officers. From 1633 to x^37 a fierce controversy
raged with the town-clerk,333 Robert Dobson, who,
having paid ^70 for his office, considered himself
irremovable, and bore himself with intolerable inso-
lence towards the mayor and bailiffs. This controversy
eventually led to a dispute with the Chancery Court
of the Duchy, to which Dobson tried to remove his
case. There were disputes also with the bailiffs. The
bailiffs of 162 6s34 were imprisoned in the Common
Hall for refusing to carry out the instructions of the
Town Council; the bailiffs of i629835 brought an
action against the corporation in the King's Bench,
for which one of them was deprived of the freedom.
818 Picton, Munic. Rec. i, 52 ; and Hut.
Munic. Go-vt. 85.
814 Munic. Rec. passim ; the detailed
regulation! of trade occupy perhaps a
larger amount of space in the records than
any other single subject.
814 Liv. Munic. Rec. passim ; Hist.
AfSS. Com. Ref>. viii, App. i, 380^-6 A;
ibid, iv, 2, 3, 6 ; ibid, v, 350 ; Cal. S.P.
Dom. 1625-6, p. 40, Sec.
416 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1625-6, pp. s, 6, 8.
817 Ibid. 1619-23, pp. 24, 43.
*wHist. AfSS. Com. Rep. xii
ii, 10.
819 S.P. Dom. Jas. I, cix, 9 (i).
820 Cal. S.P.Dom. 1619-23, p. 24.
821 Ibid. pp. 34, 104.
822 Hitt. AfSS. Com. Rep. viii, App
38 1 b.
828 Ibid. 399*.
824 Liv. Munic. Rec. passim.
825 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 181.
18
82« ibid.
App. 8a7 Shuttleworth Accounts (Chet. Soc.
JUKV), 1 86 ; Hist. AfSS. Com. Rep. x,
App. iv, 62.
828 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 124.
8!» Ibid. 174.
880 Ibid. 169.
881 Ibid. 274.
882 Ibid. 136, 131, 165, 171.
888 Ibid. i6iff.
884 Ibid. 126. 885Ibid.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
Probably the cause of these disputes was the control
exercised by the new Town Council over officials,
who, before its establishment, had been accustomed
to uncontrolled authority. During this period the
Town Council seems to have remained on good
terms with the body of burgesses ; 33S partly because
its meetings were open ; partly because it appears to
have been the practice for the bailiffs, elected on the
annual election day, to become thereafter members of
the council for life.337 This gave to the burgesss-body
some control over the membership of the council, and
probably left few places to be filled up by the council
itself.
But the most striking sign of the growing inde-
pendence of the borough is to be seen in the use
made of its privilege of electing to Parliament. Lord
Derby still occasionally nominated one member, but
the Chancellor of the Duchy lost his right ; always
one, and sometimes both, of the members were now
genuinely elected by the borough, wages were paid to
them, and care was taken that they earned them. In the
elections all freemen took part, and, probably because
the Town Council was so recently established and
because national politics were beginning to be in-
teresting, this power was never usurped from the
freemen by the council. An illustration of the mode
of treatment of their members by the burgesses may
be quoted. In 1611 Mr. Brook138 sent in a bill for
£28 io/. for the wages of his attendance during the
previous session. Of this he had already ' received in
allowance and payments £14. 5/. yd., and so rested
due to him £14 4/. 5^., which 4/. $d. was deducted
in regard of his stay in Chester about his own business
four days, and so he was allowed £14 absolutely, pro-
vided he delivered first the New Charter.'
Mr. Brook did not produce a charter, and we are
left to infer that his wages were not paid. This is
one of a series of applications for a charter which
occur at frequent intervals in the later years of the
1 6th century and the first quarter of the ijth,
inspired by the sense of insecurity in their privileges
to which the controversies of the previous fifty years
had given rise. There survives a memorandum,3-39
dating from about 1580, in which the Recorder gives
it as his opinion that the borough had never in any
of its charters been incorporated in express words, and
that all its privileges must remain insecure until this
was rectified. Applications in i6o3,340 i6n,*41 and.
i6i73" were unsuccessful ; but at length in 162 6s43
a new charter was purchased from Charles I, then
embarrassed by the war with Spain and by the quarrel
with Parliament.
The charter of Charles I is the most important
of the series, after that of Henry III. It definitely
incorporated the borough ; confirmed it in all the
powers it exercised, whether enjoyed by grant or by
usurpation ; vested in the burgess body full powers of
legislation not only for themselves but for all in-
habitants of the borough ; and granted, probably for
LIVERPOOL
the first time,844 the right to hold a court under the
Statute of Merchants. The charter did not even
name the town council, which was thus left at the
mercy of the burgess body ; but in the next year the
existing council was re-elected, and as there is no
trace of any discussion of the question until the
second half of the century, it would seem that no
attack on the powers of the council was intended.
The existence of the bench of aldermen is only in-
cidentally recognized by the appointment of the
senior alderman for the time being as a justice of
the peace. The charter thus gave ground for a good
deal of dispute, though none seems to have arisen. But
it was an invaluable grant, for it secured the burgesses
in the possession of all the vague rights which they
had usurped since 1 394, but which had been threatened
since the Molyneuxes obtained possession of the lease
of the farm ; particularly the ownership of the waste
and the sovereignty of the borough officers over the
whole population of the borough. It left unsettled,
however, several questions at issue between the borough
and the lessees of the farm which had remained
dormant since 1555.
It was fortunate that the charter had been obtained
before 1628, for in that year Charles I sold Liver-
pool,345 with some three hundred other manors, to
trustees on behalf of the citizens of London, in
acquittance of a number of loans. So long as the
Molyneux lease lasted the Londoners' ownership of
the lordship meant nothing beyond the right of
receiving the £14 6s. %d. of farm rent, which
had to be at once paid over to the Crown, the sale
having been made subject to an annual rent-charge of
this amount. The lordship was therefore worthless
to the Londoners ; it was valuable only to Sir Richard
Molyneux, who by buying it from them for £400 in
1 636s46 obtained in perpetuity and in freehold the
rights he had previously enjoyed by lease, as well as
any other rights that might be construed as coming
under the lordship. This placed the burgesses more
fully than ever at his mercy. In 1638 he commenced
an action in the Court of Wards 347 to prohibit the
burgesses from working an illicit ferry and mill which
had somehow got into their possession. The bur-
gesses, resisting, petitioned the Crown for a grant of
the lease of the farm to themselves ; 348 but this, although
the king ' made a most gracious answer,' was obviously
out of his power since the sale, and they found it
necessary to come to an agreement,349 whereby they
were to pay Molyneux £20 per annum without
prejudice to their rights. Before the question could
be raised again, and before Molyneux could attempt
to press home other claims, the Civil War had broken
out, and the later stages of the dispute were postponed
until after the Restoration.
The side which Liverpool was likely to take in the
great struggle would not have been easy to predict
from its action during the preceding years. On the
whole the temper of the burgesses, in religious matters,
836 It is impossible to tell whether the
assembly had in this period been wholly
superseded, the word 'Assembly' being
used for both types of meetings. There is
some evidence that council meetings were
open to freemen ; Li-v. Munic Rec. i, 127.
8S" Hist. Munic. Go-vt. in Li-v. 88 and
note.
883 Picton, Li-v. Munic. Rec. i, 157.
839 Hist. Munic. Go-vt. in Liv., 90.
840 Norrit Papers (Chet. Soc. ix), 8.
841 Picton, Munic. Rec. i, 157.
849 Ibid. 156.
848 Orig. in Liv. Mun. Archives ; Hist.
Munic. Go-vt. 165—89. An analysis of
the charter is given in the same work,
91-4.
844 The docquet of the charter speaks
of it as ' a confirmation ... of ancient
liberties ivith an addition of a clause for
19
the acknowledgment of statute merchant ;'
ibid. 1 66.
846 The deed of sale is printed in Hist.
Munic. Go-vt. in Liv. 362-81.
848 Deed of sale at Croxteth (Liv. box
io, bdle. R, No. 6), Hist. Munic. Go-vt. in
Liv. 381.
84? Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec» i, 132.
8« Ibid.
849 Ibid. 133.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
seems to have been Puritan. Thus it was found
necessary to have, in addition to the incumbent of the
chapel, a « preacher of the Word of God,' 35° who re-
ceived £20 or £30 per annum together with 'a
reasonable milk cow,' which was to be ' changed at the
discretion of the Council ;' and in 1629 the mayor
petitioned the Bishop of Chester, Bridgeman, for per-
mission to arrange ' once a month two sermons upon
a week-day.'"1 The list of preachers arranged for
the following year in accordance with the licence then
obtained, is significant. It includes Kay, Vicar of
Walton, who later became a Presbyterian, and Richard
Mather, minister of the Ancient Chapel of Toxteth
Park, who was driven to America by Laud in 1636.
Probably the presence in Toxteth of a little group of
Puritan formers, planted there by Sir Richard Moly-
neux when the park was brought under cultivation in
1 6c>4,MI had considerable influence upon the Puritan
temper of the borough.
On the other hand, the influence of the surround-
ing gentry was exercised almost entirely on the Royalist
side. The Royalism of West Derby Hundred was
even stronger than the Parliamentarianism of Salford
Hundred, and the centre and support of it was the
special patron of Liverpool, Lord Strange, who during
the incapacity of his father, until he succeeded to the
title in 1642, represented the house of Stanley. The
only considerable family in the district which took the
Parliamentarian side was that of the Moores, of Liver-
pool,353 and, local as they were, they could not balance
the Derby influence. Thus torn asunder, the borough
followed an extremely vacillating course. To the
Parliament of 1623 two Royalist members were re-
turned.354 In that of 1625 the Puritan, Edward
Moore, was balanced by Lord Strange.356 In the
Petition of Right Parliament there were again two
strong Royalist members.858 Thus in the first period
of the national controversy, the influence of the neigh-
bouring gentry was able to outweigh the Puritan
tendencies of the borough. But during the eleven
years of personal government, the tide of opinion
turned. On the first levy of ship-money in 1634,
Liverpool was required to pay £15 as its share of the
cost of a ship of 400 tons, to be raised by the mari-
time counties of Wales, by Cheshire, Lancashire, and
Cumberland ; K7 the same sum was assessed by a com-
mittee of mayors and sheriffs upon Carlisle, while
Chester had to pay £100. The burden was a light
enough one for a town which a little later raised with-
out difficulty £ 1 60 to fight a single law-suit ; SM
but there was keen opposition,359 several burgesses de-
clined to pay, and threatened the bailiffs with actions
at law if they should attempt distraints ; the Town
Council had to resolve that the costs of such actions
should be borne at the town's expense, but there were
two members of the council itself who protested against
this. In the next year John Moore, the regicide, was
elected mayor, and on the second levy of ship-money
there were similar difficulties.859*
When the meeting of the Short Parliament ended
the period of personal government, both of the Liver-
pool members were in the opposition ; $6° while to the
Long Parliament Liverpool returned the acrid Puritan,
John Moore, along with Sir Richard Wynne,361 who,
though he had accompanied Charles I on his journey
to Spain, was by no means a staunch Royalist : he
voted against the attainder of Strafford, but he was a
member of the deputation to present the Grand Re-
monstrance to the king.36* It is tolerably clear that
had the burgesses been left to themselves, without the
influence of Lord Derby and others, Liverpool, like
other ports, would have been enrolled on the Parlia-
mentarian side.
When, on the outbreak of war, the Parliamentarian
party in Lancashire began to organize their resistance
against the vigorous action of Lord Strange, John
Moore of Liverpool was the only gentleman of West
Derby Hundred whom they could find to include in
their list of deputy-lieutenants. Even he was appa-
rently helpless in Liverpool, for he is found with the
other Parliamentarian leaders at Manchester in the
middle of iS^z.363 Liverpool, controlled by the
Molyneux Castle and the Stanley Tower, was defence-
less against the Royalist party. Lord Strange was able
to seize the large stock of powder which lay in the
town,364 and to garrison both castle and tower. He
was actively supported by the mayor, John Walker,364
who received a royal letter of commendation for his
action ; but the presence of a considerable Parliamen-
tarian party in the town is indicated by the note that
the mayor had been threatened, perhaps by John
Moore, with imprisonment and transportation from
the country.366 Colonel Edward Norris, of Speke, be-
came governor,367 and thirty barrels of gunpowder were
sent into the town from Warrington.368 Nothing,
however, seems to have been done to strengthen the
defence of the town. It remained under Royalist
control so long as Lord Derby's strength was sufficient
to hold the western half of the county. When, in the
early months of 1643, his main force was called off for
service in the midlands, the Parliamentarian forces
from Manchester rapidly overran the western half of
the county, and by May, Lathom House and Liverpool
were the only Royalist strongholds left. Colonel
Tyldesley, with the remnant of the Royalist forces,
fell back upon Liverpool ; 369 but he was hotly followed
by Assheton with the Manchester Parliamentarians,37'
while a Parliamentarian ship entering the Mersey cut
off retreat in that direction.371 After two days' fighting
Assheton had captured the whole line of Dale Street
and also the chapel of St. Nicholas, in the tower of
which guns were mounted which commanded the
town. Tyldesley was forced to treat, asking for a free
retreat to Wigan with arms and artillery. These terms
were refused, and an assault completely routed the
Royalists, who lost eighty dead and 300 prisoners, while
the loss of the attacking force was only seven killed. S71
the date of this first siege is unknown, but it was pro-
bably at the end of May 1643.
The Parliamentarians, now masters of Liverpool,
, jso picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 197.
•" Ibid. zoo.
«" V.C.H. Lanci. iii, 42.
848 The Ireland* of Hale -were a little
too far away.
•" Ret. ofMemb. ofParl.
•" Ibid. 8M ibid.
W Hut. MSS. Com. Rep. viii, App. i,
383* ; Cal. S.P. Dom. 1634-5, p. 568.
848 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 133.
The money was, how-
Cal. S.P. Dom. 1634-5,
869 Ibid. 220.
ever, duly paid 5
p. 569.
859a CaLS.P.Dom. 1636-7, pp. 205-6.
860 Ret. ofMemb. ofParl.
881 Ibid.
163 Commons' Journ. sub die.
m Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, 32*.
*** Ibid, iz, App. iii, 391^. It amounted
to 3,000 cwt. of powder in 1637 and 1638 ;
2O
Cal. S.P. Dom. 1637, p. 507 ; 1638-9,
p. 387.
865 picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 137.
8" Ibid. ««7 Ibid. 138.
8S8 Ibid. 137.
««» « Exceeding joyfull News,' &c. printed
in Ormerod, Lane . Civil War Tract* (Chet
Soc. ii), 104.
8'° Ibid. on Ibid, and 138.
873 Ormerod, loc. cit. 105.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
proceeded to make very effective use of their capture.
Lieut. -Col. Venables was appointed governor,373 with
martial powers overriding the town council. On his
recall, early in 1644, he was succeeded, as a result of
a petition from the burgesses, by Colonel John
Moore,*74 who remained in command until the town
fell before Rupert. The German engineer Rosworm
was brought from Manchester to reconstruct the forti-
fications,375 which were, however, not very skilfully
laid out. A ditch 36 ft. wide and 9 ft. deep was cut
from the river,376 north of the Old Hall, to the Pool.
Behind it ran a high earthen rampart, which was
broken by gates where it was crossed by Oldhall Street,
Tithebarn Street, and Dale Street, each gate being
protected by cannon. Earthworks with batteries
guarded the line of the Pool, and a strong battery of
eight guns was placed at the angle of the Pool, below
the castle. In addition, a number of guns were
placed on the castle. A regular garrison, consisting
of a regiment of foot and a troop of horse,377 was kept
in the town ; but in addition military service was
required of the burgesses, for whose use 100 muskets,
100 bandoliers, and 100 rests were delivered to the
mayor and aldermen,378 a fine of is. being imposed on
any burgess who failed to turn out for duty ' at the
beating of the drum.' 379 During the period of military
occupation the authority of the governor overrode that
of the town council. He was present at its meetings,380
and most of his officers were admitted to the freedom.
John Moore seems to have been far from successful as
a governor. Adam Martindale, who served as his
chaplain,381 gives a terrible picture of the governor's
entourage, though he praises m the ' religious officers of
the company ' with whom he ' enjoyed sweet commu-
nion,' as they met ' every night at one another's
quarters, by turnes, to read scriptures, to confer of good
things, and to pray together.'
The functions which Liverpool had to perform
were threefold. On land, the garrison had to hold
a Royalist district in check, and to take part in the
siege of Lathom House. In addition it had to keep
in touch with the Parliamentarian forces in Cheshire,
and be prepared to deal with movements of the Royal-
ist garrison of Chester. On the sea the function of
Liverpool was still more important. It was the ' only
haven ' 382a of the Parliamentarians on the west coast,
and it therefore became the base of naval movements
intended to prevent communication between Ormond,
in Ireland, and the English Royalists.883 For this pur-
pose part of the fleet was stationed here as early as
June i643,384 and five months later this force amounted
to six men-of-war,385 and Colonel Moore, Governor of
Liverpool, became Vice-Admiral for Lancashire and
Westmorland.388 It was under the command of one
Captain Danks or Dansk,337 and though the prevalent
north-west winds sometimes shut him into the Mersey,
he was able very seriously to harass the Royalists, inter-
cepting supplies 388 upon which the Irish Royalists were
LIVERPOOL
dependent, and preventing the transport of troops.
Royalist vessels from Bristol, indeed, disputed with the
Liverpool ships the command of the Irish Sea,389 but
not very effectively ; the Puritan sailors of Bristol were
half-hearted in the service, and one Bristol ship laden
with arms and supplies for Chester deserted and sailed
into the Mersey.390 Ormond felt the position to be
so serious for himself that he wrote to the Royalist
forces in Cheshire,391 * earnestly recommending ' them
to attack Liverpool 'as soon as they possibly can,' and
urging that ' no service to my apprehension can at
once so much advantage this place (Dublin) and
Chester, and make them so useful to each other.' The
same urgent advice was given by Archbishop Williams,3"
in command at Con way. The capture of Liverpool
was one of the immediate objectives of Byron's force of
3,000 Irish, which landed in Cheshire in November
1643, and on its arrival supplies were sent in to
Liverpool,393 and forces called up to its aid.394 The
defeat of Byron in January 1644 left the Liverpool
garrison free to press the siege of Lathom395 in con-
junction with Assheton's forces from Bolton. But the
straits of Lathom formed an additional reason for a
vigorous blow from the Royalist side. Lord Derby
was urgent396 upon Prince Rupert to relieve Lathom.
and to seize Liverpool, 'which your highness took
notice of in the map the last evening I was with you,
for there is not at this time fifty men in the garrison.'
Urged by these motives, the capture of Liverpool
was one of the tasks which Rupert set himself on his
northward march, in May and June, to the relief of
Newcastle in York. His approach caused Moore to
retreat hastily to Liverpool, while the garrison was
reinforced by 400 men sent from Manchester ; 397 the
ships in the Mersey were drawn up in the port to
assist in repelling the attack ; 39S women, children, and
suspects were removed from the town,399 and all who
remained ' were resolute to defend ' the place.
It was on 9 June that Rupert, fresh from a brilliant
success over the Parliamentarians, came down over the
hill which overlooked and commanded the little town.
' A mere crow's nest,' he is said to have called it,
' which a parcel of boys might take.' 40° But two
furious assaults of the kind which had carried all
before them at Bolton were alike unsuccessful,401 the
loss to the besieging force being stated at 1,500.
Rupert had then to throw up earthworks 4M and bring
up his artillery, which during several days' cannonade
cost ' a hundred barrels of munition, which,' says a
correspondent of Lord Ormond, ' makes Prince Rupert
march ill-provided.' 403 At length a night attack was
led by Caryll, brother of Lord Molyneux,404 whose
local knowledge brought the surprise party through the
fields on the north to the outhouses of the Old Hall,
the family mansion of the governor of the town,
which they reached at three o'clock in the morning.
They found the ramparts deserted by the regular
garrison, which had been drawn ofF by Colonel
8?8 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. x, App. iv, 66.
™ Ibid.
87* 'Rosworm' s good service," &c. in Or-
merod, loc. cit. 229.
V6 Seacome, Hist, of the House of Stanley.
877 Martindale, Autobiog. (Chet. Soc. iv),
36-7.
87<* Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 138.
879 Ibid. 139. 880 Ibid.
881 Martindale, Autobiog. 36-7.
882 Ibid. 37-8.
882» Hut. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. i,
157. 883 Ibid. 133.
88< Ibid. 713. 885 Ibid. 157.
886 Ibid, x, App. iv, 67.
M7 Carte, Life of Ormond, iii, 1 90.
888 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. 1,133.
889 Ibid. 153.
890 Ormerod, op. cit. 154.
891 Carte, Life of 'Ormond, iii, 229.
•w Ibid. 212.
898 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. x, App. iv, 68.
21
894 Ibid.
895 Ormerod, op. cit. 162, 173, 185.
896 Warburton, Rupert, 364.
897 Merc. Brit, in Ormerod, op. cit. 199.
898 Seacome, House of Stanley, 117.
899 Ibid.
*» Ibid.
401 Ormerod, op. cit. 199.
403 S, a come, loc. cit.
403 Ormond MSS. ii, 319.
404 Moore Rental (ed. W. F. Irvine), 1 6.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Moore during the night, and embarked with the
military stores on the shipping in the Pool.405 About
400 men of the garrison, however, still remained, and
these offered a vigorous resistance. Street fighting
went on for several hours ; though there seems to have
been some sort of surrender, ' Prince Rupert's men
did slay almost all they met with, to the number of
360, and among others . . . some that had never
borne arms, . . . yea, one poor blind man ' ; 406
Caryll Molyneux, according to Sir Edward Moore,
the runaway Colonel's son, killing 'seven or eight
poor men with his own hands.' 407 The remainder of
the garrison surrendered at the High Cross. They
were imprisoned in the tower and the chapel, while
Rupert took up his quarters in the castle, and the town
was given over to sack. The number of the killed is
indicated by the fact that six months later every house-
hold had to provide a man to aid in ' better covering
the dead bodies of our murthered neighbours ' of the
'great company of our inhabitants murthered and
slain by Prince Rupert's forces.'408
The capture of the town probably took place on
14 or 15 June; it is mentioned in the Mercurius
Britannicus of 1 7 June.409 Rupert remained in the
castle till the igth,410 when he marched for Lathom.
The intervening days were probably spent in drawing
up proposals for the refortification of the town, which
was intrusted to a Spanish engineer, de Gomme. His
excellent plan survives, but was never carried out.
The defeat of Rupert at Marston Moor probably
gave pause to these elaborate schemes. On his retreat
he was expected to call at Liverpool,411 but does not
seem to have done so. Liverpool was now again,
except Lathom, the only Royalist stronghold in Lanca-
shire.411 To garrison it Sir Robert Byron had been left
with a large force of English and Irish troops ; 41S
there was also a considerable number of cattle within
the walls,414 while guns had been mounted on ' Wor-
rall side ' (probably near the modern New Brighton)
to prevent the approach of Parliamentary ships.415
To deal with Liverpool and Lathom 1,000 horse
were detached by Lord Fairfax from the main army on
8 August to join the Lancashire Parliamentarian levies,416
and the whole force was placed under the command of
Sir John Meldrum. During August the Royalists
were strong enough to keep the field, and there was a
good deal of fighting between Liverpool and Lathom.
But after 20 August, when the Royalists were severely
defeated at Ormskirk,417 it is probable that the formal
siege of Liverpool began. Meldrum did not waste
men on assaults, but sat down before the town and
drew formal lines of entrenchment.418 He was as-
sisted by a fleet in the river under Colonel Moore,419
probably the same with which he had escaped in June ;
and ' the sad inhabitants from both sides are deeply
distressed.' The Royalist forces in the neighbour-
hood strained every nerve to effect a relief ; a new
force raised by Lord Derby had to be beaten back on
10 September ;420 the Chester garrison had to be
strictly blockaded to prevent its sending relief ; and on
1 7 September a force of 4,000 men was met by the
Parliamentarians at Oswestry 421 marching to the re-
lief of Liverpool. It was doubtless the value of
Liverpool as a point of contact between Ireland and
the northern Royalists which accounted for the im-
portance attached to it. Well provisioned and ,
strongly garrisoned, the town held out for nearly two
months. In the last days of October fifty of the
English soldiers in the garrison, fearing to share
the fate threatened to the Irish, deserted,42* driving
with them into Meldrum's camp the greater part of
the cattle in the town. On I November the re-
mainder of the garrison mutinied, imprisoned their
officers, and surrendered the town at discretion.4*3 An
attempt to imitate Moore's example by shipping sup-
plies and ammunition in some vessels in the river
was checked by the commander of the besieging force,
who sent out rowing-boats to capture the ships.
During the remainder of the war Liverpool re-
mained at peace, but for some years seems to have
been used as one of the principal places of arms in
the county.483* Colonel Moore for a time resumed
command ; but his prestige was ruined by his be-
haviour during Rupert's siege ; and though Meldrum
exonerated him from blame,4*4 the townsmen them-
selves felt that the town had been needlessly aban-
doned, and petitioned Parliament to inquire as to
whose was the ' neglect or default.' m Moore left for
Ireland, and was replaced by another governor. His
family never recovered from the discredit into which
he had brought it, or from the financial difficulties in
which he involved himself. As a recompense for its-
services and sufferings the town obtained several im-
portant grants from the Commonwealth government ;
money for the relief of widows and orphans,426 licence
to cut timber from the Molyneux and Derby estates
for the rebuilding of the town,427 the abolition of the
Molyneux tenancy of the lease,428 and a grant of
£i 0,000 worth of land, at first assigned from the
estates of ' malignants,' in Galway,429 which, how-
ever, turned out to be entirely illusory. At the same
time the Tower passed from the possession of the house
of Stanley, being sequestrated, and on 19 September
1646 sold by the Committee for Compounding.43"
The period of the Civil War thus saw the borough re-
leased from the feudal superiority which had so long
oppressed it ; and though this came back at the
Restoration it was less patiently endured, and lasted
but a short time. The period also saw the division
of the burgesses into two acrimonious political and
religious parties, whose strife was to give a new charac-
ter to the political development of the next epoch.
In the second half of the 1 7th century the develop-
ment of Liverpool, which had begun in the first half
of the century and been checked by the Civil Wars,
received a remarkable impetus ; so that in 1699 t^e
406 Ormerod, op. cit. 199.
409 Martindale, Autobiog, (Chet. Soc.
iv), 41.
«*> Moore Rental (ed. W. F. Irvine), 16.
408 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 140.
** Ormerod, op. cit. 199.
410 Hist. MSB. Com. Re/>. xiii, App. i, 179.
*u Ibid, iv, App. 2756.
4U London Post, 30 .Sept. 1644, in
Ormerod, op. cit. 206.
4U Vicars, Pad. Chron. iv, 62.
414 Ormerod, op. cit 207.
416 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. iv, App. 270*.
416 Ormerod, op. cit. 206.
«V Ibid.
418 London Post, in Ormerod, op. cit. 206.
«» Ibid. "20 Ibid> 207.
431 Ibid. 206.
4M Perfect Diurnall, in Ormerod, op. cit.
207.
*wHist. MSS. Com. Rep. vii, App. i,
449".
428a See Cal. S.P. Dom. 1649-54, where
there are numerous references.
22
424 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. x, App. iv, 73.
426 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. 1,226.
488 Ibid. 144.
427 Ibid. 145.
4i» Ibid. « Ibid. 147 ff.
480 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, ii,.
1 1 8. The purchaser was one Alexander
Greene, who was still in possession in
1663 ; Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xvi,
136. These points have been brought out
by Mr. Peet, Liv. in Reign of Queen Anne,,
5 5 and note.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
LIVERPOOL
borough could claim 431 that ' from scarce paying the
salary of the officers of the Customs, it is now the
third port of the trade of England, and pays upwards
of £50,000 per annum to the king.' In 1673 the to-
pographer Blome 432 found that it contained ' divers emi-
nent merchants and tradesmen, whose trade and traffic,
especially unto the West Indies, make it famous.'
When in 1689 the Commissioners of Customs were
asked to report as to the ports which could best supply
shipping for transport to Ireland, they stated 433 that
while Chester had ' not above 20 sail of small burden
from 25 to 60 tons,' Liverpool had' 60 to 70 good
ships of from 50 to 200 ton burden, but because they
drive a universal foreign trade to the Plantations and
•elsewhere,' it was impossible to tell how many of them
would be available.
The port continued to control the larger share of
the Irish trade. It still maintained a considerable
traffic to France and Spain, and also to Denmark and
Norway.434 But, as the statements above quoted show,
it was the opening out of a lucrative trade with ' the
plantations,' especially the West Indies and Virginia,
in sugar, tobacco, and cotton, which made this period
mark the beginning of Liverpool's greatness. Several
causes conspired to assist this development. The
industries of Manchester were undergoing a rapid
development, so that, in the words of Blome,434 the
situation of Liverpool ' afforded in greater plenty and
at reasonabler rates than most places in England, such
exported commodities proper for the West Indies.'
The plague and fire of London had caused ' several
ingenious men ' to settle in Liverpool, ' which caused
them to trade to the plantations,' 436 while when the
French wars began in 1689 London traders found
that 'their vessels might come safer north about
Ireland, unload their effects at Liverpool, and be at
charge of land-carriage from thence to London than
run the hazard of having their ships taken by the
enemy,' 43r and Liverpool profited accordingly. As
early as 1668 a 'Mr. Smith, a great sugar-baker
at London,' was bargaining with Sir Edward
Moore 43S for land on which to build * a sugar-baker's
house . . . forty feet square and four stories
high ' ; and Sir Edward Moore expected this
to * bring a trade of at least £40,000 a year from
the Barbadoes, which formerly this town never
knew.' Even more important than the establish-
ment of a sugar-refining industry was the tobacco
trade, which grew to large dimensions in these years.
In 1701 it was asserted439 that a threatened interfer-
ence with the tobacco trade would ' destroy half the
shipping in Liverpool ' ; 44° it was * one of the chiefest
trades in England,' and * we are sadly envyed, God
knows, especially the tobacco trade, at home and
abroad.' 441 All the tobacco of Scotland, Ireland, and
the north of England was supposed to come to Liver-
pool.442 The result of this growing trade was a
remarkably rapid increase of shipping ; in the twelve
years between 1689 and 1701 the number of vessels
in the port had grown from '60 or 70' to 102,
which compares not unfavourably with the 165
vessels owned by Bristol in the same year. Shipping
brought with it several new industries, and in par-
ticular rope-walks began to be a feature of the town,
and remained so for more than a century to come.
Many new families of importance begin to appear ;
the Claytons, the Clevelands, the Cunliffes, the
Earles, the Rathbones, the Tarletons, and the John-
sons,443 win the superiority in municipal affairs from
the Moores and the Crosses ; ' many gentlemen's sons
of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire,
Cheshire, and North Wales are put apprentices in the
town,' 444 and a new set of names appears in the re-
cords. The population was steadily increasing. The
ravages of the war, together with outbreaks of plague
in 1647 and i65O,445had kept it down, so that in 1673
only 252 householders were assessed for the hearth
tax,446 giving a total population (allowing for ex-
emptions) of about 1,500 ; but by the beginning
of the 1 8th century the number was well over
5,ooo.447 And now, for the first time, new streets
began to be made in addition to the original seven :
Moor Street, Fenwick Street, Fenwick Alley, and
Bridge's Alley448 having been cut by Sir Edward
Moore out of his own lands, while Lord Street was
cut by Lord Molyneux in 1668 through the castle
orchard to the Pool, and Preeson's Row, Pool Lane
(South Castle Street), and several other thoroughfares
were being built upon.449 Public improvements on a
large scale began to be carried out or talked of. In
1673 a new town hall was built, 'placed on pillars
and arches of hewn stone, and underneath the public
exchange for the merchants.'450 This building re-
placed the old thatched common hall with which the
burgesses had been content since it was bequeathed to
them by John Crosse ; it stood immediately in
front of the modern town hall. The difficulty of
accommodating the growing shipping of the port was
already felt, and among the modes suggested for re-
lieving the pressure was the deepening of the Pool,451
a scheme which, in a modified form, ultimately led to
the creation of the first dock. Proposals for improving
the navigation of the Weaver452 to facilitate the
Cheshire trade, and for erecting lighthouses 45S on the
coast, met indeed with keen opposition at first from
the burgesses, who feared to see trade carried past
their wharves ; but they were to be converted to both
of these schemes before half a century had passed. In
the meantime an improvement in the navigation of
the Mersey below Warrington, carried out by Mr.
Thomas Patten,454 of the latter place, led to a material
increase of Liverpool's trade, and was the first of a
481 In the case for the establishment of
a separate parish, printed in Picton, Liv.
Munic. Rec. 1,325.
482 Blome, Britannia, 134.
488 Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, App. vi,
169.
484 picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 309 and
passim.
485 Loc. cit.
486 Case for the new parish, loc. cit.
487 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv,
430. In 1 6 94 we hear of no less than 32
«hips sent from Liverpool to the West
Indies ; Cal. S.P. Dom. 1694-5, p. 237.
488 Moore Rental (ed. W. F. Irvine), 99.
Apparently he did not complete his bargain;
but a sugar-house was built by his firm in
Redcross Street ; Peet, Liv. in the Reign of
Queen Anne, 32 n.
489 Norris Papers (Cher.. Soc.), 81.
4« Ibid. no. 441 Ibid. 114.
442 Ibid. 89.
448 Mun. Rec. passim ; Peet, Liv. in tie
Reign of Queen Anne, 6 and passim.
444 Case for the new parish, loc. cit.
445 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 192, 194.
448 Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xvi,
136.
23
447 Mr. Peet, on the basis of the poor-
rate assessment of 1708, estimates the
population in that year at a little under
7,000 ; Liv. in the Reign of Queen Anne, 16.
448 Moore Rental, passim.
449 Moore Rental, passim} also Picton,
Munic. Rec. i, 3 14 ff.
450 Blome, loc. cit. j Picton, Munic.
Rec. \, 286.
451 Moore Rental (ed. W. F. Irvine), 79 ff,
101, IO2, 104.
4S3Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. viii, App. i,
39611. 45S Ibid. 395*.
454 Norris Papers, 38.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
series of such improvements which were pushed for-
ward during the next period.
The rapid growth of the town, and the influx of a
new and thriving population unused to the influences
by which the town had been so long dominated,
reflects itself in a rapid shaking-off of old connexions,
which had already been seriously weakened by the
Civil War and its consequences. This is perhaps
clearest in the case of the Moores, so long the leading
family of the town ; for Sir Edward Moore, son of
the regicide and runagate Colonel John Moore, has
left, in the form of instructions to his son, an elaborate
description 4M of his own properties in the town and
of his relations to its leaders which is invaluable as an
elucidation of this period of transition. Deeply em-
barrassed by the debts incurred by his father, his
estates had only been saved from confiscation by the
fact that his wife, Dorothy Fenwick, was the daughter
of a noted Royalist ; he suffered also, doubtless, from
the shadow which hung over his father's name since
his desertion in the siege of 1644. Soured by his
misfortunes, he was on the worst of terms with the
burgess-body, whose records are full of quarrels with
him.454 Moore had a clear prevision of the growth
of the port, and hoped by its means to rehabilitate the
fortunes of his house ; but the Town Council checked
more than one of his schemes. Worse than this, the
burgesses refused to elect him either to the mayoralty
or as a representative of the borough in Parliament,
and this he regarded as ingratitude to his family, as
well as a direct injury to his fortunes. His Rental is
full of bitterness on this score. ' They have deceived
me twice, even to the ruin of my name and family,
had not God in mercy saved me ; though there was
none at the same time could profess more kindness to
me than they did, and acknowledge in their very own
memories what great patrons my father and grand-
father were to the town .... Have a care you
never trust them ... for such a nest of rogues was
never educated in one town of that bigness.' 4S7 He
exhausts an extensive vocabulary for epithets to
characterize those who were ' against him,' ' either for
parliament man or mayor.' One of his greatest
troubles was the difficulty which he experienced in
enforcing the use of his mill. The ancient feudal
milling rights had now quite broken down, and it was
only by inserting a special clause in his leases that
Moore, though lessee of two of the principal mills,
could enforce the use of them even upon his own
tenants.4*8 Sir Edward Moore died in 1678, a worn-
out old man at the age of forty-four. His son, Sir
Cleave Moore, a « useless spark,' 459 was the last repre-
sentative of the family in Liverpool ; in 1712 he
allowed a foreclosure to be made on his heavily mort-
gaged Liverpool lands and retired to estates in the
south of England which he had got by marriage.460
The departure of the Moores was the breach of one
of the last links with the past of a town rapidly
reshaping itself.
The same period which saw the departure of the
Moores saw also the final settlement of the long feud
with the Molyneuxes. At the Restoration the con-
fiscation of their lordship during the Commonwealth
was of course annulled. Immediately on taking
possession, Caryll Lord Molyneux renewed the
action461 which his father had brought against the
burgesses for invasion of his rights as lord of the
manor. The burgesses, knowing that the case would
go against them, made an accommodation similar to
that which they had made in 1639, whereby they
paid £20 per annum for a lease of all the lordship
rights. But this did not settle the dispute. Lord
Molyneux claimed that the burgesses were bound to
pay the rent-charge of .£14 6s. %d. due from him to
the Crown over and above the £20 ; they, on their
side, contended that this sum was included in the £20.
This dispute presently merged in another.46* In
1668 Lord Molyneux had made a thoroughfare
through the castle orchard to the Pool. Wishing to
continue it, he consulted counsel, who advised him
that as lord of the manor he was owner of the waste
and had a right to make a thoroughfare over it. He
therefore erected a bridge, thus raising the whole
question of the ownership of the waste. The mayor
and burgesses pulled down the bridge ; Molyneux
replied with a whole series of actions at law, con-
cerning ' the interests and title of the Corporation of
Liverpool as to their claim in the waste grounds of
Liverpool,' and also raising anew the old questions of
tolls and dues. Had the question been fought out (as
the burgesses were prepared to fight it) they would
probably have won ; for the charter of Charles I,
antedating the sale of the lordship, with its grant of
all lands, &c. which they then held, however obtained,
certainly covered the waste. After two years' fighting,
however, a compromise was arranged, by which
Molyneux was allowed to build his bridge on pay-
ment of a nominal rent of id. per annum in recog-
nition of the borough's ownership of the waste ; while
on the other hand he granted to the borough a lease
of all the rights of lordship except the ferry and the
burgage-rents (which he still had to pay to the
Crown) for 1,000 years at £50 per annum.463 In
1777 the lease was bought up from the then Lord
Sefton, and this purchase included ferry and burgage-
rents, which the Molyneuxes had previously purchased
from the Crown.464 Thus the ancient connexion of
this family with the government of the borough came
to an end ; and with it feudal superiority vanished
from the borough.
Molyneux, indeed, remained hereditary constable
of the castle,464 which was still outside the liberties of
the borough, and received the tithes payable to the
parochial church of Walton. But both of these
powers also vanished during this period. The castle
had been partially dismantled between 1660 and
l6jB,m and it was now mainly used by a number of
poor tenants who were allowed to remain within its
walls,467 beyond the control of the borough authorities.
But when in 1688 and 1689 Lord Molyneux, actively
supporting James II, made use of the castle for stores
and arms,468 and when in 1 694 he was suspected of
<*• The Moore Rental, already quoted,
has been published by W. F. Irvine, under
the title of Liverpool in King Charles H's
Time} also by the Chetham Society
(vol. iv).
444 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, I54ff.
4*7 Moore Rental (ed. W. F. Irvine),
10, II.
458 Ibid. 64 and passim.
459 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv,
184.
460 Moore Rental (ed. W. F. Irvine),
XXX.
481 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 14.
«*Ibid. 1,275-8 1.
24
468 These documents are printed in
Hist. Munic. Govt. in Liv. 391 ff.
484 Ibid. 395, 227.
465 Picton, Liv, Munic. Rec. ii, 37 ff.
466 Ibid. ; Cox, Liv. Castle.
467 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 40.
468 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv,
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
LIVERPOOL
being concerned in the organization of a Jacobite
rising,469 he was confiscated, and the constableship
passed out of his hands.470 In 1699 the burgesses
obtained a lease of the castle for a year,471 thus for the
first time bringing its precincts under their control.
In 1 704 they obtained from the Crown a lease 4"
of the castle and its site for fifty years with power to
demolish its ruins. Disputes with Lord Molyneux,
who still claimed the hereditary constableship, delayed
the settlement, and it was not until 1726 that the
last relics, the wall at the top of Lord Street, dis-
appeared.473 The acquisition of the lordship and of
the castle by the burgesses marks the conclusion of the
period of struggle with feudal superiors which has
hitherto been the staple of burghal history ; and, no
less than the great development of trade, makes this
period the real beginning of modern Liverpool.
The establishment of Liverpool as a separate parish
is another sign of the same tendency. The arrange-
ment whereby the tithes paid by Liverpool to Lord
Molyneux had during the Commonwealth period been
devoted to the provision of a minister for the new
parish of Liverpool had, of course, with other Com-
monwealth arrangements, been suppressed at the
Restoration. But the rapid growth of the town made
some readjustment inevitable. In 1673 Blome noted474
that the chapel of St. Nicholas, though large, was too
small to hold the inhabitants of the town, and this
inadequacy became accentuated as the influx of popu-
lation continued. In 1699, in response to a petition
from the Corporation,474 Liverpool was cut off from
the parish of Walton, and created into a separate
parish with two rectors appointed and paid by the
Corporation. Compensation to the rector of Walton
and to Lord Molyneux was also paid by the Corpora-
tion.47' The borough thus became ecclesiastically as
well as administratively independent. Under the same
Act which constituted the parish, a new church, that of
St. Peter, was erected on the continuation of Lord
Molyneux's road across the waste, henceforth to be
known as Church Street. But the creation of the
parish involved the institution of the vestry as a
separate poor-law authority, levying its own rates ; 4rr
and this marks the beginning of a subdivision of
administrative authority which was to be greatly
extended during the next century.
The new temper of the burgesses, induced by their
prosperity, is further exhibited in the use they made
during the period of their Parliamentary franchise.
Contested elections had been rare before the Restora-
tion, but almost every election after 1 660 was acri-
moniously contested. Lord Derby, who had once
regularly nominated to one of the seats, was still
influential, and his support often sufficed to turn the
scale ; but he was now only one of a group of mag-
nates who wrote to use their influence at elections,478
and after the Revolution his preferences were entirely
disregarded. The wealthy merchants who now con-
trolled Liverpool were not to be dictated to. Party
feeling had run high, and influence in elections now
mainly took the form of bribery, which became
rampant in this period.
The bitter feud of two organized parties is indeed
the chief feature of municipal history during these
years. Since the fever of the Civil War the great
issues which divided the nation affected the town as
they had never done before ; and under the stress of
strife between Puritans and Cavaliers, or Whigs and
Tories, the forms of borough government underwent
a series of remarkable changes, always influenced by
the synchronous events in national history. The
rising port had emerged from its backwater into the
full stream of national life.
Puritanism had been strong in Liverpool, and con-
tinued to be strong under Charles II. The Act of
Uniformity drove forth two of the ministers of Wal-
ton and Liverpool ; but there remained a substantial
number of Nonconformists.478* No less than five alder-
men and seven councilmen, together with the town
clerk, refused to take the oaths in i66z-3,479 being
almost one in three of the council ; though many
who were Puritan in sympathy, like Colonel Birch,480
who had been governor of the town under the Com-
monwealth, made no difficulty about accepting the
oaths. Wandering Nonconformist preachers like
Thomas Jolly 481 found ' many opportunities ' and
' much comfort ' when they came to Liverpool ; and
on the issue of the Declaration of Indulgence a
licence was obtained for a Presbyterian conventicle in
* the house of Thomas Christian,' as well as for two
chapels in Toxteth Park.481a The rector of Walton
writes in 1693 of the presence in Liverpool of 'a
number of fanatics from whom a churchman can
expect little justice.' 4M
The presence of this substantial element of declared
Nonconformists, backed by a number of Conformists
who were Puritan in their sympathies in both poli-
tical and religious affairs, brought it about that Liver-
pool was the scene of acute and acrimonious party strife
down to, and even after, the Revolution. In 1662 a
«• Hiit. MSS. Com. Rtp. xiv. App. iv,
292 ft". 302. He received a commission
from the exiled monarch giving him ' in-
structions for the care and government of
Liverpool.'
470 There was much competition among
the local nobility to obtain the succession.
Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. i, 20, 21 ; iii, 270*.
4?1 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 292 ff.
47* A full abstract of the lease is given
by Picton, Li-v. Munic. Rec. ii, 33 ff. The
condition was at first imposed that part
of the castle should be used as an armoury
for the local militia ; but in 1709 Lord
Derby as lord lieutenant empowered the
removal of these arms to the custody of
the mayor. Ibid. 41.
4'* Picton, Liv. Munic. Rtc. ii, 61.
V* Loc. cit.
«75 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 3*5.
<7« Ibid.
*77 It would appear, however, that
Liverpool had acted as a poor-law autho-
rity for some time before it became a
separate parish, no doubt under the terms
of 13 & 14 Chas. II, cap. 13, which
provided that in certain counties of the
north of England populous townships
should have overseers of their own, distinct
from those of the large parishes of which
they formed parts. From 1682, when the
records begin, a poor-rate was levied and
administered by elected ' overseers of the
poor." The amount raised rose from £40
in 1682 to ,£100 in 1698, the year before
the Act constituting the parish was
passed. There is no marked change
either in the amount raised or in the
mode of administration after the Act.
Vestry Minutes, i.
«8 OrmondMSS. (Hist MSS. Com. new
sen), iii, 367.
25
47te In 1669 the Bishop of Chester re-
ported to Archbishop Sheldon that at
' Leverpoole was held a frequent conven-
ticle of about 30 or 40 Anabaptists, mostly
rich people,' while ' two conventicles of
Independents ' were held in Toxteth Park,
'the usual number of each is between
100 and 200, some of them husbandmen,
others merchants with severall sorts of
tradesmen' ; Lambeth MSS. 639, quoted
Bate, Declaration of Indulgence, App. viii.
W Picton, Lii>. Munic. Rec. i, 238,
240. Cf. for presence of ' fanatics ' in
Liverpool, Col. S.P. Dom. 1665-6, p.
243.
480 Ibid.
<« Notebook of T. Jolly (Chet. Soc. new
ser. xxxiii), 60.
481a Bate, op. cit. App. Ixx and xxxii.
«» Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv,
279.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
batch of thirty-eight new freemen were admitted,48*
nearly all powerful local landowners, and presumably
good church and king men, and the object of this was
doubtless to modify the Puritan complexion of the
borough. But in spite of this it seems clear that the
Puritans (or, as it will be more convenient and more
accurate to call them, the Whigs) remained in a standing
majority in the burgess body, throughout the period, and
for a time held their own even in the carefully purified
council.484 This is especially indicated in the mayoral
elections, the only function now left by the council
to the burgess body at large. In 1669 a mayor was
elected who had refused to take the oaths in 1662 ;485
and when a petition against his election was sent to
the Privy Council, a majority of the Town Council
voted in favour of paying the costs of resistance. From
this it would appear that in 1669 the Whigs were still
strong in the council. So long as the bailiffs con-
tinued to be elected, under the terms of the Charter
of Charles I, by the burgess body, and to become
thereafter life members of the council, it seemed
impossible for Tory predominance to be established.
Applications for a new charter were made in 1 664 4*
and 1667 ; 487 and as the influence of Lord Derby, that
sound Cavalier, was enlisted in favour of these appli-
cations, it is reasonable to suppose that their object was
to obtain a revision in a sense favourable to the Tories.
The non-success of these applications maybe attributed
to the fact that Charles II, until the secession of
Shaftesbury in 1672, hoped for Puritan support in his
monarchic aims, and was unwilling therefore to weaken
Puritan power.
In 1672 the Tories, now in a majority in the
council though not in the assembly, and led by a
Tory mayor, took the law into their own hands. They
appear to have assumed the right of nominating the
bailiffs ; and when a protest was made, it was con-
demned as ' very scandalous and of bad consequence,'
and a resolution was passed deposing any of the (Whig)
members of council who should be proved to have
been concerned in it.488 At the next electoral assembly
the outgoing mayor, having declared his successor duly
elected, adjourned the meeting seemingly without
proceeding to the election of bailiffs.489 A number of
the burgesses, however, refused to be adjourned, and
forcing the mayor to continue in the chair, transacted
business for two hours, until the mayor was relieved by
force. There is no record of their proceedings, which
were regarded as illegal. They may have held that
the result of the mayoral election was not truly
declared ; they may have demanded an election of
bailiffs ; and they may also have insisted upon exercising
their chartered right of passing by-laws. For this
riotous conduct twenty-six men were deprived of the
freedom. In 1676, however, there was again a Whig
mayor ; *" who in conjunction with three Whig
aldermen, proceeded to admit a number of new free-
men without consulting the council, doubtless for the
purpose of affecting the next elections. The council
refused to recognize these freemen ; and when in 1677
another Whig mayor was elected, declared his election
void on the ground that he had been struck off the
commission of the peace for the county.491 It is worth
noting that these events occurred at the time when
the Crown was engaged in its death-grapple with
Shaftesbury.
On 1 8 July 1677 the council at last succeeded in
obtaining from Charles II a new charter.492 In the
charter of William III, by which its main provisions
were repealed, this charter is described as having been
obtained ' by a few of the burgesses by a combination
among themselves, and without a surrender of the
previous charter or any judgement of quo warranto or
otherwise given against the same.' 49S This doubtless
means that the application was made by the Tory
majority of the council, without confirmation by the
assembly, to which under the charter of Charles I full
governing powers belonged. The main purpose of
the new charter was to secure the predominance of the
council, unmentioned in the Charles I charter, and
its control over the whole borough government. The
number of the council was raised from forty to sixty in
order to permit of the inclusion of ' fifteen . . . bur-
gesses of the said town dwelling without that town, 'i.e.
fifteen good Tory country gentlemen who would secure
the Tory majority. The charter also transferred from
the assembly to the council the right of electing both the
mayor and the bailiffs, as well as the nomination of free-
men. As the election of the mayor and bailiffs was
the sole municipal power remaining in the hands of
the body of burgesses, this provision deprived them of
any shadow of power over the government of the town.
Their only remaining function was that of electing
members of Parliament, and the right of nominating
freemen gave control even over these elections
ultimately into the hands of the council. Thus the
result of this charter was to place the absolute control
of the borough in the hands of a small self-electing
Tory oligarchy.
The action of the council in the restless strife of
the later years of Charles II was what might have
been predicted. They passed vigorous loyal addresses
against the Exclusion Bill 494 and in condemnation
of the Rye-house Plot ; 49S the latter address con-
tains an interesting allusion to Dryden's dbsalom and
Ackitophel, which shows how keenly the movement of
national affairs was now followed in the borough.
But there is visible in the addresses also an under-
current of nervousness ; their fear of ' Popish contri-
vances,' and their * adherence to the true Protestant
religion ' is a little too loudly insisted upon. This
may explain why it was thought necessary to include
Liverpool in the list of general revisions of municipal
charters at the end of the reign of Charles II and the
beginning of that of James II. Issued in the first
year of James II, the new charter496 simply confirmed
its predecessor, but it contained also two new clauses,
one reserving to the Crown the right of removing any
member of the council or any borough official : the
other conveying the power of exacting from any
188 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 240.
484 On this point see Hist. Munic. Govt.
in Liv. 102, 103.
** Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 245.
484 Munic. Rec. iii, 779. A « ley' of £80
•was raised for the purpose.
87 Ibid. 837, 847.
488 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. 5, 246.
89 Ibid. 247 ; and Hist. Munic. Govt. in
Liv. 102-3, where this curious episode is
discussed.
490 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 248.
491 Ibid.
IM Hist. Munic. Govt. in Liv. i 9 1 ff.
498 Ibid. 237. The only allusion to
the episode in the Council minutes is
a resolution on i Nov. 1676 authorizing
the mayor 'to take care about renewing
26
of our charter, taking to his assistance
such as he shall think meet at the charge
of this Corporation.' Munic. Rec. iv, 137.
Clearly the assembly of burgesses had not
been consulted.
494 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 2CI.
495 Ibid. 253.
496 Hist. Munic. Govt. in Liv. 207 ff.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
LIVERPOOL
freeman the oaths hitherto required only from coun-
cillors, and thus rendering possible a further purifica-
tion of the burgess body, still predominantly Whig.
Under the terms of this charter, the deputy-mayor
and the senior alderman (both Tories) were removed497
by the Crown for persisting in prosecuting two Catho-
lics, a surgeon and a schoolmistress, for pursuing their
professions, in spite of a licence issued by the Crown.
This indicates that in Liverpool, as elsewhere, the
loyalty of the Tories to the Crown was limited by
their loyalty to the Church. Tory as it was, the
council never willingly accepted this charter, which
indeed would appear never to have had legal force.498
The increasing restiveness of the council is still more
clearly shown in the answer given 4" to commissioners
who were in 1687 sent round to obtain promises of
aid in securing a Parliament favourable to the repeal
of the Test Act. The mayor answered ' that what is
required by his Majesty is a very weighty and new
thing ; and that he was not prepared to give any
answer but this : when it shall please the King to call
a new Parliament, he proposed to vote for such per-
sons as he hoped would serve the just interests both of
his Majesty and the nation.' Only 'four or five
customs officers ' were ready to promise their votes.500
The borough as a whole was thus ready to wel-
come, and even the ruling oligarchy was ready to
accept, the Revolution. A small force of royal troops
were for a time in Liverpool,501 and Lord Molyneux,
Constable of the castle, took a vigorous part for
James as Lord Lieutenant of the county ; 50f but the
attitude of Lord Derby, who, Tory as he was, after
some wavering, threw himself on the side of the
Prince of Orange,503 had more to do with determin-
ing the attitude of the town ; and one of the things
he protested against was the 'extravagant methods
practised by the new magistrates in the ancient loyal
corporations ' of Wigan, Liverpool, and Preston, into
which he urged that inquiry should be made.504
Though some of the townsmen made some difficulty
about accepting the oaths to the new monarchs,505 on
the whole the Revolution was most enthusiastically
received in Liverpool ; and during 1689 the port
was very actively employed in the transport of troops
for the Irish campaign,506 General Kirke being for a
time in command in the town,507 while Schomberg
passed through it 508 on his way to embark at Hoy-
lake. So great was the demand for shipping that the
merchants complained that they were being ruined.509
The Revolution brought about a temporary recon-
ciliation between the two parties in the town. Not
only the Tory magistrates removed by the Crown,510
but some of the Whigs who had declined the oaths
in idyS,511 returned to the council. The charter of
James II was dropped by common consent, if it had
ever come into force, and in 1690 an inspeximus and
confirmation51* of the charter of Charles II was
obtained from William and Mary. In the first
Parliament of the Revolution Liverpool was repre-
sented 513 by Lord Colchester, son-in-law of Lord
Derby and a sound Tory, and by Thomas Norris, a
strong Whig.
But it was inevitable that the Whigs, in a majority
in the burgess-body, should desire power in the town
government, and the reconciliation did not last long.
In 1694, Lord Colchester being called up to the
House of Peers, a Whig was elected in his place by
400 votes against 1 5 cast for his Tory opponent,514
in spite of the support given by Lord Derby to the
latter. The Tory mayor went so far as to declare the
defeated candidate elected,415 for which he was repri-
manded by the House of Commons. This election
was regarded as a triumph for the party which was
anxious to overturn the charter of Charles II ; and
the two members, Jasper Maudit and Thomas Norris,
worked actively516 to obtain a new charter. The
Town Council voted funds for the defence of the
Charles II charter,517 and appealed to Roger Kenyon,
member for Clitheroe, and to Lord Derby, to fight
their case for them at Westminster.518 In 1605,
however, a new charter519 was granted, which first
declared the Charles II charter invalid on the grounds
already noted, then recited and confirmed the Charles I
charter, and went on to reduce the number of the
Town Council to forty. This charter remained the
governing charter of the borough until 1835. Its
general principle (in consonance with the conservative
character of the whole revolution of which it was a
part) was to restore the system of government as it
was supposed to have been before the recent changes.
But it was badly drafted ; and left open several vital
questions over which there was much discussion dur-
ing the next century — notably the question whether
it was within the power of the burgess body at its
pleasure to override the powers of the Town
Council.5*0
The Whigs were now in power in the council as
well as in the assembly ; and though the Tories
refused to accept the new charter,521 and the ex-
mayor (deposed from the council) refused to yield
up the town plate,521 they were powerless ; and the
Whig predominance remained unshaken until the
middle of the i8th century. An attempt to obtain
the revocation of the William III charter, made by
the Tories during the period of Tory ascendancy in
national councils in 1710, was unsuccessful;523 as
were also sundry attacks in a different form upon the
dominant Whigs, to which we shall have to allude in
the next section. The Liverpool members of Parlia-
ment during this period were also steadily Whig.
497 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 257.
498 Against the docquet of the charter
•re written the words ' never past,' Hist.
Munic. Govt. in Liv. 206. In a list of
charters in the House of Lords MSS. it
is entered with a note '(did not pass),'
Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, App. vi, 299.
499 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 257-8.
600 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, App. vii,
206.
801 Ibid. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 2OI-2.
602 Ibid. Rep. xii, App. vii, 205 ff.
508 Ibid. Rep. xiv, App. iv, I98ff.
504 Ibid. 198.
505 Ibid. 223.
506 Ibid. Rep. xii, App. vi, 170, 174,
175, 183, 187 ; App. vii, 237, 244, 248,
250.
W Abbott's Journ. (Chet. Soc. Ixi), 2.
508 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, App. vii,
250.
509 Ibid. Rep* xiv, App. iv, 263.
510 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 260.
«" Ibid. 281.
512 Hist. Munic. Govt. in Liv. 233.
418 Ret. ofMemb. of Parl. } Norris Papers
(Chet. Soc. ix), 21.
514 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv,
321 ; Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 261.
515 Ibid.
27
6U Norris Papers (Chet. Soc. ix), 25-
3°-
517 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. !, 262.
518 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv,
378.
519 Hist. Munic. Govt. in Liv. 110-14,
and 236 ff.
sac for an analysis in detail of these
points see Hist. Munic. Govt. in Liv.
110—14.
521 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. 263-4.
822 Ibid.
423 Ibid, ii, 4-7 ; Hist. Munic. Govt.
in Liv. 114, 115 ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep.
xiv, App. iv, 673.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The chief of them, Sir Thomas Johnson, sat for
Liverpool from 1701 to 1727™ and all attacks upon
his seat were unsuccessful."5 He and his father had
been the leaders in the struggle against the Tory
supremacy. A representative of the new class of
Liverpool merchants, he was assiduous in his atten-
tions to the interests of the town,"6 and deserves to
be regarded as one of the principal fosterers of its
new prosperity. He died a poor man after a labo-
rious life, and his memory now survives only in the
name of Sir Thomas Street.6"
Fairly launched on its upward career by 1700,
Liverpool was to enjoy during the course of the 1 8th
century a rapidly increasing prosperity, the course
of which it will be impossible to follow in any detail.
Staunchly loyal to the Protestant succession, the town
enjoyed the favour of the Whig party. Its Whiggism
may be illustrated by the fact that in 1714 it for-
warded an address to the Crown, asking for the
punishment of the Tory ministers of Anne, who had
endeavoured to restore the exiled Stuarts ; 628 by the
fact that in 1 709 it was the only provincial town to
offer hospitality to the exiled ' Palatines,' of whom
it took 130 families ;"* and above all by the fact
that in the rebellion of 1715, during which it was
the single stronghold of Whiggism in Lancashire, it
threw itself vigorously into a state of defence.530
When the rebellion was crushed it was not unnaturally
chosen as the venue for many of the trials ; 631 two of
the unfortunate prisoners were executed on the
gallows in London Road, while many hundreds were
transported, to the no small profit of the Liverpool
traders who took them out. The later rebellion of
1745 found Liverpool equally loyal; a regiment of
foot was raised and equipped by public subscription,*3'
and after having a brush with the Highlanders near
Warrington, it played a useful part in garrisoning
Carlisle, during the Duke of Cumberland's northward
advance, its conduct earning warm praise.433 When
the rising was over, the party feeling of the town
burst forth in mob riots, in the course of which the
only Roman Catholic chapel was burnt.434 As might
be expected in a town so vigorously Whig, the
ascendancy of the Whig party remained almost
unshaken both in municipal politics and in the
Parliamentary elections. Liverpool was generally
regarded as a safe Whig borough,435 and the power of
electing new freemen, hitherto pretty generously
exercised, now began to be used by the Town
Council for the purpose of securing party ascend-
ancy.438 Under these circumstances the Tory party,
extruded from power, made themselves the advocates
of the rights of the burgess body as against the Town
Council — rights of which they had formerly been the
principal opponents. The election of Sir Thomas
Bootle as one of the members for the borough from
1727 to I734437 represents the partial triumph of
this interest. During the same period, and largely
under Bootle's influence, a vigorous attack was made
on the ascendancy of the Town Council,433 which was
for some years quite overridden, the government of
the town being assumed, in accordance with the
popular interpretation of a clause in the William III
charter, by a succession of popular mayors acting
through the assembly of burgesses. In 1734 Lord
Derby was elected mayor, and under his powerful
direction, an attempt was made to regularize the
position of the assembly, and to establish its right of
passing by-laws and electing freemen. Lord Derby
died before the end of his year of office ; and after
his death the agitation quietly and completely died
out. There was a partial revival of the controversy
in 1757, when Mr. Joseph Clegg,439 one of the alder-
men who had been mayor in 1 748, led a renewed
attack upon the council. But though the council
tried in vain to obtain a new charter640 establishing
beyond question its control of borough government
Clegg's attack came to nothing, and the challenge of
the council's authority was not again renewed until
the time of the French Revolution. The chief
interest of this struggle is the demonstration which it
affords that the ascendancy of the Whigs was as
narrowly oligarchic as that of the Tories had been
after the Restoration. Indeed, it was even more so ;
for it is to this period that we must attribute an
increasing chariness in granting the freedom of the
borough to new-comers.441 Up to the beginning of
the 1 8th century it would appear that almost all resi-
dents obtained the freedom without difficulty. By
the middle of the century it was rarely granted to
new-comers except for the purpose of influencing
elections; and finally in 1777 the rule was laid
down 4W that none but apprentices and sons of freemen
should be admitted to the freedom. Thus in the
second half of the century a minority of the principal
merchants of the town exercised political rights in it.
This increasing restriction was peculiarly unfortunate
at a period when, owing to the rapid growth of trade,
the population was increasing with unheard-of rapidity.
But it is probably to be attributed to the very fact of
this increase of trade, the town council being
unwilling to sacrifice the large revenue which they
derived from the dues paid by non-freemen. These
dues were now for the first time becoming very
valuable ; and hence arose a new series of struggles,
due to the attempt of boroughs such as London,
Bristol and Lancaster, to obtain exemption from the
payment of dues in Liverpool under the mediaeval
charters which freed them from the payment of dues
throughout the kingdom. One such question had
6!» Ret. of Memb. of Par!.
624 Even in 1710, when the Tory re-
action wa» at its height ; Hist. MSS. Com.
Rep. xiv, App. iv, 579.
'» See Norrit Papers (Chet. Soc. ix),
passim.
527The facts of Johnson's life have
been summarized by E. M. Platt, Trans.
Hist. Soc. (new ser.), rvi, 147.
SM Lanes, in 1715 (Chet. Soc. v), 4.
SM Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. viii, App. i,
47*. The reception of the 'Palatines'
was a very definite party issue ; cf. for
example, Swift's attacks on it, Examiner,
nos. 41, 45.
78;
S3°Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec.
Ware, Lanes, in 1715, passim.
681 Ware, Lanes, in 1715, 190-202;
Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 79 ; Stuart
MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), ii, 232 ; Milne-
Home MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), 112.
5811 Picton, Li-v. Munic. Rec. ii, 105 ff.
688 Walpole, Letters (ed. Toynbee), ii,
165.
&M Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 109 ;
Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xv, App. vii,
334-
as Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv,
579 5 Ref>- *v, App. vii, 121-2 et passim.
' Ibid. Rep. xv, App. vii, 122-3.
687 Picton, Li-v. Munic. Rec. ii, 99.
28
588 Ibid. 89-99. For a full analysis
and description of this struggle and its
results see Muir, Hist, of Li-v. 167-73;
also Hist. Munic. Govt. in Liv. 125-8,
269,. where full excerpts from the
municipal archives are printed.
689 Picton, Li-v. Munic. Rec. ii, 101, 2 ;
A letter from Mr. Joseph Clcgg, etc. ; A
Correct Translation of the Charter etc. by
Philodemus ; and other pamphlets and MS.
by Clegg preserved in the Liverpool City
Library.
540 Hist. Munic. Govt. in Liv. 270-1.
641 For the steps in this development
see Hitt. Munic. Govt. in Liv 120-1.
542 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 194.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
already been raised by the London cheesemongers in
1690 ;543 it was revived at intervals during the cen-
tury,544 both on behalf of the freemen of London, and
on behalf of those of other towns, and was not finally
determined till I799,545 when after a long trial, it
was laid down that only ' freemen residing within the
liberties ' of the borough which put forward the claim
were entitled to the exemption.
All these disputes were in themselves evidences of
the growing wealth to which they were due. The
secret of this rising prosperity was that Liverpool was
in this period obtaining an increasingly large share of
the trade which was then the richest in the world —
that with the West Indies, whence almost all the
sugar, tobacco, and other * colonial produce ' consumed
by Europe was derived. In comparison with the
West India trade, the trade with the American
colonies was of very small importance, and as late as
1752 only one Liverpool vessel is said to have plied
to New York.548 Not only was there the direct trade
with the British West Indies, but, even more lucrative,
a large irregular smuggling trade with Spanish
America was carried on, in spite of the prohibition of
the Spanish government. In this traffic, the southern
ports of Bristol and London possessed at the end of
the 1 7th century a very great advantage. During
the early years of the 1 8th century Liverpool rapidly
gained at their expense. For this two reasons are
alleged. The first is that her ships were largely
manned with apprentices who received next to no
wages until they reached the age of twenty-one, and
that the customary rate of pay for the captains and
officers was lower than the rate which held in the
southern ports.547 More important was the second
cause : namely, that the coarse stuffs of mixed linen
and cotton, or linen and woollen (linsey woolsey)
which were produced by the looms of Manchester
were in great request in the West Indian markets,
and were produced more cheaply than the correspond-
ing German goods with which the southern traders
endeavoured to supply the market.548 Thus, as
always, the growth of Liverpool trade was concurrent
with the growth of Manchester industry. The
smuggling trade with the Spanish colonies, and the
frequent conflicts with Spanish guarda costas to which
it gave rise, ultimately led to the Spanish war of 1739,
and was almost brought to an end by an Act of
Parliament of 1747, which forbade foreign vessels to
frequent British West India ports.549 But while it
was at its height (about 1730) this branch of trade
alone is said to have brought into Liverpool an
annual profit of £250,000 and to have consumed over
£500,000 worth of Manchester goods.550
The legitimate and illegitimate trade of the West
Indies and South America equally led on the traders
who engaged in it to the still more lucrative African
trade which could be worked in combination with it.
LIVERPOOL
It was in this period that Liverpool first entered upon
the slave trade, out of which she was to draw, during
the century, fabulous riches ; and which was to earn
for her a highly unsavoury reputation. At the end
of the century the greatness of Liverpool was generally
attributed — by her own citizens as well as by others 5S1
— entirely to the slave trade. Yet it was not until
the fourth decade of the century, when Liverpool
was already rapidly overtaking Bristol, that this line
of trade began to be seriously developed ; and she
had long been preceded in it by the two great
southern ports. Up to 1698 the monopoly of the
African trade had been held by the Assiento Com-
pany of London. In that year its formal monopoly
was abolished,55* though it still retained the sole right
of importing slaves into the Spanish dominions. In
the early years of the eighteenth century Bristol
began to compete with London — led on, as Liverpool
was later to be, from the West Indies to the source
of their labour supply. Indeed the Bristol merchants
seem to have been driven to the African trade largely
by the successful competition of Liverpool in the
Spanish smuggling trade.553 In 1709 one Liverpool
vessel of 30 tons burthen was dispatched to Africa ;554
but the venture does not seem to have been success-
ful, probably owing to the jealousy of the Bristol and
London men, for it was not repeated for twenty
years. In 1730 an Act of Parliament for the regu-
lation of the African trade i55 established an open
company to which any person trading to Africa
might belong on payment of 40.;. The money was
to be used for the up-keep of factories on the African
coast ; and the administration of these was entrusted
to a committee of nine, consisting of three members
elected by the merchants of each of the three ports,
London, Bristol, and Liverpool. At once, under the
new system, Liverpool threw herself energetically into
the trade. In the same year, 1730, fifteen vessels of
1,1 1 1 tons were dispatched to Africa.666 In 1752
the number had risen to eighty-eight vessels ac-
commodating nearly 25,000 slaves,557 though it
had sunk by 1760 to seventy-four vessels of 8,178
tons.658 In 1751 a separate Liverpool company was
established 559 by Act of Parliament. The Act states
that there were 101 African merchants in Liverpool,
but though there were 135 in London and 157 in
Bristol, ' their trade to Africa is not so extensive as
the merchants of Liverpool.' The methods and
development of this trade cannot here be described.
The materials for its history have been fully mar-
shalled by Mr. Gomer Williams, to whose valuable
book 56° the reader who is inquisitive on this subject
may be referred. But it should be noted that the
immensely lucrative character of this traffic is to be
attributed to the fact that a treble profit was made on
every voyage. The cheap guns, ornaments, and stuffs
which formed the outward cargo were exchanged for
MS Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 265,
301 ff.
M4 Ibid, ii, 21 ff. et passim.
•« Ibid. 212.
846 Smithers, Liverpool, 112. A useful
general description of Liverpool trade in
the 1 8th and early igth centuries, with
statistics, is contained in this book, and
indeed, forms its best feature. See also,
Kaye, Stranger in Liverpool (1825 ed.),
M' Wallace, Central Descr. 216.
Derrick (Letters from Liv, &c. 1767)
attributes the success of Liverpool to the
fact that owing to the security of the
passage through the Irish Sea, insurance
could be dispensed with.
M8 Williams, Liv. Privateers and Slave-
trade,^. <*» Ibid.
450 Edwards, Hist, of the W. Indie*.
M1 Wallace, Central Descr. 229.
Ma Williams, loc. cit.
sss Williams, op. cit. 467.
644 Troughton (Corry), Hist. Liv. 265,
gives a table of the number and tonnage of
slave-ships sailing from Liverpool from
1709 to 1807.
29
sss Williams, op. cit. 467.
«• Ibid. 470.
W Williamson, Liv. Memorandum Bk.
1753, gives the full list of ships and
owners for 1752. The list is reprinted
by Williams, op. cit. 675.
*68 Troughton, loc. cit.
»» 23 Geo. II, cap. 31. The list of
merchants incorporated in the new com-
pany is printed by Williams, op. cit. 674.
660 Hist, of the Liv. Privateers and Letter!
of Marque with an account of the Liv. Slave-
trade, Lond. 1897.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
slaves at an average cost of about £15 ; the slaves
were then shipped to Virginia or (more often) to
Kingston, Jamaica (where the Liverpool merchants
combined to maintain permanent agents) and sold at
a price which varied from £60 upwards ; the ships
were then loaded with sugar, tobacco, and other highly
saleable West Indian produce for the homeward
voyage. Comparatively few slaves were brought
home to England, though occasional advertisements
in the Liverpool papers show that a few were im-
ported before 1772, when the Somerset case made
such importations illegal. This 'great triangle' of
trade was probably the most lucrative in the history
of commerce, for its profits were not only very large
but rapid. Thus vast fortunes were made, and a
vast capital accumulated in Liverpool, much of which
went to develop other lines of trade, or to aid those
works, now beginning to be undertaken, for the im-
provement of the equipment of the port and its com-
munications with inland markets.
Of these activities the most important was the
creation of the first dock. The idea of deepening
the Pool which curved round the town and turning
it into a more effective harbour had long been enter-
tained by some of the more enterprising townsmen ;
it is alluded to by Sir Edward Moore as early as
I668.561 But in the first years of the i8th century
the necessity of some such provision for the increasing
shipping became obvious. The first project, put for-
ward in 1 708 by a Mr. Henry Hun of Derby,562 was
one for simply deepening and walling in the whole
length of the Pool. But in the next year Mr.
Thomas Steers, an engineer brought from London by
Sir Thomas Johnson, proposed the alternative scheme
of making a square dock with gates in the mouth of
the Pool. This proposal was accepted, and an Act
of Parliament obtained to empower the Town Council
to borrow the necessary funds and to raise dock dues
for the payment of the interest thereon.688 The con-
struction of the dock was begun in 1710 under the
direction of Steers. It took longer, and cost more
to build, than had been anticipated ; it was opened
for use on 31 August 1715, but was not then com-
pleted, and a second Act had to be obtained in
1 7 1 6 564 to empower the council to raise additional
funds for the completion of the works. A 'dry
dock' or basin was added two years later.565 From
the first the dock (whose site is now represented by
the Custom House) was fully used, but it was not
until 1734s66 that the creation of a new dock, known
as the South or Salthouse Dock, was begun. This,
as there was no natural inlet to facilitate the work,
took nineteen years to build, and was not opened
until I753.567
The beginning of the dock estate marks an epoch
in the history of the town ; it is the beginning of
modern Liverpool. The Pool, the characteristic
feature of mediaeval Liverpool, now vanishes from
the maps, leaving as its sole trace the irregularity of
the directions of the streets that had been compressed
into the triangle between it and the river. But the
creation of docks was not the only enterprise of this
period for the improvement of the port's trading
facilities. The channel of the river was buoyed and
charted ; 56S lighthouses were erected,869 the first good
carriage roads out of the town were made with the
aid of the Town Council ; S7° the streams running
into the Mersey estuary were deepened so as to make
them navigable : the Weaver (not without opposi-
tion) in I72O,571 the Mersey and the Irwell also in
I72O,57* and the Sankey Brook in 1755 ;57S while
the deepening of the Douglas from Wigan to the
Kibble574 cheapened the transport of coal. The
Sankey navigation, carried out seemingly by a Liver-
pool engineer, and largely financed by Liverpool
men,575 departed frankly from the line of the original
brook, and so foreshadowed the era of canals.
The increment of trade which produced all these
activities may be indicated by the single fact that
during the first half of the i8th century the shipping
of the port rose from seventy ships with 800 men .(in
1700) to 220 ships with 3,319 men in 1751.*".
In the same period the population rose from 5,000
(est.) in 1700 to 18,000 (est.) in I75O.57S New
local industries were also created or greatly developed
in this period : shipbuilding, sugar refining, rope-
making, iron-working, watch-making, and pottery, all
flourished.579 In pottery, in particular, Liverpool
enjoyed in this age a brief eminence. By the middle
of the 1 8th century, therefore, the town was already
vigorous and thriving ; rejoicing especially in its re-'
cently acquired mastery of the most lucrative trade in
the world.
In the second half of the 1 8th century the com-
mercial triumph of Liverpool was secured. This
was due to several causes, the first of which was the
effect of the wars which almost filled this age.
In the Spanish War of 1739 and the War of the
Austrian Succession into which it merged, Liverpool
seems to have taken comparatively little part, though
she had shared so largely in the irregular traffic of the
South Seas from which it sprang. Four or five
privateers are known to have plied from the town,
and they made a number of valuable captures ; sw
but the non-existence of local newspapers during this
period makes it difficult to discover the exact extent
of these privateering activities. On the other hand
103 Liverpool vessels are known to have been cap-
tured by the enemy.581 Nevertheless the port profited
exceedingly from the war, owing to the comparative
security of the route through the Irish Sea. A local
observer writes in 1753 that the war had brought
such wealth that if it had lasted ' seven years longer
it would have enlarged the size and riches of the
town to a prodigious degree . . . Trade since the
late peace has not been so brisk as formerly.' 58S War
therefore was welcomed in Liverpool.
From the Seven Years' War the town derived even
481 Moore, Rental (ed. W. F. Irvine),
104 et passim.
M1 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 47.
**• 8 Anne, cap. 12; Picton, Liv.
Munic. Rec. ii, 48. s'4 3 Geo. I, cap. i.
MS Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 141.
**• Ibid. 133, 143.
W Ibid. *«» Ibid. 49.
*•• Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. viii, App. i,
395*-
870 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 63 ;
Acts of 12 Geo. I, cap. 21 ; 19 Geo. II,
cap. 19 ; 26 Geo. II, cap. 65.
871 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. viii, App. i,
396^ ; 7 Geo. I, cap. 10 ; 7 Geo. II,
cap. 28.
s"27 Geo. I, cap. 15.
V* 28 Geo. II, cap. 8 ; z Geo. Ill,
cap. 56.
874 6 Geo. I, cap. 28.
30
575 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 144 j
Brooke, Liv. in the xviii Cent. 105-6.
877 Smithers, Lw. 185. Wlbid. 195-6.
879 Williamson, Liv. Memorandum Bk.
(1753).
880 Williams, Hist, of Liv. Privateers,
39, 40.
681 Ibid. App. i, p. 659.
ssa Williamson, Liv. Memorandum Bk.
1753-
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
LIVERPOOL
greater advantages. Though Thurot,553 a brilliant
French privateer, found his way into the Irish Sea,
and in 1758 and 1759 caused much alarm in the
Mersey, rendering necessary the fortification of the
port,584 and though ninety -eight Liverpool vessels
were during the course of the war captured by the
French,585 the activity of the Liverpool traders in
privateering was vastly greater than it had ever been
before, and their captures were on the whole exceed-
ingly valuable. It is not possible to state the exact
number of ships employed ; 5S6 but it was very large,
and these years in particular were distinguished by
the activity of William Hutchinson, perhaps the
boldest and most successful of Liverpool privateers.567
The result of the war was practically to sweep French
commerce from Atlantic waters, and to establish
English ascendancy in the West Indies almost as
completely as on the North American continent.
In the commercial gains which thus accrued Liverpool
had the lion's share.
In the War of the American Revolution the port
suffered very seriously. Not only was trade with the
revolted colonies practically stopped, but American
privateers made West Indian waters unsafe, and under
Paul Jones even ravaged the coasts of Britain,588
while the commerce of the Americans themselves was
of such negligible amount as to make privateering use-
less.569 ' Our once extensive trade with Africa is at a
stand ; all commerce with America is at an end,' and
the * gallant ships ' were ' laid up and useless ' in the
docks.590 During the war the population actually de-
creased, and the shipping of the port diminished from
84,792 to 79,450 tons.5"1 The distress thus caused
led to grave riots, the most serious of which broke out
in 1775, when 3,000 unemployed sailors laid siege to
the Town Hall, and terrorized the town for a week.491
The regular troops of the garrison had to be distri-
buted through the town.498 Nevertheless the town
took a vigorous and patriotic part in the war. A
large fort with barracks was erected on the north
shore, where the Prince's Dock now is ; 59< a regiment
of regular troops known as the Liverpool Blues was
raised, mainly at the cost of the Corporation — it was
employed in the garrisoning of Jamaica ; 596 a corps of
local volunteers was also raised in 1782 ;696 while the
pressgang found a field in Liverpool for its unpopular
.activity.697 When in 1778 France and later Spain
and Holland joined in the war, privateering once
more became a profitable pursuit, and provided em-
ployment for idle ships ; no less than 120 privateers,698
of 31,000 tons, were plying from Liverpool within a
year of the French declaration of war, and nearly
9,000 sailors thus found employment.599 The years
from 1778 to 1782 were the period of Liverpool's
greatest activity in privateering ; 60° ' the merchants
of Liverpool,' we are told, 'have entered more
into the spirit of arming ships than any others in
England ' ; 601 and many brilliant feats are recorded,
of which no account can here be given. Some hun-
dreds of French prisoners occupied during these years
the old tower and the powder magazine in Brownlow
Hill.603
The profits of privateering, however, great as they
were, were a poor consolation for the almost com-
plete destruction of trade. The declaration of peace
was immediately followed by a great revival, and the
decade, 1783-93, was an era of amazingly rapid
advance.603 The French Revolutionary War did not
at first interrupt this advance, but rather accentu-
ated it. Though it at first caused a commercial panic,
which rendered necessary the issue of Corporation
notes under Parliamentary powers,601 this was tempo-
rary only ; and the port gained far more by the
destruction of French trade than it lost by the dislo-
cation of its commerce caused by the war. At the
outset of the war privateering was again actively under-
taken ; 60S but it never attained the same dimensioni
as during the American War, because there were not
so many idle vessels to welcome this mode of employ-
ment ; and after a few years privateering almost
ceased, for the very satisfactory reason that there
were so few ships belonging to France and her allies
on the seas as to make it an unprofitable enter-
prise.606 French privateers made the seas dangerous,
and trading vessels had to be prepared to fight
unless they sailed in large convoys ; W7 many hun-
dreds, perhaps thousands, of Liverpool sailors were
captured by the enemy and peopled French prisons,
from which they sometimes made daring escapes*01
On the other hand French prisoners in large num-
bers (4,009 in 1799) were immured in the gaol in
Great Howard Street, and formed a feature of Liver-
pool life.609
Deprived to a large extent of the excitement of
privateering, the military enthusiasm of the turbulent
Liverpool population found other vents. The press-
gang was a continual terror, and its ravages frequently
passed all reasonable bounds.610 The fort was strength-
ened and armed with fifty guns, while batteries were
erected at the mouths of the docks.611 Large forces of
volunteers and yeomanry were raised ; 61S in 1 804
1 80 officers and 3,686 men were reviewed.613 A
688 Williams, op. cit. 172 and passim.
684 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 120 }
Derrick, Letters from Liv. &c.
585 Williams, op. cit. App. iii, 665.
588 Mr. Williams has collected a large
amount of material bearing upon this
period, op. cit. 79-178.
587 Williams, op. cit. I27ff.
588 Brooke, Li-v. in the last quarter of the
x-viii Cent. 365-6 ; Williams, op. cit. 223,
262 ; Mahan, Infl. of Sea-power.
589 Nevertheless, it was carried on not
without success; cf. Hist. MSS. Com. Rep.
xv, App. vi, 371.
590 Liv. General Advertiser, 29 Sept.
»775-
691 Williams, op. cit. 181.
5M Brooke, Liv. in the last quarter of the
jcviii Cent. 328 ff.
593 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xv, App. v, 152.
894 Picton, Rec. ii, 181-3; Brooke,
op. cit. 371.
595 Brooke, Liv. in tht last quarter
of tht xviii Ctnt. 339, 379; Amer. MS.
in Royal Inst. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i,
178.
698 Brooke, op. cit. 372 ; Williams, op.
cit. 319.
M? Williams, op. cit. 189-302, collects
many examples from contemporary news-
papers and other sources.
"<» Ibid. 183.
•»» Ibid. 20.
800 Ibid. 183.
801 St. Vincent Gazette, ^ Mar. 1778,
apud Williams, 215.
603 Brooke, op. cit. 135.
60S Thus the number of ships engaged
in the slave trade, which had sunk as low
as ii (tonnage 1,205) m T779> rose at
31
once to 85 (12,294) in 1783, and to 132
(22,402) in 1792.
804 33 Geo. Ill, cap. 31 ; Picton, Li-v.
Munic. Rec. ii, 251-2; Hughes, Liv. Banks
and Bankers, 144—58.
60s Williams, op. cit. 315.
806 Ibid. 316.
8°7 Williams, op. cit. 306 ; Picton, Liv.
Munic. Rec. ii, 189.
608 Seacome Ellison, Prison Scenes, gives
a typical narrative of such an escape.
609 Brooke, op. cit. 489 ; Troughton,
Hist. Li-v. 226.
810 Williams, op. cit. passim ; for a
peculiarly flagrant episode, see Liv. Ad-
vertiser, 19 May 1794.
411 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 254,
287.
612 Brooke, pp. cit. 434.
618 Liv. Advertiser, 1 1 Jan. 1 804.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
regiment of regulars was, after the peace of Amiens, en-
listed in the town at the expense of Mr. John Bolton,6"
a wealthy merchant ; and the Duke of Gloucester61'
took up his quarters at San Domingo House, Everton,
to command all these forces.
The first part of the war unquestionably told
heavily in favour of Liverpool trade, in spite of the
commercial insecurity caused by the ever-present risk
of capture. In the second period Napoleon's conti-
nental system i nflicted grave hardship, especially severely
felt by the poor of the town ; "' and its result, the
American War of 1812, which produced a swarm of
dangerous American privateers,617 was disastrous in its
effects : the number of ships entering the port declin-
ing from 6,729 in 1810 to 4,599 in i3i2.618 Yet
even this struggle ultimately tended to the increase of
Liverpool's trade, by driving finally all rival shipping
from the seas ; at the end of the period of war in
1815, Liverpool found herself practically absolute
mistress of the trade between America and Europe.
While the wars were securing to Liverpool the
dominance of the Atlantic trade, the other main
source of her wealth, the industries of Lancashire,
were being transformed. The amazing story of the
great inventions and the great development of roads
amd canals of this period concern Lancashire at large
and the whole of England. But it should be noted
that no town more directly profited by these develop-
ments than Liverpool, for almost the whole of the
districts most affected by the new inventions lay with-
in a hundred miles of her harbour ; while the canals
and roads made communication with them easy, and
for the first time overcame that geographical isolation
which had been the main obstacle to her progress.
For this reason the merchants at Liverpool took an
immense part in devising and carrying through these
•nterprises, and much of the capital for the new canals
was supplied by the wealth earned in the slave trade
or the trade with America.
Concurrently with these movements, the same
period saw a remarkable development of foreign mar-
kets. The great expansion of the United States into
the Middle West 619 began in the last years of the 1 8th
century, and was much stimulated by the Louisiana
purchase ; emigration on a large scale, caused by the
distress which accompanied the Industrial Revolution,
helped to fill up these lands ; they provided new
sources of raw materials, and it was in this period, in
particular, that the supply of raw cotton began to be
derived mainly from the Southern States ; as late as
1784 it was so exclusively drawn from the West
Indies that a custom-house officer is said to have seized
a small consignment brought in an American vessel
on the ground that its importation was an infringe-
ment of the Navigation Acts.6*0 At the end of the
period (in 1813) the trade with the East Indies,
hitherto confined to the East India Company, was
thrown open, and in 1814 the first Liverpool ships
rounded the Cape of Good Hope.6" In a few years
India had become one of the principal markets for the
goods exported from Liverpool. The period of the
Revolutionary wars also saw Spanish America thrown
open to trade. When Napoleon took possession of
Spain the Spanish colonies declined to accept his rule,
threw off the close restrictions which the mother-
country had imposed upon their trade ; and, on the
restoration of peace, declined to return to their allegi-
ance, mainly because they were unwilling to sacrifice
their newly-acquired commercial freedom. From the
first Liverpool controlled the bulk of this rapidly ex-
panding South American trade,6" which she has held
ever since ; and it is more than a coincidence that
Canning, the minister responsible for the British
recognition of the Spanish- American colonies in 1825,
had himself been member for Liverpool for ten year*
(1812-22). Thus during the years when the com-
merce of rival nations was being driven from the
Atlantic mainly to the advantage of Liverpool, the un-
exampled development of the industrial and mineral
advantages of Lancashire and the northern midlands
was supplying the Liverpool merchants with an inex-
haustible supply of goods for export, and the expan-
sion of America and the opening of trade to India and
South America were providing enormous new markets.
It is not surprising that the trade of the port advanced
with a rapidity hitherto unknown in English history,
and that the population of the port grew concurrently.
The growth of trade during this period is indicated
by the fact that the gross tonnage owned in the port,
19,175 in 1751, had risen to 72,730 in 1787,10
129,470 in 1801. Other figures tell the same tale.
During the period 1756—1815 four new docks and
two tidal basins were opened. The dock area of the
port, less than 30 acres in 1756, had risen to over
50 acres in 1815. Still more rapid was the expansion
of the next period, as the table on p. 42 will show.
During the same period several local industries rose to
their highest prosperity, and then decayed and
vanished — destroyed mainly by that localization of
industrial functions and that growing ease of com-
munication which were the principal causes of Liver-
pool's commercial ascendancy. Thus shipbuilding was
at its height in the last quarter of the 1 8th century ;6W
it decayed thereafter. The Greenland fishery,6**
which began for Liverpool in 1764, and in 1788
employed 21 ships, had almost vanished by 1815, as
had the oil-refining industry to which it gave birth.
The curing-houses for herring,61* which carried on a
large export trade with the Mediterranean, were at
their height about 1770, but had almost vanished by
1815. Two or three iron foundries existed in the
town in the same period ; M6 they were driven out of
work by the competition of the coalfield towns. The
pottery industry also came to an end during these
years.6"
The destruction of productive industries is indeed
a feature of this period. It did not interfere with the
growth of the town's wealth or population, but it left
814 Picton, Mem. i, 301 ; Liv. Adver-
tiser, 30 May, 1803.
414 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 289-90.
614 Ibid, ii, 3 i i ; Liv. Courier, i Feb.
1809; Liv. Advertiser, 25 Nov. i8n
it passim.
"7 Williams, op. cit. 442-9.
618 Ibid. 407. For the general effects
on price* and trade in Liverpool see
Ewart, Rutson's trade circular, quoted in
Baines' Liverpool, 738-41. For insu-
rance rates, M crcury, 13 May 1813.
619 For a fuller summary of these causes
of development, see Muir, Hist, of Liv.
chap. xiv.
420 Smithers, Liverpool, 124.
421 Ibid. 1 60. Within seven years
the port possessed one-seventh of the
total British trade with India. Ibid.
161.
32
622 Ibid. 163.
6M Smithers, Commerce of Liv. 190 j
[Wallace], General Deter : iSoff.
634 Brooke, op. cit. 241 ; Smithers,
Commerce of Liv. 97-8.
625 Smithers, Commerce of Liv. 95 ;.
[Wallace], General Descr. (1795), 26.
424 [Wallace] and Smithers, loc. cit.
627 Brooke, op. cit. 248 ; J. Mayer,.
Liv. Pottery.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
LIVERPOOL
it entirely dependent upon sea-borne commerce, and
imposed upon it the specific social characteristics in-
volved in that fact.
The growth of population in this period was very
rapid. About 20,000 in 1751, it was 60,000 in
1791, 77,000 in 1801, 94,000 in 1811, 118,000 in
1821. The last two figures do not fully represent
the actual growth, for the town had by this time
overpassed the limits of the old township, especially
on the south and on the north-east, and very popu-
lous suburbs had been created in Toxteth and
Everton, which contained in 1831 a population of
40,000.
The great inrush of new inhabitants represented by
these figures came from all parts of the United King-
dom. A writer of 1795 notes 'the great influx of
Irish and Welsh, of whom the majority of the inhabi-
tants at present consists.' 628 There were also many
Scots, especially among the captains of ships and the
heads of great trading-houses. Irish immigration
became still more vigorous after the rising of 1798,
though it was not to reach its height until the potato-
famine of 1846. Though the town was expanding
geographically with great rapidity, building did not
go on fast enough to accommodate the numerous im-
migrants. They were crowded together in the most
horrible way in the older part of the town ; in 1 790
it was calculated 6S9 that over one-ninth of the popu-
lation lived in cellars, at the rate of four persons to
each cellar.630 In the new quarters built for the re-
ception of these immigrants the building was so shoddy
that a storm in 1823 blew many of the houses
down ; 6SI there were no building regulations, and the
houses were erected back to back, without adequate
provision for air and light, and almost without any
sanitary arrangements ; it is with these slum areas
that the government of the city has been struggling
ever since. Most of the streets were unsewered. The
water supply was exceedingly scanty ; before 1 800
water was sold from carts ; 63Z after the institution of
the two water companies in 1799 os and i8o2,634 the
supply, being conducted for a commercial profit, was
naturally inadequate in the poorer quarters. Public-
houses were extraordinarily numerous ; as early as
1772 the Town Council had to urge the magistrates
to reduce the number,634 and in 1795 it was calcu-
lated that one house in every seven was licensed for
the sale of strong drink.636
Overcrowded, unhealthy, dirty and drunken, the
population of the town was also very turbulent, as
might be expected from the influence upon them of
the slave traders and the privateers-men. The police
arrangements were quite inadequate. Under an Act
of 1 74S,637 which established a commission, indepen-
dent of the Town Council, for the watching, lighting,
and cleansing of the town, the police force consisted
of sixty night watchmen ; the number was increased
under the Act of I 788,638 but no day police was pro-
vided until 1 8 1 1 , when the Town Council divided
the borough into seven districts and allotted three
constables to each.639
Thus the evils which had followed the sudden
growth of wealth and population seemed to outweigh
its advantages. This was in part due to the fact that
the system of borough government had been in no
way adapted to the new conditions.640 The self-
elected Town Council still continued in absolute con-
trol of the corporate estate, including the docks, and
still possessed the power of regulating the trade of the
port. It regarded itself merely as the trustee of the
body of freemen, which now formed only a small
part, and by no means the most important part, of
the population. Even the freemen's privileges, how-
ever, were limited to the right of voting in the elec-
tion of mayor, bailiffs, and members of Parliament,
and to exemption from the payment of town dues.
They were admitted to no further share in the
government of the borough, and hence arose, under
the influence of the French Revolution, a new chal-
lenge to the authority of the council, and a new
attempt to establish that of the assembly of burgesses.
Begun in I79I,641 it was brought into the law courts,
where a verdict was three times given in favour of
the claims of the assembly. The council, however,
was always able to claim a new trial on technical
grounds, and in the end the attack on their position
was abandoned, partly because private resources were
unable to stand the conflict with public funds, partly
because the reaction against the French Revolution
distracted support from this quasi-democratic move-
ment, Liverpool had, indeed, by this time become
very firmly Tory, and the change in its politics from
the Whiggism of the previous age is one of the most
curious features of the period. It seems to have
begun in the early years of George III, when the
Town Council took the side of the king in the
Wilkes struggle, sending up addresses of support.64*
The body of burgesses still, however, remained pre-
dominantly Whig, as is shown by the continual elec-
tion of Sir William Meredith as member until 1780,
At the outset of the American struggle addresses of
protest against the policy of government were sent
from Liverpool,841 but the Town Council and the
mass of the burgesses very loyally supported the war,644
and in spite of the distress which it caused, its pro-
gress only made the town more Tory.644 The first
888 [Wallace], General Descr. 267.
629 Ibid.
480 Ibid. 69.
881 Smithers, Commerce of Li-v. 227 ;
Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii.
63a [Wallace], General Descr. 88.
688 Bootle Company, instituted by 39
Geo. Ill, cap. 36, under the title of the
Company of Proprietors of the Liverpool
Waterworks, powers enlarged by 50
Geo. Ill, cap. 165, and 53 Geo. Ill, cap.
122 ; Brooke, Li-v. in last Quarter of the
x-viii Cent, 387.
684 The Corporation obtained power to
contract for the supply of water by 26
Geo. Ill, cap. 12. A company was
formed to carry out the work, which was
incorporated as the Liverpool Corporation
Waterworks Co. by 3 Geo. IV, cap. 77 ;
its powers were extended and its title
altered to the Liverpool and Harrington
Waterworks Co. by 7 & 8 Geo. IV,
cap. 36.
485 Picton, Li-v. Munic. Rec. ii, 2O2.
686 [Wallace], General Descr. 185.
"7 21 Geo. II, cap. 24.
688 28 Geo. Ill, cap. 13.
689 Picton, Lii>. Munic. Rec. ii, 317;
see also 201-2.
640 On the characteristics of the old
system of borough government in its
latest form, see Hist. Munic. Go-vt. in Li-v.
n8ff. and I37ff.
841 Hist. Munic. Go-vt. in Li-v. 129 ;
Picton, Li-v. Munic. Rec. ii, 203 ff. ; Pro-
ceedings at an Action at Law brought by
33
the Mayor and Burgesses, &c. (1796) ;
Brooke, Li-v. in the last Quarter of the x-viii
Cent. 22-4 ff.
Ma Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 179.
For a summary of the political history of
the town, see Muir, Hist, of Li-v. i62ff.
215 ff.
848 Picton, Li-v. Munic. Rec. ii, 178-9 5
Hist. MSS. Com. Ref. xiv, App. ix, 299.
Dartmouth received the freedom for hav-
ing supported the repeal of the Stamp
Act, Hiit. MSS. Com. Ref. xiv, App.
*, 47-
644 Brooke, op. cit. 326 ; Picton, Liv.
Munic. Rec. ii, 180; Hist. MSS. Com. Ref.
xiv, App. x, 380.
645 Cf. result of the election of 1784 ;
Poll-book and squibs.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
events of the French Revolution revived Whiggism
for a time,646 but the reaction after the September
massacres completed the Tory victory; and the group
of leading Whigs who surrounded Roscoe had to
withdraw from public life.647 In the first years of the
new century Whiggism held up its head again.
Roscoe was returned to Parliament in i8o6,M8 but
mainly on the ground of his local popularity, and the
votes which he cast against the slave trade and for
Catholic emancipation earned him an unpopularity
which expressed itself in riots on his return to Liver-
pool.649 During the struggle on the slave trade ques-
tion, indeed, Liverpool had been absolutely committed
to the support of the party from which alone it had
any prospect of the maintenance of its most lucrative
traffic,640 while the inrush of Catholic Irish, having
produced already the characteristic Orangeism of the
Protestant population, formed another motive to
Toryism. Not even the unpopularity of the Orders
in Council sufficed to enable Brougham (who had
been mainly identified with the opposition to them)
to defeat Canning in the fiercely-fought election of
1 8 1 2,641 and Liverpool remained steadily Tory down
to the eve of the Reform Act.
Alongside of its more unpleasant developments,
this period witnessed the rise of many promising
movements. The administration of the Poor Law 6M
was undertaken with exceptional vigour and enlight-
enment, and while in other suddenly-grown industrial
and commercial towns the old administrative fabric of
the annual Easter vestry and the elected overseers
broke down completely, in Liverpool there was
gradually developed a system of government through
an annually elected committee, which regulated extra-
legally the work of the overseers with such success
that Liverpool has been described as the model urban
poor-law district of this period. The chief credit for
the successful establishment of this system, which had
assumed its final form by 1775, belongs to Mr. Joseph
Brooks, who as unpaid treasurer from 1768 to 1788
exercised almost absolute authority over the affairs of
the parish. It was under his direction that in 1770
the new workhouse in Brownlow Hill was erected ;84S
it was on the whole so well administered that the poor
rates — in a town where poverty was more widespread
than in most others — never rose beyond 3/. gd.6M in
the £ even in the height of the Revolutionary war.
The committee, that is to say, kept itself free from the
extravagant and mischievous methods of indiscriminate
relief which were general throughout England from
1795 onwards. This remarkable success is mainly to
be attributed to the work of a group of public-spirited
citizens, among whom may be named Dr. Currie, the
friend of Roscoe.664
The Evangelical revival affected Liverpool deeply.
Wesley visited the town several times,656 with con-
siderable effect, and within the Church of England the
Evangelical party became dominant in the town.647
This was a period of great activity in church building,
as will be seen later. It was also a period of con-
siderable activity in the provision of schools for the
poor,658 a movement which was carried on in Liver-
pool in the last twenty years of the century with a
concerted activity greater than was displayed in most
other towns. An eager charity, too, was born,659 the
expression of that new humanitarian spirit, born of
the Evangelical revival, of which another expression
was to be found in the movement for the abolition
of the slave trade. In Roscoe, William Rathbone,
Currie, Rushton, and others, Liverpool provided
some of the most vigorous apostles of this reform ;
their courage is the more noteworthy because the
popular feeling of the town was, naturally, intensely
strong on the other side.
The period witnessed also a remarkable intellectual
revival. This showed itself in the wit and humour of
the numerous squibs issued during parliamentary elec-
tions,660 many of which still retain some of their salt ;
it showed itself in that keen interest in the history and
antiquities of the borough which produced no less
than four Histories of Liverpool between 1 770 and
I823,661 and was still more profitably displayed in the
learning of Henry Brown66* the attorney, which illu-
minates the trials on the powers of the Town Council
in 1791, in the researches of Matthew Gregson,
whose Portfolio of Fragments was published in 1819,
and above all in the monumental collections made by
Charles Okill, which are still preserved in the muni-
cipal archives and have formed the basis of all later
work on the history of the borough. But above all
these newborn intellectual interests were fostered by
the circle of illuminati which surrounded William
Roscoe, and of which no detailed account can here
be given.663 Roscoe himself wrote lives of Lorenzo
de' Medici and of Leo X which were hailed with
delight throughout Europe ; he produced also a great
monograph on the Monandrian plants, a good deal of
verse, and a large number of pamphlets, including
some very enlightened speculations on Penal Juris-
prudence ; he took a profound interest in the fine
arts, and himself did some etching ; he threw himself
into the movement for agricultural improvements ; he
corresponded with many of the leading men of his
day ; he formed a noble library and a fine collection
of pictures. His friend William Shepherd,664 Uni-
tarian minister of Gateacre, wrote a life of
Poggio Bracciolini which is still valuable. Dr.
James Currie,665 besides taking up poor-law admini-
•<« Life ofW. Rotcoe, i, 99 ff. ; Life ofj.
Currie, passim.
W Ibid.
*» Poll-book and gquibi of the elec-
tion.
«« Life ofW. Roscoe, i, 392 ff.
480 Cf. the addresses of the corporation,
on, and grants of freedom for, energy in
thii cause — the defence of the slave trade;
Picton, Li-v. Munic. Rec. ii, 220, 347,
&c.
*51 Poll-books and squibs of the elec-
tion ; Creevey Papers.
*M The administration of the Poor Law
in Liverpool is the theme of an admirable
chapter by S. and B. Webb, Hist, Local
Govt. i, 130 ff. An edition of full extracts
from the Vestry Minutes, with introduction
by W. L. Blease, is in preparation.
668 Picton, Li-v. Munic. Rec. ii, 1 60;
Vestry Minutes s.d. ; Brooke, Lii>. in the
last Quarter of the x-viii Cent. 69, 70.
This building replaced one in College
Lane dating from 1732.
654 Vestry Minutes, April 1802 and
passim.
6-5 W. W. Currie, Life of James Currie,
passim.
656 Tyerman, Life of Wesley, ii, 1 96,
274, 328, 566, &c. ; Wesley's Journal.
657 See Morley's Life of Gladstone, i,
chaps, i, ii.
658 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 284 ;
34
Brooke, Liv. in the last Quarter of the x-viit
Cent. 380 ; Smithers, Li-v. 243 ff.
659 See the list of charities below.
660 See the Poll-books and Collections
of Squibs of the various elections, especi-
ally those of 1806 and 1812. An account
of these effusions is given by Picton,
Memorials, i, 347.
681 By W. Enfield (1773), J. Wallace
(published anonymously, 1795), J. Corry
(known by the name of its first publisher,
Troughton, 1810), H. Smithers (1825).
668 For Brown, see G. T. Shaw in
Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xvi, 77.
663 Life of W. Roscoe, by his son, 2 vols.
664 Diet. Nat. Blog.
665 W. W- Currie, Life ofj. Currie.
LIVERPOOL : NORTH SHORE MILL
(From a Water-colour Drawing c, 1860)
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
stration, was the friend and biographer of Burns.
Others also might be named if space allowed.666
Under the encouragement of this group of friends
Liverpool became for a time a centre of fine printing
and of exquisite bookbinding ; 667 Roscoe had his own
books printed in his own town. From this intel-
lectual revival proceeded a remarkable group of public
institutions. The Liverpool Library, founded as early
as I758,668 became a thriving institution.669 The
Athenaeum was founded in 1798 67° as a library for
scholars, and was later enriched by many of Roscoe's
books. The Botanic Gardens were instituted in
i8o3.671 The Medical Library came to birth in
I775.67S Finally, the Royal Institution, meant to be
the focus for every kind of intellectual interest, was
projected in 1813 and opened in i8i7.673 These
promising beginnings did not lead to any very striking
results ; partly, no doubt, because they were not
spontaneous, but were due to the accidental presence
in uncongenial surroundings of a group of fine spirits;
partly because they were swamped by the flood of
growing wealth ; partly because the coming of the
railway imposed, during the greater part of the
I gth century, the intellectual dominance of the
metropolis upon the provincial towns.
The twenty years which followed the great war saw
a steady expansion of foreign trade — less swift, indeed,
than had been expected ; but more steady in Liver-
pool than in England at large. The course of this
expansion may be best indicated by the figures of
entrances and clearances 674 of vessels engaged in the
foreign trade : —
Entrances
Clearances
Total
Ships
Tonnage
Ships
Tonnage
Ships
Tonnage
1816. .
i,340
300,673
1,606
341,39°
2,946
642,063
1821 . .
i,770
3 9 ',473
i,9i3
403,626
3,683
795,159
1826. .
2,067
480,944
2,132
479,409
4,199
960,353
1831 . .
2,840
678,965
3,037
718,987
5,877
1,397,952
1835. .
2,978
787,009
3,065
796,766
6,043
i,583»775
But the principal interest of these years is to be
found rather in the signs of coming political change
which they exhibited, and which resulted from the
expansion of the earlier period, than in the proof
that the earlier causes of prosperity were still at
work. Though Liverpool remained predominantly
LIVERPOOL
Tory in sentiment until the eve of the Reform Bill,
the twenty years which followed tKe war saw many
movements towards change, and an increasingly clear
realization of the necessity of recasting the traditional
system of administration. It was, indeed, with the
left or progressive wing of the Tory party that the
town was associated ; as is ihown by the election of
Canning by large majorities from 1812 to 1822 and of
Huskisson from 1822 to 1830 — beyond comparison the
most distinguished politicians who have ever repre-
sented Liverpool.674* The steady growth of the popu-
lation of the town, which, with its suburbs, had reached
the figure of 205,000 in 1831, and the expansion of
trade, which has been already summarized, made the
earlier system of administration impossible. These
ysars witnessed an awakening on the part of the Town
Council to a keener sense of its responsibilities, as is
shown by the large schemes of public improvements
for which parliamentary authority was obtained ; 67i by
the establishment in 1826 of two elementary schools
in the north and south of the borough,676 at the ex-
pense of the corporation, as a sort of compensation for
the old grammar school which had been suppressed in
1802 ;6" by the purchase of lands on a large scale in
Birkenhead 678 with a view to preventing the creation
of a rival port, and providing for the possible future
requirements of Liverpool trade ; and by great activity
in the extension of the docks, which were increased
between 1815 and 1835 from 50 acres to 80 acres
of area. The rise of a demand for change is perhaps
most clearly seen in the discussions on the administra-
tion of the Dock Estate, hitherto under the absolute
control of the corporation, which led in 1825 to the
addition to the Dock Committee of representatives of
ratepayers using the docks.679 The same kind of dis-
content was shown in the attempt of a number of
non-freemen ratepayers to escape from the payment of
town dues, which led to long litigation extending
from 1830 to i833.6SO But the most serious aspect
of the situation was the fact that the council, regard-
ing itself simply as the trustee for the property of the
body of freemen, had allowed many of the main
functions of urban government to slip, wholly or
partially, out of its hands. Thus the control of the
watching, lighting, and cleansing of the streets had
been since 1748 under the control of a separate com-
mission 681 consisting partly of the mayor and some of
the borough magistrates, partly of representatives
of the ratepayers elected at the annual Easter vestry ;
while the control of sewerage, except in the ' old
streets/ had recently been vested in another commis-
sion.681
The corporation had since the iyth century
ceased to raise rates, and all public functions which
necessitated the raising of rates were performed by
664 About 150 volumes printed or pub-
lished in Liverpool between 1770 and
1800 are catalogued in the admirable Cat.
of tht Collection of Liv. Prints and Docu-
ments issued by the City Library, 1908.
These include nineteen volumes of poems,
fifteen of history and biography, an edition
of Burns in four volumes, many volumes
on politics, Sec., &c.
M7 Ibid. J. McCreery's printing in
this period has not since been surpassed.
668 Brooke, op. cit. 89-92 ; papers in
Trans. Hist. Soc. ix, xxii. This library
claims to be the oldest circulating library
in England.
I6» [Wallace] General Descr., 171.
*7° Shaw, Hist, of the Athenaeum, Liv.
(1898).
6?1 Life of Roscoe, i, 253 ff; Smithers, op.
cit. 367.
6?3 Smithers, op. cit. 366 ; Bickerton,
Hist, of the Lii>. Medical Inst.
6'3 Life of Roscoe, ii, 151 ff.
6?4 Compiled from the Reports on
Trade and Navigation laid before the
Houses of Parliament, 1 847. The figures
for the coasting trade which are omitted
would, of course, enormously increase
these totals ; but it is the foreign trade
that forms the best barometer of Liver-
pool's prosperity.
«74a q^e poll-books and squibs, espe-
35
cially for the hard-fought elections of 1 8 1 2,
1818, 1820, provide excellent illustrations
of the sentiments of the borough.
6'5 i Geo. IV, cap. 13, and 7 Geo. IV,
cap. 57.
'7* Picton, Ltv. Munic. Rec. ii, 395.
6?7 Ibid. 394. 6'8 Ibid. 343, 345.
6?9 26 Geo. IV, cap. 43. For discussions
see Munic. Corp. Com. : Rep. of Proc. in
Li-v.t passim.
680 Report of the resistance of payment
of town dues in Liverpool by Bolton and
others, 1835.
681 Under 21 Geo. II, cap. 24.
683 Under a special local Act, i Will. IV,.
cap. 15.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
other public bodies of limited powers, so that there
was no single body responsible for the general over-
sight of the health and well-being of the town. The
corporation, while, as we have seen, it retained con-
trol of public improvements and of the dock estate,
had to perform these functions out of the revenue
from its estate and from the town dues and other tradi-
tional payments, and as these were inadequate to the
purpose these functions had not been fully performed,
while their partial performance had formed so grave a
strain upon the resources of the corporation that the
value of the borough estate had been seriously dimin-
ished.685 But for this condition of things the borough
might very well have been the owner of the greater
part of the land on which it was built ; as it was, a
large part of the corporate estate, secured originally by
the burgesses' usurpation of the waste in the I5th
century, had been sold to meet the corporate debt.684
Finally, the exclusive political privileges of the free-
men and their exemption from the payment of town
dues had become an anomaly and an injustice, be-
cause the body of freemen, which since 1777 had
not been increased except by the customary modes
of inheritance or service, no longer at all repre-
sented the community. There were in 1833 only
3,000 freemen684 out of a population of 165,000,
and many of the 3,000 were non-resident. This
number included few of the principal merchants,
and only seven out of the zoo doctors practising
in the town.688 It was composed principally of
artisans, to whom their privileges were chiefly valu-
able for the money to be made out of them in
bribes at elections. Hence Liverpool had become
so notorious for its political corruption that in 1830
a bill for the disfranchisement of the borough was
only prevented by the prorogation of Parliament from
passing into law.687
The unsatisfactoriness of the old institutions was
$hown also in the sphere of poor-law administration,
which had been perhaps the most efficient department
of borough government. The committee which had
for so long controlled the administration of the Poor
Law was not recognized by law, and was liable at any
time to be overridden by the overseers, if they chose
to disregard its orders. In 1814 the committee tried
in vain to persuade the open vestry to make an
application for a private Act legalizing their posi-
tion ;6S8 after two years' discussion the proposal was
rejected,689 and in 1 8 1 7 a Mr. Dennison, being elected
overseer, justified these fears by paying no attention
to the committee, and launching upon lavish expen-
diture.690 The Sturges-Bourne Act of 1819 691 came
in the nick of time to prevent the breakdown of the
system, for its adoption legalized the position of the
committee by turning it into a select vestry, and for
some years it was able to do admirable work.69* But
in the excitement of the agitation for the Reform
Act party feeling crept in here also and showed
itself by constant appeals to the open vestry
and to polls of the whole body of ratepayers on
the smallest points.693 The survival of the open
vestry in so large a population was a nuisance and
a danger.
Liverpool was thus ready for the Reform movement,
and it is not surprising that in the reforming Parlia-
ment of 1830 and in its successor the Tory town was
for the nonce represented by Whig members. The
Reform Act of 1832 itself began the process of local
reconstitution. Not only did it enfranchise the rate-
payers, placing them on a level, for the purposes of
parliamentary elections, with the freemen, but, for
the same purpose, it enlarged the borough's boun-
daries, including within them the populous suburbs
of Everton and Kirkdale, the northern half of Tox-
texth, and part of West Derby,694 and thus foreshadow-
ing the full absorption of these districts for municipal
purposes also,
But the legislation which followed the Reform Act
was of far greater local import. The two great
commissions — that on the Poor Laws and that on the
Municipal Corporations — which the Reformed Par-
liament sent out to investigate the condition of local
government both reported not unfavourably on Liver-
pool : the Poor Law Commission found the town,
indeed, to be among the best administered in
England,695 while the Municipal Corporations Com-
mission, though it disclosed many grave defects, found
no evidence of serious maladministration/95 But the
changes introduced by the two great Acts were of
such a character as to mark the beginning of a new
epoch. The terms of the new Poor Law did not,
indeed, involve any such wide change in Liverpool as
in other places ; it established finally the authority of
the popularly elected select vestry, and put an end to
the defects and uncertainties of the Sturges-Bourne
Act ; but the authority of this body was still confined
to the limits of the old township and parish, the new
and populous outlying districts being left to the
adm'nistration of the Toxteth Board of Guardians
or the West Derby Union. The Municipal Reform
Act was far more serious in its results. It made the
Town Council for the first time in its history a
popularly elected body. It placed the election in
the hands of the body of ratepayers, to whose level
the freemen were now in practice reduced. It
empowered the council to take over the functions of
the Watching, Lighting, and Cleansing Board ; that
is to say, it turned it from being the mere admini-
strator of the estate of a privileged minority into a
body responsible for the health and general well-being
of the whole community, and thus rendered possible,
and indeed suggested, an indefinite enlargement of
municipal functions. Finally, in one of its schedules,
it enlarged the boundaries of the municipal borough so
as to correspond with those of the parliamentary
borough as fixed in 1832.
The history of Liverpool since 1835 has been one
of rapid and steady development on all sides, un-
marked by outstanding or conspicuous episodes. It
is impossible to follow its course in detail ; and it will
be most convenient to summarize it under headings,
in a more or less tabular form.
*" Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 224-6.
684 Ibid, ii, 338-9.
685 Munic. Corf. Com. : Rep. of Inquiry in
Liv. 50.
686 Ibid. 325.
«S7 Walpole, Hist. Engl. i, 125 ; Picton,
Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 333.
488 ' Addreu to all who are assessed to
the Poor-rates ... by the Parish Com-
mittee, 1814.'
689 Vestry Minutes, 6 Aug. 1816.
690 Ibid. 1818 and ^19; Picton,
Memorials, i, 391-2.
691 S. and B. Webb, Hist. Local Go-v.
1,159.
698 Vestry Minutes, passim.
693 Liv. Chron. April and July 1832;
Vestry Minutes, April 1833.
694 The area vras increased from 1,860
to 5,210 acres.
6U3 Poor Law Com. Rep.
696 Munic. Corp. Com. Rep. (Liv.), 295,
400.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
The following table shows the growth of the
CPniVTH f°rei§n trade of the port, as measured
OF TRADF ^7 the entrances and clearances of
vessels from or to foreign or colonial
ports 697 at intervals of five years : —
FOREIGN TRADE : ENTRANCES AND CLEARANCES,
1835-1906
«* —
Entrances
Clearances
Total
Year
Ships
Tonnage
Ships
Tonnage
Ships
Tonnage
1835
2,978
787,009
3,°65
796,766
6,043
1,583,775
1840
3.492
1,042,232
3,808
1,103,955
7,300
2,146,187
i84S
4,045
1,406,541
4»i97
1,412,473
8,242
2,819,014
1850
4,S3i
1,605,315
4,807
1,656,938
9,338
3,262,253
i85S
4»*97
2,074,168
4,483
2,223,044
8,680
4,297,212
1860
4,902
2,773,439
5,358
2,899,474
10,260
5,672,913
1865
4,827
2,644,821
4,425
2,631,827
9,252
5,276,648
1870
5,058
3,416,933
4,778
3,356,138
9,836
6,773,071
1875
5,440
4,388,952
4,640
3,996,288
10,080
8,385,240
1880
5,263
4»9I3,324
4,878
4,746,489
10,141
9,659,813
1885
4,668
5,i73»33o
4,246
4,822,021
8,914
9,995,35'
1890
4,646
5,782,351
4,030
5»I59»45°
8,676
10,941,801
1895
3,7 ' 6
5,598,341
3,168
4,883,199
6,884
10,481,540
i goo898
3,5i6
6,050,526
3»Ho
5,678,114
6,656
11,728,640
1905
3,523
7,806,844
2,890
6,932,687
6,4 '3
14,739.531
1906
3,487
8,i45»44i
2,870
7,125,417
6,357
15,270,858
Two periods only show an actual decline in this
table. The first is the quinquennium 1860-65, the
period of the American Civil War, when the blockade
of the southern ports caused the Lancashire cotton
famine and for a brief time brought about a revival,
in blockade-running expeditions, of the adventurous
spirit of the age of privateering.499 The other is the
quinquennium 1890-95, a period of general bad
trade. The periods of most rapid growth are those
from 1850 to 1860, from 1865 to 1880, and again
from 1900 onwards. The period from 1880 to 1900
is one in which Liverpool was feeling for the first
time seriously the competition of the European
nations which from 1815 to 1870 had left to Eng-
land almost a monopoly of oversea trade. This
competition may be said to have begun about 1870,
and though the gross increase since that date has
been twice as great as the increase in the preceding
period of the same length, its effects have been shown
in a tendency to more violent fluctuation, which will
perhaps better be illustrated by the value of imports
and exports than by the record of the actual sailings
of vessels that might be either full or empty.
TABLE OF IMPORTS AND EXPORTS, 1875-1906
Year
Value of
Imports
Value of
Exports
Total
•
1875
iS8o
1885
1890
1895
1900
1905
1906
105,095,188
107,460,187
94,912,069
108,476,672
95,630,489
124,713,436
139,295,487
146,701,650
79,460,771
84,029,651
89,954,372
117,741,836
90,620,396
102,572,890
138,285,465
i5°,348,5ii
184,155,959
191,489,838
184,866,441
226,218,508
186,250,885
227,286,326
277,580,952
297,050,161
LIVERPOOL
Space does not permit of any detailed analysis of
the character and direction of Liverpool trade during
this period, but some idea of its principal features may
be derived from the following summary of the ten
leading articles of import and the ten leading articles
of export, with their approximate value, as in the year
1906 : —
Imports
Value in
Millions
Exports
Value in
Millions
£
£
Raw Cotton
42-56
Cotton Manufactures
46-24
Dead Meat .
17-15
Iron and Steel Manu-
13-98
Corn and Cereals
14-65
factures.
India-rubber
8-42
Woollen M anufactures
8-87
Wool . .
574
Machinery . .
8-68
Live Animals
4-84
Linen Manufactures
3-88
Copper . .
4-23
Cotton Yarn . . .
3-6 1
Timber . .
3-78
Chemicals . . .
3'43
Tobacco . .
3-18
Carriages (chiefly
2-86
Sugar . .
3-16
railway).
China and Earthen-
i'54
ware.
Hardware ....
1-02
A further striking feature of the first table above,
which indicates a characteristic of Liverpool's de-
velopment, is the fact that, especially from 1850
onwards, the number of vessels employed tends to
increase slowly, or even to diminish, while the
tonnage rapidly grows. Thus in 1906 almost the
same number of vessels entered and cleared as in
1835, but their tonnage is ten times as great. This
remarkable increase of the tonnage of vessels is due
above all to the replacement of sailing vessels by
steamships, and to the increasing employment of
large ' liners ' sailing at regular intervals in place of
the irregular sailings of an earlier period. The .first
regular liners begin with the institution of the Cunard
line in 1842. The figures of the shipping registered
in the port of Liverpool since 1850 bring out this
point still more clearly.
SHIPPING REGISTERED IN LIVERPOOL
Year
Sailing
Steam
Total
No. of
Ships
Tonnage
No. of
Shipi
Tonnage
No. of
Ships
Tonnage
1850 .
i,75<>
503,224
93
11,411
1,843
514,635
1860 .
2,228
933,723
223
67,885
2,45 i
1,001,608
1870 .
V55
1,156,566
456
280,807
2,6 1 1
',437,373
1880 .
1,824
999,809
667
555,062
2,49 i
1,554,87'
1890 .
1,352
916,726
967
1,006,713
2,3 I 9
1,923,439
1900 .
1,018
614,968
i,o73
i>7i3,5°6
2,091
2,328,474
1906 .
914
410,251
1.305
2,401,432
2,219
2,811,683
Though steamboats had appeared in the Mersey as
early as 1815, they were for long used purely for
W The figures for coasting trade are
omitted. This table is compiled from the
Annual Reports on Trade and on Shipping
and Navigation laid before the Houses of
Parliament.
37
698 Including transports for the South
African War.
699 Running the Blockade.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
river or at most coasting traffic ; 70° it was not until
the forties that they began to be employed for the
ocean trade in which Liverpool is mainly concerned.
But as soon as this happened, the size of the vessels
in the port rose with great rapidity, from an average
of 280 tons in 1850 to an average of 1,270 tons in
1 906. Liverpool has indeed become peculiarly the
home of large vessels. While the number of her vessels
is only two- thirds of that of London, their total
tonnage is one-third greater ; m that is to say, the
average Liverpool ship is twice as big as the average
London ship. Of 171 British vessels which in 1906
measured over 4,000 tons, no less than 146 belonged
to Liverpool ; and while in number Liverpool pos-
sesses not much more than one-tenth of the British
mercantile marine, in tonnage she possesses consider-
ably more than one-fifth.
In regard to the position of Liverpool among the
ports of the world, the following comparative state-
ment of the value of the trade of the first six ports of
the world may be quoted.702 In 1905 the trade of
London was estimated to be worth £261,000,000 ;
of Liverpool, £237,000,000 ; of New York,
£221,000,000; of Hamburg, £196,000,000; of
Antwerp, £147,000,000; of Marseilles, £86,000,000.
The following are the census
GROWTH OF returns during the period, includ-
POPULATION ing for the earlier dates the suburban
districts later added to the town : —
1841 286,487
1851 376,065
1861 462,749
1871 493,405
1881 ...... 611,075
1891 617,032
I901 684,947
1907™ .... 746, 1 44 7M
These figures, however, do not adequately represent
the growth which has taken place, since they omit
notice of the growth of Bootle, of the northern
suburbs of Seaforth, Waterloo, and Crosby and other
outlying districts outside of the municipal boundary,
as well as of the population of about 200,000 in
Wirral, which almost wholly depends economi-
cally upon Liverpool. The whole of this popula-
tion has been created during the period under notice,
and the urban population dependent upon Liver-
pool now exceeds 1,000,000.
It should be noticed that the Irish population of
Liverpool, always large, was enormously increased by
the inrush of immigrants after the Potato Famine of
1 845-6 ; over 90,000 entered the town in the first
three months of 1846, and nearly 300,000 in the
twelve months following July 1847. Most of these
subsequently emigrated to America, but many thou-
sands, unable to find the passage money, remained to
swell the misery of the Liverpool slums.
No account can here be given
GEOGRAPHICAL of the rapid expansion of the
GROWTH street-covered area, but it is
necessary to note the stages of
the expansion of municipal control over this area.
"°° Smithers, Liverpool, 186.
7fll In 1906 London had 3,300 vessels
of z, 1 00,000 tons ; Liverpool 2,200 ves-
sels of 2,800,000 tons.
'M Annual statement of the Chairman
of the Dock Board, quoting American
After the enlargement of the boundaries in 1835
nearly sixty years passed without any further en-
largement ; in the meantime the borough of Bootle,
which was essentially an expansion of Liverpool,
had grown up and obtained its incorporation with-
out opposition in 1869 ; beyond it the populous
areas of Seaforth and Crosby lay separated from the
town ; the borough of Birkenhead was similarly
incorporated in 1877. At the end of the century,
however, the city awoke to the danger of allowing
the wealthy residential suburbs which derived their
prosperity from the city to escape from their share
of the costs of government. In 1895 the township
of Walton, a second large section of the extensive
township of West Derby, the township of Waver-
tree, and the remaining southern half of the town-
ship of Toxteth, were added to the city.704 In
1901 the township of Garston, on the eve of apply-
ing for an incorporation which would have shut in
the city on the south as it was inclosed by Bootle on
the north, was also taken in. In 1903 an attempt
was made to incorporate Bootle in the city ; but
though the approval of the Local Government Board
was obtained, the vigorous opposition of Bootle pre-
vented the passage of the bill through Parliament.
In 1 904 the township of Fazakerley was incorporated.
The increase of the city's area involved in these
successive enlargements may be briefly shown : —
1830 1, 860 acres
1835 5,*10 »
1894
19°°
I907 16,619 „
After the Municipal Re-
form Act the Whig party
for a brief period enjoyed
control of the borough gov-
ernment. At the outset they
possessed an overwhelming majority, but by i 842 this
majority had disappeared. The main cause of this was
the unpopularity of the Whig attempt to abandon
compulsory Anglican religious teaching in the two
corporation schools, which was advocated on the
ground that the population served by these schools
was mainly Roman Catholic ; but the proposal aroused
a fierce opposition. The Whigs, however, also initiated
a series of elaborate inquiries into the various depart-
ments of borough government, reconstituted the
corporation service and effected large economies by
reductions of salaries, and commenced a vigorous pro-
gressive policy in regard to the regulation of buildings
and the safeguarding of the health of the town. In
these respects the transference of power to the Tory
party led to little change ; and the years from 1835
to 1870 witnessed a vigorous, sustained, and not un-
successful campaign for the amelioration of the con-
ditions of the borough. The powers of the Watching,
Lighting, and Cleansing Board had been taken over
by the corporation under the Act of 1835, and were
administered by a special Watch Committee; they were
now enlarged by a new local Act,706 under which the
council took powers to impose numerous penalties for
DEVELOPMENT OF
MUNICIPAL
GOVERNMENT
official estimates.
7°8 From the Medical Officer's Report
(estimated).
704 The birth-rate, which shows a slow
but steady decline throughout the later
half of the period, was in 1907 estimated
at 31-7 per 1,000, as compared with
38
26*3 per 1,000 for England and Wales.
On the other hand the death-rate has sunk
from an average of 32-5 per 1,000 in
1861-70 to 20-4 in 1901-7.
705 59 vict. cap. 7.
7«« i Vict. cap. 98.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
LIVERPOOL
neglect of civic duties. In regard to the regulation
of buildings the new regime was especially vigorous.
The council obtained powers by an Act of i839707
to appoint building surveyors who should be required
to certify before any new building was permitted to
be occupied that it fulfilled the numerous require-
ments laid down in the Act. These regulations were
made still more exacting by the important Act of
1 842,708 which forbade the erection of inadequately
lighted courts ; the same Act also empowered the
magistrates to order the cleansing at the owner's ex-
pense of any * filthy or unwholesome ' house. The
most important clause of this epoch-making Act was
that which decreed the appointment of a Health
Committee to carry out its terms. Another Act of the
same year,709 while providing for the widening of
certain main streets, provided (section 107) that on
the presentment of the grand jury or the complaint
of four or more householders the council might de-
molish a ruinous house. Meanwhile the Commis-
sioners for Paving and Sewerage had continued to
perform their duties independently, being expressly
safeguarded from any interference by the growing
activity of the council ; 71° but in 1842 it was pro-
vided that half of them should be elected by the
council.711 Their authority extended only over
the old township, and in the same year a separate
commission was created for Toxteth Park.711
The new Health Committee found its work ham-
pered by the existence of these independent and
unrelated authorities. Moreover, in 1843 a very
powerful pamphlet 71S published by Dr. Duncan, then a
lecturer in the Royal Infirmary School of Medicine,
awoke the town to a new sense of the horrors of its
slums . He showed that nearly half of the working-
class population lived in cellar-dwellings ; that most of
the poorer streets were quite unprovided with sewers ;
that the water supply was such as to render impossible
even ordinary personal cleanliness ; in short, that the
condition of the poorer quarters of the town was
such as not only to degrade their inhabitants, but
also to form a grave menace to other residents. This
powerful statement came at a moment when the cor-
poration was already awakening to the difficulty of
the problem, and the ineffectiveness of its weapons
for coping with it. The immediate result was that a
new Act was obtained in 1846,"* which was of the
most far-reaching importance. It provided for the
first time for the appointment of a Medical Officer of
Health — an office to which, with singular appropriate-
ness, Duncan was the first to be appointed. It
transferred the powers and properties of the Liverpool
and Toxteth Paving and Sewerage Boards to the
Health Committee of the Town Council, on which
it imposed the obligation to pave and sewer every
street and house.715 It also imposed upon the council
a totally new obligation, namely that of laying down
pipes and supplying water throughout the borough ;
for which purpose the Green Lane Waterworks were
transferred to the corporation.
Under Duncan's guidance the council now began
a systematic campaign against cellar-dwellings ; in
1 847 over 5,000 such dwellings were declared unfit
for human habitation, and absolutely closed, while
over 10,000 more were measured, registered, and in
some cases cleansed at the owners' expense.716 But the
powers possessed by the council for carrying out such
reforms were as yet slight. By the Sanitary Amend-
ment Act of l864717 these powers were very largely
increased ; so much so that under the terms of this
Act the facilities for the demolition of insanitary
property are in some respects more useful than any
conferred by the later national Acts for this purpose.
Even more important than the demolition of in-
sanitary property was the provision of an adequate
water supply. The supply of water had hitherto been
in the hands of two companies — the Company of
Proprietors, and the Liverpool and Harrington Com-
pany, founded respectively in 1799 an^ 1802 ; both
drew their supply from wells, some of which are still
in use. These were now taken over ;718 but in
addition the corporation took powers to construct
a series of reservoirs on the Rivington moors, north
of Bolton.719 The scheme produced much discus-
sion, being one of the first of its kind, and several
additional Acts720 were passed before it had been
finally settled. The Rivington Waterworks were not
completed till 1857 ; their completion for the first
time rendered possible a continuous supply of water
throughout the city. As population grew, it in turn
became inadequate ; and in 1879 the Vyrnwy scheme
was entered upon. This involved the acquisition of
the valley of the River Vyrnwy in Merionethshire,
with its drainage area of 22,742 acres ; the construc-
tion across the mouth of the valley of a masonry dam
1,172 ft. long, 161 ft. high, and 1276:. thick, thus
creating a lake 4^ miles long, capable of yielding a
supply of forty million gallons of water per diem ;
and the construction of an aqueduct 68 miles long,
including tunnels of 4^- miles, one of which passes
under the Manchester Ship Canal and the Mersey.
The supply was first brought to Liverpool in 1891,
after eleven years' work. The value to the com-
munity of this magnificent achievement cannot be
exaggerated.721
Meanwhile the town had not been altogether neg-
lectful of the amenities. St. George's Hall,722 de-
signed to serve the double purpose of a public hall
and assize courts, had been projected by private citi-
zens in 1835, and was begun in 1838, and completed
by the corporation in 1854 at a cost of £238,000.
The design was by a young architect, H. L. Elmes,
who died before his work was completed, and much
of the interior was carried out by R. P. Cockerell.
The design was much criticized, but it is now agreed
that the building is one of the noblest modern classic
buildings in the world. It is enriched by a fine pedi-
ment by Alfred Stevens at the south end and by a
series of external bas-relief panels ; it contains one of
the best organs in England, long played by W. T. Best ;
707 2 & 3 Viet. cap. 92.
708 5 vict. cap. 44.
709 5 & 6 Vict. cap. 106.
710 i Vict. cap. 98 ; z & 3 Vict. cap. 92.
711 5 Vict. cap. 26.
712 5 & 6 Vict. cap. 105.
718 Read before the Lit. and Phil. Soc.
in 1843.
714 9 & 10 Vict. cap. 127.
715 An excellent account of the sani-
tary administration of the city is given in
Hdbk. of Congress of Roy. Inst, of Pub.
Health, 1903.
716 Gore's Annals, 1847.
717 27 & 28 Vict. cap. 73.
718 Under powers conferred by 39 Geo.
Ill, cap. 36 ; 9 Vict. cap. 35 ; and 10 &
II Vict. cap. 261.
719 10 & II Vict. cap. 261.
720 13 & 14 Vict. cap. 80; 15 Vict.
39
cap. 47; 1 8 Vict. cap. 66; 19 Vict.
cap. 5.
721 On the history of the water supply
in general, Hist, and Deter. Account of the :
L'fv. Water Supply (Water Engineer's
Rep. 1899); article in Hdbk. of Congress of
Roy. Inst. of Pub. Health, 1903.
<M R. P. Jones, 'H. L. Elmes,' Archil.
Rev. 1904 ; H. L. Elmes, Corrcsp. rela~
ti-ve to St. George's Hall, &c.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
and both the great hall and the plateau without are
used for the display of statuary.
Another fruitful new enterprise was begun in 1852.
As early as 1 849 — before the Free Libraries Act —
the establishment of a public library had been pro-
jected. In 1851 the thirteenth Earl of Derby had
bequeathed his large natural-history collection to
the town. At the same time the Liverpool Academy,
founded in 1810, had succeeded in stimulating artistic
interests in the town by its annual exhibitions. In
order to meet this triple need a private Act rn was
obtained empowering the council to establish and
maintain a public library and museum with a gallery
of arts, to provide lecture rooms and arrange lec-
tures. With this were at first linked the Botanic
Gardens, originally started as a private organization
by Roscoe, but taken over by the corporation in
1 846. "* A fine classic building for the library and
museum was provided by Sir William Brown, re-
placing the rather ragged houses at the north of
Shaw's Brow, and facing St. George's Hall. Thus
began a noble group of buildings devoted to know-
ledge and the arts, gradually extended by the erection
of the Picton Reading Room, a fine rotunda, in 1872,
the Walker Art Gallery (the gift of Sir A. B. Walker)
BROWN of Astrop,
Bart. Gules a che-veron
or between /wo bear?
paws erased in chief ar-
gent and four hands con-
joined in saltire of the
second in base, on a chief
engrailed gold an tagle
displayed sable.
WALKER of Osmas-
ton, Bart. Or three pal-
lets gules surmounted by
a saltire argent charged
•with a harfs head erased
proper, on a chief azure a
garb between two stars
of the first.
in 1877, and the Museum Extension and Technical
School in 1902 ; a proud adornment to the city,
later made still more attractive by the laying out of
gardens with statues in the centre of the great place.
The development of these institutions during the last
half-century can only be briefly summarized. The
Central Library, opened in 1852 with 8,296 volumes,
now contains close on 150,000 volumes; it is most
strongly equipped on local history and topography,
natural history, and the fine arts; the last-named section
has been greatly strengthened by the bequest of the
Hornby Library, now housed in a beautiful additional
room. There are also nine lending libraries in various
parts of the city, having among them nearly 140,000
volumes."* The Museums fall into two sections —
the Museum of Natural History, which has been built
up round the nucleus bequeathed by Lord Derby in
1852, and is now of great range, probably unsurpassed
out of London ; and the Museum of Antiquities and
Anthropology, which includes some very valuable col-
lections mainly provided by bequest of Mr. Joseph
Mayer in 1867. The large extension of the build-
ings effected in 1902 for the first time gives adequate
room for the display of these collections.724 In the
Art Gallery a large permanent collection has been
accumulated by gift and purchase. It includes some
modern paintings of wide fame, also the Roscoe col-
lection of Early Italian art, formerly housed at the
Royal Institution. The controlling committee has
wisely set itself to obtain as full a representation as
possible of the remarkable group of Liverpool painters
who flourished in the middle of the igth century.
An exhibition of contemporary art has been held
annually since 1871, and many special exhibitions
have also been organized.7*7
The increasing attention to the amenities which
the council were now showing was exhibited
especially in 1868. Up to that date the town had
possessed no public parks, except the small public
gardens in St. James's Mount; for though as early as
1848 the Newsham estate had been purchased, no use
had been made of it. In 1 868 powers were obtained7*8
for the creation of three parks — Sefton Park, Newsham
Park, and Stanley Park — at a cost of £670,000. The
expenditure thus begun has been continued without
intermission, and supplemented by private munificence,
to which the city owes Wavertree Playground and
Bowring Park. The total area of parks and gardens
laid out in various parts of the city amounts to almost
1,100 acres.
The last twenty-five years of the i gth century were
largely engaged in a renewed attack on the problem
of the housing of the poor. In the earlier period
the council had been content with the demolition
of insanitary property, a work in which it had been
a pioneer ; it now began to undertake the re-
placement of the demolished property by model
dwellings. The first block of cottages to be thus
erected was in i869.7*9 In 1885 a large group of
dwellings was erected, known as Victoria Square. By
1900 accommodation had been provided for over 700
families. More recently this work has been pushed on
with such vigour that in February 1907 over 2,200
dwellings were either in occupation or almost com-
pleted. The total cost has been more than £1,000,000,
the interest on which is almost met by the rents paid.
The elaborate and efficient tramway service, taken
over by the corporation in 1897, has also tended to
facilitate the solution of the housing problem.
Of other municipal activities no account can here
be given. But enough has been said to show that
the seventy years since the Municipal Reform Act
have been marked by a systematic attempt at the
reorganization and reconstruction of the city. In the
last part of the period the establishment of the sepa-
rate diocese of Liverpool in 1880, the more recent
7M 15 Viet. cap. 3.
"*• 8 & 9 Viet. cap. 43. The library
of the Botanic Gardens, founded by Ros-
coe, was transferred to the City Library
in 1907.
'** Cowell, Li-v. Public Libraries, a bis-
tory °f fify years (1903).
7M Forbes, descriptive account of the
Liverpool Museums in Hdbk. of the Con-
gress of Roy. lust, of Pub. Health, 1903 ;
annual reports.
"^ Annual Reports, 1872-1907. On
the Liverpool painters, Marillier, The
Liv. School of Painters, 1904.
28 28 Viet. cap. 20.
7" The following facts are from infor-
mation supplied by the Medical Officer of
Health. It may be noted that the Royal
40
Com. on the Housing of the Working
Classes reported in 1885 that housing re-
form was more urgently needed in Liver-
pool than in any other Lancashire town.
A good account of housing work in
Liverpool may be found in the Hdbk. of
the Congress of Roy. Inst. of Pub. Health,
1903.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
LIVERPOOL
commencement of the erection of a cathedral, and
the foundation of a university, have added the dignities
of a cathedral, episcopal, and university city to those
of a great port. The advance thus made was re-
cognized by the first charter of Queen Victoria in
i88o,7SO whereby the title of 'City' became the
official designation of Liverpool, and by the queen's
second charter in i893,731 whereby the chief magis-
trate of the city was empowered to assume the style
of Lord Mayor of Liverpool.
Under the first Dock Act, 1708,"* the
DOCKS mayor, aldermen, bailiffs, and Common
Council became the trustees of the proposed
dock, and were empowered to construct the dock and to
levy dues. They were not incorporated, but used the
corporation seal ; managing the first and successive
docks through committees, which were as completely
under their control as any other council committees.
By an Act of 1 8 1 1 ,"3 however, they were separately in-
corporated and given a seal of their own ; the finances
of the docks were separately administered from those
of the corporation, by a statutory committee of
twenty-one members appointed by the trustees (i.e. the
Town Council), but the Town Council still claimed
and exercised the right of voting sums from the dock
funds, and of overriding the actions of the com-
mittee. The control of the docks by a close corpora-
tion, which was in no way representative of the rate-
payers or of those who used the docks, led to much
discontent and discussion, and in the end produced
a new Act, that of i8z5/34 whereby, though the
trust remained unaltered, the committee was changed
by the inclusion of eight members elected by dock
ratepayers. The council still retained a majority,
thirteen of the committee being councillors, while
the chairman was also selected from among the
members of the committee by the council. The
Act also provided that the proceedings of the dock
committee could only be overridden by a majority
of two-thirds of the council, and only at the meeting
of the council immediately following that of the
committee. By an Act of i85irji the number ot
the committee was raised to twenty-four, half of
whom were to be dock ratepayers, while the chair-
man was to be elected by the committee itself. But
the power of revision still remained with the Town
Council. Outside of both council and committee
there had been from the first an independent body
of auditors, numbering nine under the Act of ijoS,736
and appointed in equal groups by the corporation,
the justices of the county of Lancaster, and the jus-
tices of the county of Chester. An Act of I734786*
raised the number to twelve, four nominated by the
council, eight by the dock ratepayers. By an Act
of 1 84 1737 the mayor, the chairman of the dock
committee, and the senior borough magistrate, were
appointed revisers of rates.
Even with these safeguards, however, and even
though the council was now a representative elected
body, dissatisfaction was felt with this system of ad-
ministration, which identified the interests of the
dock estate with those of the municipality. This ex-
pressed itself in controversies on the rating of the
dock estate, and in the agitation for the Act of 1851,
which was originally an attempt to alter the consti-
tution of the dock committee so as to leave the
council only the mere shadow of control, but which
was amended to the effect already described. It also
lowered the voting franchise for dock ratepayers.
But the strongest opposition came from the merchants
of Manchester and the railway companies, which re-
sented the traditional charges for town dues ; this
went so far that a society was founded in Manchester
called ' The Society to secure the right appropriation
of the Liverpool Town Dues.' In 1857 they pro-
moted a Bill, based upon the recommendations of the
Commissioners of the Board of Trade, who had in
1853 reported in favour of the appointment of in-
dependent bodies of conservators for the regulation
of public harbours, and of the transference to them
of all dues levied by municipal corporations. The
Town Council fought the Bill with all its power,
especially objecting to the confiscation of its tradi-
tional town dues ; but eventually withdrew its opposi-
tion in consideration of a payment of £1,500,000
for the loss of the town dues, and of certain other
modifications. By the Act thus passed7373 the Mersey
Docks and Harbour Board was constituted, and took
over the control both of the Liverpool and of the
Birkenhead Docks, and the right of collecting not
only dock dues but also the ancient traditional town
dues. The board has continued to collect the town
dues, despite the fact that opposition to these dues
was one of the principal causes of its establishment.
The board consists of twenty-eight members, four of
whom are nominated by the Mersey Conservancy Com-
missioners (the First Lord of the Admiralty, the Presi-
dent of the Board of Trade, and the Chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster) ; while the other twenty-four
are elected by all persons paying rates on ships or
goods to the amount of not less than £10 per
annum. Members of the board must be resident
within 10 miles of the boundary of the borough or
port of Liverpool, and must have paid rates on ships
or goods to the amount of not less than £25 per
annum. The office of Chairman of the Dock Board
is commonly regarded as the most honourable at the
disposal of Liverpool citizens.
The history of the actual dock estate may be
conveniently divided into three periods,7371" corre-
sponding to the periods in the history of its governing
body : —
I. Between 1709 and 1825, when the docks were
under the direct control of the corporation, the fol-
lowing wet docks were opened : —
1 . Old Dock, opened 3 1 August 1715; closed
31 August 1826.
2. Salthouse Dock, opened 1753 ; altered 1842 ; en-
larged 1855.
3. George's Dock, opened 1771 ; enlarged 1825 ;
closed 1900.
"so Printed in Hut. Mimic. Gout, in Lt-v.
290. 7S1 Ibid. 292.
783 8 Anne, cap. 12. On the whole
history of the administration of the docks,
see the Town Clerk's Report on the Pos-
sibility and Expediency of obtaining re-
presentation of the Corporation on the
Dock Board (1907).
788 5 1 Geo. Ill, cap. 43.
784 26 Geo. IV, cap. 43. For the de-
fects of this system, see Munic. Corp.
Com. Rep. of Li-v. Inquiry, passim.
785 14 & 15 Viet. cap. 64.
786 8 Anne, cap. 12.
786a j Geo. II, cap. 29.
787 4. & 5 Viet. cap. 30.
41
"S7a 20 & 21 Viet. cap. 162.
787b Fjgurei taken from Memorandum
Bk. of the Mersey Docks and Harbour
Board, 1908. Smithers, Li-v. 169 ff. and
452, describes the condition of the docks
in 1824; Baines, Li-v. App. describes
them in 1852.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
4. King's Dock, opened 1788 ; closed 1906, the
name being preserved for two new branches of
the Wapping Dock.
5. Queen's Dock, opened 1796; enlarged 1816 ;
deepened and half-tide dock added 1856, and
closed 1905 ; enlarged 1901 ; branches added
1901, 1905 ; altered 1906.
6. Union Dock, opened 1816 ; thrown into Coburg
Dock 1858.
7. Prince's Dock, opened 1821 ; half-tide dock
added 1868.
The total area of wet docks in 1825 amounted
to 46 acres 3,179 sq. yds. ; the lineal quayage to a
little over 2 miles. The dock dues paid in the
same year amounted to £130,911. It may be
noted that the first London Dock was not opened
until 1802.
II. Between 1825 and 1857, when the docks were
under the control of the Dock Committee, the Old
Dock was closed (1826), and the following new docks
were opened : —
1. Canning Dock, opened 1829 ; previously a basin
known as the Dry Dock, opened 1753 ; en-
larged 1842.
2. Clarence Docks, &c., opened 1830 ; enlarged
I853-
3. Brunswick Docks, opened 1832 ; enlarged 1848,
1858, 1889; branch dock added 1878;
altered 1900.
4. Waterloo Dock, opened 1834; reconstructed as
E. and W. Waterloo Docks, 1868.
5. Victoria Dock, opened 1836 ; altered 1848.
6. Trafalgar Dock, opened 1836.
7. Coburg Dock, opened 1840; altered from
Brunswick Basin ; enlarged 1858 ; altered
1900.
8. Toxteth Dock, opened 1842 ; closed to make
way for new works, 1884.
9. Canning Half-tide Dock, opened I 844.
10. Harrington Dock (bought), opened 1844 ; closed
to make way for new works 1879.
11. Albert Dock, opened 1845.
12. Salisbury Dock, opened 1848.
13. Collingwood Dock, opened 1848.
14. Stanley Dock, opened 1848; partly filled in
1897.
15. Nelson Dock, opened 1848.
1 6. Bramley Moore Dock, opened 1848.
17. Wellington Docks, opened 1850 ; half-tide dock
closed 1901.
1 8. Sandon Dock, opened 1851 ; half-tide dock
added 1901 ; altered 1906.
19. Manchester Dock (bought), opened 1851.
20. Huskisson Dock, opened 1852 ; branch docks
added 1861, 1872, 1902 ; altered 1896, 1897;
enlarged 1900.
21. Wapping Dock and Basin, opened 1855 ; two
King's Dock branches added 1906.
The water area in 1857 amounted to 192 acres
129 sq. yds., or an increase of over 82 acres in twenty-
five years ; the lineal quayage was about I 5 miles ;
and the river-wall, when the Dock Board came into
existence, already extended for just over 5 miles. At
the same time the Dock Committee and the Corpora-
tion had acquired the Birkenhead Docks, which do
not fall within the purview of this work. It is clear
that the old Dock Committee did not lack energy.
For the ten years preceding the establishment of the
Dock Board the dock dues averaged nearly £250,000.
It was on the security of these that the capital for the
construction of the docks was raised ; and no profits
were used for purposes other than the service of the
port.
III. During the fifty years of the Mersey Docks
and Harbour Board more time and money have been
spent on the enlargement and reconstruction of the
existing system than on the creation of new docks.
The new docks of this period are : —
1. Canada Dock, opened 1858; enlarged 1896;
altered 1903 ; branches opened 1896, 1903,
1906.
2. Brociclebank Dock, opened 1862 ; known until
1879 as Canada Half-tide Dock; enlarged
1871.
3. Herculaneum Dock, opened 1866 ; enlarged and
branch dock added 1881.
4. Langton Docks, opened 1879.
5. Alexandra Dock (and three branches), opened
1880.
6. Harrington Dock, opened i883.738
7. Hornby Dock (and branch), opened 1884.
8. Toxteth Dock, opened i888.73S
9. Union Dock, opened
During the last thirty years, however, the board
has been mainly occupied in reconstructing large sec-
tions of the dock system, so as to accord with that re-
markable change in the size of vessels resorting to the
port which has brought it about that while the ton-
nage of the port has since 1880 increased 66 per cent.
the number of vessels has in the same period actually
declined from 10,000 to little over 6,ooo.73Sa The
new type of gigantic steamships demanded a wholesale
reconstruction of the docks to which they resorted.
The docks have accordingly been grouped in systems,
each adapted to the needs of different kinds of trade,
and each equipped with its appropriate warehouses,
sheds, cranes, graving-docks, &c. The southern sys-
tem, including the Herculaneum, Toxteth, and Har-
rington docks, was vastly enlarged between 1881 and
1888 ; the Canada-Huskisson system, at the north
end, was radically reconstructed between 1890 and
1906, with the result that the largest American liners
now use it in place of the Alexandra-Hornby system,
which at the time of its construction represented
the last word in dock engineering ; the Brunswick-
Wapping system, in the south-central region, which
includes some of the oldest of the docks, was com-
pletely rearranged, enlarged, and deepened so as to
admit the biggest vessels, between 1900 and 1906.
The accommodation, however, being still inade-
quate, a large new system of docks is now (1908)
under construction at the extreme north end of
the line.
In 1900 the George's Dock, one of the oldest of
the series, which lay between the city and the pier-
head, was closed by arrangement between the Dock
Board and the Corporation. Part of its site was
18 These are name* of old docks, given to new docks in the same region.
42
7»8a gee tabie Of entrances and clearances, p. 3 7 aboye.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
utilized for the magnificent domed building in which
the offices of the Dock Board are now housed ; two
of the main shoreward thoroughfares were continued
across the site of the dock direct to the pier-head ;
and the main entrance to the city has thus been
materially improved and dignified.
The total water area of the docks (excluding those
on the Cheshire side of the river) now (1908) amounts
to 418 acres 320 yds., and the lineal quayage to
26 miles 1,083 yds- The continuous dock-wall fronts
the river for a distance of 7^ miles.
In addition to the docks controlled by the Dock
Board, the London and North-Western Railway
has three docks at Garston, now within the limits
of the city, which have a water area of 14 acres
2,494 yds.
As the period of the Dock Board's administration
has been the period of the rapid development in the
size of ships, which is in no port more marked than
in Liverpool, a large part of the Board's work has
consisted in maintaining a clear channel in the river.
The task of dredging the bar which impedes the
entrance to the river was seriously begun about 1890.
Carried on by dredgers of unusual magnitude and
power, it has cost not far short of half a million of
money during the last fifteen years, but the result has
been to provide a clear deep-water passage, lacking
which Liverpool might have found it impossible to
maintain her control over ocean trade under the new
conditions. No account can here be given of the
other works of the Board, of its vast warehouses, of its
appliances for the disembarkation of cargo, or of the
immense floating stage, 2,478 ft. long, whereby the
landing of passengers at all times is rendered possible
despite the very great rise and fall of the tides in the
Mersey.
The erection of a chapel at Liver-
CHURCHES pool was probably contemporaneous
with the foundation of the borough ;
burgages 'next to the chapel' are mentioned in a
charter of the middle of the 1 3th century.739 The
building is identified with the chapel of St. Mary
LIVERPOOL
del Key (or Quay) which was standing, 'a great
piece of antiquity,' used as the free school, in 1673.™
It was a chapel of ease to Walton, and without any
permanent endowment.
In or before 1356 there was built, perhaps at the
cost of the town, the larger chapel of Our Lady
and St. Nicholas, which then became the chapel of
Liverpool. In the year named the king allowed the
mayor and commonalty to devote lands of the value
of £10 a year to the maintenance of divine service
in the chapel according to an agreement they had
made with Henry, Duke of Lancaster/41 who him-
self gave an allowance of I2/. a year to the
chapel.7"
In September 1361 the Bishop of Lichfield
granted a licence for burials in the churchyard,
during a visitation of plague ; 74S and in the follow-
ing February he gave permission for the chapel and
cemetery of St. Nicholas of Liverpool to be conse-
crated ' by any Catholic bishop having the grace of
the Apostolic See and faculties for his office.' 744 Shortly
afterwards William de Liverpool gave a rent of 6s. %d.
towards the stipend of the chaplain, as long as the
chantry should continue.744 The chantry referred to
was probably that at the altar of St. John, founded
by John de Liverpool to celebrate for the souls of
his ancestors, the priest of which was nominated
by the mayor and burgesses.746 Another ancient
chantry was that of St. Mary at the high altar,747
founded by Henry, Duke of Lancaster ; 74S while
the succeeding duke, John of Gaunt, founded one
at the altar of St. Nicholas.74' There were thus
three priests in residence serving the chantries from
the latter part of the I4th century down to the
Reformation.
Further endowments were acquired from time to
time ;7SO and in 1459 the Bishop of Lichfield granted
an indulgence of forty days on the usual conditions
to contributors to the restoration of the old chapel of
St. Mary del Key and to the maintenance of a
chaplain there and of its ornaments, or to those who
should devoutly pray before her image.751 This
7*» Most of the information relating to
this ancient chapel is derived from an
essay by Mr. John Elton in Trans. Hist.
Soc. (new ser.), rviii, 73-118, and the
documents there printed.
Randle del Moore of Liverpool, who
occurs from 1246 onwards, granted to
Margery his daughter and John Gernet
half a burgage next to the chapel ; Moore
D. no. 264 (i). In the same deeds 'the
Chapel street ' is mentioned in 1318 (ibid,
no. 331 [71]), in a grant by John son of
Alan de Liverpool, to which John del
Moore was a witness.
Liverpool was named as a chapelry in
1327 at the ordination of the vicarage of
Walton ; Gastrell, Notitia Cestr. (Chet.
Soc.), ii, 191.
740 Blome, Britannia (quoted by Pic-
ton).
741 Elton, op. cit. 80, quoting Pat.
29 Edw. III. The rents were to be paid
' to certain chaplains to celebrate divine
service every day, for the souls of all the
faithful departed, in the chapel of Blessed
Mary and St. Nicholas of Liverpool, ac-
cording to the order of the mayor and
commonalty.' The sum of £10 may in-
clude the endowments of the two chan-
tries of John de Liverpool and Henry
Duke of Lancaster.
7«a Elton, op. cit. 79, quoting a rent
roll of 1395.
7« Ibid. 83, from Lich. Epis. Reg. v,
fol. 44.
744 Ibid. 82, from Lich. Epis. Reg. v,
fol. 45. Facsimiles of this and the pre-
ceding entry are given.
745 Elton, op. cit. 86, from Moore
D. no. 466 (183), dated 6 Sept. 1361.
7« William de Liverpool's phrase, ' as
may be ordained by the mayor and com-
monalty,' agrees with the above-quoted
licence of Edward III, and with the con-
dition of the chantry in 1548 ; Raines,
Chantries (Chet. Soc.), 82. At this date
the priest (John Hurdes) did 'sing and
celebrate there according to the statutes of
his foundation ' ; the plate and ornaments
were scanty ; the rents, derived, as were
those of the remaining chantries, from
burgages, houses, and lands in Liverpool,
amounted to 105*. id. In 1534 the can-
tarist was Thomas Rowley, and the net
revenue was 731. $.d.\ the founders' names
were recorded as John de Liverpool and
John del Moore ; Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.),
V, 221.
It was the duty of the priest of the
altar of St. John to say mass daily be-
tween five and six in the morning, so that
all labourers and well-disposed people
43
might come to hear it ; Picton, Munic.
Rec. i, 31.
74/ Raines, op. cit. 86. Ralph Howorth
was the incumbent in 1548, 'celebrating
accordingly,' ' with the chalice and other
ornaments pertaining to the inhabitants
of the same town' ; the gross income was
1151. n</., a chief rent of 2s. $d. being
paid to the king's bailiff of West Derby.
Richard Frodsham was cantarist in 1534,
when the revenue was ^4 71. n</.; Valor
Eccl. (Rec. Com.), loc. cit.
7«8 Duchy of Lane. Auditors' Accts.
bdle. 728, no. 11987.
74> Raines, op. cit. 89. Richard Frod-
sham was in 1548 'the priest remaining
and celebrating there according to his
foundation ' ; there were chalice, two sets
of vestments, and missal, and an endow-
ment of 1 141. f,d. Ralph Howorth was
cantarist in 1534, when the income was
751. u</., the foundation being ascribed
to Henry and John, Dukes of Lancaster ;
Valor Eccl. loc. cit. Probably there has
been some transposition of the names of
the incumbents of these chantries.
750 See Elton, op. cit. 86, 88.
7" Lich. Epis. Reg. xii, fol. 124*. It
is described as 'the chapel of Blessed
Mary within the cemetery of the chapel
of the town of Liverpool.'
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
ancient chapel continued in use until the Reforma-
tion, for John Crosse in 1515 made a bequest to
' the priest that sings afore our Lady of the Key.' n
The same benefactor established the chantry of
St. Katherine, the priest of which was also to « teach
and keep a grammar school.' 7M By this means the
endowed staff was raised to four priests. A house
was provided for them, with a garden adjoining.744
The church, consisting of a nave and a chancel of
about equal lengths, with a tower at the west end,
a south porch, and *n aisle on the north side,7" had
four or five altan— the high altar, St. Nicholas's
(perhaps the same), St. John's, St. Katherine's, and
the Rood altar/54 The chapel of St. Mary of the
Key, which was a separate building standing on the
river bank, a little to the west of St. Nicholas's, also
had its altar.7" There is no means of deciding how
many priests and clerks were employed, but the size
of the chancel indicates a considerable staff.
The suppression of the chantries and the change of
religion made a great difference. St. Nicholas's chapel
continued to be used, and one of the old chantry
priests, John Hurdes, was placed in charge in 1548 ;
he appeared at the visitation in 1554, but not in
I56z.748 At the abolition of the ancient services in
1559 it is uncertain what took place at Liverpool ;759
Vane Thomasson was curate in i$6i,760 and next
year the Crown allowed the old stipend of one of
the chantry priests for the payment of a minister to
be nominated by the burgesses.761 In 1590 the
minister was * a preacher,' 76* and the corporation
afterwards took pains to secure a preacher or an
additional lecturer.763
In 1650 the Commonwealth surveyors found that
the Committee of Plundered Ministers had assigned
to the curate of Liverpool all the tithes of the town-
ship and j£io from the rectory of Walton ; the
duchy rent of £4 1 5/. was also paid to him ; the
curate had, on the other hand, by the committee's
order, to pay £l I los. to the wife of Dr. Clare, the
ejected rector of Walton.764 Shortly afterwards, in
1658, Liverpool was made an independent parish,765
7*« Church Goods, 1552 (Chet. Soc.), 98.
T<* Raines, Chantries, 84 ; Valor Eccl.
(Rec. Com.), v, 221. Humphrey Crosse
was the incumbent in 1534 and 1548,
celebrating for the souls of his founder and
heirs, with a yearly obit at which 31. 4</.
was distributed to the poor, and teaching
the grammar school. The endowment
amounted to £4 15*. lod. For a dispute
concerning this foundation see Due hy Plead.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 156.
John Crowe's will ii printed in full in
Church Goods, 97, 98.
744 Raines, op. cit. 85.
An account of the chantry lands after
the confiscation is given by Elton, op. cit.
97, 98 ; see also Trans. Hist. Soc. (new
ser.), iii, 165 ; and Gregson, Fragments
(ed. Harland), 348-50.
The ornaments of the chapel in 1552
are detailed in Church Goods, 96.
'*• A south elevation is given in En-
field's Liverpool. The spire and the
upper story of the tower were additions
to the original building. Perry's plan of
1769 shows that there were then two
aides on the north side, but one of these
had been built in 1697, with an addition
in 1718 ; Picton, Memorials, ii, 58. The
principal changes were : A west-end gal-
lery, erected in 1681 ; an organ, provided
in 1684; the boarded ceiling, painted and
starred in 1688 ; the churchyard wall on
the east and south, built in 1690 ; a spire,
built in 1745 5 tn* churchyard extended
in 1749 ; a new organ procured in 1764 ;
and in 1774 the whole body of the church
was rebuilt in its present form, the in-
terior, which must have been very irre-
gular, being entirely transformed, and the
exterior walls being made uniform ; ibid.
''» 57-9- The following is Enfield's de-
scription of the old building : ' In its
structure there is no appearance of mag-
nificence or elegance. The body of the
church within is dark and low ; it is irre-
gularly thougi. decently pewed ; it has
lately been ornamented with an organ.
The walls have been repaired and sup-
ported by large buttresses of different
colours and forms, and a spire has been
added to the tower' ; Liverpool, 41.
The Corporation arranged the order of
precedence in the pews ; Munic. Rec. i,
103, 210, 329.
The old peal having been reduced to
a single bell, three more were ordered
in 1628, but were not satisfactory, and
changes were made in 1636 and 1649 ;
Munic. Rec. i, 2 1 1, 212. A new peal
was procured in 1725, the number being
increased to six. Their ringing brought
about the ruin of the tower. The pre-
sent peal consists of twelve bells, cast in
1813; an account of them will be found
in Mr. Henry Peet's Inventory of the
Parish Churches of Liverpool. Mr. Peet
has kindly given other information re-
specting the churches.
A clock was set up in 1622, on the
motion of the curate ; Munic. Rec. i, 212.
Notes of the arms in the windows,
taken in 1590, have been printed in Trans.
Hist. Soc. xxxii, 253, with an account of
Captain Ackers, by Mr. J. P. Rylands.
After the fall of the tower and spire
on ii Feb. 1810, the present tower with
its open lantern-spire was built. It stands
at the centre of the west end, instead of
at the south-west corner like the former
one. The church now retains no traces
of antiquity, being in a dull modern
Gothic style, and is chiefly interesting for
the many monuments of iSth and 19th-
century date. The spire is, however, a
creditable piece of work for its date.
756 St. Katherine's altar is mentioned
in 1464 ; Munic. Rec. i, 23.
757 This building, ceasing to be used
for divine worship, was purchased by the
corporation, apparently for zos. ; it be-
came the town's warehouse, but later was
used as the schoolhouse, and so continued
until the 1 8th century, when it was de-
molished ; Elton, op. cit. 103, 1 12- 1 8.
At the west end of this chapel was an
image of St. Nicholas, 'to whom seafaring
men paid offerings and vows ' ; see Blome,
op. cit. and Pal. Note-book, iii, 119.
7M The corporation seem to have con-
tinued to hold and regulate the chapel ;
Elton, op. cit. 99-104. Many details
will be found in Picton's Munic. Rec.
The clerk, Sir John Janson, in 1551
went away to Spain ; one Nicholas Smith
was clerk in 1555 5 Elton, op. cit. 100, 104.
7S» The priest in charge, Evan Nichol-
son, appointed in or before 1555,^35 still
there in 1559, but does not appear in the
Visitation List of 1562 ; Munic. Rec. i, 97.
7"0 Visitation List. It is possible that
Vane (Vanus) Thomasson was the Evan
Nicholson of 1555.
In 1564 Master Vane Thomasson, cu-
rate of Liverpool, and one of the wardens
appeared before the Bishop of Chester, and
44
were enjoined to ' charge the people that
they use no beads ' ; the curate was to
minister the sacrament and sacramentals
according to the Book of Common Prayer ;
Erasmus's Paraphrase must be procured ;
and ' all manner of idolatry and supersti-
tion" was to be immediately 'abolished
and utterly extirpated ' ; Raines, op. cit.
92, quoting the Liber Correct, at Chester.
761 Elton, op. cit. 104. The amount
allowed was £4 ijs. $d. a year.
76a Lydiate Hall, 249; quoting S.P. Dom.
Eliz. ccxxxv, 4.
768 In 1591 the mayor and burgesses
paid £4 to ' Mr. Carter the preacher,' in
consideration of 'his great good zeal and
pains ' in his ' often diligent preaching
of God's word amongst us more than
he is bound to do, but only of his mere
good will ' ; Picton, Munic. Rec. i, 102.
In 1621 a stipend of £30 a year was
promised to ' Mr. Swift to be a preacher
here'; in 1622 James Hyatt, afterwards
vicar of Childwall and Croston, was ap-
pointed ; and in 1629 an arrangement was
made with clergy of the neighbourhood to
preach week-day sermons ; ibid, i, 197,
198, 200.
The authorities were in the I7th cen-
tury inclined to the stricter Puritan side,
as this insistence on preaching suggests ;
but in 1602 the portmoot inquest pre-
sented the curate ' for not wearing his
surplice according to the King's injunc-
tions' ; and in 1610 it was 'agreed' that
he should wear it ' every Sabbath and
every holiday at the time of Divine ser-
vice." The clerk also was to wear one ;
ibid, i, 102, 196.
Laud's reforms apparently did not reach
Liverpool. In 1623 it was ordered by
the corporation that, as the place where
the first and second lessons were usually
read was 'more convenient for the read-
ing of Common Prayer than the place in
the chancel where it hath formerly been
read, in respect the same place is in the
middle of the same church and in full
audience and view of the whole congre-
gation,' the whole service should be read
there ; ibid, i, 198. In 1687 Bishop Cart-
wright had to command the churchwarden
to 'set the communion table altarwise
against the wall ' ; Pal. Note-book, iii, 1 24.
784 Commonwealth Church Survey (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 84 ; Plund. Mint.
Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, i.
765 Plund. Mins. Accts. ii, 21 5 j 224.
LIVERPOOL: SHAW'S BROW, c. 1850
(From a Water-colour Drawing)
S,' Nicholas's Church
(From Enfield's History of Liverpool, 1774)
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
LIVERPOOL
but on the Restoration this Act was adjudged to be
null, and St. Nicholas's became once more a chapel
under Walton. The following is a list of the
curates : —
c. 1563
oc. 1577
1585
oc. 1590
1596
1598
? 1625
c. 1634
1643
1645
1662
1670
1688 •
Vane Thomasson "M
James Seddon 767
James Martindale 768
Hugh Janion 769
- Bentley770
Thomas Wainwright m
Edwin Lappage 7"
Henry Shaw773
Joseph Thompson 7M
John Fogg775
John Leigh 776
Robert Hunter 777
William Atherton 778
Robert Stythe
Liverpool had by this time become so important
that the governing body thought they might claim
full parochial rights for the township.779 After nego-
tiations with the rector and vicar of Walton, and the
patron, Lord Molyneux, an Act of Parliament was
procured ' to enable the town of Liverpool to build
a church and endow the same, and for making the
same town and liberties thereof a parish of itself,
distinct from Walton.' r80 Two joint rectors were
appointed, the first being the two curates then minis-
tering, and it was directed that £110 should be
levied from the parishioners for each of them.781 The
church built under this Act was St. Peter's in Church
Street, consecrated in 1704, which has since been
regarded as the principal church of the parish, and
was therefore appointed the pro-cathedral in 1880.
It is a plain building with wide round-headed
windows, consisting of a chancel with vestries, nave,
and west tower. Its chief merit lies in the woodwork,
and it preserves its galleries on three sides of the
nave, the general arrangement of the seating having
been but little altered since its first building.7™ It
is to be demolished as soon as
part of the new cathedral is
in use.
The patronage was vested
in the mayor and alder-
men, such as had been alder-
men or bailiffs' peers, and the
common council. In 1836
the reformed corporation sold
the patronage to John Stew-
art, and about the same time
provision was made for the
union of the two rectories.783
From the Stewarts the patron-
age was purchased in 1890
by the late W. E. Gladstone,
whose son, the Rev. Stephen
E. Gladstone, now holds it.784 There is no rectory-
house, but the gross value of the benefice is stated as
£1,600 a year, largely derived from fees.785
GLADSTONE. Argent
a savage's head •wreathed
ivith holly and distilling
dr pt of blood proper
'within a fiotuertd orle
gules all "with an orle of
martlets sable.
7M Visitation Lists of 1563, 1564;
name crossed out in 1565.
7*7 Picton, Munic. Rec. i, 97.
7«» Ibid. 98.
"8» Ibid. He was also vicar of St.
John's, Chester. He died hi 1596;
p. 97.
77» Ibid. 97, 98. He could not endure
the interference of the mayor and council,
and only remained two years. He it
called * Mr.,' and was therefore a graduate
of some university.
771 Ibid. 98. He was also appointed
schoolmaster, 'until God send us some
sufficient learned man.' He was only a
' reading minister,' as might be inferred
from thii ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv,
App. iv, 13. Accordingly in 1616 the
mayor and burgesses considered ' the pro-
viding of a preacher to live within the
town'; Munic. Rec. i, 196. He contri-
buted £i to the clerical subsidy of 1622 ;
Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Che?.), i, 65.
In 1609 he appears to have had an
assistant named Webster ; Raines MSS.
(Chet. Lib.), xxii, 298.
The will of Thomas Wainwright, dated
26 June 1625, and proved in the following
October, shows that he had a small
library, including commentaries, Perkins
on the Creed, and Synopsis Papismi ; these
two books he left to Thomas son of his
half-brother Godfrey Wainwright. To
Mr. Hyatt he left Fulke upon the
Rhemish Testament, on condition that
he preached the funeral sermon. To
John Moore of Bank Hall he left his
watch. He also mentions his sisters,
Ellen Okell and Cecily Blinston, and
other relative*. He desired to be buried
'within the chapel of Our Lady and St.
Nicholas under the Communion table
there.'
77a Munic. Rec. i, 1 99. He is described
as 'minister and preacher.'
77s He contributed to subsidies 1634 to
1639 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 94, 122. He may have been the Henry
Shaw who was, in 1649, minister of St.
John's, Chester ; Plund. Mint. Accts. i,
208. One Henry Shaw, of Brasenose
College, Oxford, took the M.A. degree in
1629 ; Foster, Alumni.
In 1633 the corporation ordered 'that
there shall be morning prayer as formerly
hath been ' ; also that the clerk should,
if possible, be ordained deacon, in which
case his wages should be raised by (if. 8, A;
Munic. Rec. i, 201.
77* Picton's Liverpool, i, 92. In 1644
the Corporation provided a second minis-
ter, Mr. David Ellison ; Munic. Rec. i,
202. Thompson was shortly afterwards
placed in the rectory of Scfton.
"7* Ibid, i, 203. He was son of Law-
rence Fogg of Bolton, educated at Brase-
nose College, Oxford ; M.A. 1646 ; Foster,
Alumni. He signed the 'Harmonious
Consent* in 1648. Refusing to take the
engagement, he had to abandon his charge
in 1651, Peter Stananought (afterwards of
Aughton) and Michael Briscowe being
appointed. Shortly afterwards John Fogg
was reinstated, and remained at Liverpool
until he was ejected for Nonconformity in
1662 ; he then retired to Great Budworth;
Picton, Liverpool, i, 105. In 1650 he
was described as ' an able, godly minister ';
Commonwealth Ch. Surv. 84.
77* Munic. Rec. i, 322. The appoint-
ment was made by the corporation, as on
previous occasions ; but the rector of
Walton after some time endeavoured to
obtain the patronage. In this he was
defeated ; ibid, i, 322-3.
777 Ibid, i, 323. He was described as
' reverend, learned, and laborious ' ; ibid, i,
^24. He had been incumbent of Knuts-
ford and Macdesfield ; Earwaker, East
Ches. ii, 505. In 1681 an assistant curate
45
was appointed to read morning prayers
daily (except Sundays and holidays).
77* It was considered, on Mr. Hunter's
death, that two ministers should be ap-
pointed, to do equal duty and receive
equal wages, and both to reside in the
town ; ibid, i, 324. It appears that they
also served the chapel of West Derby.
"79 Munic. Rec. i, 324-6.
7 so 10 and 1 1 Will. Ill, cap. 36. The
rectors were to divide the duty and the
surplice fees. The tithes of the township,
on the then rector of Walton's death,
were to go to the corporation, in relief
of the assessment lor the rectors' stipend.
The rectors of Liverpool were to pay
one-sixth of the tenths and other ecclesi-
astical dues levied upon the parish of
Walton.
Lord Molyneux's interest was indirect,
the separation of Liverpool from Walton
rendering his right of patronage of the
latter rectory somewhat less valuable.
In 1786 an Act was passed 'for aug-
menting and ascertaining the income of
the rectors' ; 26 Geo. Ill, cap. 15.
7M Gastrell, Nttitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.),
ii, 190-3 ; Picton, Munic. Rec. ii, 86.
783 T^ building has never excited any
admiration. There is a peal of ten bells,
added in 1830. In 1715 John Fells, a
sea captain, gave £30 towards the expense
of forming a library in this church ; a list
of the books is printed in Mr. Peet's In-
ventory, 25-52. This work contains an
inventory of the plate, &c., and a full list
of the parish registers, with a reprint of
the earliest volume (1661-73), a^8° a ''8t
of the churchwardens from 1551.
The church was used for a series of
musical festivals, commencing in 1766 ;
Picton, Liverpool, ii, 155.
7»» i & 2 Viet. cap. 98.
784 Information of the patron.
7M Dice. Calendar.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The following is a list of the recton : —
I
1699 Robert Stythe, B.A.m
1714-17 vacant, owing to a dispute.7"1
1717 Thomas Bell, M.A.W
1726 John Stanley, D.D.7*
1750 Robert Brereton
1784 George Hodson, M-A.1"
1794 Samuel Renshaw, M.A.m
1829 Jonathan Brooks, M.A.7*
1870
1904
II
1699 William Atherton, B.A.7*1
1706 Henry Richmond, B-A.718
1721 Thomas Baldwin, M.A.m
1753 Henry Wolstenholme, M.A.m
1772 Thomas Maddock, M.A.7*
1783 Thomas Dannett ^
1 796 Robert Hankinson Roughsedge, M.A.7*
1829 Augustus Campbell, M.A. (sole rector,
1855) «"
Alexander Stewart, M.A.**
John Augustine Kempthorne, M.A.1*
St. George's Church, for which an Act of Parlia-
ment was obtained in 1715,** was begun in 1726 on
the site of the castle ; it was completed in 1734. « It
had originally an elegant terrace, supported by rustic
arches, on one side ; these arches the frequenters of Red
Cross market used to occupy.' *" The church was re-
built piecemeal between 1819 and 1825, and its new
spire was reduced in height in 1 83 3 ; in its time it was
regarded as ' one of the handsomest in the kingdom.'
It was the property of the corporation and main-
tained by them, the mayor and the judges of assize at
one time attending it. On Mr. Charles Mozley, who
was a Jew, being elected mayor in 1 863, the incum-
bent preached a sermon denouncing the choice, and
from that time the mayor and corporation ceased to
attend St. George's. The building having long failed
to attract a congregation was dosed in 1 897 and then
demolished, the site being acquired by the corpora-
tion.'*4
St. Thomas's, Park Lane, was built in 175.0 under
the provisions of an Act of Parliament.8"' 'The
land was given by Mr. John Skill, who, however,
afterwards charged three times the value of the ground
for the churchyard when it was required.' m A very
tall and slender spire was a feature of the exterior ;
after various accidents it was taken down in 1822,
and the present miniature dome replaced it. A large
part of the churchyard was acquired by the corpora-
tion about 1885 for a new thoroughfare. **•*
St. Paul's, one of the corporation churches, was
begun in 1763 in accordance with an Act obtained
the previous year,*6 and opened in 1 769. Its chief
7» Educated at Brasenose College, Ox-
ford ; B-A. 1680; ordained deacon and
priest by the Bishop of Chester in 1 6 So
and 1682 ; master of the Free School at
Liverpool, 1684. Held the rectory of
Garstinj for twelve months (1697-8),
apparently as a 'warming pan.' He is
regarded as co-founder, with Bryan Blun-
dell, of the Blue-coat School, Liverpool.
He died in Dec. 1 71 3. See H. Fishwick,
Gtrstug (Chet. Soc.), 185.
^*» Picton, Mamie. Ree. ii, 68.
!•* Educated at Pembroke College, Ox-
ford ; M-A. 1698 ; Foster, Alxmad.
*• Son of Sir Edward Stanley of Bicker-
staffe ; Fellow of Sidney-Sussex College,
Cambridge ; rector of Win wick 1740 to
1742, and 1764 to 1781 ; also rector of
Bury 1743 ID 177!.
» Son of the Rer. George Tin Jinn.
curate of West Kirby ; educated at Brase-
nose College, Oxford ; M-A. 1763 ; died
14 Apr. 1794; Foster, Miaou; Mm
fkearr Sckstl Reg. i, 53.
r* Son of John Renshaw of Liverpool ;
educated at Brasenose College, Oxford ;
MJL 1775; ied 19 Oct. 1829, nine
days after the other rector, Mr. Rough-
sedge ; Foster, AlxmtmL He published a
volume of sermons in 1791.
«* He belonged to a mercantile family
in Liverpool, being son of Joseph Brooks,
Everton. He was educated at Trinity
dilirtr, Csjskifri ; M-A. iSoz ; Arch-
deacon of Liverpool, 1848. He died 29
Sept. 1855. ' Few men have enjoyed in
their day and generation more general
respect than fell to the lot of ArrUrsxBSl
Brooks. Of a dignified and noble pre-
sence, his manners were genial, courteous,
and, with perfect troth it may be said,
those of a gentleman. Who fnaiis^
at vestry meetings in the stormy times of
contested Church rates, when occasionally
very strong language was indulged in, a
quiet, pleasant remark from the " old rec-
tor " would calm the troubled waters and
frequently cause all parties to laugh at
their own violence. . . . His great popu-
larity led to the erection of a memorial
statue in St. George's Hall, by B. Spence' ;
Picton' s Lfcerfool, ii, 136, 367, 349.
?*• Ordained deacon and priest by the
Bishop of Chester in 1678 and 1679 re~
pectirely. Ancestor of the Athertons of
Walton.
A William Atherton of Lancashire
entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge,
in 1674, and graduated as B-A. in 1677 ;
information of Mr. J. B. Peace, bursar of
the college.
?*• Son of Sylvester Richmond, a Liver-
pool physician ; educated at Brasenose
College, Oxford; B-A. 1695. He was
rector of Garstang from 1698 till 1-12 ;
he was buried in St. Nicholas' Church;
see Fishwick, Ganttmg, 186.
7" Son of John Baldwin, Alderman of
Wigan 5 educated at Jesus College, Cam-
bridge; M-A. 1709. In 1748 he pur-
chased the advowsons of North Meols and
Leyland ; his son John became rector of
the former parish, and himself (1748-52)
and his son Thomas were successively
vicars of Leyland. He was a councillor of
Liverpool from 1733 to 1748. See
Fairer, Nortm Mesh, (4 j Baines, .Lacs.
(ed. Croston), iv, 166.
•* Author of two volumes of sermons.
7* Educated at Brasenose College, Ox-
ford ; B^. 1735 ; Foster, Alm*an. For
his sons see Mmrnrmntrr Scmool Reg. (Chet.
Soc.), ii, 13. See Gilbert WakenekTs
w Chosen by a majority of die mayor
and council.
^Sonof Edward Roughseoge of Liver-
pool ; educated at Brasenose College, Ox-
ford ; M^. 1771. He died 10 Oct.
1829 j Foster,
46
«"** Also vicar of Child wall, 1824-
70-
aM Educated at Clare College, Cam-
bridge; M-A. 1852. Vicar of Cogges,
Oxfordshire, 1868—70 ; Hon. Canon of
Liverpool, 1880.
881 Educated at Trinity College, Cam-
bridge ; M-A. 1890. Vicar of St. Marc's,
Rochdale, 1895 ; of St. Thomas's, Sun-
derland, 1900 ; Rector of Gateshead,
1901 ; Hon. Canon of Liverpool, 1905.
"• I Geo. I, cap. 21.
•*• Strmmger im Liverpool. From this
guide, of which there were many editions,
much of the information in the text is
derived.
At one end of the ' terrace ' was the
office of the clerk of the market ; at the
other that of the night watch. There was
a vault beneath the church for interments.
The interior fittings were good. The east
window had a picture of the Crucifixion,
inserted in 1832. There were originally
two ministers, the chaplain and the
lecturer, and the appointment was i-valry
a stepping-stone to the rectory ; D.
Thorn in Trmms. Hist. Soc. iv, 161. This
essay on the changes and migrations of
churches was continued in vol. v, and
illustrated with views of the older build-
ings.
•** An effort was made to retain die
spire. There is an account of this church
and St. John's by Mr. Henry Pert in
Trims. Hot. Soc. (new ser.), xv, 27—44.
•** 21 Geo. n, cap. 24.
•" Strmmger im LrverfoeL
•f The Bishop of Liverpool's com-
mission in 1902 recommended that the
incumbency be extinguished at the next
vacancy, die district to be annrxrd to St.
Michael's, Pitt Street,
•" 2 Geo. Ill, cap. 68 ; the same Act
authorised St. John's Church. There were
formerly two incumbents at St. PauTs.
u
\
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
LIVERPOOL
feature is a dome ; internally this had the result of
rendering the minister's voice inaudible. In time
this defect was remedied, but changes in the neigh-
bourhood deprived the church of its congregation,
and falling into a dangerous condition, it was closed
by the corporation in igoo.809
St. Anne's, also erected under the authority of
Parliament,810 was built by two private gentlemen in
1772 ; it was * chiefly in the Gothic style.' The first
minister, the Rev. Claudius Crigan, was appointed to
the see of Sodor and Man in 1783, in the expecta-
tion, as it was said, that he would live only a short
time, until the son of the Duchess of Atholl, sove-
reign of the Isle, should be old enough ; he lived
thirty years longer, surviving his intended successor.811
The old church was removed a little eastward to
enable Cazneau Street to go through to St. Anne
Street, the corporation replacing it by the present
church, consecrated in 1871.
In 1776 a Nonconformist chapel in Temple Court
was purchased by the rector of Aughton and opened
in connexion with the Established Church. In .
1820, some time after his death, it was purchased by
the corporation and demolished.81* In 1776 also
another Nonconformist chapel, in Harrington Street,
was opened as St. Mary's in connexion with the
Established Church ; the congregation is supposed
to have acquired St. Matthew's, in Key Street, in
1795, after which St. Mary's was demolished.81*
St. John's, like St. Paul's, was built under the
auspices of the corporation, and consecrated in 1785 :
the style was the spurious Gothic of the time. There
was a large public burial ground attached, consecrated
in 1767. Becoming unserviceable as a church, there
being but a scanty congregation, it was closed in
1898, demolished, and the site sold to the corpora-
tion.814
Trinity Church, St. Anne Street, was erected by
private subscription in I792.814 In the same year a
Baptist Chapel in Byrom Street was purchased and
opened as St. Stephen's Church.816 This was taken
down in 1871 in order to allow the street to be
widened, the corporation building the present church
further north. In 1795 the English Presbyterian
or Unitarian Chapel in Key Street was purchased for
the Established worship, being named St. Matthew's.
It was consecrated in 1798. The site being required
in 1 848 for the Exchange railway station, the Lan-
cashire and Yorkshire Company purchased a Scotch
Presbyterian Chapel in Scotland Road, which was
thereupon consecrated as St. Matthew's.817 In 1798
a tennis court in Grosvenor Street was converted into
a place of worship and licensed for service as All
Saints' Church. It continued in use until the present
church of All Saints', Great Nelson Street, was built
in i848.818
Christ Church, Hunter Street, was built in 1797
by John Houghton.81' It was intended to use an
amended version of the Book of Common Prayer, but
the design proving a failure, the church was 'put on the
establishment,' and consecrated in i8oo.MO Originally
there was a second or upper gallery, close to the roof,
but this was taken away about 1865.
St. Mark's was built by subscription in 1803, and
consecrated in 1815, becoming established by an
Act of Parliament ; 811 the projector was the Rev.
Thomas Jones, of Bolton, who died suddenly on a
journey to London before the opening.828 St. An-
drew's, Renshaw Street, was erected by Sir John
Gladstone in 1815 ;8M the site being required for the
enlargement of the Central Station, a new St. An-
drew's was built in Toxteth in 1893. St. Philip's,
Hardman Street, was one of the ' iron churches ' of
the time ; it was opened in 1 8 1 6 and afterwards
regulated by an Act of Parliament.814 It was sold in
1882, the Salvation Army acquiring it, and a new
St. Philip's built in Sheil Road.815
More costly churches were about the same time
designed and slowly carried out by the public
authorities. St. Luke's, Bold Street, was begun in
1811, but not completed and opened till 1831 ;8*6
it is a florid specimen of perpendicular Gothic, the
chancel being a copy of the Beauchamp Chapel, War-
wick.8" St. Michael's, Pitt Street, in the Corinthian
style, but with a lofty spire, was begun in 1816 under
Acts of Parliament,828 and opened in 1826. There is
a large graveyard around it.
The chapel of the Blind Asylum was built in 1819
809 It is proposed to abolish the in-
cumbency and sell the site.
810 12 Geo. Ill, cap. 36. The church
was remarkable for being placed north and
south. It stood on the line of Cazneau
Street between Rose Place and Great
Richmond Street. A part of the ground
remains open.
A district was assigned to it under St.
Martin's Church Act, 10 Geo. IV, cap.
ii.
811 Church Congress Guide, 1904. This
contains much information as to the pre-
sent condition of the churches, of which
use has been made.
812 Trans. Hist. Soc. iv, 139. It had
been called the Octagon. It is mentioned
in Brooke's Liverpool as it -was.
818 Trans. Hist. Soc. iv, 157. Other
' private adventure ' chapels were tried
with greater or less success. A Rev.
Thomas Pearson opened the Cockspur
Street Chapel from 1807 to 1812, calling
it St. Andrew's ; then he went to Salem
Chapel in Russell Street, which he re-
named St. Clement's, until 1817. The
curious history of the latter building is
given in the essay in Trans. Hist. Soc. v, 33.
•l4 An effort wai made in 1885 to se-
cure the site for a cathedral for the newly
erected Anglican diocese ; but it failed,
although an Act of Parliament (48 & 49
Viet. cap. 51) was obtained authorizing
the scheme. See Trans. Hist. Soc. (new
•er.), xv, 27-44.
815 32 Geo. Ill, cap. 76.
816 Trans. Hist. Soc. iv, 178. A district
was assigned to it under St. Martin's
Church Act, 10 Geo. IV.
•W Ibid, iv, 143. The old building
was demolished in 1849. A district was
assigned under St. Martin's Church Act.
818 Ibid, iv, 1 66. The incumbent and
sole proprietor, the Rev. Robert Ban-
nister, was the most popular minister of
the time locally ; he died in 1829. Some
singular occurrences in the church's his-
tory are related in the essay referred to.
It does not seem to have been licensed
until 1833.
819 A small burial ground was attached,
and a vault was constructed below the
church. The endowment was £105 a
year, derived from the rents of twenty-
four pews. The upper gallery was free,
for the poor. The view from the cupola
was in 1812 recommended to the Stranger
in Liverpool,
47
820 39 & 40 Geo. Ill, cap. 106 — 'for
establishing a new church or chapel
(Christ's), lately erected on the south side
of Hunter Street'; Trans. Hist. Soc. iv, 167.
It is proposed to extinguish the incum-
bency, and sell the church and site.
831 56 Geo. Ill, cap. 65 ; amended by
2 & 3 Viet. cap. 33. It is now proposed to
extinguish the incumbency and sell the
church and site.
822 Stranger in Liverpool.
828 St. Mary's, an oratory or cemetery
chapel in Mulberry Street, now disused,
was consecrate;! about the same time.
824 i Geo. IV, cap. 2.
825 The old church seems to have been
consecrated in 1816, though this is
questioned.
826 An Act was obtained in 1822 ; 3
Geo. IV, cap. 19 ; also 2*3 Viet. cap. 33.
W The cost was over £44,000 ; the
architect was John Foster.
828 54 Geo. Ill, cap. 1 1 1 ; 4 Geo. IV,
cap. 89 ; 2 & 3 Viet. cap. 33. 'The
parish authorities, after spending £35,000
upon it, handed it over to the corpora-
tion, who finished it at an additional cost of
£50,000.' More than a third of the seats
were free.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
in Hotham Street in imitation of the Temple of
Jupiter at JEgma.. The site being required for Lime
Street Station, the building was taken down and care-
fully re-erected in its present position in Hardman
Street in i85o.819 It is the Liverpool home of Broad
Church doctrine.
St. David's, for Welsh-speaking Anglicans, was built
in iSzy.830 As far back as 1793 Welsh services had
been authorized in St. Paul's Church.**1 Another
special church was the Mariners' Church, an old
sloop-of-war moored in George's Dock. It was used
from 1827, but ultimately sank at its moorings in
1872.""
St. Martin's in the Fields, a Gothic building with
a western spire, was erected out of a Parliamentary
grant in 1829, the land being a gift by Edward
Houghton.833 It was the first Liverpool church to be
affected by the Tractarian movement.834
St. Catherine's, Abercromby Square, was conse-
crated in January I83I,835 a fortnight after St.
Bride's.838 The first church of St. Matthias was
built in 1833-4. in Love Lane, but the site being
required by the railway company, the present church
in Great Howard Street was built in 1 848 ; the old
one was accidentally destroyed by fire.837 St.
Saviour's, Falkner Square, was built by subscription
in 1839 ; ** was burnt down in 1900 and rebuilt in
1901 on the old plan.838 In 1841 a congregation which
had for some five years met in the chapel in Sir
Thomas's Buildings, which they called St. Simon's,
acquired a chapel previously used by Presbyterians
and Independents, and this was consecrated as
St. Simon's.839 The site being required for Lime
Street Station, a new church was in 1848 built close
by,840 and this was taken down and rebuilt in its
present position in 1866—72, on an enlargement of
the station.
A building in Hope Street, erected about fifteen
years earlier for the meetings of the ' Christian
Society,' and in 1838 occupied by the Rev. Robert
Aitken, an Anglican minister who adopted 'revivalist '
methods, was in 1841 acquired for the Established
Church and called St. John the Evangelist's."1 It
was abandoned in 1853, but under the name of
Hope Hall is still used for religious and other meet-
ings. In 1841 also the churches of St. Bartholomew
and St. Silas were opened.84' St. Alban's, Bevington,
dates from 1849-50.
In 1854 Holy Innocents' in Myrtle Street, pri-
marily the chapel of the adjoining orphan asylums,
was opened. All Souls', begun in the same year, had
as first incumbent Dr. Abraham Hume, one of the
founders of the Lancashire and Cheshire Historic
Society.843 ' As the population of this parish is
mostly Roman Catholic ' it is proposed to abandon
the building.844 A Wesleyan chapel was acquired
and in 1858 consecrated as St. Columba's ; soon
afterwards St. Mary Magdalene's was erected for an
object indicated by its dedication ;MS and more
recently St. James the Less' M6 and St. Titus' 847 have
been built, the former serving to perpetuate the High
Church tradition of St. Martin's when this had re-
sumed its old ways.848
The new cathedral is being erected within the
township. The Church House in Lord Street provide*
a central meeting-place and offices for the different
societies and committees ; it contains a library also.
Scottish Presbyterian ism was first represented by
the Oldham Street Church, opened in 1793 ;84S St.
Andrew's in Rodney Street in 1824 ; 8M and Mount
Pleasant in I827-851 Others arose about twenty
years later : St. George's, Myrtle Street, in 1845 ; 8M
Canning Street MS and Islington in 1 8^6,Kt and St.
Peter's, Silvester Street, in 184.9.*^ Another was
8*J Trans. Hist. Soc. iv, 153 ; 10 Geo.
IV, cap. 15.
880 7 Geo. IV, cap. 51.
831 This was supposed to be the first
instance of the kind in England ; the
corporation allowed an additional ,£60
salary on account of it ; Stranger in
Liverpool. The services were still held in
1852.
882 The vessel was the Tees, and was
presented by the government to the
Mariners' Church Society, formed in 1826.
883 Out of two millions voted £20,000
was spent on this church. The Act lo
Geo. IV, cap. n, vested it in the mayor
and burgesses, and made provision for the
division of the parish into districts.
884 Church Congress Guide.
885 It exhibited ' the Grecian style in
its purity and perfection,* according to the
opinion of the time. A district was
given by a special local Act, 10 Geo. IV,
cap. 51.
886 A district was assigned to it under
St. Martin's Church Act. For its en-
dowment an Act was passed, I & 2 Will.
IV, cap. 49.
8*7 Trans. Hist. Soc. iv, 159.
888 A district was assigned to it under
St. Martin's Act, and it was consecrated
in 1854. One of the incumbents, the
Rev. John Wareing Bardsley, was pro-
moted to the bishopric of Sodor and Man
:n 1887 and of Carlisle in 1892 ; he died
in 1904.
889 Trans. Hist. Soc. iv, 155. The site
was above the centre of the present Lime
Street Station.
840 In St. Vincent's Street.
841 Trans. Hist. Soc. iv, 182.
843 They were consecrated in 1841 and
1843 respectively.
848 Dr. Hume considered that only an
endowed church could minister to the
needs of the poorer districts, and pointed
to the regular migration of Nonconformist
chapels from the poorer to the richer
districts, i.e. the building followed the
congregation. All Souls' appears to have
been built to illustrate his theories. He
remained its incumbent until his death
in 1884. See Diet. Nat. Biog.
844 Church Congress Guide,
848 Districts were assigned under St.
Martin's Church Act, 10 Geo. IV. St.
Mary Magdalene's was built in 1859 and
consecrated in 1862.
846 Opened January 1863 ; consecrated,
W7 Built in 1864 and consecrated in
1865. It is proposed to extinguish the
incumbency and dispose of the site.
848 The patronage of many of the new
churches is in the hands of trustees. The
Crown and the Bishop of Liverpool pre-
sent alternately to All Saints', All Souls',
St. Alban's, and St. Simon's ; the Bishop
alone to Holy Innocents' ; the Bishop,
Archdeacon, and Rector of Liverpool
jointly to St. Mary Magdalene's ; the
Archdeacon and Rector of Liverpool and
the Rector of Walton to St. Titus's ; the
Rector of Liverpool to St. Matthew's, St.
Matthias's, and St. Stephen's. Mr. H. D.
Horsfall has the patronage of St. Paul's.
The incumbent of St. David's, the Welsh
church, is appointed by trustees jointly
with the communicants.
849 Previously, it is said, they wor-
shipped with the Unitarians, who still re-
tained their old title of Presbyterians in
consequence of the legal penalties attach-
ing to a denial of the Trinity. Oldham
Street Church was built by a combination
of shareholders or proprietor?, among
them being (Sir) John Gladstone.
In 1792 the Scotch Presbyterians used
Cockspur Street Chapel, previously the
Liverpool cockpit ; Tram. Hist. Soc. v, 38,
where an account of the many uses of the
building may be seen.
850 A full account of the Scottish
churches in Liverpool, by Dr. D.ivKi
Thorn, may be seen in Tram. Hitt. Stc.
ii, 69, 229.
851 This was built by the Scotch
Seceders, afterwards the United Presby-
terians ; it replaced a smaller chapel in
Gloucester Street, built in 1807 — after-
wards St. Simon's. The United Presby-
terians used a meeting room in Gill
Street about 1868.
8sa The congregation were seceders
from St. Andrew's, Rodney Street, under
the influence of the Free Church move-
ment.
853 A secession, under the same in-
fluence, from Oldham Street Church.
854 This was connected with the Irish
Presbyterians. It is now a Jewish Syna-
gogue.
855 An earlier St. Peter's, built in
1841, in Scotland Road, had to be aban-
doned owing to the Free Church contro-
versy breaking up the congregation ; it is
now St. Matthew's ; Trans. Hist. Soc. iv,
148.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
built in Vauxhall Road in 1867. Except the first
two, which remain connected with the Established
Church of Scotland, they are now associated with the
Presbyterian Church of England. The formal union
which constituted this organization out of many
differing ones took place at Liverpool in l876.857
The German Evangelical Church occupies New-
ington Chapel, formerly Congregational. It seems
to have originated in a body of converted Jews
speaking German, who met for worship in the
chapel in Sir Thomas' Buildings from about 1831,
and were considered as attached to the Established
Church.858
Wesleyan Methodism made itself felt by the middle
of the 1 8th century. Pitt Street chapel was built in
I75°>Si9 enlarged 1765, rebuilt in 1803, and altered
in 1875 ; John Wesley preached here for a week in
1758. A second chapel within the township was
built in 1 79O,860 and Cranmer Chapel at the north
end in I857.861 These are now all connected with
the Wesleyan Mission, formed in 1875, which has
also acquired the old Baptist Chapel in Soho Street,
now Wesley Hall, and a mission room near.861 Leeds
Street Chapel, of some note in its day, was opened
about 1798 and pulled down in iS^o.*63 Formerly,
from I 8 I i to 1864, the chapel in Benn's Gardens was
also used by Welsh-speaking Wesleyans.864 Trinity
Chapel, Grove Street, erected in 1859, is the head
of a regular circuit ; the conference was held here in
1 88 1. The Wesleyans have also mission rooms.
The Wesleyan Methodist Association, later the
United Methodist Free Church, . had a chapel in
Pleasant Street before 1844, now St. Columba's ; it
was replaced in 1 8 5 2 by Salem Chapel or St. Clement's
Church, in Russell Street,866 recently given up, the
Pupil Teachers' College now occupying the site.
Another chapel in Scotland Road, built in 1843, is
still used, as also one in Grove Street, built in
LIVERPOOL
I873.867 The Welsh-speaking members used a chapel
in Gill Street from 1845 to iS6-j.m
The Methodist New Connexion, who appeared as
early as 1799, had Zion Chapel, Maguire Street, by
St. John's Market, before 1813 ; they removed to
Bethesda in Hotham Street about 1833, after which
the old building was converted into a fish hall.86*
They had also a chapel in Bevington Hill. Both
have long been given up.870 The Primitive Metho-
dists also had formerly meeting-places in Liverpool.*"
At the Bishop of Chester's visitations in 1665 and
later years Anabaptists were presented, and it was
said that conventicles were held. The Baptists, who
had from 1707, if not earlier, met in Everton,
opened a chapel in Byrom Street in \j2i.m A much
larger chapel was erected in 1789 in the same street,
and the old one sold to the Established Church. The
later building is still in use as Byrom Hall.873 Myrtle
Street Chapel, the successor of one in Lime Street,
built in 1803, was opened in 1844 and enlarged in
i859.874 In 1819 a chapel was built in Great Cross-
hall Street.876 Soho Street Chapel, begun for ' Bishop
West,' was used by Baptists from 1837 to 1889,
when Jubilee Drive Chapel replaced it.87' The
Welsh-speaking Baptists had a chapel in Ormond
Street, dating from 1 799, but it has been given up,
one in Everton succeeding it.877
The Sandemanians or Glassites long had a meeting-
place in the town.878
Newington Chapel was in 1776 erected by Con-
gregationalists dissatisfied with the Unitarianism of
the Toxteth Chapel, and wishing to have a place
of worship nearer to Liverpool.579 It was given up
in 1872, and is now the German Church. A youth-
ful preacher, Thomas Spencer, attracting great con-
gregations, a new chapel was begun for him in 1811
in Great George Street ; he was drowned before it
was finished, 6SJ and Dr. Thomas Raffles, who was its
85? The Reformed Presbyterian Church
or Covenanters had a meeting-place in
Hunter Street in 1852, afterwards moving
to Shaw Street, Everton ; see Tram. Hist.
Soc. ii, 73, 230.
848 Ibid, iv, 174 5 v, 49.
859 Ibid, v, 46.
860 In Mount Pleasant ; afterwards
called the Central Hall.
861 Less permanent meeting-places were
in Edmund Street, used in 1852, and
Benledi Street, in 1863. For the former
see Trans. Hist. Soc. v, 49.
862 The head of this mission for many
years was the late Rev. Charles Garrett,
one of the notable figures in local
Methodism. He died in 1900. The site
of the Unitarian church in Renshaw
Street has been acquired for the Charles
Garrett Hall, in connexion with the
work he organized.
868 Trans. Hist. Soc. v, 47. The chapel
in Great Homer Street, Everton, re-
placed it.
864 Ibid, v, 51. The chapel in Shaw
Street, Everton, took its place. Another
meeting-place of Welsh Wesleyans was
in Burroughs Garden, which seems to
have been replaced by a chapel in Boundary
Street East about 1870. Services have
also been held in Great Crosshall Street
(1871-84) and Hackins Hey (1896).
866 For the history of this building,
occupied by preaching adventurers and
different denominations, including the
Swedenborgians, see Trans. Hist. Soc. v,
33-7-
*7 The same body has a preaching
place in Bostock Street. In 1852 it had
one in Bispham Street.
868 Trans. Hist. Soc. (new sen), vii, 322.
869 Trans. Hist. Soc. v, 50. They had
previously had Maguire Street, Cockspur
Street, and other places, 43, 40.
870 Bethesda was given up about 1866 ;
it is represented by a chapel in Everton.
The old building was for some time used
as a dancing room. Bevington Hill was
given up about the same time.
W1 Trans. Hist. Soc. v, 42, 44. One in
Rathbone Street was maintained until
about 1885. It seems to have belonged
to the Independent Methodists.
8?a Trans. Hist. Soc. iv, 178. The first
minister, J. Johnson, offended some of his
congregation by his doctrines, and a chapel
in Stanley Street was in 1747 built for
him, where he preached till his death.
This congregation migrated to a new
chapel in Comus Street in 1800; ibid,
v, 51.
8'8 Ibid, v, 23 ; services were discon-
tinued from 1846 to 1850 on account of
its purchase by the London and North
Western Railway Company.
8'4 Ibid, v, 26 ; the stricter Calvinists
separated about 1800 from the Byrom
Street congregation.
8?5 Ibid, v, 49 ; the Particular Baptists,
who had had Stanley Street Chapel from
1800, succeeded the first congregation, and
moved in 1 847 to Shaw Street. The Welsh
Baptists had it in 1853 and 1864. The
building has ceased to be used for worship.
49
Other places are known to have been
used at various times by Baptist congre-
gations ; ibid, v, 33, 48, 49. Two, in
Oil Street and Comus Street, existed in
1824 ; the latter was still in use in 1870,
and seems to have been replaced in 1888
by one at Mile End, now abandoned.
876 Ibid iv, 177. This congregation
had sprung from a split in the Byrom
Street one in 1826, and had had places of
worship in Oil Street and Cockspur Street.
A somewhat earlier division (1821)
resulted in the Sidney Place Chapel,
Edge Hill.
8'7 This was perhaps the Edmund
Street Chapel mentioned in the Directory
of 1825 ; later were the chapels in Great
Crosshall Street (already named) and Great
Howard Street. The last-named, begun
in 1835, was removed to Kirkdale in
1876. A later congregation (1869) met
in St. Paul's Square for some years.
«?« For details see Trans. Hist. Soc.
(new ser.), vii, 321. The places were
Matthew Street, and then Gill Street t«
about 1845.
s<9 For the history of these buildings
see Trans. Hist. Soc. v, 3-9 ; and Night-
ingale's Lanes. Nonconformity, vi, I2O on.
8»o See his Life by Dr. Raffles (Liver-
pool, 1813). Thomas Spencer was born
at Hertford 21 Jan. 1791 ; commenced
preaching when fifteen years of age ; was
called to Newington Chapel in Aug. 1810,
and after a remarkably successful ministry
there, was drowned while bathing at th»
Dingle, 5 Aug. 1811.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
minister for nearly fifty years, became one of the most
influential men in Liverpool.881 This chapel was burnt
down in 1840, and the present building erected.
Seceders from All Saints' Church in 1800 met for
worship in Maguire Street and Cockspur Street, and
in 1803 built Bethesda Chapel in Hotham Street;
from this they moved in 1837 to Everton Crescent.881
Burlington Street Chapel was bought as an exten-
sion by the Crescent congregation in 1859; about
1890 it was weakened by a division, most of the
congregation assembling in Albert Hall for worship ;
this is now recognized as a Congregational meeting,
but Burlington Street was worked for a time as a
mission by the Huyton Church.883
The Welsh Congregationalists have a chapel in
Grove Street, in place of Salem Chapel, Brownlow
Hill,884 given up in 1868. Formerly they had one in
Great Crosshall Street, built in 1817, but the congre-
gation has migrated to Kirkdale and Everton.
In Elizabeth Street is a United Free Gospel
Church, built in 1871 to replace one of 1845 as an
Independent Methodist Church.
The Calvinistic Methodists, the most powerful
church in Wales, are naturally represented in Liver-
pool, where Welshmen are very numerous. The first
chapel was built in Pall Mall in 1787, and rebuilt in
1 8 1 6, but demolished to make way for the enlarge-
ment of Exchange Station in 1878, a new one in
Crosshall Street taking its place.886 There are others
in Chatham Street and Catherine Street built in 1861
and 1872 respectively ; at the latter the services are
in English.
The Society of Friends had a meeting-place in
Hackins Hey as early as 1 706, by Quakers' Alley ;
this remained standing until 1863. The place of
meeting was removed to Hunter Street in 1790 ; this
continues in use.*87
The Moravians held services ' for many years ' in
the Religious Tract Society's rooms.
The Berean Universalist Church was opened in 1 85 I
in Crown Street, but had only a short existence.888
The Bethel Union, an undenominational evange-
listic association for the benefit of sailors, maintains
several places of worship near the docks.889
The Young Men's Christian Association has a large
institute in Mount Pleasant, opened in 1877.
It has been shown above that Nonconformity was
strong in the town after 1662. A chapel was built
in Castle Hey, and the minister of Toxteth Park is
said to have preached there on alternate Sundays
from i689.890 This was replaced by Benn's Gardens
Chapel in 1727, from which the congregation, which
had become Unitarian, moved to Renshaw Street in
181 1, and from this recently to Ullet Road, Toxteth.
Another Protestant Nonconformist chapel was built
in Key Street in 1707 ; in this case also the congre-
gation became Unitarian.891 A new chapel in Paradise
Street replaced it in 179 1, and a removal to Hope
Street was made in 1849, the abandoned building
being turned by its new owners into a theatre. The
Octagon Chapel in Temple Court was used from
1762 to 1776 to meet a desire for liturgical services,
the organ being used ; but it proved a failure and
was sold to the Rev. W. Plumbe, Rector of Aughton,
who preached in it as St. Catherine's. The Uni-
tarians have a mission room in Bond Street.89*
The Christadelphians formerly (1868-78) had a
meeting-place in Gill Street.
The Catholic Apostolic Church (Irvingite) was
built in 1856. The choir is a rich specimen of
flamboyant Gothic.
The ancient religion appears to have been stamped
out very quickly in Liverpool, which became a
decidedly Protestant town, and there is scarcely even
an incidental allusion to its existence 8M until the
beginning of the 1 8th century. Spellow and Aig-
burth were the nearest places at which mass could
occasionally be heard in secret. Fr. William Gilli-
881 Hi» biography was written by his
son, Thomas Stamford Raffles, who was
for many years the stipendiary magistrate
of Liverpool ; see also Diet, Nat. Bio^.
Dr. Raffles was born in London in 1788,
educated at Homerton College, LL.D.
Aberdeen 1820, died 18 Aug. 1863, and
was buried in the Necropolis.
888 Salem Chapel in Russell Street was
used from 1808 to 1812 by seceders
from Bethesda.
883 Gloucester Street Chapel was occu-
pied by Congregationalists from 1827 to
1840, when it became St. Simon's
Church.
884 Salem Chapel in Brownlow Hill was
bought in 1868 by the Crescent congrega-
tion, and occupied until 1892. It is now
a furniture store.
886 In 1825 they had two chapels, in
Pall Mall and Great Crosshall Street ; in
1852 they had four, in Prussia Street (i.e.
Pall Mall), Rose Place (built 1826), Bur-
lington Street, and Mulberry Street (built
184.1). The last-named, having been re-
placed by the Chatham Street Chapel, was
utilized as Turkish baths. Burlington
Street seems to have been removed to
Cranmer Street, built in 1860, now dis-
used. The Rose Place Chapel was at the
corner of Comus Street ; it seems to have
been disused about 1866, a new one in
Fitzclarence Street taking its place.
887 The old meeting-house had a burial
jround attached. The building was used
as a school from 1796 to 1863, when it
was sold and pulled down.
888 Its minister was Dr. David Thorn,
whose essay on the migration of churches
has been frequently quoted in these notes.
He had been minister of the Scotch Church
in Rodney Street, but seceded ; in 1843
he had a congregation in a chapel in Bold
Street.
889 The society had a floating mission
vessel, the William, in the Salthouse Dock
in 1821. Afterwards three buildings on
shore were substituted, in Wapping, Bath
Street, and Norfolk Street.
890 Hist. MSS. Com. Ref. xiv, App. iv,
231 ; the 'new chapel in the Castle Hey
in Liverpool ' and Toxteth Park Chapel
were licensed 'for Samuel Angier.and his
congregation.' See also Peet, Liverpool
in the Reign of Queen Anne, 100. Castle
Hey is now called Harrington Street.
891 For the Unitarian churches see
Tram. Hist. Soc. v, 9-23, 51 ; Nightin-
gale, op. cit. vi, no.
898 Ibid.
894 In the catalogue of burials at the
Harkirk in Little Crosby is the following :
' 1615, May 20. Anne the wife of
George Webster of Liverpool (tenant of
Mr. Crosse) died a Catholic, and being
denied burial at the chapel of Liverpool
by the curate there, by the Mayor, and
by Mr. Moore, was buried ' ; Crosby Rec.
(Chet. Soc.), 72. The Crosse family did
not change their religious profession at
50
once, for in 1628 John Crosse of Liver-
pool, as a convicted recusant, paid double
to the subsidy ; Norris D. (B.M.).
John Sinnot, an Irishman, who died at
his house in Liverpool, had been refused
burial on account of his religion in 1613 ;
Crosby Rec. 70.
The recusant roll of 1641 contains only
five names, four being those of women ;
Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xiv, 238.
In 1669 four 'papist recusants* were
presented at the Bishop of Chester's visi-
tation, viz. : — Breres gent., Mary wife of
George Brettargh, and William Fazaker-
ley and his wife.
In 1683 there were thirty-five persons,
including Richard Lathom, presented for
being absent from church, and in the fol-
lowing year thirty-nine ; Picton's Munic.
Rec. i, 330. The revival of presentations
was no doubt due to the Protestant and
Whig agitation of the time. James II
endeavoured to mitigate the effects of it ;
in 1686, being 'informed that Richard
Lathom of Liverpool, chirurgeon, and
Judith his wife, who keeps also a board-
ing-school for the education of youth at
Liverpool,' had been presented for 'their
exercising the said several vocations with-
out licence, by reason of their religion
(being Roman Catholics),' and being
assured of their loyalty, he authorized
them to continue, remitted penalties in-
curred, and forbade further interference ;
ibid, i, 256.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
LIVERPOOL
brand, S.J., who then lived at Little Crosby, in 1701
received £3 from Mr. Eccleston 'for helping at
Liverpool.' 895 The first resident missioner known
was Fr. Francis Mannock, S.J., who was living here
in 1710 ; and the work continued in the hands of
the Jesuits until the suppression of the order. The
next priest, Fr. John Tempest, better known by his
alias of Hardesty, built a house for himself near the
Oldhall Street corner of Edmund Street, in which
was a room for a chapel.896 In 1746, after the
retreat of the Young Pretender, the populace, relieved
of its fears, went to this little chapel, made a bonfire
of the benches and woodwork, and pulled the house
down.897 Henry Pippard, a merchant of the town,
who married Miss Blundell, the heiress of Little Cros-
by, treated with the mayor and corporation about re-
building the chapel. This, of course, they could not
allow, the law prohibiting the ancient worship under
severe penalties, whereupon he said that no one
could prevent his building a warehouse. This he
did, the upper room being the chapel.898 It was
wrecked during a serious riot in 1759, but was
enlarged in 1797 and continued to be used until
St. Mary's, from the designs of A. W. Pugin, was built
on the same site and consecrated in 1845. In con-
sequence of the enlargement of Exchange Station it
was taken down, but rebuilt in Highfield Street on
the same plan and with the same material, being
reconsecrated 7 July 1885. The baptismal register
commences in 1741. After the suppression of the
Jesuit order in 1773 the two priests then in charge
continued their labours for ten years, when the Bene-
dictines took charge, and still retain it.899
They at once sought to obtain an additional site
at what was then the south end of the town, and in
1788 St. Peter's, Seel Street, was opened. It was
enlarged in 1843, and is still served by the same
order.900 The school in connexion with it was
opened in 1817.
About the same time Fr. John Price, an ex-Jesuit,
was ministering at his house in Chorley Street (1777),
and by and by (1788) built the chapel in Sir Thomas's
buildings, which was used till his death in I8I3.901
It was then closed, as St. Nicholas' was ready, work
having been commenced in 1808, and the church
opened in i8i2.902 Since 1850 it has been used as
the cathedral. At the north end of the town
St. Anthony's had been established in 1 804 ; the
present church, on an adjacent site, dates from
1833, and has a burial ground.903 St. Joseph's in
Grosvenor Street was opened in 1846, a new build-
ing being completed in i878.*°4
These buildings'05 sufficed till the great immigra-
tion of poor Irish peasants, driven from home by the
famine of 1847. St. Vincent de Paul's mission had
been begun in a room over a stable in 1843, but
after interruption by the fever of 1847 a larger room
in Norfolk Street was secured in 1848, and served
until in 1857 the present church was erected. Holy
Cross was begun in 1848 in a room over a cowhouse
in Standish Street, and in 1850 was given to the care
of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, who are still in
charge. The church was built in 1860, and the
chancel opened in 1875. St. Augustine's, Great
Howard Street, was an offshoot in 1849 from
St. Mary's, and is still in charge of the Benedictines.
MS Foley's Rec. S. J. v, 320. It may
be inferred that tome attempt was made
to provide regular services, and, of course,
that there was a congregation.
886 i while I lived in the foresaid town
I received, one year with another, from the
people about one or two and twenty pounds
a year, by way of contribution towards
my maintenance, and no other subscrip-
tion was ever made for me or for the
buildings. From friends in other places
I had part of the money I had built with,
but much the greatest part was what I
•pared, living frugally and as not many
would have been content to live. . . .
Nor do I regret having spent the best
years of my life in serving the poor Catho-
lics of Liverpool ; ' Letter of Fr. Hardesty
in Foley, op. cit. v, 364. Edmund Street
at that time was on the very edge of the
town. On Palm Sunday 1727 there
were 256 palms distributed here ; N.
Blundell's Diary, 224.
"7 Picton's Liverpool, i, 1 80. An ac-
count by Thomas Green, written in 1833,
is preserved at St. Francis Xavier's Col-
lege ; his mother witnessed the scene.
It was printed in the Xaverian of Feb.
1887, and states : 'The incumbents, the
Revs. H. Carpenter and T. Stanley, met
the mob, which behaved with the greatest
respect to the priests and several of the
principal Roman Catholic inhabitants at-
tending there— among the rest, Miss
Elizabeth Clifton (afterwards Mrs. Green)
— and without noise or violence opened a
clear passage for the Rev. Mr. Carpenter
to go up to the altar and take the
ciborium out of the tabernacle and carry
it by the same passage out of the
chapel.'
898 Subscriptions were collected for it.
The site was at the upper end of Edmund
Street. Considerable precautions were
taken for its safety. The writer just
quoted states that on the street front
three dwelling-houses were built, one to
serve for the resident priests ; at the back
was a small court, and then the 'ware-
house,' the outside gable of which had the
usual teagle rope, block and hook, and
wooden cover. The folding doors were,
however, bricked up within.
He adds the following : ' After 24 Sep-
tember, 1746, when Mr. and Mrs. Green
went to their house in Dale Street, while
the new chapel was being built, mass was
said, Sundays and holidays, in their garrets,
the whole of which, as well as the tea and
lodging rooms of the two stories under-
neath, and the stairs, were filled by their
acquaintances of different rankt and ad-
mitted singly and cautiously through
different entrances, wholly by candle light,
and without the ringing of a bell at the
elevation, &c., but a signal was commu-
nicated from one to another. The house
adjoining on each side to the dwellings of
two very considerable, respectable, and
kind neighbours, Presbyterians, and their
wives, aunts of the present Nicholas
Ashton, esq., of Woolton.'
899 These particulars are from articles
in the Li-v. Cath. An. for 1887 and 1888,
by the Rev. T. E. Gibson, and in the
Xa-vtrian of 1887.
Among the last Jesuits in charge were
Frs. John Price and Raymund Hormasa
alias Harris. The former, after the sup-
pression of the society, settled in Liver-
pool, continuing his ministry as stated in
the text. The latter, who was a Spaniard,
published a defence of the slave trade in
reply to a pamphlet by William Roscoe,
issued in 1788, and was cordially thanked
by the Common Council. He had in
51
1783 been deprived of his faculties by the
Vicar Apostolic, on account of bitter dis-
putes between him and his colleague at
Liverpool over the temporalities of the
mission, and he lived in retirement till his
death in 1789. On account of the dis-
putes the charge of the mission was given
to the Benedictines. A full account of
these matters is given in Gillow, Bibl.
Diet, of Engl. Cath. iii, 392-5 ; Trans.
Hist. Sac. (new ser.), xiii, 162. Harris
preached and printed a sermon ' on Catho-
lic Loyalty to the present Government,'
noticed in the Gent. Mag. Feb. 1777.
900 Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xiii, 164.
Fr. Archibald Macdonald, the founder,
engaged in the Ossianic controversy ; Diet.
Nat. Biog ; Gillow, op. cit. iv, 369.
901 It was afterwards used at intervals
by a number of religious bodies in turn ;
then as a warehouse ; till a few years ago
it was taken down and the school board
offices erected on the site.
903 It is rather surprising to find it de-
scribed in 1844 as 'an elegant building in
the Gothic style ' ; Stranger in Liverpool,
270.
903 In the original building divine ser-
vice was performed by the 'Rev. Jean
Baptiste Antoine Girardot, a French
emigrant priest by whom it was erected.
M. Girardot was held in high respect for
his many virtues and unostentatious mode
of living ; and besides was much celebrated
in this part of the country for numerous
cures performed by him in cases of
dropsy' ; Dr. Thorn in Trans. Hist. Soc.
v, 32.
904 It had been built on the site of a
famous tennis court as an Anglican church,
All Saints', in 1798, and closed in 1844.
905 St. Patrick B, erected in 1824, is in
Toxteth.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Later came St. Philip Neri's Oratory near Mount
Pleasant, 1853. All Souls', in Collingwood Street,
was erected in 1870 by the efforts of a Protestant
merchant, who was anxious to provide a remedy for
the horrible scenes at wakes ; the middle aisle of the
church was for the bodies of the departed to lie in
previous to interment, and was quite cut off from the
aisles where the congregation assembled, by glass
partitions. This has recently been changed. St.
Bridget's, Bevington Hill, was also opened in 1870,
and rebuilt in 1 894. St. Sylvester's in Silvester Street
began with schools in 1872 ; at the beginning of 1875
a wooden building was erected adjacent, continuing
in use until 1889, when the present permanent church
was opened.
There are two convents : Notre Dame, at the train-
ing college, Mount Pleasant, 1856; and St. Catherine,
Eldon Place, 1 896.
The followers of Emmanuel Swedenborg have long
had a place of meeting in Liverpool, where they had
been known from 1 79 5 .*°6 The present building, New
Jerusalem, in Bedford Street, was opened in 1857.
The IVormons have an institute.907
The Jews have had a recognized meeting-place
since about 1750. The earliest known was at the
foot of Matthew Street ; it had a burial place attached ;
afterwards Turton Court, near the Custom House,
and Frederick Street were places of Jewish worship.903
The synagogue in Seel Street was built in 1807, the
congregation migrating to Princes Road in 1874.
A disused Presbyterian church in Islington has recently
(1908) been purchased and reopened as the Central
Synagogue. The Hope Place Synagogue of the New
Hebrew Congregation was built in 1856.^
The establishment of the diocese
CATHEDRAL of Liverpool910 immediately gave
rise to the demand for the erection
of a cathedral ; the parish church of St. Peter, which
had been assigned as pro-cathedral by an Order in
Council of 1880, being manifestly inadequate, being
indeed the most modest church to which that dignity
has been allotted in any English diocese. A com-
mittee was formed in 1881, and a lively discussion as
to sites was carried on,911 the St. John's churchyard
site (west of St. George's Hall) being eventually
decided on. In 1885 an Act was obtained empower-
ing the erection of a cathedral, and a competition was
held for designs,"1 and the premium was awarded to
Mr. William Emerton. The problem of raising
funds, however, was found too great, and in 1888
the project was abandoned. Under Bishop Ryle the
main strength of the diocese was devoted to the
urgently-needed provision of new churches and the
augmentation oi poorer livings. At the beginning of
1901, however, the project was revived813 by Bishop
Chavasse, who appointed a committee to discuss the
question of sites. Amid much public discussion,
St. James's Mount, in the south-central district of the
city, was decided upon — a rocky plateau occupied in
part by public gardens and overlooking an ancient
quarry, now used as a cemetery. The site presented
a clear open space of 22 acres ; the steep side of the
plateau, clothed with trees, gives it something of the
picturesqueness of Durham, while the deep hollow of
the cemetery will serve to isolate the cathedral and
give to its architecture its full effect. Over 150 ft.
above sea-level, the site will enable the cathedral to
dominate the city and the estuary. The drawbacks
of the site were two : its shape forbade a proper
orientation, and made it necessary to put the ' east '
end of the cathedral to the south, while the fact that
the southern part of the plateau was made ground
involved a large expenditure for foundations.
The scheme was formally initiated and committees
appointed914 at a town hall meeting on 17 June 1901,
and on 2 August 1902 an Act was obtained authoriz-
ing the purchase from the corporation of the St. James's
Mount site. After a preliminary competition, com-
petitive designs were submitted by five selected can-
didates on 30 April 1903 ; the assessors, Mr. G. F.
Bodley and Mr. Norman Shaw, selected the design of
Mr. G. Gilbert Scott, who was accordingly appointed
architect in conjunction1 with Mr. Bodley. On
19 July 1904 the foundation stone was laid by His
Majesty the King. The general character of the
design is Gothic, but it is not a reproduction of the
style of any particular period. The main qualities
aimed at are simplicity and massiveness. The most
striking features will be the twin central towers and a
third tower at the north end, respectively rising 415
and 355 ft. above sea-level ; the vast height of the
nave and choir, and the six high transepts, which are
carried to the full roof height, and will produce
unusual light effects. Both in height and in area the
dimensions considerably exceed those of any other
English cathedral. The principal dimensions are as
follows : —
Total external length (including
Lady chapel) ..... 584 ft.
Length of nave, without narthex 192 „
Width of nave between centres
Width across transepts ...
Width of north fafade ...
Height of arches in nave and
choir ........
Height of barrel-vaulting in
nave and choir .....
Height of vaulting in high tran-
septs ........
Height of vaulting under towers
Height of central towers . . .
Height of northern tower .
198
196
65
116
140
161
260
200
Superficial area ..... 90,000 sq. ft.
906 They occupied Key Street Chapel
from 1791 to 1795. In 1795 Maguire
Street Chapel was built for them, but the
donor became bankrupt and the place was
sold. From 1815 to 1819 the Sweden-
borgians used Cockspur Street Chapel, from
1819 to 1823 they shared Maguire Street
with the Primitive Methodists, and from
1838 to 1852 they occupied Salem Chapel
in Russell Street, removing to the Concert
Room in Lord Nelson Street until the
Bedford Street Church was ready ; Tram.
Hi,t. Soc. v, 33, 38, 43.
"°'~ In 1863 their meeting-place was at
the corner of Crown Street and Brownlow
Hill ; later in Islington, and Bittern Street.
908 For fuller accounts see Trans. Hist.
Soc. v, 53, and (new ser.), XT, 45-84..
There were burial places at Frederick
Street and at the corner of Oake and
Crown Streets.
One of the results of the Jewish settle-
ment in Liverpool was a series of three
letters addressed to it by J. Willme of
Martinscroft near Warrington, printed in
1756.
52
909 The congregation had previously
met in Pilgrim Street.
910 y.C.H. Lanes, ii, 96.
911 Articles in Nineteenth Century, 1881
and 1884, &c.
912 Copies of designs are preserved in
the City Library.
918 A collection of papers, &c., &c., in
seven volumes, in the City Library, pro-
vides full material for the history of tlis
movement.
914 Rep. of Proceedings published by
Cathedral Committee.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
LIVERPOOL
It is estimated that the cost of erecting the whole
cathedral will be at least £750,000 ; of the Lady
Chapel, choir, and twin towers, which are being first
built, about £350,000. Towards this sum over
£300,000 has been already contributed, including
over £70,000 for special purposes, among which may
be named the Lady Chapel, to be erected by the Earle
and Langton families, the chapter-house, to be erected
by the Masonic Lodges of the West Lancashire pro-
vince, as well as several windows, the organ, the
font, &c., which have been already given by various
donors.
The first attempt to establish in
UNIfERSITT Liverpool an institution for higher
education was the foundation of
the Royal Institution, opened in 1817 ; it maintained
collections of scientific objects and paintings, it also
organized series of lectures in its early years.91* But,
though highly valuable as a nucleus for the meetings
of various learned societies, it never developed, as its
founders had hoped, into a great teaching institution.
In 1 8 5 7 an attempt was made to develop, in connexion
with the Mechanics' Institute (now the Liverpool
Institute), a system of courses of instruction in prepara-
tion for London degrees.916 This organization was
called Queen's College ; but, based upon the fun-
damentally false idea that instruction of this type could
be made to pay its own expenses, it never attained
any success, and being merely a drain upon the re-
sources of the flourishing schools to which it was at-
tached, it was finally suppressed in 1879.
Meanwhile, in 1834, the physicians and surgeons
of the Royal Infirmary had organized a Medical School,
wh ch attained considerable success, though quite un-
endowed. This school was to be the real nucleus of
the university. It was from the teachers in this
school — all leading medical men in the city, among
whom should be especially named the late Sir W. M.
Banks and Dr. R. Caton — that the main demand
came for the foundation of a college, during the seven-
ties, when such institutions were springing up in most
large English towns.917 They received warm support
from a few of the most enlightened citizens, especially
from the Rev. Charles Beard, whose influence in the
early history of the university can scarcely be over-
valued ; and the proposal to found a university college
was formally initiated at a town's meeting in 1878.
But the merchants of the city were found to be hard
to convert to any interest in the scheme. It took a
year to collect £10,000 ; and it was not until Mr.
William Rathbone,913 relieved from Parliamentary
duties by a defeat at the election of 1880, took up
the cause that money came in freely. In a few
months, mainly by his personal efforts, £80,000 were
collected. In October 1 8 8 1 a charter of incorporation
was obtained, based on the lines laid down in London,
Manchester, and elsewhere; in January 1882 the
institution, under the name of University College,
Liverpool, commenced its work in a disused lunatic
asylum on a site beside the Royal Infirmary and the
Medical School, provided by the corporation. At the
outset there were six chairs and two lectureships.
The next stage in the history of the university was
marked by its admission in 1884 as a mexber of the
federal Victoria University, in association with Owens
College, Manchester, and (after 1887) Yorkshire
College, Leeds. In order to obtain this admission an
additional endowment of £30,000 was raised by
public subscription, out of which two new chairs
were founded ; while the old Medical School was
formally incorporated with the college as its medical
faculty. The association with the Victoria University
lasted for nineteen years, and was in many ways
advantageous. The progress of the college in equip-
ment and teaching strength during this period was
both rapid and steady. A series of admirably equipped
buildings was erected ; a spacious chemical laboratory
(opened 1886, enlarged 1896) ; a large engineering
laboratory (the gift of Sir A. B. Walker, 1889) ; the
main Victoria building, including a fine library pre-
sented by Sir Henry Tate, and the clock tower
erected from the civic subscription to commemorate
the jubilee of 1887 (opened 1892) ; magnificent
laboratories of physiology and pathology, given by
Rev. S. A. Thompson Yates (opened 1895) ; and a
handsome botanical laboratory given by Mr. W. P.
Hartley (1902). During the same period eight
additional chairs were endowed, and many lecture-
ships and scholarships were founded. Throughout
the early history of the college it had rested mainly
on the support of a comparatively small group of
friends ; among those whose munificence rendered
possible the rapid development of the college, special
mention should be made, in addition to those already
named, of the fifteenth and sixteenth Earls of Derby,
successive presidents of the college, both of whom
founded chairs ; of Mr. George Holt, most princely
of the early benefactors ; of Sir John Brunner, Mr.
Holbrook Gaskell, and Mr. Thomas Harrison, all of
whom founded chairs ; and of Mr. E. K. Muspratt,
Mr. John Rankin, Mr. J. W. Alsop, Mr. A. F. Warr,
Mr. C. W. Jones, Sir Edward Lawrence, and others.
But the chief feature of the later part of this period
was the gradual acquisition of the confidence and
respect of the city at large. This came slowly ; but
it was due especially to the demonstration of the
utility of the institution which was afforded by the
creation of a remarkable series of special schools, due
in large measure to the vigour and inventiveness of the
teaching body, among whom may be especially named
Professor (now Sir Rubert) Boyce and Professor J. M.
Mackay. A training college for teachers, a school of
architecture and the applied arts, the first of its kind
in England, a school of commerce, a school of law,
a school of public health, and, most remarkable of all,
the now world-famous school of tropical medicine,
were successively organized. These organizations
brought the college into intimate contact with the
most important intellectual professions of the city,
demonstrated to the community the direct value of
higher studies, and earned the growing support both
of the public and of the city council, which co-
operated in the organization of most of them. They
also gave to the college a distinctive character of its
own, and rendered its continued association with
other colleges, developing along different lines, more
and more inappropriate.
The establishment of an independent university in
9ULife of W. Roscoc , ii, 151 ff.; Rep. of 91?J. Campbell Brown, First Chap, in
the R.I. ' the Hist, of Univ. Coll. ; R. Caton, article
916 Rep. of the Liverpool Institute and on The Making of the Univ. (1907); Univ.
of Queen's College.
53
Coll. and the Univ. of Liv. : a Retrospect
(1907).
»18E. Rathbone, Life of ir. Rathbone.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Birmingham sharpened this feeling, and in 1901 a
movement began for the securing of a separate univer-
sity charter. This demand, which involved the dis-
solution of the Victoria University, met with keen
opposition. But it also aroused a quite remarkable
and unexpected popular interest in the city. An
endowment fund of £180,000 was raised in a few
months ; the city council unanimously supported the
application, and later voted an annual grant of
£10,000 ; and in 1903, after a searching inquiry by
the Privy Council, a royal charter was granted
establishing the University of Liverpool. It began its
career distinguished among British universities by
the intimate relations in which it stands to the city
which is its seat, an intimacy which time increasingly
accentuates.
Since the grant of the charter, the growth of the
university has been remarkable ; despite the large
subscription of 1903, each year since that date has
brought gifts of the average value of £30,000. A
series of new buildings, including the George Holt
Physical Laboratory, the William Johnston Laboratory
of Medical Research, a new medical school building,
laboratories of zoology and electrical engineering, and
the first British laboratory of physical chemistry, built
by Mr. E. K. Muspratt, have been erected. Thir-
teen new chairs have been endowed, besides numerous
lectureships, fellowships, and scholarships. The num-
ber of students has grown rapidly, from 581 in 1 90 1
to 1,007 m I9°7t But perhaps the most striking
feature of these years has been that while the more
utilitarian studies, to which some hostile critics ex-
pected the whole strength of the new university to be
devoted, have by no means been starved, the greatest
developments have been in the field of advanced
research in pure arts and science. Several chairs
exist exclusively for the encouragement of research.
Perhaps the most astonishing result of the establish-
ment of the university has been the institution, in a
trading town, of the most powerfully-organized school
of archaeology in Britain, a school which possesses
three endowed chairs, has got together admirable
teaching collections, and has organized expeditions for
the excavation of sites in Egypt, Central America,
and Asia Minor.
The university is governed by the king as visitor, by
a chancellor, two pro-chancellors, a vice-chancellor and
a treasurer, by a court of over 300 members represent-
ing donors and public bodies, a council of 32 members,
a senate of 42 members, a convocation of graduates,
and five faculties. Its capital amounted in 1907 to
£7 3 5, oop,919 entirely provided by private gifts, and its
annual income to £6 1 ,000, derived in part from inter-
est in endowments (£17,000), in part from government
grants (over £12,000), in part from municipal grants
(over £14,000, of which the largest item is £11,750
per annum from the Corporation of Liverpool), and in
part from students' fees (£15,000). The university
is divided into five Faculties — Arts, Science, Medicine,
Law, and Engineering. Of these the Faculty of Arts
is the largest, both in the number of students and in
the number of its endowed chairs ; the University of
Liverpool having been from its initiation distinguished
among modern English universities by the prominence
which it has given to arts studies. All the principal
hospitals of the city are connected for clinical pur-
poses with the Faculty of Medicine, while St. Aidan's
College, Birkenhead, Edge Hill Training College, and
the Liverpool Training College are affiliated to it.
Elementary education began in Liver-
SCHOOLS pool with the provision of a number of
Sunday-schools for the poor, founded as
the result of a town's meeting in 1784.**° These
were rapidly followed by the institution of day-
schools, provided either by various denominations or
by endowment. The earliest of these schools were
the Old Church School in Moorfields (1789), the
Unitarian Schools in Mount Pleasant (1790) and
Manesty Lane (1792), and the Wesleyan Brunswick
School (1790). In 1823 there were thirty-two day-
schools ' for the education of the poor )9X1 educating
7,441 children, of which 14 were Church Schools with
2,914 pupils, 2 Roman Catholic with 440 pupils, and
1 8 Nonconformist with 4,087 pupils. The number
of schools largely increased between 1823 and 1870,
so that there was no very serious deficiency of
school places when, in 1 870, education became univer-
sal and compulsory. When the school board began
its work in Liverpool in 1871 there were already
two public elementary schools, founded by the cor-
poration in 1826, and transferred to the administra-
tion of the board ; and the provision of school places
in voluntary schools was above the average for England;
but many new places had to be gradually provided by
the erection of board schools. The following table
shows the state of elementary education in 1871, and
the progress made up to 1902 : — 9S'
ELBMENTARY SCHOOLS
I
57i
i
9O2
Type of School
No. of
Schools
School
Places
No. of
Schools
School
Places
Church of England . . •
Roman Catholic ....
Undenominational and Wes-
47
16
16
25,773
12,145
8,084
66
37
10
43,180
32,614
6. cio
4Q
4.0*76?
Total ....
79
46,002
162
132,078
No detailed account can be given of the work of the
board during the thirty years of its work, but two or
three features deserve note. In a city which beyond
most others is torn asunder by religious strife, the intru-
sion of this strife was throughout avoided, owing to the
wise policy initiated in the early years, largely by Mr.
S. G. Rathbone and Mr. Christopher Bushell. The
school board was distinguished almost from the be-
ginning by the attention which it gave to the training
of teachers. As early as 1 875 a Pupil Teachers' College
was established in two houses in Shaw Street, the rent
of which was provided by Mr. S. G. Rathbone. In
1898 the college entered upon its handsome premises
in Clarence Street, and in 1906 it became the Oulton
Secondary School. It was largely also through the
zeal of members of the school board that the Edge
Hill Training College for women teachers was founded
in 1884. A further striking feature of the work of
the board was its intimate association with the Liver-
pool Council of Education, founded in 1873, which
in the days before any public authority was empowered
to undertake such work provided a scholarship ladder
•19R. Muir, Ttt Univ. of Liv. .• it* pre-
tent state, 1 907.
920 Picton's Li-v. Munic. Rec. ii, 284.
921 Smithers, Liverpool, 264.
54
922 Information supplied by the Educa-
tion Office.
LIVERPOOL : THE OLD BLUECOAT SCHOOL
(From an old Print)
LIVERPOOL : GOREE BUILDINGS, 1828
(From an Engraving)
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
LIVERPOOL
V
from the elementary schools to the secondary schools
of the city, by which many poor boys have climbed
to the universities and thence to important positions
in the world. The Council of Education still exists.
It administers a scholarship trust fund of over £20,000,
as well as the Waterworth Scholarship fund, the in-
come of which is over £300 per annum. Its scholar-
ships are now merged in the scholarship system
instituted by the City Education Committee.
The elementary schools now controlled by the City
Education Committee are as follows ; — m
Teachers
B
sg
00
J2
i) "S
&.""
u
O
p
Si
bo o
u
a
rt _C
Q
a
H
•
EH
£
gwi
3 rt
X
<
fc
^
H
Council
5°
134
162
1,361
3»5
57,011
f,i4o
37i
Schools
Church of
64
155
154
899
IOI
3 7,63 »
588
36
England
Roman Catho-
36
IO2
tea
689
193
32,466
902
41
lic
Wesleyan
7
17
16
1 06
7
4,040
577
33
Undenomina-
4
8
7
48
4
i,543
386
28
tional
Totals .
161
416
441
3»103
620
132,691
824
373
There are also five day industrial schools, to which
children from drunken homes are committed on a
magistrate's order, and receive food as well as instruc-
tion ; ten ordinary certified industrial schools, a
reformatory ship, the Akbar, five schools for physically
and mentally defective children, and one truants'
industrial school. The total cost of the elementary
tystem in 1906—7 was £625,623.
During the last few years the Education Committee
has been engaged in providing facilities for higher
education, in which, thanks to the failure to develop
the ancient grammar school,914 Liverpool was behind
most other English cities. Of the older secondary
schools some account has been already given.914 Of
these schools three — the Liverpool Institute, Black-
burne House, and the Liverpool Collegiate School
(formerly Liverpool College Middle and Commercial
Schools) — have passed under the direct control of the
Education Committee. The Pupil Teachers' College
in Clarence Street has been turned into the Oulton
Secondary School, with 873 pupils ; one of the most
highly developed of the elementary schools has been
turned into a secondary school (Holt Secondary
School), and a large secondary school for girls has
been built. Eight city scholarships, tenable at the
University of Liverpool, are thrown open to the
competition of pupils of these and other secondary
schools in the city. Outside of the system controlled
by the Education Committee, there are, in addition to
the schools enumerated in V.C.H. Lanes, ii, 595, four
denominational pupil teacher centres, two of which,
St. Edmund's College (Church of England) and the
Catholic Institute, have been transformed into se-
condary schools. Note should also be made of the
school-ship Contcay, moored in the Mersey, which
trains boys to be officers in the mercantile marine, and
for Dartmouth.
The Technical Instruction Committee conducts
classes in the Central Technical School, Byrom Street ;
it has three branch schools in other parts of the city,
and conducts regular evening classes also in ten other
institutions. There are also a nautical college, a
school for cookery, and a school of domestic economy.
The City School of Art is largely attended, and has
now incorporated the School of Applied Arts, formerly
associated with the University School of Architecture.
The city also contains two training colleges for
teachers, the Liverpool Training College, Mount
Pleasant, founded in 1856, and conducted by the
sisters of the Notre Dame, and the Edge Hill Train-
ing College (undenominational) founded in 1884.
Both are for women, and both are affiliated to the
university. For the training of Roman Catholic
priests there is St. Edward's College, in Everton.
The earliest Liverpool charities,
CHARITIES apart from the grammar school,926 were
the almshouses.917 In 1684 twelve
almshouses were built by David Poole near the bottom
of Dale Street; in 1692 Dr. Silvester Richmond
founded a small group of almshouses for sailors'
widows in Shaw's Brow ; in 1706 Richard Warbrick
established another small group, also for sailors'
widows, in Hanover Street. Successive small gifts
during the 1 8th century, amounting in all to over
£2,500, increased the endowment. In 1786 the
almshouses were consolidated and removed to their
present site in Arrad Street (Hope Street). They are
administered in part by the corporation, in part by
the rector, in part by trustees.
In i 708 the Bluecoat Hospital was founded by the
Rev. R. Styth, one of the rectors, and by Bryan
Blundell, master mariner, as a day school for fifty
poor boys, on a site granted by the corporation in
School Lane.91* Blundell, by liberal gifts and assidu-
ous collection, raised sufficient funds for the erection
of a permanent building where they could be housed.
The graceful and dignified building, still standing,
was begun in 1714 and completed in 1718. The
number of inmates has been successively increased ;
there are now 250 boys and 100 girls. In 1905
the school was removed to a spacious and handsome
new building on open ground in Wavertree. The
Bluecoat Hospital ranks as the premier charity of the
city, and has always received the warm support of
Liverpool merchants.
One hundred and twenty-eight distinct charitable
institutions now in existence are enumerated by the
Charity Organization Society.929 They cannot all be
enumerated, and it will be convenient to group them.
i. Medical Charities. — The Royal Infirmary, which
is the second oldest medical charity in the north of
England, was instituted in 1745. Its first building
*M Rep. for 1907.
»2: • Omitting Pupil Teachers.
»2< y.C.H. Lanes, ii, 593.
••* Ibid. 595.
926 For the grammar school, see
Lanes, ii, 593.
927 See Digest of Lnncs. Charities (House
of Commons Papers, 1869). The annual
income at that date was £2,037. This
was mainly derived from the interest on
the Molyneux foundation, which was
wisely invested in lands in the township
of Liverpool (the Rector's Fields, formerly
55
part of the Moss Lake). When leases fall
in the charity will be very rich.
988 Trans. Hist. Soc., papers in vols.
xi, xiii, xvi, xxxi.
929 On charities, Li-u. Charities (an-
nual) ; Burdett, Hosp. and Charities ; re-
ports of the individual charities.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
was on the site of St. George's Hall, and was opened
in 1749. In 1824 it was removed to Pembroke
Place, and it was again rebuilt in 1890. From 1792
to 1879 a lunatic asylum was connected with it ; it
also maintained a lock hospital ; and in 1860 it insti-
tuted, under the guidance of William Rathbone,930 a
nurses' home which formed the basis of the first
English experiment in district nursing. In 1834 a
medical school was established at the infirmary ; it
has since developed into the medical faculty of the
university. The ether general hospitals are the
Northern, instituted in 1834, rebuilt by aid of a grant
from the David Lewis fund in 1896-7, whence it is
now known as the David Lewis Northern Hospital ;
the Royal Southern Hospital, instituted in 1814 and
rebuilt in 1872, which provides clinical teaching for
the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine ; and the
Stanley Hospital, established in 1 867. These three
hospitals, together with some of the special hospitals,
unite to form the United Hospitals Clinical School
in connexion with the medical faculty of the uni-
versity. There is also a homeopathic hospital,
opened in 1887. In 1778 a dispensary was opened
in John Street,931 eight years after the opening of the
first English dispensary in London. There are now
three dispensaries, for the north, south, and east of
the city. The special hospitals, in the order of their
foundation, are : — the Ladies' Charity (founded in
1796; Lying-in Hospital opened 1841); the Eye
and Ear Infirmary931 (Eye 1820, Ear 1839); the
St. George's Skin Hospital (1842); the Children's
Infirmary (instituted in 1 85 I, rebuilt in 1905—7);
the Dental Hospital (1860) ; the Cancer Hospital
(1862) ; the Consumption Hospital (1863, rebuilt
1904), to which is attached a fine sanatorium in
Delamere Forest, founded in 1901 ; the Liverpool
Convalescent Institution at Wool ton (1873) ; the
Hospital for Women (1883) ; the Hospital for
Diseases of the Throat, Nose, and Ear (1884) ; the
Home for Epileptics (1887) ; the County Hospital
for Children ; the Home for Female Incurables ; and
the Vergmont Institution for Female Inebriates. To
the same group belongs the District Nursing Associa-
tion, in Prince's Road, founded by Mr. William
Rathbone in 1862, the first of its kind in England.
The income of these charities from endowments and
subscriptions amounted in 1906 to more than
£80,000. But in addition to these voluntary hos-
pitals the corporation maintains six hospitals for
infectious diseases, with 88 1 beds; and the select
vestry not only maintains a workhouse infirmary, but
also, in conjunction with the Toxteth and West
Derby Guardians, a consumption hospital at Heswall
on the Dee. The total number of beds available in
all the Liverpool hospitals is over 4,000.
For the blind, deaf, and dumb, there are : — The
School for the Indigent Blind (founded 1791), the
oldest institution of its kind, with 210 inmates , the
School for the Deaf and Dumb (1825) with no
pupils ; the Catholic Blind Asylum (1841) with 199
inmates ; the Workshops and Home Teaching Society
for the Outdoor Blind (1859) ; the Adult Deaf and
Dumb Benevolent Society (1864) ; and the Home
for Blind Children (1874).
ii. Homes, Orphanages, \3c.,for Children. — In addi-
tion to the Bluccoat Hospital, already described, the
following institutions exist for the rescue of chil-
dren : — Female Orphan Asylum (1840), Orphan
Asylum for boys (1850), Infant Orphan Asylum
(1858), each accommodating 150 inmates ; the Shel-
tering Homes for Destitute Children (1872) annually
train and send out to Canada 250 children ; the
Seamen's Orphan Institution, which is comparatively
well endowed, maintains 350 children ; the Indefati-
gable training ship (1865), with which is connected a
sailing brigantine, prepares about 250 boys for the
mercantile marine ; the Lancashire Navy League Sea-
training Home does similar work ; the Children's
Friend Society (1866) maintains a Boys' Home ; the
Newsboys' Home takes in sixty-five street boys ; and
there is a group of homes for training poor girls,
chiefly for domestic service, including the Magdalen
Institution (1855) for fifty girls; the Mission to
Friendless Girls (1862); the Preventive Homes
(1865) for forty-four girls ; the Training Home for
Girls (1894) for thirty-two girls; and the Bencke
Home ; while the Ladies' Association for the Care
and Training of Girls maintains four distinct homes.
There also exist a Children's Aid Society for clothing
poor children attending elementary schools, and a
Police-aided Clothing Association, which provides
clothes for children engaged in street-trading (who
are in Liverpool required to be registered) and with
the aid of the police prevents parents from selling the
clothes. The Liverpool Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Children has been at work for a longer
time than the National Society.
iii. Penitentiary Charities. — The Lancashire Female
Refuge (1823) maintains a home for women coming
out of prison, and is the oldest charity of its kind.
The Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society does the same
work on a more general plan. For fallen women
there are the Female Penitentiary (1811), the Bene-
volent Institution and Rescue Home (1839), *ke
Home of the Midnight Mission (1875), and the
Home of the Liverpool Rescue Society (1890).
iv. Homes for the Aged. — These include the Widows'
Home (1871) ; the Homes for Aged Mariners (1882),
including a large central building founded by Mr.
William Cliff, and seventeen detached cottages in the
grounds in which married couples may live ; and the
Andrew Gibson Home for the widows of seamen
(1905).
v. Pension Charities. — These are numerous. The
Aged Merchant Seamen and Widows' Fund (1870)
gave 1 66 small pensions in 1906 ; the Governesses
Benevolent Institution (1849) distributes £900 per
annum in pensions ; the Seamen's Pension Fund was
founded by Mr. T. H. Ismay in 1887 with a capital
of £20,000, to which Mrs. Ismay later added £10,000
for seamen's widows ; the Shipbrokers' Benevolent
Society (1894) distributes annuities of not more than
£30 to old employees ; and the Merchant Guild
administers ten distinct pension funds, chiefly for the
relief of distressed persons of the middle and upper
classes ; it awarded 1 79 pensions in 1 906, the largest
being of £42.
vi. Of Miscellaneous Charities there are too many to
«° Liftoff^. Rathbont.
931 Now North John Street. It was in
1781 removed to Church Street.
983 Originally Ophthalmic Infirmary.
In 1820 was also founded the Liverpool
56
Institute for Curing Diseases of the Eye,
now defunct.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
be enumerated, but mention should be made of the
Sailors' Home, founded in 1852, which provides
cheap lodging and help for sailors when they are paid
off. And it should be noted that its continuous
existence, since in 1 809 it was founded as the Society
for Preventing Wanton Cruelty to Brute Animals,
makes the local branch of the R.S.P.C.A. an older
body than the national institution. The David
Lewis Club and Hostel is an immense Rowton House
with a very handsome club in relation with it.
WIGAN
WIGAN
PEMBERTON
BILLINGE CHAPEL
END
BILLINGE HIGHER
END
WINSTANLEY
ORRELL
UPHOLLAND
DALTON
INCE
HINDLEY
ABRAM
HAIGH
ASPULL
This large parish was at the time of the Conquest
included within the hundred of Newton, with the
exception of its western townships, Upholland and
Dalton, which were within West Derby, and perhaps
also of Haigh and Aspull in the north-east. The
parish with the same exceptions became part of the
fee or barony of Makerfield. Aspull was either then
or later placed in the hundred of Salford, in which it
has remained till the present. Except in the town-
ship of Abram the geological formation consists entirely
of the Coal Measures. Coal was discovered and used
in the I5th century, or earlier ; the mines were ex-
tended, and during the last century became the pre-
dominant feature of the district. Other industries
have also grown up.
Though Wigan was the meeting place of Roman
roads which traversed the parish, but few remains of
the Roman period have been discovered, and these
chiefly at Wigan itself. From that time practically
nothing is known of the history of the district until
after the Norman Conquest.
A town with busy traders grew up around the
church, and became a centre for the business of a
large part of the hundred, political and mercantile.
The rebellion of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, in
1321—2, affected it through its rector and also
through the Holands, one of the chief local
families, who adhered to his cause. The only
monastery in the parish, Upholland Priory, was
founded in 1317, and Edward II stayed there a fort-
night when he passed through the district on his way
to Liverpool in 1323.
The landowners were hostile to the Reformation,
and in 1630-3 the following compounded for the
sequestration of two-thirds of their estates for re-
cusancy by annual fines : Abram, Henry Lance,
57
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
£10 ; Richard Ashton, £15 ; Aspull, Ralph Haugh-
ton, £6 1 3/. \<t. ; Billinge, Edmund Bispham, £3 ;
Birchley, Roger Anderton, £21 12s. \d. ; Dalton,
Thomas Bank, £2 ; John Reskow, £2 ; Haigh,
William Bradshaw, £3 6s. %d. ; Hindley, Abraham
Langton of Lowe, £10 ; Ince, Thomas Gerard, £40 ;
Thomas Ince, £8 ; Pemberton, Edmund Winstanley,
£2 i os.1
The Civil War found the district as a whole loyal
to the king ; but the Ashhursts and some other
families were Parliamentarians. There was fighting
at Wigan in 1644 and 1651, and much confiscation
by the Commonwealth authorities. The Restoration
appears to have been generally welcomed. At the
Revolution there was much more division, but no
open opposition was made, and the Jacobite rising of
1715 does not seem to have had any adherents in the
parish. The march of the Young Pretender through
Wigan, Ince, and Hindley in 1745 brought in no
recruits. The more recent history has, as in the north
of England generally, been that of the growth of
manufactures and commerce.
The total area of the parish is 29,033^ acres. Of
this at present 12,938 acres are arable, 7,179 per-
manent grass, and 854 woods and plantations. The
population in 1901 numbered 157,915. The county
lay of 1624 was arranged so that the parish counted
as six townships and a half, Wigan itself answering for
two. The other groups were — Pemberton and Ince,
Hindley and Abram, Holland and Dalton, Orrell,
Billinge and Winstanley ; Haigh was the half town-
ship. Aspull, being in Salford Hundred, was grouped
with Blackrod. When the hundred paid £100
Wigan parish, excluding Aspull, paid £12 los. The
ancient fifteenth was more irregularly levied thus :
Wigan £3, Haigh js., Hindley i6s. 8</., Ince <)s.,
Dalton I9/., Abram I is. 8</., Upholland £i js. 8</.,
Billinge cum Winstanley l"js., Orrell 6s., Pemberton
1 8/. 4^., or £9 1 2s. ifd. when the hundred paid
£106 9/. 6d. Aspull paid js. 8</. in Salford.
The church of ALL SAINTS ' has a
CHURCH chancel of two bays with north and south
chapels, the Legh chapel on the north
and the Bradshagh or Bradshaw chapel on the
south, a nave of six bays with aisles, and a tower at
the north-east angle of the north aisle of the nave,
with the Gerard (now Walmesley) chapel adjoining
it on the west. East of the tower is a modern
vestry.
Though the plan of the church is ancient, the
building has undergone even more than the general
amount of renewal which has been the lot of so many
of the neighbouring churches. The chancel is re-
corded to have been rebuilt in 1620 by Bishop
Bridgeman, and was again rebuilt in 1845. The
Bradshagh and Legh chapels, which had been re-
paired if not rebuilt in 1620, were also rebuilt in
1845, and the nave taken down and rebuilt from the
foundations in 1850, much of the old material being
however used. The Gerard chapel, rebuilt about
1620, escaped the general fate. The tower and the
lowest parts of the stair turrets at the west end of the
chancel were not rebuilt, and contain the oldest work
now existing. With such a history, any definite idea
of the development of the plan is out of the question.
The tower is at least as old as the I3th century, and
in the course of rebuilding some 1 2th-century stones
are said to have been found.
The nave arcades, as noted by Sir Stephen Glynne,*
have somewhat the appearance of 14th-century work,
with moulded arches and piers of four engaged shafts
of good proportion. All the old stone has been re-
tooled at the rebuilding of 1850, and the capitals are
entirely of that date, so that it is impossible to deduce
the former details of the work. A clearstory runs for
the whole length of the nave and chancel, and the
nave roof retains a good deal of old work, being
divided into panels by moulded beams. The figures
of angels on the roof corbels are terra-cotta substitutes
for old oak figures. All the windows of the church
before 1850, except the east and west windows, were
like those still remaining in the Gerard chapel, with
uncusped tracery and four-centred heads. The tower
opens to the north aisle by a pointed arch, with half-
octagon responds, and its ground story is lighted by
a two-light window on the north, and a three-light
window on the west. The latter was built up, per-
haps when the Gerard chapel was added, and was
opened out again in 1850; it is of three lights,
apparently of the second half of the 1 3th century,
though much repaired. In the sill of the north
window is set an effigy of which only the face can be
seen, the rest being entirely plastered over. It is
said to be that of an ecclesiastic, wearing a mitre, and
was found under the tower. In the east jamb of the
same window is set a panelled stone with two scrolls
on the top, locally believed to be part of a Roman
altar. It is impossible to examine it satisfactorily in
its present condition. The tower has been heightened
to make room for a clock, and has pairs of windows on
each face of the belfry stage, and an embattled parapet
with angle pinnacles. In its upper stages no ancient
detail remains, but it seems probable that all above
the first stage was rebuilt in the 151)1 century. Of
the ancient fittings of the church nothing remains.
The turret stairs at the west end of the chancel
doubtless led to the rood-loft, and before 1850 a
gallery spanned the entrance to the chancel, carrying
an organ given to the church in 1708, and afterwards
moved into the Legh chapel. At the west end of
the nave was a gallery with seats for the mayor and
corporation, and a ' three-decker ' pulpit and desk
stood against the fourth pillar of the nave arcade.
The altar-table is of the 171)1 century, of oak with a
black marble slab. A piece of tapestry with the story
of Ananias and Sapphira, formerly hung as a reredos
to the altar, is now above the south doorway of the
nave. A font dating from c. 1710, removed from the
church in 1850, is now in St. George's church, and
the present font is modern.4 Two 14th-century
gravestones with floriated crosses are built into the
walls of the tower, and near them lies a slab with a
plain cross and the inscription, 'OL 1585.' In the
Bradshagh chapel is an altar-tomb with two effigies,
1 From the list in Lucas's «Warton'
(MS).
' By an inquisition in 1370 it was
found that Roger Hancockson of Hindley
had, without the king's licence, bequeathed
a rent of ±od. to the church of Blessed
Mary of Wigan. Possibly the gift was
to the Bradshagh chantry, which had this
dedication. See Q. R. Mem. R. 160 of
Mich. 6 Ric. II. The All Saints' fair
dates from 1258. For burial places in
8 Cbs. of Lanes. (Chet. Soc. xxvii), 58.
4 The octagonal bowl of a 14th-century
font, used successively as a water trough
and flower pot, lies in the garden of
the church in 1691, see Genealogist (new Wigan Hall; Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.),
»er.), i, 282. Arms in the church ; xvii, 68.
Trant. Hist. Soc. xxxiii, 248.
58
WIGAN CHURCH, FROM THE NORTH-WEST, SHOWING TOWER
UPHOLLAND PRIORY CHURCH : INTERIOR, LOOKING EAST
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
said to be those of Sir William de Bradshagh and his
wife Mabel, the effigy of the lady alone being old.
Sir William's effigy was much damaged, and a new
figure has taken its place, the remains of the old effigy
being put inside the altar-tomb. Against the south
wall of the chapel is the monument of Sir Roger
Bradshagh, 1684, and there are several igth-century
Balcarres monuments.5
There are eight bells ; the first seven of 1732, by
Abraham Rudhall of Gloucester, and the tenor of
1876, by Taylor of Loughborough. There is also a
priest's bell of 1732, by Rudhall.
The church plate was for the most part given by
Richard Wells in 1706, but was remade about 1850,
the former inscriptions recording the gift being pre-
served. One large paten is, however, old, having an
embossed centre with the Adoration of the Magi.
There are three sets of large silver-gilt communion
plate, and a smaller set, also silver-gilt. Of plain
silver are three flagons and three cruets, and two alms-
dishes, the last dating from 1724. There are also
seven brass almsdishes of various dates, two pewter
dishes of 1825, and twelve of 1840.
The registers begin in 1580, and are contained
in over seventy volumes,6 and the churchwardens'
account books are complete from 1651. The sex-
ton's day book has much detailed information about
the burials in the church.
In 1066 'the church of the
ADVOfPSON manor ' of Newton had one plough-
land exempt from all dues.7 It may
be assumed that the lord of Newton, who at that
time was the King, was patron. When the Makerfield
barony was formed the patronage of this church
WIGAN
naturally went with it, although owing to frequent
minorities the kings very often presented.8 This led
to disputes. On a vacancy in 1281 the patronage
was claimed by Edward I, but judgement was recorded
for Robert Banastre.9 At the following vacancy,
1303, William son of Jordan de Standish claimed the
right to present, but failed to justify it.10 The value
of the benefice in 1291 had been estimated at 50
marks a year.11 The value of the ninth of sheaves,
wool, &c., was only £24 z/. in 1341, but Wigan
borough was not included.11
In 1349 tne crown revived its claim to the
patronage and this time obtained a verdict.13 It was
certainly an erroneous decision, and the Bishop of
Lichfield seems to have been unwilling to accept th*e
royal nominee,14 John de Winwick. It is to the
credit of this rector that some time before resigning in
1359 he persuaded the king to restore the advowson
to the Langtons.15 The Standish family afterwards
revived their claim to the patronage, and the matter
appears to have been closed only in 1 446 by a verdict
for James de Langton, then rector.16
In the 1 6th century the Langtons began to sell the
next presentations,17 and in 1598 Sir Thomas Langton
appears to have mortgaged or sold ' the parsonage of
Wigan' to the trustees of John Lacy, citizen of
London ; the latter in 1605 sold it to a Mr. Pears-
hall, probably a trustee for Richard Fleetwood, of
Calwich, the heir of the Langtons.18 Bishop Bridge-
man, then rector, agreed about 1638 to purchase the
advowson for £1,000 from Sir Richard Fleetwood,
but Sir Richard Murray, D.D., warden of Manchester,
offering £10 more, secured it, and then tried to sell
it to the crown for £4,000.™ Charles I not being
5 The monuments are fully described
in Canon Bridgeman's Wigan Ch. (Chet.
Soc.), 689-715.
6 The first volume, 1580-1625, has
been printed by the Lancashire Parish
Register Society. The volume for 1676-83
is among Lord Kenyon's family deeds ;
Hht. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 102.
7 See V.C.H. Lanes, i, 2860.
8 This, it will be found, was the case in
the earliest recorded presentation, 1205.
About ten years later Thurstan Banastre
granted the patronage to the canons of
Cockersand, but this gift does not appear
to have had effect ; Cockersand Chart.
(Chet. Soc.), ii, 676. The Wigan charter
of 1246 was witnessed by Robert Banas-
tre, lord of Makerfield, as ' true patron '
of the church.
9 Abbre-v. Pldc. (Rec. Com.). 201 ;
Dtp. Keeper's Rep. \, App. 262. A few
years earlier there had been a dispute as
to the patronage, but the particulars are
not recorded ; De Banco R. 7, m. 39.
10 William de Standish alleged that his
ancestor Ralph, living in the time of
King Richard, had presented his own
clerk, Ulf by name, to the chapel of
Wigan ; and that Ulf was instituted and
received the tithes, oblations, and dues,
' amounting to half a mark and more.'
Nothing otherwise is known of this Ulf.
Although it is unlikely that such a claim
would have been put forward by the
Standishes against great personages like
the lords of Makerfield unless there was
justification for it, the description as a
' chapel ' and the very small amount of
dues received raises a doubt. The dis-
tinction of ' church ' and ' chapel ' was at
once seized upon by the defence ; ' We can-
not yield up what plaintiff demands, for
we hold the advowson of a church, and at
present we do not know if he demands
the advowson of a chapel in that church,
as we have seen in other cases, or if he
means to say that there is another chapel.'
See the late Canon Bridgeman's Hist, of
the Ch. of Wigan (Chet. Soc.), quoting
Year Bk. of Ed-w. I (Rolls Ser.), 358. The
information in the present notes is largely
drawn from his work, in which documents
quoted are usually printed in full. Many
of them are from the family records. The
Standish claim was still pending in 1312 ;
Bridgeman, op. cit. 797. The following
references to the suit may be added : De
Banco R. 153, m. 98 d — an extent of the
chapel of Wigan; R. 161, m. n — the
chapel extended at £9 a year, but the
case adjourned because Robert de Langton
was setting out for Scotland on the king's
service. Thomas de Langtree released
his claim to the advowson of the church
or chapel of Wigan in favour of Standish ;
Coram Reg. R. 297, m. 20.
11 Pope Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 249.
In the claim made by the rector against
John del Crosse in 1329 it was alleged
that the gross value was about £200 a
year.
la/»f. Non. (Rec. Com.), 41. The
values were : Haigh 471. 8^.; Aspull
47*. 8^. ; Hindley 64*. 5^. ; Abram
321. 2%J. ; Ince 321. z\d. ; Pemberton
641. &d. ; Billinge 64$. t,\d. ; Orrell
321. 2%d. ; Holland 641. tfad. ; Dalton
32*. z\d. The value of the ninth of the
movable goods of the men living in the
borough of Wigan was 109*. ^d.
18 De Banco R. 358, m. 50. The king
alleged in support of his claim that Ralph
59
de Leicester and John Maunsel had been
presented by Henry III. Sir Robert de
Langton replied that he had himself pre-
sented Master John de Craven, who was
admitted, John de Craven, and Ivo de
Langton ; while his father John had pre-
sented Master Robert de Clitheroe, and
before that Robert Banastre had pre-
sented Master Richard de Marian in the
time of Henry III ; he had thus the
prescription of a century in his favour.
See also Coram Reg. R. 357, m. 21. No
allusion was made to the presentation of
Adam de Walton, which renders it almost
certain that he was the clerk presented in
1281, when the king had before claimed
the patronage.
14 See De Banco R. 361, m. 42 d ; the
king -u. the Bishop of Lichfield, who had
refused to admit John de Winwick to the
vacant rectory. Adam de Hulton was
also nominated ; Cal. Pat. 1 348-50, pp.
473>496» 5H, 5*4.
18 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 336.
18 Bridgeman, op. cit. 61-7, quoting
Standish papers in Local Glean. Lanes, and
Chet. ii, 60, 6 1. A fine concerning it,
dated 1432, may be seen in Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 6, no. 59.
J7 Bridgeman, op. cit. 102, 107, 121,
131.
18 Ibid. 477-80, where abstracts of
fifteen deeds relating to the transfers are
printed.
19 Dr. Bridgeman appears to haye
thought of purchasing the advowson soon
after he became rector; ibid. 197. For
his later attempt to purchase, see
416-18. Laud's letter in reply shows
the demands made by Dean Murray ;
418, 419.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
able to afford this, Sir John Hotham became the pur-
chaser shortly afterwards ;M and his trustees about
1 66 1 sold it to Sir Orlando Bridgeman,21 son of the
bishop, in whose family it has since descended, the
Earl of Bradford being the patron.
Sir Orlando and his son adopted a 'self-denying
ordinance,' and formed a body of trustees to exercise
the patronage,** and thus it happened that for nearly
half a century the Bishops of Chester were presented
to the rectory."
Meanwhile the value had very greatly increased.
In the 1 6th century, and perhaps earlier, the system
of farming the tithes prevented the rectors receiving
the full revenue," and in 1535 the gross value was
set down as £110 i6s. 8</., from which had to be
deducted a pension of £20, anciently paid to the
cathedral of Lichfield, and other fees and dues,25 so
that the net value was reported as £80 13^. \d. In
the first half of the next century Bishop Bridgeman
found that the clear yearly value was £570 on an
average.28 Bishop Gastrell, about 1717, recorded it
to be 'above £300 clear, all curates paid.'" In
1802 the receipts from tithes amounted to
£1,306 8/.,28 and afterwards receipts from the coal
mining under the glebe were added. The value is
now estimated at £1,500." The rector of Wigan
pays a considerable sum from his income to the in-
cumbents of various churches built in the parish.
The following is a list of the rectors and lords of the manor of Wigan : —
Instituted Name Presented by
oc. 1199 . . • Randle*0
23 April 1205 . Robert de Durham S1 ....
2 Nov. 1226 . Ralph de Leicester32 ....
oc. 1 24 1 . . . John Maunsel 83
Cause of Vacancy
The King res. of Randle
20 Bridgeman, op. cit. 483 ; quoting
the Wigan ' Leger,' in which Sir John
Hotham is in 1641 called 'the new
patron.' At Michaelmas 1638 an agree-
ment seems to have been arrived at
between Charles Hotham and others and
the Bishop of London and others as to
the advowson ; Com. Pleas, Recov. R.
Mich. 14 Chas. I, m. 3. In a fine of
Mar. 164.2 relating to the advowson,
John Murray, esq., and Marian his wife
were deforciants ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 140, no. 15.
21 Bridgeman, op. cit. 484. In a fine
of 1659 Charles Hotham and Elizabeth
his wife were deforciants ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 164, no. 16. See also
Com. Pleas, D. Enr. Mich. 1662, m.
95 d.
22 Bridgeman, op. cit. 484 ; ' bearing in
mind the corrupt practices of former pa-
trons, who had turned the advowson into a
means of private gain,' and wishing to
avoid such abuses, Sir Orlando associated
with himself as trustees the then Arch-
bishop of Canterbury and others.
M Ibid. 60 1. In 1713 the Bishop of
Chester made inquiries as to the condi-
tions of the trust, supposing that some
preference was to be given to the Bishops
of Chester ; ibid. 613.
94 See the Kitchin lease described
under Rector Kighley. Apart from dis-
advantageous leases it was not always
easy to secure the tithe ; see Duchy Plead.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 1 1 1 ;
and the complaint of Rector Smith in
1553, quoted by Canon Bridgeman, op. cit.
123-7, I3° > see *'80 X58» '59- The
difficulties of the rectors concerning their
tithes were quite independent of those
they had with the corporation of Wigan
as lords of the manor.
Besides disadvantageous leases and open
violence the rectors lost thiough prescrip-
tion, by which a modus or composition in
lieu of tithes was established. Thus the
Earls of Derby had long held the tithes of
the townships of Dalton and Upholland at a
low rent ; and about 1600 William, the
sixth earl, claimed an absolute right to
the tithes, paying only £12 131. 4^. a
year to the rector. Rector Flcetwood
tried to defeat this claim, and Bishop
Bridgeman made a still more vigorous
effort, but in vain ; and the same modus
is still paid by the Earl of Derby's
assigns in lieu of the tithes ; Bridgeman,
op. cit. 161-3, 254-9, 647-50. Pre-
scription was likewise established in the
case of Ince, £4 being paid by the
Gerards and their successors ; ibid. 190,
655.
25 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 220.
The gross value was made up of the rents
of tenants, free and at will, £25 ; rent of
two water-mills 66j. 8</.; tithes of corn,
hay, wool, &c., £61 31.4^.5 oblations,
small tithes, and roll, ,£18 ; perquisites
and profits of the markets, 66s. 8</.
Robert Langton as chief steward had a
fee of £4.
26 Bridgeman, op. cit. 417. A state-
ment of his receipts and payments for his
first year of occupation ending at Christ-
mas 1616 is printed 188-203 > m»ny
curious details are given. A later account
of the profits of the rectory will be found
on pp. 307-19. Bishop Bridgeman com-
piled his ' Leger,' extant in a copy made
by Rector Finch in 1708, recording all
the lands and rights belonging to the
rector and the endeavours he had made
to recover and preserve them. In 1619
he compiled a terrier of the demesne
lands of the rectory ; op. cit. 244-6. The
names of the fields include Parson's
Meadow, Diglache or Diglake, the
Mesnes, Conygrew, Rycroft, Carreslache,
Parsnip Yard, and Cuckstool Croft.
Potters used to come for clay to the par-
son's wastes, undertaking to make the
land level again ; 268. Another terrier
was compiled in 1814, and is printed ibid.
651-8.
*7 Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.). ii, 242.
The rector was instituted to ' Wigan with
the chapel of Holland.' There were two
wardens and eighteen assistants, serving
jointly for the whole parish ; seven of
the assistants were for the town.
28 Bridgeman, op. cit. 642. ' The tithes
were valued by two competent persons and
offered to the farmers at their separate
valuations, which they all accepted, and
paid their respective shares on the first
Monday after Christmas, which is the day
usually appointed for payment.' The
tithes of Wigan itself were gathered in
kind. The mode of tithing is thus
described : 'The corn in this parish is
bound up in sheaves. Eight sheaves set
up together make one shock, and every
tenth shock is the rector's property, and
60
if under the number of ten the rector had
none. The practice was so common on
small farms to have eight or nine shocks
in each field bound up in large sheaves —
the farmers called it " binding the tithe-
man out " — to put a stop to this I (Rector
G. Bridgeman) now take every tenth
sheaf when small quantities of corn are
grown. Beans and peas which were hoed
in rows or drills were not tithed. . . .
The practice in this parish was so com-
mon for corn growers to claim waste land
corn exempt from tithe that in the year
1809 I was advised to make them pay an
acknowledgement or to take it in kind ' ;
ibid. 645, 646.
29 Liverpool Diocesan Cal.
80 Farrer, Lanes. Fife R. 436 ; Dtp.
Keeper's Rep. xxi, App. 5 ; a charter by
which the king appointed Adam de Freck-
leton perpetual vicar of the church of
Wigan, ' which is of our donation,' at the
request of Randle treasurer of Salisbury
and rector of Wigan ; the latter was to
receive a pension of a mark.
81 Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), 147. A
few years later the church of Wistow
was given to the same Robert ; ibid. 177.
The patronage at this time was in the
king's hands through the minority of the
heir of Warine Banastre. The new rector
was one of the king's clerks, and probably
never visited Wigan ; the ' vicarage ' of
Adam was expressly reserved in the pre-
sentation.
82 Cal. Pat. 1225-32, p. 88. The
cause of vacancy is not stated, but Robert
de Durham was living in 1222 ; see Cal.
Pat. 1216-25, p. 332. In 1228 Ralph de
Leicester was presented to the chapel of
Cowesby ; ibid. 195. See also De Banco
R. 358, m. 50, where it is stated that he
and John Maunsel were nominated by
Henry III. A Ralph de Leicester was
Treasurer of Lincoln Cathedral in 1248 ;
he died in 1253 ; Le Neve, Fast, ii, 88.
88 John Maunsel was one of the most
important of the royal officials ; for a
sketch of his career see Bridgeman op. cit.
4-30, and Diet. Nat. Biog. He was a
great pluralist, adding Wigan to his other
benefices before 1241, when he charged
Thurstan de Holand with setting fire to
a house in Wigan ; Cur. Reg. R. 121, m.
26 d. As Robert Banastre is supposed to
have come of age about 1239, the presen-
tation must have been earlier than this ;
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
Instituted
1265 . . .
? I28l . . .
22 Sept. I 303 .
15 June 1334 .
1 3 Nov. 1 344
26 Dec. 1344
oc. 1347 . . .
12 Mar. 1349—50
3 May 1350 .
10 July i 359 .
4 Sept. 1359 •
2 Jan. I 361-2 .
Presented by
Robert Banastre
Jo! n de Langton .
Sir Robert de Langton
Name
Mr. Richard de Marklan 34 . .
Mr. Adam de Walton 3i . . .
Mr. Robert de Clitheroe " . .
Ivo (John) de Langton 3' . . .
John de Craven 38 ,,
Mr. John de Craven S9 . . . . „
Henry de Dale, M.A.40 ....
John de Winwick 4I The King ....
Richard de Langton " Sir Rob. de Langton .
Robert de Lostock 43 „
Walter de Campden " John Earl of Lancaster
Cause of Vacancy
d. of J. Maunsel
d. of Rob.de Clitheroe
res. R. de Langton
res. R. de Lostock
Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 147. In local
history he is notable as procuring the first
borough charter. He died abroad in
great poverty at the end of 1264 or be-
ginning of 1265.
There are numerous references to him
in Cal. of Papal Letters. Alexander IV, in
1259, approved the dispensation granted,
at the king's request, by Pope Innocent,
allowing Maunsel to be ordained and
promoted although his mother married
his father, a man of noble birth, not
knowing that he was a deacon ; his father
repenting, resumed his orders, and a di-
vorce was declared ; the dispensation
should hold good, even though the mother's
plea of ignorance and the reputation of a
lawful marriage could not be sustained ;
ibid, i, 362. Many documents refer to
his superabundance of benefices ; see
specially ibid. 378.
84 He in July 1265 joined with the
patron, Sir Robert Banastre, in assigning
an annual pension of 30 marks to the
mother church of Lichfield. Canon
Bridgeman states : 'A sum of £16 is now
(1887) paid annually by the rector of
Wigan to the sacristan of Lichfield Cathe-
dral.'
Master Richard was itill living in
1278; Assize R. 1238, m. 33d. His
surname shows that he was a local man.
He had a son Nicholas, who in 1292 was
summoned to warrant William, rector of
Donington, in the possession of a mes-
suage in Wigan claimed by Robert Sper-
ling and Sabina his wife ; Assize R. 408,
m. 35 d.
85 This rector was probably appointed
at the vacancy in 1281, when the king, as
stated in the text, claimed the patronage.
Adam was the rector summoned in 1292
to show his title to manorial rights in
Wigan ; Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.),
371. He was chancellor of Lichtield
Cathedral from 1276 till 1292, when he
was made precentor, retaining the latter
office till his death in August i 303 ; Le
Neve, Fast, i, 579. His executors were
Adam de Walton, rector of Mitton, Adam
de Walton, junior, and Richard de Ful-
shaw ; De Bane. R. 164, m. 300 d.
« Lichfield Epis. Reg. i, fol. gb. He
was not ordained priest till he became
rector ; ibid, i, fol. 98^. John de Lang-
ton, afterwards Bishop of Chichester, pre-
sented as guardian of Alice Banastre,
heiress of the barony of Newton.
The new rector was a king's clerk and
held several public appointments ; Parl.
Writs, ii (3), 685-6. Leave of absence
was granted by the bishop in September
1322 ; Lich. Epis. Reg. ii, fol. 7. He sided
with Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and in
1323 was called upon to answer for the
part he had taken in the rising of 1321.
By the jury of the wapentake of West
Derby it was presented that Robert de
Clitheroe, rector of Wigan, who had for
thirty years been a clerk in the king's
chancery and for some time escheator this
side of Trent, had at his own cost sent
two men at arms to the earl's assistance,
one of them being his own son Adam de
Clitherow, accompanied by four men on
foot, all properly armed ; also, that on a
certain solemn day, preaching in his
church at Wigan before all the people, he
had told them that they owed allegiance
to the earl and must assist him in his
cause against the king, which was a just
cause ; in consequence whereof divers of
his hearers joined the earl. Robert at
once denied that he had sent anyone to
swell the earl's forces ; and all he had
said in church was to ask his parishioners
to pray for the king and the nobles and
for the peace of the realm. He was, how-
ever, convicted, and made peace with the
king by a fine ; Parl. Writs, ii (2), App.
240.
At the beginning of the next reign he
sued for relief as to the payment of his
fine of 300 marks, alleging that most of
it had been paid, though the sheriff, since
deceased, had not accounted for it to
the Exchequer. He did not obtain his
request. He acknowledged that he had
sent a man mounted and armed for the
earl's service, as indeed he was bound to
do by the tenure of hit rectory ; Rolls of
Parl. ii, 406.
He died 4 June 1334 and was buried in
Sawley Abbey. He granted his ' manor of
Bayley ' to the abbey of Cockersand in
1330 ; Harland, Salley Abbey, 64, 65 ;
Whitaker, Wballey (ed. Nichols), ii, 471.
•7 Lich. Epis. Reg. ii, foL 109^, where
he is called John, son of John de Langton.
On the day of his institution two years'
leave for study within England was granted
him, on condition that he proceeded to
the higher orders, ibid, ii, fol. 8£. The
new rector was a younger brother of the
patron, with whom in 1343 he had a dis-
pute as to the tithes of Hindley ; it was
alleged by Robert that Ivo was bound to
pay him twenty marks a year, and ,£20
every other year, and that the tithes taken
had been assigned in lieu of the pension ;
Assize R. 430, m. 8 d. ; 434, m. 3 (quoted
by Canon Bridgeman).
Ivo was still rector in 1344 ; Assize R.
H3 5. m- 37-
Clarice de Bolton, ' formerly aunt of the
rector of Wigan,' in 1354 brought a suit
against the Langtons to recover an an-
nuity ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 3, m.
4d, i.
88 Lich. Epis. Reg. ii, fol. 118, may re-
fer to his nomination. See De Bane. R.
358, m. 50. Though presented it is not
certain that he was instituted ; he is prob-
ably the John de Craven indicted two
61
years previously for entering into a con-
spiracy to procure the presentation of him-
self to the rectory ; Lanes, and Cites. Recs.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 362.
89 Lich. Epis. Reg. ii, fol. 1 18 ; De Bane.
R. 358, m. 50. Master John de Craven
was a canon of St. John's, Chester, from
1344 (or earlier) until 1363; Ormerod,
Ches. (ed. Helsby), i, 308, 309. Before
1 348 he was commissary for Peter Gomez,
Cardinal Bishop of the Sabines, as arch-
deacon of Chester; Cal. Pat. 1345-8,
pp. 245, 297.
In 1351 he was fined £40 for extortion
in his capacity as official of the deanery
of Warrington ; Assize R. 431, m. 2.
40 In 1347 the pope reserved to Henry
de Dale, M.A., B.C.L., B.M., a dignity
in Wells, not episcopal ; he held various
canonries and the churches of Higham
and Wigan, but was ordered to resign the
latter ; Cal. of Papal Letters, iii, 242. See
also Cal. Close, 1349-54, p. 54. Nothing
further seems known of this rector's pos-
session.
41 Lich. Epis. Reg. ii, fol. 126, 125*.
The dispute as to the patronage has been
related above ; John de Winwick was
twice presented and instituted. He was
another busy public official ; see Rymer,
Feed. (Syllabus), 330, &c. Among his
ecclesiastical preferments he held the
treasurership of York Minster ; Le Neve,
Fasti, iii, 160. He was entrusted with
the wardship of William de Molyneux in
1359 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 346.
He died about the end of 1359 and was
buried at Huyton, where a chantry for
him was founded. In 1352 the pope
granted him the union of the rectory with
the Treasurership of York, of which he
was not yet in actual possession ; Cal.
of Papal Letters, iii, 460.
A detailed account of his career will be
found in Canon Bridgeman's work, 47-
56.
43 Lich. Epis. Reg. iv, fol. 6 ; he pro-
mised to pay the £20 a year to Lichfield
Cathedral.
<* Lich. Epis. Reg. iv, fol. 6 (quoted by
Canon Bridgeman).
44 Lich. Epis. Reg. iv, fol. 80 ; he took
the oath to pay the pension. John of
Gaunt presented, owing to the minority
of Ralph de Langton. The new rector
had leave of absence granted him in Jan-
uary 1365-6 ; ibid, v, fol. izb.
This rector complained to the pope as
to the pension he had to pay to Lichfield ;
the Bishop of London was thereupon, in
1367, directed to inquire into the matter,
and if the facts were found to be as
alleged he was to relax the rector's oath
regarding this payment ; Cal. of Papal Let-
ters, iv, 66. Walter de Campden died at
Plymouth 10 July 1370, as appears by the
Lich. Reg.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Instituted
24 Aug. 1370 .
oc. 1415-31 . .
oc. 1432-47 • •
oc. 1451 . . .
oc. 1485 . . .
9 Aug. 1504 .
1 6 Aug. 1506
10 Oct. 1519
oc. 1528-32 . .
oc. 1532-3
24 Mar 1534-5.
8 Aug. 1543 .
? March 1550 ,
1550 ,
2 Mar. 1554-5
Name
James de Langton 4i .
William de Langton 46 .
James de Langton 41 .
Oliver de Langton 48 .
John Langton 49
Thomas Langton *° .
Richard Wyot, D.D. ".
Thomas Linacre, M.D 53
Nicholas Towneley" .
Richard Langton M . .
Richard Kighley M . .
John Herbert M . . .
John Standish, D.D." .
Richard Smith s8 . .
Richard Gerard » . .
Presented by
Ralph de Langton .
Cause of Vacancy
d. W. de Campdcn
Langton feoffees
The King . .
Thos. Langton .
d. J. Langton
d. T. Langton
res. R. Wyot
Sir T. Langton
Thos. White .
The King . .
10 Aug. 1558 . Thomas Stanley
Earl of Derby, &c.
fjohn Fleetwood .
\Peter Farington .
d. R. Langton
d. R. Kighley
d. R. Smith
d. R. Gerard
« Lich. Epis. Reg. iv, fol. 85* ; v, fol.
28^, 30. He had received only the ton-
sure, but was made priest n April 1371 ;
ibid, v, fol. loob.
James de Langton is mentioned as rec-
tor down to 1414, about the end of which
year he died ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii,
App. 12, 'late rector.' He was one of
the feoffees of Richard de Molyneux of
Sefton in 1394; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet.
Soc.), i, 70 ; ibid. 103.
46 William de Langton is mentioned as
rector a number of times from 1417 to
1430 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, 13, &c.
In 1431-2 he was 'late rector '; ibid. 32.
*7 In a plea of 1441 mention is made
of William de Langton as rector before
10 Hen. VI, and James de Langton as
rector in the same year ; a note is added,
recording a pardon to the latter, dated
1446-7 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 3, m. 31 A.
In 1436 James de Langton, rector of
Wigan, was proceeding to France in the
retinue of the Duke of York ; Dep.
Keeper's Rep. xlviii, App. 310.
He appears to have been a violent and
lawless man, and his name frequently
occurs in the plea rolls. In 1442 the
sheriff" was ordered to arrest Christopher,
Edward, Edmund, and Oliver de Langton,
sons of James de Langton, the rector ; also
Margaret Holerobyn of Wigan, the rector's
mistress ; Pal. of Lane. Plea" R. 4 (quoted
by Canon Bridgeman).
46 Oliver Langton in 1451 covenanted
to pay the £20 yearly to Lichfield ;
Bridgeman, op. cit. 69. He was still living
in 1462 ; ibid. 70.
In 1457 the Bishop of Lichfield issued
a commission to Dr. Duckworth, vicar of
Prescot, and others to inquire as to the
pollution of the churchyard of Wigan by
bloodshed, forbidding it to be used for in-
terments until it should be reconciled ;
Lich. Epis. Reg. xi, fol. gib.
49 John Langton, rector of Wigan,
occurs in July 1485 ; Local Glean. Lanes.
and Ches. i, 266. In 1498 he was called
upon to show by what title he claimed
various manorial rights in Wigan ; Pal. of
Lane. Writs, Lent, 1 3 Hen. VII.
60 Lich. Epis. Reg. xiii-xiv, fol. 53 ;
the patrons were James Anderton, Wil-
liam Banastre, Thomas Langton (brother
of Gilbert Langton of Lowe), and William
Woodcock, feoffee* of Ralph Langton, de-
ceased.
61 Lich. Epis. Reg. xiii-xiv, fol. 54^ ;
Act Bks. at Chester ; the king presented
on account of the minority of Thomai
Langton. Dr. Wyot was a man of some
university distinction, being at one time
master of Christ's College, Cambridge ;
and he held several benefices ; see Atbe-
nae Cantab, i, 26.
*a Lich. Epis. Reg. xiii-xiv, fol. 6ob. The
biography of this distinguished man may
be read in Dr. J. N. Johnson's Life of
him $ also in the Diet. Nat. Biog., and
Canon Bridgeman, op. cit. 73-95- He
appears to have exchanged the Precentor-
ship of York Minster for the rectory of
Wigan, Dr. Wyot receiving the former
office on 13 November 1519 ; Le Neve,
Fasti, iii, 156. It was only in his later
years that Linacre, though made rector of
Mersham in 1509, devoted himself to
theology, and he was not ordained priest
until 22 December 1520, the rectory of
Wigan giving him a title.
58 Nicholas Towneley,as rector of Wigan
and chaplain to Cardinal Wolsey, com-
plained of a disturbance in his court at
Wigan in Apr. 1528 ; Duchy Plead. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 173. He was
appointed to a prebend in York Minster
in Dec. 1531 ; Le Neve, Fasti, iii, 181 ;
and died at Hampton Court on or about
10 Nov. 1532; Duchy Plead, ii, in
(where there is an error in the year ; cf.
Le Neve).
54 There is mention of him in Piccope's
Wills (Chet. Soc.), ii, 247 n.
66 Lich. Epis. Reg. xiii-xiv, fol. 34 ; he
made oath that he would pay the^2O to the
dean and chapter of Lichfield, according
to ancient custom.
Soon after his appointment he leased
the rectory for five years for £106 i 3*. $d.
a year, the odd £6 131. 4^. being payable
to the curate in charge. The lessee, John
Kitchin, a lawyer, had become surety for
the first-fruits, which had now become
part of the royal revenue. This transac-
tion was the origin of much disputing.
Kitchin was not satisfied with this short
lease, and appears to have obtained the
promise of an extension for thirty-three
years, and to this he obtained the patron's
consent. When, therefore, the rector
attempted to regain possession in 1 540 he
was resisted, and though he had the as-
sistance of a number of persons 'of cruel
demeanour,' who ' in a riotous and forcible
manner ' entered the glebe lands and
turned the lessee's cattle out, the inquiry
which took place was so far favourable to
Kitchin that the rector granted a lease for
thirty years at the same rent ; Ducatus
Lane. (Rec. Com.), i, 164 ; ii, 64. The
evidence is given very fully in Canon
Bridgeman's History, 102-7.
M Act Bks. at Ches. Dioc. Reg. ; Bridge-
man, op. cit. 113. Paid first-fruits 6 Aug.
62
1543 ; Lanes, and Ches. Recs. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 408. John Kitchin
had purchased the right of next presenta-
tion from Sir Thomas Langton in 1538,
and afterwards sold it to Sir Richard
Gresham and Thomas White, citizens of
London.
John Herbert became one of the canons
of St. Stephen's, Westminster, in Dec.
1530 ; L. and P. Hen. Vlll, iv, 6803
(19). He was vicar of Penistone from
1545 to 1550, the patron being the dean
of the Chapels Royal ; Hunter, Doncaster,
"> 339- .
*7 It is possible that Dr. Standish was
never actually rector of Wigan, though
Edward VI presented him on the death of
John Herbert ; Strype, Mem. iv, 260.
He does not appear to have paid first-
fruits. His singular and discreditable
career is sketched by Canon Bridgeman,
op. cit. 115-21. See Foster, Alumni
Oxon. } Diet. Nat. Biog.
88 He paid his first-fruits ii Feb.
1550-1. He had much trouble with the
tithepayers, or rather the sub-lessees under
Kitchin' s lease ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec.
Com.), ii, 141 ; Bridgeman, 123-7.
69 Act Bks. at Chester. The patrons
were the Earl of Derby, Lord Strange,
and others, under a demise by Sir Thomas
Langton in 1551. The new rector, a son
of William Gerard of Ince, had been pre-
sented to Grappenhall as early as 1522,
and to Bangor on Dee in 1542, resigning
the former on becoming rector of Wigan ;
Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), i, 600. He
took part in 1554 in the examinations of
George Marsh at Lathom ; speaking of
the second Prayer Book of Edward VI he
remarked, ' This last Communion was the
most devilish thing that ever was devised ' ;
Foxe, Acts and Monuments (ed. Cattley),
vii, 42.
60 Act Bks. at Chester ; Bridgeman,
op. cit. ; the patrons acted under a grant
made by Sir Thomas Langton on 10 May
1558.
Thomas Stanley, supposed to have been
an illegitimate son of Lord Mounteagle,
was Bishop of Sodor and Man from 1558
to 1568 ; Moore, Sodor and Man, 96, 138.
He also held the rectories of Winwick
and North Meols in Lancashire and Bar-
wick in Elmet. He was living quite un-
disturbed in South Lancashire about 1564
to the great indignation of the Protestant
Bishop of Durham ; Parker, Carres. (Par-
ker Soc.), 222. The metrical history of
the house of Stanley is attributed to him.
See Foster, Alumni Oxon. ; Diet. Nat.
Biog.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
Instituted
Apl. 1569
8 Feb. 1570-1 .
9 Oct. 1604
21 Jan. 1615-16.
c. 1643 . . .
1653 . . .
1662 .
1668 . . .
1673 . . .
WIGAN
Name
William Blackleach, B.A.61
Edward Fleetwood6* . .
Gerard Massie, D.D.63 .
John Bridgeman, D.D.64 .
James Bradshaw, M.A.65 .
Charles Hotham, M.A.66 .
George Hall, D.D.67 . .
John Wilkins, D.D.68 . .
John Pearson, D.D.69 . .
Presented by
John Fleetwood .
The Queen ....
The King ....
,, ....
Parliamentary Comm'rs,,
[Hotham Trustees]
Sir O. Bridgeman .
Bridgeman Trustees .
Cause of Vacancy
d. Bp. Stanley
res. W. Blackleach
d. E. Fleetwood
d. G. Massie
[d. Bp. Bridgeman]
ejec. C. Hotham
d. Bp. Hall
d. Bp. Wilkins
61 Church P. at Chester. First-fruits
paid 22 June 1569.
ra Ches. Reg. (quoted by Canon Bridge-
man) ; first-fruits paid 12 Feb. The
queen presented by reason of the minority
of Thomas Langton, and opportunity was
taken to place in this important rectory a
staunch adherent of the newly-established
religious system. Edward Fleetwood was
a younger son of Thomas Fleetwood of
the Vache, Buckinghamshire. He was
but a young man, and established a good
example by residing in his rectory ; he
was ' the first beginner ' of monthly com-
munions at Wigan ; Bridgeman, op. cit.
235. He also caused forms to be placed
in the nave ; they were made from the
timber of the rood-loft ; ibid. 272. He
instituted various suits for the recovery of
the revenues and rights of his church ;
Bridgeman, op. cit. 143-63.
He took part in the persecution of
'Popish recusants," and it is clear from
the letter printed in Bridgeman, 166-71,
as from his not wearing the surplice in
1589 (Visit. Bks.), and his joining in the
petition to Convocation in 1604, that he
was a Puritan ; he was indeed charged
with 'neglect and contempt* in not ob-
serving the forms of the Book of Common
Prayer, op. cit. 160 ; a\aoHist. MSS. Com.
Rep. ativ, App. iv, 597. A sympathizer
with the victims of his zeal 'could not
stay his pen from writing unto him to
commend him to leave off blaspheming
against this our Catholic faith or else he
would drink of Judas' sop," and threw
the protest into the rector's pew ; Bridge-
man, op. cit. 1 74. For some of the present-
ments made by Rector Fleetwood against
parishioners alleged to have received
priests, see Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 239,
240.
68 On 21 June 1604 the benefice was
sequestered to preserve the fruits for the
next incumbent ; on 6 Oct. Brian Vin-
cent, B.D., was presented by John Sweet-
ing and William Hobbes, acting by demise
of Sir Thomas Langton ; but this grant
not being satisfactory, the Bishop of Ches-
ter referred the matter to the king, who
had presented Gerard Massie, B.D., as
early as 17 July ; Bridgeman, op. cit.
179. The first-fruits were paid 23 Feb.
1604-5. See also Pal. of Lane. Plea
R. 296, m. 5, where it is stated that the
advowson was held by the fifth part of a
knight's fee.
The new rector was son of William
Massie of Chester and Grafton, near
Malpas ; Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), ii,
706. He was educated at Brasenose Col-
lege, Oxford; B.A. 1592; D.D. 1609;
Foster, Alumni Oxon. In 1615 he was
nominated to the bishopric of Chester,
but died in London, 16 Jan. 1615-16,
before consecration ; Bridgeman, op. cit.
1 80.
64 Bridgeman, op. cit. 181-455, the
whole of pt. ii. The following is a brief
outline: — John SOD of Thomas Bridgeman
was born at Exeter in 1577 ; educated at
Oriel College, Oxford, and Peterhouse,
Cambridge, being elected fellow of Magda-
lene in the latter university in 1599 ; he
also took degrees at Oxford ; D.D. at
Cambridge, 1612. He soon obtained pre-
ferment, and married ; having attracted
the attention of James I his advance was
rapid (pp. 1 8 1-6). At Wigan he recovered
many rights of the church, and thus greatly
increased the rectorial income (pp. 188-
262). In 1619 he was appointed Bishop
of Chester, retaining in commendam the
rectory of Wigan and the prebends he
held at Exeter and Lichfield (p. 236).
He compiled the valuable 'Wigan Leger' ;
caused the church to be repaired, procured
the erection of an organ (destroyed under
the Commonwealth), and made the seats
in the body of the church uniform ; with-
out interfering with claims to particular
sitting places, ' he advised them to rank
the best in the highest seats, and so place
on the one side only men and on the
other side their wives in order ; and to
seclude children and servants from sitting
with their masters or mistresses ' (pp. 272,
273). Down to 1629 he usually resided
at Wigan (p. 333). In ecclesiastical
matters he was a somewhat strict disci-
plinarian, though not unduly harsh to the
Puritans.
Adhering to the king at the outbreak
of the Civil War, he was ejected from the
bishopric and rectory and fined £3,000 by
the Parliament (pp. 437-40). He died at
his son Orlando's residence, Morton Hall,
near Oswestry, in Nov. 1652 (p. 440).
This son was made a judge on the Re-
storation, and was Lord Keeper from
1667 to 1672 ; the Earl of Bradford is his
descendant and heir. Foster, Alumni
Oxon. } Diet. Nat. Biog.
85 James Bradshaw, son of John Brad-
shaw of Darcy Lever, was educated at
Brasenose College, Oxford ; M.A. 1637 ;
Bridgeman, op. cit. 462 ; Foster, Alumni
Oxon. He was placed in the rectory by
the Committee of Plundered Ministers
' upon the delinquency of Dr. Bridgeman,'
but was never legally the rector ; in
1650 he was described as 'a painful, able,
preaching minister,' but he had refused
to observe the last fast day ; Common-
wealth Ch. Suri>. 59 ; Plund. Mint. Accts.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 41. He
lost the benefice in 1653 because of the
leg;il rector's death, but was soon after-
wards appointed to Macclesfield, where
he remained till the Act of Uniformity
of 1662 was enforced ; ibid. 470. After-
wards he ministered as a Nonconformist
in Lancashire.
66 Charles Hotham was a son of Sir
John Hotham and ancestor of the present
Lord Hotham. He was educated at
Christ's College, Cambridge ; M.A. 1639 ;
fellow of Peterhouse, 1640-51, being de-
prived by Parliament. He was probably
presented by his father's trustees, after
the death of Bishop Bridgeman, and paid
63
his first-fruits 9 May 1653. Soon after
the restoration of Charles II John Burton
was presented to the rectory by the king,
Hotham being accused of heterodoxy ;
but on 8 October 1660 the latter was re-
instated, only to be ejected in 1662 on
refusal to comply with the Act of Uni-
formity ; Bridgeman, op. cit. 473-6 ; Def.
Keeper's Rep. xliv, App. 34,68. He after-
wards resided in the Bermudas ; returned
to England and became a fellow of the
Royal Society ; Diet. Nat. Biog,
•7 Son of Dr. Joseph Hall, Bishop of
Norwich j educated at Exeter College,
Oxford , of which he became fellow ; M.A.
1634; D.D. 1660. He was made Bishop
of Chester in 1662, and held the arch-
deaconry of Canterbury and the rectory of
Wigan in commcndam. While he was rector
communion was administered at Wigan six
times a year. Bishop Hall died 23 Aug.
1668 from a wound inflicted by a knife
in his pocket when he chanced to fall in
his garden at Wigan. See Bridgeman,
op. cit. 485-96; Foster, Alumni Oxon. ,•
Diet. Nat. Biog.
An inventory of the church goods in
Apr. 1668 is printed by Canon Bridge-
man, op. cit. p. 551 ; the vestments con-
sisted of two surplices ; there was a green
carpet cloth for the communion table ;
the books included a copy of Juell and
Hardin ,• there were an hour-glass, a
great chest, and other miscellaneous ar-
ticles.
«s Son of Walter Wilkins of Oxford ;
educated there, graduating from Magdalen
Hall; M.A. 1634. He was made vicar
of Fawsley in 1637; conformed to the
Presbyterian discipline under the Com-
monwealth ; D.D. 1649 ; readily accepted
the Prayer Book on the Restoration and
rose rapidly, being made Bishop of Chester
in 1668, and receiving with it the rectory
of Wigan. As bishop he was extremely
lenient to the Nonconformists. He was
devoted to scientific studies, and was one
of the founders of the Royal Society in
1660. He died 19 Nov. 1672. See
Bridgeman, op. cit. 497-513; Foster,
Alumni Oxon. ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
69 Bishop Pearson, the most famous of
the modern rectors of Wigan, was the son
of Robert Pearson, archdeacon of Suffolk.
He was born in 1613, educated at Queens'
and King's Colleges, Cambridge, becoming
fellow of the latter in 1634 ; M.A. 1639.
He retired into private life on the success
of the Parliament and devoted himself to
study and controversy, his Exposition oj
the Creed first appearing in 1659. '"
1662 he was made master of Trinity Col-
lege, Cambridge. In 1673 he was ap-
pointed Bishop of Chester and also rector
of Wigan. He resided part of the summer
at Wigan, employing three curates, two
being preachers and the third a reader in
deacon's orders. He died 16 July 1686
at Chester, and was buried in the cathedral.
See Bridgeman, op. cit. 513-64 ; Diet.
Nat. Biog.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Instituted Name
1686 . . . Thomas Cartwright, D.D.ro . . .
1689 . . . Nicholas Stratford, D.D 71 . . .
Mar. 1706-7. Hon. Edward Finch, M. A." . . .
30 April 1714 . Samuel Aldersey, M.A.73 . . . .
12 May 1741 . Roger Bridgeman, D.D.74 . . .
(3 July) '75° • shirley Cotes, M.A.75 . . . .
27 Feb. 1776 . Guy Fairfax, M.A.76
30 July 1 790 . George Bridgeman77
4 Jan. 1833 . Sir Henry John Gunning, M.A78 .
17 Oct. 1864 Hon. George Thomas Orlando
Bridgeman, M.A.79
24 Feb. 1896 . Roland George Matthew, M.A.80 .
Presented by
Bridgeman Trustees
Wm. Lord Digby . .
Sir H. Bridgeman .
Sir H. Bridgeman, &c.
Earl of Bradford . .
Bishop of Chester . .
Earl of Bradford .
Cause of Vacancy
d. Bp. Pearson
d. Bp. Cartwright
d. Bp. Stratford
res. E. Finch
d. S. Aldersey
d. R. Bridgeman
d. S. Cotes
res. G. Fairfax
d. G. Bridgeman
res. Sir H. Gunning
d G. T. O. Bridgeman
The earlier rectors of Wigan, when presented by men of no distinction, whose only recommendation
the kings, were busy public officials, who probably was their family connexion.
never saw the church from which they drew a small
addition to their incomes ; and when presented by
The Vahr of 1535 does not record any chapelries
or chantries nor mention any clergy except the rector
the hereditary patrons were, with few exceptions, and the Bradshagh chantry priest, but Upholland
70 Thomas Cartwright was a grandson
of his namesake the famous Puritan of
Queen Elizabeth's days. His parents
were Presbyterians, and he was educated
at Queen's College, Oxford, while it was
under Puritan rule ; M.A. 1655. This
makes it the more noteworthy that he
ignored the laws in force and was ordained
in the year just mentioned according to
the Anglican form by Dr. Skinner, who
had been Bishop of Oxford, but was then
living in retirement. He took a benefice
under the existing rule, but as might be
expected, at once conformed on the Resto-
ration, and received various preferments.
He also secured the firm friendship of
the Duke of York, and was one of the
very few who thoroughly devoted them-
selves to his cause when he became king.
He was made Bishop of Chester and also
rector of Wigan in 1686, and retired to
Ireland with the king, dying in Dublin
15 Apr. 1689. His diary, printed by the
Camden Society, contains many particulars
of local interest.
See Bridgeman, op. cit. 564-78 ; Fos-
ter, Alumni Oxon. ; Diet. Nat. Biog. ;
Chester Arch. Soc. Trans, (new ser.), iv,
1-33-
71 He was the son of a tradesman at
Hemel Hempstead ; educated at Trinity
College, Oxford ; M.A. and fellow 1656 ;
D.D. 1673 ; warden of Manchester
1667-84 ; dean of St. Asaph 1674 ; noted
for his tolerance of Dissenters ; Bishop of
Chester and rector of Wigan, 1689, being
jne of the first bishops nominated by
William III. He resided at Wigan oc-
casionally, and rebuilt the parsonage
house in 1695. See Bridgeman, op. cit.
578-601 ; Foster, Alumni Oxon. } Diet.
Nat. Biog.
7* The bishopric of Chester was at this
time kept vacant for a year, while the
rectory of Wigan was filled by the appoint-
ment of the Hon. Edward Finch, a son of
the first Earl of Nottingham, and a brother
of Henry Finch, dean of York and rector
of Winwick. He was educated at Christ's
College, Cambridge, of which he was a
fellow ; M.A. 1679. He represented his
university in the Parliament of 1690 ; Le
Neve, Fasti, iii, 650. The patrons were
Sir John Bridgeman, the Bishop of Lon-
don, Lord Digby, and John and Orlando
Bridgeman. The old organ, situated in a
gallery in or near the arch between the
nave and chancel — ' between the two
hollow pillars which divide the new and
old chancel,' was the phrase used — had
been pulled down in the Commonwealth
period, and in its place the mayor and
corporation had in 1680 made themselves
a pew. This was pulled down in 1709
and a new organ erected, the rector
being himself a musician ; while the rents
from the west end gallery, originally in-
tended for the singers, were appropriated
to the organist's salary. Members of the
corporation did not take kindly to this
ejection from their gallery, and it was
probably owing to the ill-feeling and dis-
putes thus engendered that Rector Finch
resigned in 1713, apparently before the
new organ had been brought into use.
He died at York, where he had a canonry,
in 1738. See Bridgeman, op. cit. 601-13 ;
Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 447 ;
Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Le Neve, Fasti, iii, 223 ;
i, 48.
"8 He was the second son and eventual
heir of Thomas Aldersey of Aldersey ; was
born in 1673, educated at Brasenose Col-
lege, Oxford ; M.A. 1700. He no doubt
owed this promotion to his marriage with
Henrietta, daughter of Dean Bridgeman of
Chester ; Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), ii,
740. He appears to have resided at
Wigan. Among the improvements in the
church during his incumbency were the
recasting of the bells, including ' the little
bell called the Catherine bell,' a new
clock, ' repairing the curtains at the altar,'
a new gallery, &c. At other times (e.g.
p. 658) 'a small bell called the Ting-
tang' is named. The dispute as to the
corporation seat was settled by assign-
ing them the western gallery. See Bridge-
man, op. cit. 614-28 ; Foster, Alumni
Oxon.
7* He was a son of Sir John Bridgeman ;
educated at Oriel College, Oxford, of which
he became fellow; M.A. 1725; D.D.
1736. He held several benefices, and was
appointed vicar of Bolton in 1737. He
appears to have resided at Wigan from
time to time. He died unmarried in June
1750. See Bridgeman, op. cit. 628-34 ;
Foster, Alumni Oxon.
75 Lord Digby was the only surviving
trustee.
The new rector was a son of John
Cotes of Woodcote in Shropshire, &c. ;
educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford ; M.A.
1737. He appears to have resided at
Wigan until the last years of his life. He
died at Woodcote, n Dec. 1775. His
eldest son John was member for Wigan
64
from 1782 to 1802. See Bridgeman, op.
cit. 635-8 ; Foster, Alumni Oxon.
'6 Guy Fairfax, a son of Thomas Fair-
fax of Newton Kyme, and a cousin of
Lady Bridgeman, was educated at Christ
Church, Oxford ; M.A. 1759. A new
church, St. George's, was built in 1781.
It appears that the 'prayer bell' was
rung twice a day on week days. Mr.
Fairfax resided at Wigan during his
tenure of the rectory, which he resigned
for Newton Kyme in 1790. See Bridge-
man, op. cit. 638-40 ; Foster, Alumni
Oxon.
77 The other patrons were Richard
Hopkins and John Heaton. The new
rector was a son of Sir Henry Bridgeman,
who in 1794 was created Lord Bradford.
He was educated at Queens' College, Cam-
bridge ; M.A. 1790. He also became
rector of Weston under Lizard and of
Plemstall. He died 27 Oct. 1832. See
Bridgeman, op. cit. 640-59.
78 H. J. Gunning was a younger son
of Sir George W. Gunning, bart., and a
nephew of the patron. He was educated
at Balliol College, Oxford; M.A. 1822.
On the death of his brother Sir Robert
in 1862, he succeeded to the baronetcy.
The parish church was restored during
his tenure of the rectory; and in 1837
he obtained an Act of Parliament en-
abling the rector of Wigan to grant min-
ing leases for working the coal under
the glebe. In 1860 with the consent
of the patron he sold the manorial rights
to the mayor and corporation. See
Bridgeman, op. cit. 659-73 ; Foster,
Alumni Oxon.
7* The new rector, a son of the second
Earl of Bradford, was collated by the
Bishop of Chester, to whom the right had
lapsed. He was educated at Trinity Col-
lege, Cambridge; M.A. 1845; ordained
in 1849, and ne^ various preferments.
He was chaplain to Queen Victoria, rural
dean of Wigan, hon. canon of Chester and
then^ of Liverpool. He procured the
passing of the Wigan Glebe Act, 1871,
enabling him to rebuild the rectory, much
shaken by coal-mining, and to sell part of
the glebe. Canon Bridgeman died in
1896. See his work, already cited,
673-83.
80 Son of David Matthew of London ;
scholar of Wadham College, Oxford ;
M.A. 1877; vicar of St. Michael and
All Angels', Wigan, 1881 ; hon. canon
of Liverpool, 1904.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
Priory was still in existence.81 The Clergy List of
I 541— 2 8J shows that there were four priests within
the parish, apart from rector and cantarist ; one of
these was the curate, Ralph Scott ; two were paid by
Robert Langton and Thomas Gerard ; the mainten-
ance of the other is not recorded.
In the Visitation List in 1548 is left a blank for
the rector's name ; then follow eight names, one
being that of the chantry priest ; but two of the
clergy seem to have been absent. In 1554 Master
Richard Smith, rector ; the curate, and three others
appeared, including the former chantry priest. No
improvement took place under the episcopate of
Bishop Scott, though he had a personal interest in
the parish. In 1562 the Bishop of Sodor and Man
did not appear, being ' excused by the Bishop of
Chester.' Ralph Scott appeared and exhibited his
subscription, so that he was prepared to accept the
Elizabethan order, as he had accepted all the previous
changes ; two other names also appear in the list, one
of an old priest, the other a fresh name. In 1565
only three names are shown in the list — Bishop Stan-
ley, who ' did not exhibit,' his curate Ralph Scott, and
Thomas Baron or Barow, whose name had appeared
in each list from 1 548, and who perhaps had no minis-
terial office.83 Thus it appears that by this time the
working clergy had been reduced to one, the curate
of the parish church.84
The short incumbency of William Blackleach, of
whom nothing is known, was followed by that of a
decided Protestant, Edward Fleetwood. He was one
of the two ' preachers 'in 1 590 at the parish church ;
there were no preachers at the two chapelries, Uphol-
land and Billinge.85 The Puritan rector and his
curate in 1592 were reported to 'wear no surplice,'
nor did they catechise the youth, and were admon-
ished accordingly ; it is also stated that ' they want a
chancel.'86 In 1610 there was 'a preacher' at the
parish church, but none at either of the chapels.87
The Commonwealth surveyors of 1650 recom-
mended the subdivision of the parish ; Holland
Chapel had already been cut off by an Act of 1 646,
and the committee of Plundered Ministers had made
several increments in the stipends of the incumbents
of the chapelries out of Bishop Bridgeman's sequestered
tithes.88 After the Restoration both the rector and
a large number of the Protestants remained firm in
their attachment to the Presbyterian discipline, while
the rectory was till 1706 held by the Bishops of
Chester, among them the learned Pearson. Here, as
in other parishes, the great increase in population
during the igth century has led to the erection of
many new churches and the subdivision of the ancient
parish, there being now twenty parochial churches in
connexion with the Establishment, besides licensed
churches and mission rooms.89
There was only one endowed chantry ; it was
founded in 1338 by Mabel, widow of Sir William de
Bradshagh, who endowed it with a messuage in Wigan
and tenements at Haigh.90 In 1548 the chantry
priest was celebrating at the altar of our Lady in the
church according to his foundation.91
The charities of Wigan M comprise
CHARITIES a large number of separate benefac-
tions, mostly for the poor in general,
but some especially for clothing or apprenticing boys.91
81 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 220.
M Printed by the Rec. Soc. of Lanes,
and Ches. p. 14.
88 A Thomas Baron, perhaps the same,
had been chantry priest in 1534; Valor
Eccl. v, 220.
84 These details are taken from the
Visitation Lists preserved in the Diocesan
Registry at Chester. A communion
table had replaced the altar by 1561 ;
Bridgeman, op. cit. 136.
85 Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 248, quoting
S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, 4. The second
preacher at the parish church was paid by
the lord of Newton, apparently in con-
tinuation of the old custom.
86 Trans. Hist. Soc. (new sen), x, 192.
Bishop Bridgeman gives a full account of
the 'old chancel' as it was in 1620.
Rector Fleetwood had removed the
' goodly, fair choir seats ' formerly there
and allowed 'plain, rude seats' to be
placed instead. The communion table
stood in the middle of it ; the bishop as
rector was placed at the west end, his
' wife, Sec.,' at the east end, his servants
on the south side ; the ' minister's box '
was on the north side, where also the
clerks had a seat. In the old rood-loft
the bishop had lately placed an organ ;
and he built up a ' new chancel,' at the
east end of the old one. See Bridgeman,
op. cit. 263, 264. This new chancel
was several steps higher than the old, and
contained the altar, 271.
8? Hist. AfSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 13.
88 Common-wealth Ch. Sur-v. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 59-64 ; Plund. Mins.
Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 25,
41 ; ii, 129.
A list of the modern curates is given
by Canon Bridgeman, op. cit. 723-9.
88 An account of the sale of a pew in
the parish church in 1796 is given in
Lanes, and Ches. Antij. Notes, i, 128.
90 Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 213, no. 16-21 ;
Cat. Pat. 1334-8, p. 468. The chaplain
was to celebrate at the altar of St. Mary
in Wigan Church for the souls of Edward
II, Sir William de Bradshagh, Mabel his
wife, and others.
Very few names of the chantry priests
have been preserved ; Raines, Lanes. Chant.
(Chet. Soc.) i, 66 : —
1338. John de Sutton, presented by
Dame Mabel de Bradshagh.
Richard Fletcher.
1488. William Holden, presented by
James Bradshagh, on the
death of R. Fletcher,
oc. 1521. Geoffrey Coppull, vicar of
Mountnessing and chantry
priest of our Blessed Lady
at Wigan, aged 56, gave
evidence in a plea of 1521-
2 ; Duchy Plead, i, 102.
oc. 1534. Thomas Baron.
1535. Vacant.
1544. Hugh Cookson. In 1541 he
was paid byThomas Gerard,
and soon afterwards ap-
pointed to this chantry.
In 1553 he had a pension
of 6oj. 3</., and was fifty-
one years of age. He was
not summoned to the
visitation of 1562, so that
probably he had died be-
fore that time.
91 Lanct, Chant, loc. cit. His duty was
' to celebrate for the souls of the founders
and to sing mass with note twice a week.'
There was no plate, as he used the orna-
ments of the church. The total rental was
665. iod., but is. was paid to the rector as
chief rent, perhaps for a burgage in Wigan.
65
M There was an inquiry at Wigan in
the time of Jas. I concerning £100
given in 1616 by Hugh Bullock the elder,
citizen and haberdasher of London, for
setting the poor of the borough to work
' in spinning of cotton, wool, hemp, flax,
and making of fustians, and other stuffs ;'
it was alleged that the fund was misap-
plied ; and an order was made, 3 Mar.
1624-5, to rectify it ; Harl. MS. 2176,
fol. 32*, 34.
98 The particulars hereafter given are
taken from the Char. Com. Rep, xxi
(1829), 271-319. An inquiry into the
endowed charities of the parish, except
the township of Wigan, was made in
1899.
For Wigan township Hugh Bullock of
London, as recorded in the previous note,
and Henry Mason, rector of St. Andrew
Undershaft, London, each gave £100, the
latter adding £140 later, which in 1632
and 1639 were conveyed to the corpora-
tion ; and a farm in Rainford, and lands
called Bangs in Wigan, and Hall Meadow
in Pemberton, were purchased. In 1828
these were underlet at rents amounting
to ^60 a year, of which only part was
received by the charity. This was used
in binding apprentices. In a feoffment
of 1665 lands at Angerton Moss, Brough-
ton in Furness, are described as the gift
of Oliver Markland, citizen and inn-
holder of London ; this land was sold in
1706, and with the proceeds, £25, a rent-
charge of 201. a year on premises in
Standishgate, Wigan, was purchased ; but
in 1828 no payment had been received
for many years, and it was not known
upon what premises the charge was made.
John Guest, by will in 1653, charged
^3 151. upon premises in Abram called
Bolton House, for cloth to the poor, to be
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Some have been lost.94 The most important used to
be the Edmund Molyneux bread charity, being the
profits of his estate at Canewdon in Essex.94
In the following notes the Report of the 1899
Abram has certain lands, the rents of which are
devoted to charitable uses, and some minor bene-
factions.96 Pemberton also had some small chari-
ties.97 At Ince, linen, oatmeal, and gifts of money
inquiry has been used ; in it is reprinted the Report were provided,98 but part of the fund is lost ; while
_^ . * „ *- A ,1 .> itl 1 *\f +1* A f-ixr^ t- n ififi ^c r\n ** en r"irnr**e **•* A fr
of 1829.
distributed by the minister of the parish
church ; in 1828 £3 I Of. was divided
among Wigan and the other townships
in the parish.
Robert Sixsmith, by his will dated
1688, gave two closes in Wigan and one
in Ince, for the needy people of the town,
half the rent* being applicable to schools.
In 1828 the nominal income was about
£30 ; the usual practice was to give to
each poor person in the districts into
which the town was divided for distribu-
tion, so that from zd. to is. was all that
each received. Gilbert Ford, in 1705,
left the moiety of a close at Wigan called
the Bannycroft ; in 1828 the half-rent
amounted to £3, which was spent in
linen or flannel garments.
In 1707 Ellen Wells left £100 for the
poor, and Richard Wells, her husband,
,£200 for apprenticing boys ; Edward
Holt in 1704 bequeathed £150 and £75
for oat bread or other sort for a Sunday
distribution of bread ; these sums and
other charitable funds were in 1768 used
in building a workhouse, and in 1828
£27 6i. 3</. was paid to the churchwar-
dens out of the poor-rate as interest,
which was to be laid out according to the
wishes of the donors in linen, apprentic-
ing boys, doles of bread, and school fees.
An inquiry respecting the Wells charity
is printed in Local Glean. Lanes, and
Ches. ii, 143.
John Baldwin in 1720 left doses called
Barker's Croft and Pilly Toft, charged
with the payment of £100, which had
been entrusted to him by Orlando Bridge-
man for apprenticing two boys each year ;
£T, a year was still paid in 1828.
William Brown in 1724 augmented a
bread charity founded by his uncle George
Brown ; and £2 a year was paid by the
owner of a farm in Poolstock as interest,
and laid out in bread.
Ellen Willis, widow, by her will of
1726 left a bond for £100 to her sons
Thomas and Daniel Willis, as trustees,
and added another ,£100 ; Margaret
Diggles, widow, gave £100 also ; and in
1 7 3 7, Daniel Willis, the surviving son, and
William Hulton, conveyed to trustees
closes called the Page fields in Frog
Lane, Wigan ; two-thirds of the interest
was to be spent in clothing for poor per-
sons ' frequenting the communion of the
Lord's Supper in the parish church of
Wigan,' while the other third might be
used for apprenticing boys. In 1828 the
rental amounted to about £42, which was
distributed with the Sixsmith and Guest
charities.
Thomas Mort of Damhouse, in 1729
gave money for the Throstle Nests or
Baron's fields, near Gidlow Lane, the
interest to be spent in binding children as
apprentices. The rent in 1828 was £16,
but the trustee being in difficulties, a con-
siderable sum was in arrears. John Hard-
man in 1742 left £200 to found a clothing
charity, and £9 los. a year was available
in 1828, being spent on woollen coats and
cloaks distributed by the curate of Wigan.
James Molyneux, by his will of 1706,
left his lands of inheritance, as also a
leasehold messuage in the Wiend, until
j£ioo should accrue from the rents to
at Aspull of the two charities one survives." At
found a charity for the poor, or for ap-
prenticing boys. The money was not
paid, but in 1757 Richard Barry, son and
executor of Lord Barrymore, who had
given a bond for the execution of the
will, gave Houghton House and another
burgage in Wigan to the corporation to
fulfil the trust. The lands were leased
for 1000 years, bringing in total rents of
£11 5*.; but the buildings upon them,
including tbe Woolpack Inn, were worth
over ,£100 a year in 1828. Philippa
Pennington in 1758 gave j£2OO to found
two charities, one for the poor generally,
the other for apprenticing boys in Stan-
dishgate ; this seems to have been intact
in 1828.
In 1899 the following changes were
reported in some of the charities named.
John Guest's Charity : — The rent-
charge on Bolton House has been re-
deemed, and ,£140 consols produces the
income required for the charity.
Holt's Charity : — The workhouse hav-
ing been sold ,£302 was invested in
consols as the share of this charity. The
income was practically unused, and has
recently been applied to found exhibitions
for poor boys in the grammar school.
94 John Bullock left a rent-charge of £5
a year on premises in St. Dunstan's in
the East, and St. Botolph's to the cor-
poration of Wigan for the poor ; but in
1828 no information could be obtained.
Ralph Sale in 1722 bequeathed to his
wife Hannah a burgage in Wigan, on
which, after paying 201. as lord's rent and
four groats as chief rent to the rector, he
charged ics. a year for the poor. His
widow gave ,£15, the messuage being
chargeable. In 1828 the Charity Com-
missioners could not find which the pre-
mises were ; only one house in Wallgate
paid four groats to the rector, and the
owner, Sir R. H. Leigh, was not aware of
any charge of that kind upon it. John
Baldwin, brother of Thomas Baldwin,
rector of Liverpool, by his will of 1726,
charged his house with ^3 a year for the
apprenticing of a child ; but no informa-
tion as to the premises or the charity was
forthcoming in 1828. Robert Forth in
1761 left a charge of zos. for the purchase
of religious books for the poor ; up to
December, 1816 this sum had been yearly
paid to a Wigan bookseller for the purpose
named, but in 1828 nothing could be
ascertained as to who was liable. Anne
Lyonin 1803 left £40 for the poor ; but
the acting executor died insolvent, and the
money was lost.
98 Edmund Molyneux was a citizen of
London, whose will was dated 8 October
1613 ; sixty poor people at Wigan and
thirty at Upholland were to have each a
penny loaf every Sunday. In 1828 it
was producing £55 a year, and the in-
terest was distributed in bread.
A new scheme was approved in 1889,
by which the net income is applied for
the benefit of schools at Wigan and Up-
holland. Owing to agricultural depres-
sion the net income has fallen very much,
being at best only ,£9 a year.
98 Abigail Crook gave £ 1 2, Thomas Ince
,£40, and others various sums, so that
£95 was laid out in lands, on which a
66
schoolhouse and cottages had been erected,
producing ,£18 a year in 1825, laid out
in linen and blankets. The trustees
of Thomas Crook distributed £1 a year
from his foundation in accordance with
their father's will ; and 6s. 6d. was re-
ceived for woollen cloth as the interest of
£10 left by William Newton in 1724.
Elizabeth Bevan of Lowton, widow,
left £700 in 1833 for a church and school
in Abram, and the Rev. Nicholas Robin-
son in 1839 left £20 for the Sunday school.
Frances Elizabeth Chadwick in 1878 be-
queathed £200 for the benefit of the poor.
Dissatisfaction existing as to the ad-
ministration of the older charities a
scheme was prepared in 1877, and a new
one was made in 1897, under which the
charities are administered by the same
body of trustees, who have greater liberty
in the application of the income, which
now amounts to ,£114 a year.
m Thomas Molyneux gave £20 and
James Rainford ,£10 for the benefit
of the poor ; the money was devoted to
building the school, and 30.1. a year was in
1828 paid out of the rates and given to
the poor in sums of fid. to each, a ' use-
less mode of distribution.' Similarly £5,
arising from ,£100 given by James Kitts,
was distributed in sums of is. each.
William Worthington's gift of ^10 had
been lost. Molyneux's and Rainford's
benefactions have since 1829 been lost,
and Kitts' is applied improperly — to the
benefit of the schools.
The Rev. Joshua Paley in 1849 left
,£1,000 for the endowment of the church,
but the greater part was lost in 1886 by
the bankruptcy of a solicitor ; ,£200 re-
mains, the interest of which is applied to
the schools, and a ground rent of
j£g i6i. zd. applied to the choir. Pem-
berton also shares in the Algernon Eger-
ton Memorial Fund.
98 John Walmesley, by his will of 1726,
gave j£ioo to his son John and others to
purchase a rent-charge or estate, the in-
come to be spent on linen for the poor.
Edward Richardson directed that for fifty
years after his death five loads of oatmeal
should be given to the poor, and this was
still in operation in 1828. Mary Collier
in 1684 left ,£20, for which it was con-
jectured zos. a year had been given by
a Mrs. Anderton, though this her son re-
garded as a voluntary gift. Peter Whittle
in 1727 bequeathed 401. out of his mes-
suage in Ince ; £z los. had for long been
received out of a close called Fillyhey, but
for some years before 1828 Mr. Legh's
agent had refused to pay.
In 1899 it was found that the Walmes-
ley charity had been in existence as late
as 1863. For the Whittle charity £z is
still paid by Lord Newton out of Rothwell's
or the manor-house estate, and is distri-
buted by the overseers to the poor.
99 Houghton' s charity was a charge of
,£5 upon an estate called Kirk Lees ; it
was in 1828 given in doles of is. each.
James Hodkinson's benefaction produced
I or. a year, given in money or calico.
In 1899 the rent-charge of ,£5 out of
Kirk Lees was still paid and distributed to
the poor ; the ,£10 belonging to Hodkin.
son's chanty had disappeared since 1863.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
Haigh Dame Dorothy Bradshagh about 1775 erected
a building called the Receptacle, being an almshouse
for twenty poor persons ; luo there were also a poor's
stock and some minor charities, most of which have
been lost.101 Hindley has linen or flannel charities
and one or two others.102
For the Billinge townships the principal foun-
dation is that of John Eddleston, who in 1672
bequeathed his house and lands here for charitable
uses ; 103 there were several other benefactions.104 At
Winstanley are two charities founded by James and
William Bankes, with incomes of about £20 and £iy,
used to provide cloth and blankets.1"5 In Orrell,
out of a number of gifts, about £6 a year is still dis-
tributed in doles of calico.106 Pimbo Lane House
and other tenements in Upholland were given by
Henry Bispham in 1720 and 1728 for the benefit
of that and neighbouring townships ; 107 there are
100 The Receptacle in 1828 contained
ten dwellings, each having a sitting-room
and pantry below and a chamber above,
with a little garden attached. The town-
ships of Haigh, Wigan, Aspull, and
Blackrod were to benefit. The donor's
charitable bequest of £3,000 was void by
the Statutes of Mortmain, but the Earl
and Countess of Balcarres decided to give
effect to her charitable designs. The in-
come in 1828 was about £no, of which
£80 was given to the almspeople, £10 to
the chaplain, and £12 on an average to
the apothecary.
In 1899 the annual income was found
to be £139. Some of the rules — as that
against the use of Bohea or green teas —
are now inapplicable ; but preference is
still given to Haigh people who have
worked in the mines ; applicants must be
over fifty, and adherents of the Established
Church.
101 Ellen Kindsley charged an estate in
Whittington Lane with £i a year, which
was usually distributed with other chari-
ties. Ralph Greaves in 1696 gave £20
for apprenticing children or for the poor ;
James Monk £20 in 1723 for cloth or
apprenticing; William Higham in 1729
a similar sum for linen or woollen ; and
Sir Roger and Lady Bradshagh in 1767
each gave £20 to augment the fund ; it
appears to have been lost before 1828 by
the practical bankruptcy of the person to
whom it had been lent. A poor's stock
of £68 51. existed in 1744, but no infor-
mation could be obtained in 1828. James
Grimshaw in 1822 left £40 for the poor.
For Kindsley's charity in 1899 the rent-
charge of £i on Hilton Farm was found
to be paid by the Wigan Coal and Iron
Company ; the money is distributed in
doles of flannel. All the other charities
have been lost.
102 Frances Dukinfield in 1662 left
four closes in Mobberley for the minister
of Hindley Chapel, ' So as he should be
elected or approved by the trustees for the
time being, by any two or more godly
ministers, and by the greater number of
the householders and masters of families
in Hindley,' and for other charitable pur-
poses ; in 1828 £4 was given for the poor
of Hindley and Abram from this source,
being £2 8x. for the former and £i izs.
for the latter, and laid out in linen cloth.
Randle and Mary Collier also left £60 for
linen cloth and a further £10 ; and Ed-
ward Green and Robert Cooper £30 for
the poor ; all was in practice used for
gifts of linen.
In 1899 it was found that £7 ioj. was
paid out of land at Mobberley in respect
of the Dukinfield charity ; under a
scheme sanctioned in 1890 £2 los. was
paid to the vicar of All Saints', Hindley,
£i to the grammar school, £i 12*. to
the trustees of the Abram United Chari-
ties, leaving £2 81. for distribution in
Hindley. The other charities have a
capital of £i 51 consols, the interest being
spent on flannel, which is distributed on
New Year's Day.
Richard Mather in 1852 conveyed cer-
tain lands to trustees for the use of a
school and for bread for the poor ; but
the school has been given up, and a new
scheme was in 1899 being prepared.
Thomas Winnard in 1860 left £40 for
the benefit of the poor attending St.
Peter's, Hindley. The public park and
the library are also noticed.
los The estate consisted of a house and
about 14 acres of land, part of the Black-
leyhurst estate, on which was a quarry
called Grindlestone Delph ; it was sub-
ject to a fee-farm rent of 20*. to John
Blackburn and his heirs (to Sir William
Gerard in 1828 by purchase). The use
was for the maintenance of ' a pious and
orthodox minister" for Billinge chapel,
for the school, and the relief of the poor.
In practice the house and land were
occupied by the incumbent of the chapel,
and the profits of the quarry, let for £50
a year in 1828, to the schools and the
poor of the two townships of Billinge.
The gross income in 1899 was £98, out
of which £i ground rent was paid to
Lord Gerard. The beacon on the hill
stands on this property. As the quarry is
becoming exhausted the trustees have
ceased to distribute the income from it,
but £10 a year has been given to the poor.
104 William Bankes in 1775 left £20
to each of the Billinges, and in 1828 iSs.
was paid yearly out of the estate of Mey-
rick Bankes. For Chapel End from the
same estate was paid £2 izs. a year for
bread for the poor, which was distributed
every other Sunday ; in 1786 there was a
poor's stock of £23 51., the accumulation
of numerous small gifts, producing in
1828 231. 4^. from the overseer's accounts
and expended in linen and woollen cloth ;
£57 resulting from the sale of William
Birchall's estates, and supposed to have
arisen from a gift of £40 by — Ok ill,
was in 1799 used to purchase a cottage,
the rent of which was also spent in linen
for the poor. The cottage in 1899 pro-
duced a net income of £4 3*. 6d., distri-
buted by the vicar in money and cloth-
ing ; and iBs. was paid to the overseers
by Mrs. Bankes of Winstanley, and dis-
tributed in doles of calico or flannel.
Nothing is now known of the other
ancient funds. Elizabeth Comber in 1 896
left £100 for the provision of coals and
food for the poor at Christmas.
For Higher End the Digmoor estate in
Upholland in 1828 produced £10 a year,
which was added to other charities and
spent in linen and cloth. The net income
is now £13 ioi. ; this is added to the
township's share of the Eddleston and
other charities, and distributed in doles of
calico.
106 The Rev. James Bankes, rector of
Bury, in 1742 gave £40 for linen cloth
for the poor; William Bankes in 1775
gave £50 j Robert Bankes in 1747,
£100 ; Frances Bankes in 1764, £50 ;
Catherine Bankes in 1766, £20 ; and
there were smaller sums, the total being
£402 1 01., yielding in 1828 £19 iu.,
67
which was laid out in linen for the poor.
William Bankes in 1798 left £400 for
blankets ; this yielded about £19 in 1828,
and was spent according to the benefac-
tor's wishes. On account of the former
set of charities £19 8j. 6d. is now
paid by Mrs. Bankes at Winstanley : the
overseers distribute it in cloth. Wil-
liam Bankes' benefaction is represented
by £600 consols ; the income is distri-
buted in blankets, and ' it is supposed
that every cottager in the township re-
ceived a blanket every alternate year.'
106 Jane Leigh in 1707 gave £10 to
the poor, William Naylor £8, and Peter
Parr £4 ; Anne Sandford in 1746 gave
£25 ; in 1828 the agent or trustee of
Sir Robert Holt Leigh and Meyrick
Bankes paid £i and £i 7*. as interest on
these sums. Out of the poor rates 5*.
was paid as ' Widow Naylor's Charity.'
One Holt in 1723 left land called Cross-
brook, which brought in a rent of £2 ioj.
These sums were all placed together and
distributed on St. Thomas's Day to poor
persons in sums of is. or is. 6d. James
Thomason in 1786 left £200, of which
£100 had been lost ; the £5 interest on
the other half was distributed to the poor
on 25 July.
In 1899 it was found that £i is paid
yearly by Mr. Roger Leigh, and £i js. by
Mrs. Bankes, on account of the Leigh,
Naylor, and Parr, and Sandford gifts ;
Thomason's charity has an income of
£3 175. 4</. The whole sum is given in
doles of calico. Holt's charity has failed ;
the land called Crossbrook was owned
by the late Colonel Blundell.
lu' In 1720 he surrendered a messuage
and tenement with right of turbary on
Upholland Moss, and land called Moss
Close, to trustees for the townships of
Upholland, Orrell, Billinge, and Pember-
ton, also Rainford and Windle, the yearly
profits to be spent in apprenticing chil-
dren ; it was let for £70 a year in 1828.
Part of the income was used for repairs
and legal expenses, and the rest divided
among the townships named and used as
intended. In 1728 by his will he gave
Pimbo Lane House and another tenement
called Sefton's Estate to provide woollen
garments and oat bread for the poor of
Pemberton, Orrell, Upholland, Billinge,
Winstanley, Windle, and Eccleston. The
gross income in 1828 was £117 io». a
year, but owing to heavy expenses in
buildings only about £50 was used for the
charity, of which £20 was spent on wool-
len cloth and £30 on oatmeal loaves.
The income of the charity has greatly
increased, owing to the development of
coal mines on the lands, and now amounts
to about £250, the estate consisting of
lands and £2,120 consols, chiefly the
products of mining leases. The charity is
supposed to be regulated by a scheme
giving larger powers, authorized in 1891 ;
but no practical change has been made in
the distribution of the income, the three-
fold system of apprenticing, clothing, and
bread doles being continued .
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
here also other charities of considerable value, though
several gifts have been lost.108 Dalton has nothing
for itself.109
WIGAN
Wigan, 1199 ; Wygayn, 1240; Wygan, common.
Pronounced Wiggin (g hard).
The River Douglas, in its unrestricted days, flowed
down from the north and turned to the west round
the hill upon which Wigan Church stands, thence
running north-westward and northward to the
Kibble. The township of Wigan consists of the tri-
angular area inclosed by the river and a line drawn
across in a north-easterly direction from one part of the
river's course to the other ; in addition there are the
district called Scholes on the eastern side, inclosed
between the Douglas and a brook once called the
Lorington, and now the Clarington,1 which formerly
joined it near the southernmost point of its course ;
and a small area to the south of the river. It is
curious that Wigan is cut off by the river from the
rest of the parish and hundred, and has on the north
no marked physical separation from Standish, in a
different parish and hundred. The area is 2,188
acres, including 47 of inland water. The population
in 1901 numbered 60,764.
The church stands on the crest of the hill, which
slopes away rapidly to the south and more gently to
the north. To the north-west is the hall or rectory,
with Hallgate leading to it, and beyond this again the
Mesnes — part of it now a public park — or rectory
demesne lands. Further away in the same direction
lie the districts known as Gidlow and Brimelow,* the
latter on the Standish boundary ; while to the west is
Woodhouses, near the river.
On the eastern side of the church is a street
representing the ancient Roman road to the north,
opening out just at that point into the irregular area
in which the market was formerly held, and from
which Market Street goes off to the north-west. As
the main road goes northward it is called in succession
Standishgate and Wigan Lane, with Mab's Cross as
dividing mark, and has Swinley and Whitley on the
west and Coppull on the east. The ground once
again rises as the northern limit is neared, attaining
about 250 ft.
The same road, descending south from the church
and turning to the west through the more level
ground running nearly parallel to the Douglas, is there
called Wallgate. The border district to the south of
Wallgate is called Poolstock.
Another road, called Millgate, begins at the old
Market-place, and proceeding south-east, crosses the
Douglas by a bridge,3 near which was formerly the
principal corn-mill of the town, and then goes north-
east through the Scholes and Whelley. There is an
easterly branch called Hardy Butts, starting near the
river and proceeding through Hindley towards Man-
chester, probably on the line of another ancient
Roman road.
Around the church and along the main roads men-
tioned the town of Wigan grew up. As the head of
a great coal-mining district, the Douglas navigation
scheme of 1720,* and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal,
opened in 1774, have been of great service ; the Lan-
caster Canal followed in 1794, and a branch to Leigh
connected the town with the Worsley Canal. The
railway companies have also contributed to the pro-
gress of the place ; the London & North Western
Company's main line from London to Scotland passes
through the place,* having a station in Wallgate, to
the south of the church. The Lancashire and York-
shire Company's Liverpool and Bury line, opened in
1848, has a station (1860) in Wallgate, near to the
church ; the company's Wigan and Southport branch
(1855) turns off here. More recently the Great
Central Railway has found access to the town, having
a station near Millgate, opened in 1892.
Wigan is identified with the Coccium of the An-
tonine Itinerary ; it stands at the point where the
Roman road, north and south, was joined by another
important road from Manchester. Its position on a
hilltop, surrounded on two sides of its triangular area
by a rapid stream, suggests that it had been a British
fort. Various Roman remains have been found.6
The town continued to grow and prosper through-
out the mediaeval period, and Leland thus describes
108 Henry Prescot in 1638 gave £20
for poor householders ; Richard Walthew
in 1643 gave £130; James Fairclough,
,£250, and others smaller sums ; the 1829
information concerning the total sum of
£446 131. 4</. was that in 1771 ,£376
had been placed out on private security.
James Fairclough also gave ,£100 to
establish a bread charity, and in 1828 £$
a year was received from the rents of the
Moss estate, and added to the share of
Edmund Molyneux's benefaction. Thomas
Barton in 1674 gave to the poor ot Up-
holland £3 6s. 8<f. charged on an estate
there, and paid in 1828 ; Thomas
Mawdesley, by his will of 1728, devised
his copyhold lands — the Little, Rushy,
and Meadow Baryards — to the use of the
poor as an addition to ' Barton's dole ' ; in
1828 £17 ioj. was received, and, with
the preceding gift, divided among the poor
in sums of zs. or zs. 6J. The Rev.
Thomas Holme in 1803 left ,£100 for a
gift of blankets ; it wa» in operation in
1828.
Of the above the Fairclough charity
has benefited by the working of mines,
and now has an income of ^40 from the
Moss estate and £124 from consols aris-
ing from the investment of mining rents ;
the money has been distributed indiscrimi-
nately in doles of bread and flannel, &c.
The rent-charge of £3 6s. 8</. on Barton
House Farm is still paid, and distributed
with Mawdesley's charity, the total vary-
ing from £\6 to £23 a year; tickets
worth zs. 6d. each are given to the
selected applicants. The Holme bequest
produces £4 i6s. a year, expended on
blankets for the poor.
109 It shared in the charities of Peter
Latham (Croston), and Edmund Moly-
neux and John Gaunt (Wigan). Thomas
Ashhurst was supposed to have made a
rent-charge of 25*. to the poor, paid in
1786 by the owner of Ashhurst Hall; but
in 1828 nothing could be ascertained.
The share of the Latham charity coming
to Dalton is now ,£68, and is distributed
in doles of clothing, valued at from IQJ.
to j£i, and rarely in money gifts.
1 Bridgeman, Wigan Cb. (Chet. Soc.
new ser.), 239. Bottling Wood was in
the northern part of Scholes.
a Between these and Wigan town the
Birley Brook flowed south to the Douglas.
8 This is supposed to have been the
first bridge constructed over the Douglas.
68
In 1348 Henry Banastre of Walton
granted to John son of Oliver (? Amory)
the Walker, a strip of land stretching
from the Millgate and the Stanrygate to
the Douglas ; also land called the Mill
Meadow, with a cottage adjoining Schole
Bridge; Towneley MS. GG, no. 2221.
In 1477 John Crosse of Liverpool con-
firmed to John Burgess of Wigan a par-
cel of land near Schole Bridge, between
Scholes and the lane leading to Ince ;
ibid. no. 233$.
'At am' Bridge, between Wigan and
Pemberton, was the subject of a dispute
in 1334; Coram Rege R. 297, m. n
Rex. Each township should keep in re-
pair its own half of the bridge, which had,
however, become so broken that there
was no longer any crossing.
4 This scheme was formed as early as
1711 (Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv,
450) ; the Act was passed in 1720 (9
Geo. I, cap. 28). It was purchased by the
Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1783.
5 As the Preston and Parkside (New-
ton) Railway this portion of the system
was opened in 1838.
6 Watkin, Roman Lanes. 199 ; Pal.
Note Bk. iv, 133.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
its appearance about 1536 : 'Wigan paved ; as big as
Warrington and better builded. There is one parish
church amid the town. Some merchants, some artifi-
cers, some farmers.' 7
Apart from its internal growth, the history of Wigan
is interesting on account of the part taken in the Civil
War. The townspeople were Royalist,8 and the Earl
of Derby appeared to make it his head quarters, its
central position rendering it very fit for the purpose.
He placed a garrison there,9 but on I April 164 3, the
town was captured by the Parliamentary forces under
Colonel Holland, after only two hours' resistance.
Many prisoners were taken, and the soldiers were
allowed to plunder and carry away what they could.10
The Earl of Derby, who was 1 2 miles away, marched
to its relief, but hearing that the town had surren-
dered, and that the Parliamentary forces had retired
after breaking down some of the defensive works, he
desisted and went to Lathom.11 A second assault and
capture took place three weeks later.1* In 1648 Duke
Hamilton's forces occupied Wigan after their defeat
by Cromwell near Preston, but after plundering the
people 'almost to their skins,' retired to Warrington,
pursued by Cromwell.13 A pestilence followed.14
When, in August 1651, the Earl of Derby was
raising a force for Charles II, he again tried to secure
Wigan. On 26 August a hot fight took place in
Wigan Lane between his forces and those of Colonel
Lilburne. At first the former were victorious, but a
reserve of horse coming to Lilburne's assistance, put
the Royalists to flight. Lord Derby took refuge in
Wigan for a brief time, and after his wounds had been
dressed, he went south to join Charles at Worcester.
Sir Thomas Tyldesley and other notable Royalists
were killed in the battle."
The Restoration and Revolution do not appear to
have affected Wigan much.16 Some of those con-
demned for participation in the rising of 1 7 1 5 were
executed here.17 The Young Pretender with his
Highland army passed through the town on 28 No
vember 1745, on his way to Manchester, and again
on 10-1 1 December on his retreat northward. The
inhabitants were not molested, but no recruits joined
the force.18
At present the whole of the district is thickly popu-
lated, the industrial town of Wigan occupying the
greater part of the township, whilst its collieries, fac-
tories, &c., fill the atmosphere with smoke. There is,
however, a fringe of open country beyond the town
itself, on the north, and here are arable and pasture
lands, the crops raised being chiefly potatoes and oats.
The soil is clayey and sandy. The woodlands of
Haigh in the adjoining township make an agreeable
background. The Douglas, turning many a factory
wheel on its way, winds erratically across the district.
The south-westerly part of the township lies very low,
and is almost always flooded, the result of frequent
subsidences of the ground.
The worthies of the town include Ralph Brooke or
Brooksmouth, York Herald in the time of Elizabeth ;"
Henry Mason, divine and benefactor, 1 573 to 1647 ; *°
John Leland, nonconformist divine and apologist for
Christianity, who died 1766 ;" Anthony Wilson,
alias Henry Bromley, publisher of catalogues of En-
graved British Portraits, 1793 ;w John Fairclough, a
minor Jesuit writer, 1787 to 1832 ;23 John Roby,
author of the romances entitled Traditions of Lancashire,
1795 to 1850;" John Howard Marsden, antiquary,
1803 to 1891 ;M John C. Prince, minor poet, 1808
to 1 866 ; *6 and John Fitchett Marsh, antiquary, 1 8 1 8
to 1880."
A number of tokens were issued by local tradesmen
in the I7th century.*8
The printing press is said to have been introduced
into Wigan about 1760 ; books dated in 1780 and
later years are known.*9 There are three newspapers,
two published three times a week and the other
weekly.80
" Itin. vii, 47.
8 * Wigan was better manned with sol-
diers than Preston, it being the next gar-
rison to the earl's house and the most
malignant town in all the county ; for
there were (for anything that was heard)
not many in it that favoured the Parlia-
ment;' Lanes. War (Chet. Soc.), 16.
Wigan, however, had joined in the Pro-
testation of 164.2 ; Pal. Note Bk. i, 8 1.
9 The Wigan garrison, ' full of desper-
ate cavaliers,' had made several assaults
upon Bolton ; Lanes. War, 32 ; Civil
War Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 63, 81-3.
19 Lanes. War, 36 ; also Stanley Papers,
(Chet. Soc.), iii, p. Ixxxvi, where a facsimile
of the Countess of Derby's letter, an-
nouncing its fall, is given. See also Civil
War Tracts, 93, 225-7.
11 Lanes. War, loc. cit.
" Civil War Tracts, 98.
18 Ibid. 263 ; ' a great and poor town,
and very malignant,' is Cromwell's descrip-
tion of the place ; see Carlyle, Cromwell
Let. i, 286, &c., for the details.
14 Civil War Tracts, 278 ; there were
' two thousand poor, who for three months
and upwards had been restrained, no relief
to be had for them in the ordinary course
of law, there being none at present (April
1649) to act as justices of the peace." The
Wigan registers contain many entries re-
ferring to the deaths from plague, the last
burial being on 23 July 1649.
A petition by the mayor and others in
1660, addressed to Charles II, states that
the people of the town had garrisoned it
at their own charge for the king ; that it
had been seven times plundered, burdened
with free quarters, &c., by the Parliament
army ; and that many estates had been se-
questered ; Cal. S.P. Dom. 1660-1, p. 119.
15 Stanley Papers (Chet. Soc.), clxxxiv-
ix. For the monument to Sir T. Tyldes-
ley near the spot where he fell, see
cccxxxiii ; Lanes, and Cbes. Hist, and
Geneal. Notes, iii, 62.
A graphic account of the battle is given
in Lanes. War, 74-6.
16 Ogilby, writing about 1 670, called it
' a well-built town, governed by a mayor,
recorder and twelve aldermen, &c., and
electing Parliament men.' It had two
markets, on Monday and Friday, but the
former was discontinued, and three fairs.
It was noted for its pit coal, ironworks,
and other manufactures. A somewhat
later description, by Dr. Kuerden, giving
many details, may be read in Local Glean.
Lanes, and Ches. i, 209, 21 1, 212, 214.
Bishop Cartwright procured an address
to James II from the mayor and corpora-
tion in 1687 ; Bridgeman, op. cit. 570.
Their action was not popular ; Hist. MSS.
Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 189.
Several persons went to Chester in
1687 to be touched by the king for the
evil ; their names are given in Trans.
Hist. Soc. i, 26.
17 See Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. iii,
69
70. James Blundell, James Finch, John
Macilliwray, William Whalley, and James
Burn, who had been tried and sentenced
at Preston, were executed at Wigan 10
Feb. 1716 ; see Pal. Note Bk. iv, 93.
18 The town was then famous for its
manufactures of coverlets, rugs, blankets,
and other sorts of bedding, brass, copper,
&c., as well as for the adjacent Cnnnel
coal mines ; Ray, Hist, of Rebellion, 154.
There is a brief notice of the place as it
appeared in 1791 in Pal. Note Bk., ii, 275,
and a description written in 1825 'n
Baines, Lanes. Dir. ii, 610.
19 Pal. Note Bk. iii, 33.
20 Diet. Nat. Biog. M Ibid. * Ibid.
23 Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of Engl. Cath. ii,
218.
** Diet. Nat. Biog. For a note on the
Rev. James Clayton of Wigan, the inven-
tor of gas, see Local Glean. Lanes, and
Ches. i, 140, 248.
25 Diet. Nat. Biog. M Ibid. V Ibid.
28 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. v, 93, 94.
29 See Local Glean. Lanes, and Cbes. \,
ii. The 1780 book was a translation of
Gessner's Death of Abel, printed by R.
Ferguson, ii, 57. The 'Local Catalogue'
issued from the Wigan Free Library gives
a list of nineteen books printed at Wigan
between 1780 and 1796. At the end is
a list of printers.
80 The offices of the Examiner were
formerly the Public Hall or Mechanics'
Institute.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Coal-mining is the characteristic trade of the place,
but there are large cotton mills also ; ginghams, &c.,
are made. Forges, iron and brass foundries, wagon,
screw and nail, oil and grease works, and breweries
are also in operation. The ancient walk-mills show
that cloth was made here from early times. A gold-
smith was killed at Wigan in I34I.31 The potters'
right to dig clay on the wastes was vindicated in
1619." ' Digging and delving mines for coals' was
common in I595-33 Bell-founding is a lost trade ; it
was formerly in the hands of the Scott and Ashton
families.84
In 1624 Bishop Bridgeman notified his objection to
the ' barbarous and beastly game of bear baiting ' at
the wakes ; but on the mayor's request he allowed
the baiting to take place on the market hill after the
market was over and the people had packed up their
wares."
An old Wigan nursery rhyme is printed in Har-
land and Wilkinson's Legends?6
The stocks were formerly near the main entrance
to the churchyard from Wallgate. There was a cross
in the market place, where proclamations were made,
and the base of Mab's Cross, already mentioned, is in
Standishgate.38*
There was formerly a spa in Scholes.S6b
The curfew bell, anciently rung at eight o'clock,
was in 1881 rung at half-past ten.37
A body of volunteers, called the Wigan Rifles, was
raised in 1 8c>4.38 The present volunteer force con-
sists of five companies of the 6th battalion of the
Manchester Regiment.
In Domesday Book WIGAN is not
MANOR named ; it was only ' the church of the
manor ' of Newton,39 and a century later
it is the church that brings it forward once more,
a resident vicar being appointed.40 The rectors were
thus from before the Conquest until recently lords of
the manor of Wigan under the lords of Newton, and
the rectory was the hall. From the account of them
already given it will be seen that a large number were
non-resident, and exercised their authority by de-
puties.
Among the rights which gave most trouble to the
rectors were those over the mills. Rector Fleetwood
in the first year of his incumbency (1571) had insti-
tuted a suit against Hugh, Gilbert, and James Lang-
shaw to recover seisin of two ancient water-mills,
described as walk mills.41 The dispute went on
for many years.4* Bishop Bridgeman, thirty years
later, complained that William Langshaw was en-
deavouring to deprive the rector of his ownership
of the mill.43 The mills were situated at Coppull
and a little lower down the river by the school ; in
1627 they paid a rent of .£4 a year to the rector.44
The corn mills, of which in the year just named
there were five, also caused trouble. The principal
was that on the Douglas in Millgate, of which Miles
Leatherbarrow was the tenant in i6l7.45 In Rector
Fleetwood's time a new water corn-mill was erected
by Miles Gerard of Ince upon Lorington or Clarington
Brook, the boundary of the manors of Wigan and
Ince, and the water-course was diverted to feed it.
The rectors complained of the injustice done to them,
but Dr. Bridgeman allowed the mill to stand on con-
dition that 2Os. a year should be paid for tithe.46
In his first year Dr. Bridgeman received £ 1 6 1 3 s. zd.
as manor rents,47 and los. each for seven mortuaries.48
It is an indication that there was a
BOROUGH strong community existing around the
church to find one of the absentee
rectors, the busy official John Maunsel, procuring
from the king a charter creating a borough. This
was granted on 26 August 1246 to John Maunsel ;
the town of Wigan was to be a borough and a free
borough for ever ; the burgesses should have a gild
merchant, with a hanse and all the liberties and free
customs pertaining to such a gild ; and no one but a
member of the gild should do any business in the
borough except by consent of the burgesses. Further,
to the burgesses and their heirs the king conceded
that they should have soke, sac, toll, theam, and
attachment within the borough, infangenthef, ut-
fangenthef ; that they should throughout the country
and sea ports be free of toll, lastage, pontage, passage,
and stallage ; that they should do no suit to county
or wapentake for tenements within the borough j
also that traders, even foreigners, provided they
entered England peaceably and with the king's leave,
should be allowed to pass in safety to and from the
borough with their merchandise upon paying the
usual dues.49
81 Assize R. 430, m. 12 d.
88 Bridgeman, Wigan Ch. 222.
88 Ibid. 161 ; see also 242.
The Industries of Wigan, by H. T. Fol-
kard, R. Betley, and C. M. Percy, published
in 1889, gives an account of the develop-
ment of coal-mining and other trades.
84 J. P. Earwaker, Trans. Hist. Soc.
(new ser.), vi, 170 ; N. and Q. (Ser. 10),
v, 257. The will of John Scott was
proved in 1648, and that of Jeffrey Scott
in 1665. William Scott occurs 1670-
1700; R. Ashton 1703-17, and Luke
Ashton 1723-50.
88 Bridgeman, op. cit. 286.
88 Op. cit. 182.
*8a Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xix, 228,
232.
>6blbid. 234; quoting from England
Described, 1788. It had been ruined by
1824 ; Baines, Lanes. Dir. ii, 612.
*7 Lanes, and Cbes. Hist, and Geneal.
Notes, ii, 33.
88 Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. ii, 182,
217. The Earl of Balcarres was colonel ;
there were eight companies, and 552 men.
•» V.C.H. Lanes, i, 286.
40 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 436. See also
Engl. Hist. Rev, v, 395.
4)1 Bridgeman, op cit. 143. In 1316
Edmund de Standish granted to Aymory
the Fuller land adjoining a narrow lane
leading towards the Coppedhull mill ;
Crosse D. (Trans. Hist. Soc.), n. 27.
42 Bridgeman, op. cit. 144-6.
43 Ibid. 225. The defendant relied
upon the charter of John Maunsel ; he
was a burgess of Wigan, and had by
descent from his ancestors divers bur-
gages in the said borough ; and those
ancestors had enjoyed his share in the
mills as parcel of their own inheritance,
paying the accustomed rent for the same.
The rector's right to the mills, as part of
his glebe, was affirmed by a decree of June
1618 ; ibid. 227, 229.
44 Ibid. 309.
45 Ibid. 220, 231. Miles seems to have
claimed ownership. He died early in
1628, and his widow Alice begged that
either she or her son Orlando might be
admitted as tenant. The bishop told her
to take comfort, as he had never dealt
unkindly with his tenants ; but as his
70
right to this mill had been questioned he
had determined to take it into his own
hands for a time that there might be no
possibility of dispute in future. On re-
ceiving thii answer the widow refused to
give up possession, and Lord and Lady
Strange took up her cause. The bishop
promised them that the widow should
have the mill after a while ; but as she
still remained obstinate, the matter came
before the quarter sessions. It was not
till the end of March 1630 that she finally
submitted, gave up the key, and allowed
the bishop to take possession. He re-
tained it for three weeks, and then ad-
mitted her as tenant ; ibid. 320—8.
46 Ibid. 240, 241. Two horse-mills
were allowed to stand, rent being paid to
the lord ; ibid. 240, 243.
47 Ibid. 189. 48 Ibid. 192.
49 This charter is known by its recital
in that of Edw. II ; see Bridgeman, op. cit.
9, 32. The charters are printed in Sin-
clair's Hist, of Wigan. See Chart. R.
7 Edw. II, m. 4, 3 ; 24 Edw. Ill, 145,
m. 2, 4 ; m. 3, 7. The charter of 1314
is still preserved at Wigan.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
The rector's concomitant charter grants that the
burgesses of Wigan and their heirs and assigns should
have their free town, with all rights, customs, and
liberties as stated in the king's charter ; that each
burgess should have to his burgage 5 roods of land ;
that they should grind at the rector's mill to the
twentieth measure without payment, should have
from his wood sufficient for building and burning,
quittance of pannage and other easements ; and that
they should have their pleas in portmote once in
three weeks, with verdict of twelve men and amerce-
ments by the same ; paying annually to the rector
I zd. a. year for each burgage for all services. Robert
Banastre, lord of Makerfield and patron of the church,
added his confirmation ; as did also Roger, Bishop of
Lichfield.50
The burgesses,51 regarded as equals, thus became
the free tenants of the rector, as lord of the manor,
with the usual liberties, and the special privilege of a
portmote. The royal charter looks on the place as
a trading centre and gives internal and external
privileges accordingly ; these last, which the rector
could not give, were doubtless the reason for invoking
the king's help. A later charter, 1257-8, granted
that the rectors should have a market at their borough
of Wigan on Monday in every week, and two fairs
there of three days each, viz., on the vigil, day and
morrow of the Ascension and of All Saints.6*
In 1292 Adam de Walton, then rector, was called
upon to show by what warrant he claimed certain
liberties ; it was asserted that Master Adam and his
bailiffs had exceeded the terms of the charters by
trying persons accused of felonies beyond their juris-
diction, when those persons had placed themselves
on a jury of their country. In reply to particular
charges the community of the vill appeared by twelve
men of the vill. As to the court and liberty of the
vill they said that these belonged to the rector, and
they were suitors there. The jury decided that soke
and sac and other liberties had been granted to the
burgesses, who did not claim them, and not to the
rector, who did ; let them therefore be taken into
the king's hands. As to the taking of emends of the
assize of bread and beer on the market and fair days
the rector's claim was allowed ; but as he had
punished some frequent transgressors at his discretion
and not judicially, he was at the king's mercy.53 The
liberties claimed by the rectors were afterwards re-
stored, on the application of the guardian of Robert
Banastre's heiress.54
The commonalty of Wigan were sued for a debt
in I3O4-55
In 1314 Robert de Clitheroe obtained from the
king a confirmation of the charter of 124.6.**
About 1328 the rector complained that the burgesses,
his tenants, every day held a market among themselves,
and with strangers, in divers goods, although these be
ill-gotten or stolen ; taking toll for such merchandise
and appropriating it to themselves. They also made
assay of bread and tasting of beer every day except
Monday, taking amercements and profits by force and
power ; all to the prejudice of the rector's market.57
Possibly it was on this account that the charter was
confirmed in I329.58
A further confirmation was granted in 1350;*'
with a special indemnity to the rector and the bur-
gesses for any abuse or non-claim of the liberties and
acquittances of former charters. The king also
granted a view of frankpledge, freedom from the
sheriffs tourn, cognizance by the bailiffs of the rector
of all pleas concerning lands, tenures, contracts, &c.,
within the borough ; with many similar and comple-
mentary liberties. * Moreover, whereas there has
been a frequent concourse at the said borough, as well
of merchants and others, for the sake of trading and
otherwise,' the rectors, as lords of the borough, might
for ever ' have a certain seal, by us to be ordained, of
two pieces, as is of custom to be used, for recognisances
of debts there according to the form of the statutes
published for merchants ; and that the greater part of
the seal aforesaid may remain in the custody of the
mayor or keeper of the borough aforesaid for the time
being, or other private person of the greater or more
discreet men of the borough to be chosen for this
purpose (with the assent of the rector) if there shall
not be a mayor or keeper there.' M
As a result of this charter suits by Wigan people
were frequently stopped in the assize court by the
bailiffs of the rector appearing to claim the case as one
for the local court.61 Another result was prob-
ably the regular election of a mayor, the language of
the charter implying that the burgesses had not
hitherto had such a generally recognized head. There
are numerous instances of * statutes merchant ' before
60 Bridgeman, op. cit. 9, 10. Not
many years later William de Occleshaw
granted to Simon son of Payn de War-
rington and Emma his wife a burgage
and an acre of land in Wigan, rendering
to the rector of Wigan \2d. yearly, and
to the grantor a peppercorn. In 1284
Simon Payn, son of the said Simon (son
of) Payn, claimed the land; Assize R.
1268, m. II. Simon Payn and Amabil
his wife were engaged in suits in 1292 ;
Assize R. 408, m. jjA. 60. Simon Payn
of Wigan obtained a house and land here
in 1336; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), ii, 101.
61 There does not seem to be any means
of ascertaining the number of burgages.
The earliest poll-book, 1627, shows that
there were then about a hundred in-bur-
gesses, but does not state their qualifica-
tions ; Sinclair, Wigan, i, 197.
52 Bridgeman, op. cit. 33. A charter
for a fair at All Saints and a market on
Monday had been secured in 1245 ; Cal.
Chart. R. 1226-57, p. 284. In 1314 the
All Saints' fair was changed to the vigil,
day, and morrow of St. Wilfrid the
Bishop; Chart. R. 7 Edw. II, m. 4, 4 d. ;
but in 1329 reverted to the old day;
ibid. 3 Edw. Ill, m. 6, 14. The autumn
fair was afterwards held on the vigil,
feast, and morrow of St. Luke ; Wm.
Smith, Descr. of Engl. 1588 ; Hist. MSS.
Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 4.
68 Bridgeman, op. cit. 31-6, from Plac.
de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 371, 372. The
rector stated that he did not claim utfan-
genthef, though named in the charter.
64 Bridgeman, op. cit. 37. There exists
a petition by the people of Wigan for the
restoration of their franchises made after
the death of Edmund, Earl of Lancaster,
1296 ; Anct. Petitions, P.R.O. 316,
E 225.
65 De Banco R. 151, m. 112. In 1307
there were complaints that Welshmen,
returning probably from the Scottish wars,
had been maltreated and killed at Wigan;
Assize R. 422, m. 4 d.
66 Bridgeman, op. cit. 41.
71
V Ibid. 44.
48 Ibid. 45. The king granted a tax
called pavage (for the mending of the
ways) to the men of Wigan in 1341, Cal.
Pat. 1340-43, p. 163 ; see also p. 313.
89 Bridgeman, 48-53. In the same
year is mentioned the smaller seal for the
recognizances of debts ; Cal. Pat. 1348-
5°> P- 553-
60 At the instance of Rector Jame» de
Langton the borough charters were con-
firmed by Richard II, Henry IV, and
Henry V at the commencement of their
reigns in 1378, 1400, and 1413 ; Bridge-
man, op. cit. 57, 59.
61 Thus in 1350, when Richard de
Mitton claimed in the King's Bench a
messuage in the town from William del
Cross, who had entry by Robert son of
John del Cross, the rector's bailiffs
appeared, made a statement of the
jurisdictions conferred by the charter and
drew the case to the local court ; De
Banco R. 363, m. 203. In subsequent
years the same thing happened.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
the mayor of Wigan commencing about i37O.6t
From a petition of Rector Wyot (1506-19) it
appears that, ' for a long time past,' the custom had
been that on a vacancy in the mayoralty the bur-
gesses elected three of their number and presented
them to the rector, who chose one to act for the
ensuing year.63
The rectors in the time of Henry VIII, and
probably much earlier, exercised their authority as
lords of the borough through a steward and a
bailiff, with an under-steward who was clerk of the
court.6*
About 1560 Bishop Stanley began to assert his
rights as lord of the manor, and he challenged the
claim to hold markets,60 fairs, and courts leet put for-
ward and exercised by the mayor and burgesses. Those
accused of withdrawing ' did not know ' whether suit
was due to the rector's law-day or leet, or to his three
weeks court, though 'most of them had done so,
until now of late ' ; and they endeavoured to draw
attention from this aspect of the question by an
allegation of outrage upon the mayor by one of the
bishop's servants. Nothing seems to have been done,
except that the bishop confirmed Maunsel's charter
to the burgesses.66 He yielded ' upon fear and for a
fine of money received,' according to Dr. Bridge-
man.67
Under Rector Fleetwood the struggle was more
determined. The corporation about 1583 laid claim
to the lordship of the manor, as lords improving the
wastes and commons, and letting the houses built
thereupon ; also digging for coal within the demesnes
of the manor, and in many other ways usurping the
rector's rights. They stated that a mayor, two
bailiffs, and sundry burgesses were annually elected for
the town and borough of Wigan, which had also five
aldermen, the Earl of Derby being one ; that
Maunsel's charter gave the burgesses all the liberties
in dispute ; and that the moot-hall was their in-
heritance. They had kept courts, taken waifs and
strays, &c., in accordance with their right. The
rector's reply traversed all this, alleging in particular
that the burgesses had no grant enabling them to
elect a mayor to be head of the corporation, though
they had done so ' for divers years ' by usurpation,
and that the appointment of aldermen was a recent
usage, * without due rite.' 68 A charter was granted
about this time, viz. in I585.69
A decree in the nature of a compromise was made
in 1596 by the Chancellor of the Duchy. It was
ordered that the corporation should keep such courts
as they had usually kept, except the leets, and take
the profits to their own uses ; that, as to the leets,
the rector should appoint a steward to sit with the
mayor and burgesses or their steward and take half
the profits. Clay and stone might be dug as cus-
tomary, but the ways must be mended as quickly as
possible, and any damage done to the moat round the
rectory must be repaired. As to the fairs and markets
and the profits arising from them, the corporation
should have them as before, but the rector's tenants
must not be required to pay any increase upon the
customary tolls. The rents claimed by the rector
must be paid, with arrears. The question as to the
improvement of the wastes does not seem to have
been decided.70
The corporation were then left at peace for twenty
years. Dr. Massie seems to have been very yielding.71
Bishop Bridgeman, however, an able man and strong
in the royal favour, upon being appointed to the
rectory made a vigorous and fairly successful effort to
recover certain of his manorial rights as against the
corporation.71 The ownership of the markets and
fairs, with the tolls belonging to them, had been held
by the town for upwards of fifty years. On 1 7 Octo-
ber 1617, being the eve of the fair, the rector sent
his man to the mayor, entreating him not to deal or
meddle with the fair until the controversy as to all
these matters had been decided, and inviting the
mayor and aldermen, &c., to meet him at the pentice
chamber next morning. At this conference the rector
desired them to allow him the rights his predecessors
had enjoyed, without any lawsuits ; they answered
that he had what his predecessors had, and ought not
to ask more. The mayor was bold enough to
challenge the rector's right to the manor, but met no
support from the burgesses, who acknowledged their
obligation to pay \zd. for each burgage plot. On
matters of land-ownership no opposition was made ;
but when the rector claimed the fairs, markets, courts
leet, courts of pleas, and courts baron and other
privileges, the burgesses' reply seems to have been
firm and unanimous : ' They had a right to them and
hoped so to prove in law.' No compromise was
possible, the answer being that they were ' all sworn
to maintain the privileges of the town.' n
A special tribunal was appointed, and at the begin-
ning of 1619 a decision was given : the rector was
lord of the manor, with a right to the wastes and
court baron and suit and service of the freeholders
and inhabitants ; the moot-hall to be common to the
rector and corporation for the keeping of their courts,
of which the pentice plea and court of pleas should
be the corporation's, the leets at Easter and Michael-
mas being adjudged, the former to the rector and the
latter to the corporation ; the Ascension-day fair and
62 Early in 1406 Adam de Birkhead,
mayor of Wigan, and William de Mede-
wall, clerk, for taking recognizances of
debts at Wigan, certified that in March,
x372-3» s»" William de Atherton came
before Thomas de Heywood, then mayor,
and Thomas Clerk, then clerk, and
acknowledged that he owed his brother,
Nicholas de Atherton, £100 sterling ;
which he ought to have paid at the
Christmas next following, but had not
done so ; Pal. of Lane. Chan. Misc. bdle.
i, file 9, in. 38.
68 Bridgeman, op. cit. 72.
64 Ibid. 101. Sir Thomas Langton,
who, as lord of Newton, was chief lord
of the manor, about this time laboured
hard to secure appointment as the rector's
steward, and though rejected he took it
upon himself to act, making himself very
obnoxious to the corporation. In 1539
the mayor and burgesses complained that
whereas it had been their custom to elect
a mayor on the Saturday after Michael-
mas Day, Sir Thomas with a number of
associates had disturbed the election, and
declared that he would not take Adam
Bankes for mayor, though he had
been duly chosen. A few weeks after-
wards there was an invasion of the town
by the Langton faction, which necessitated
an inquiry by the Crown. It then
appeared that the disturbers asserted the
election of mayor to belong to the rector
of Wigan or his steward ; ibid. 108-11.
65 A book of tolls 1561-7 is among
72
Lord Kenyon's deeds ; Hist. MSS. Com.
Rep. xiv, App. iv, 4.
66 Bridgeman, op. cit. 133-8.
«7 Ibid. 213.
68 Ibid. 147-57.
69 A contemporary paper copy is extant
at Wigan. In Pal. of Lane. Plea R.
253, m. 26, are copies of the earlier
charters.
7° Bridgeman, op. cit. 157, 158.
71 Ibid. 213. Dr. Bridgeman affirmed
that 'none of his predecessors, except
Dr. Massie, were without the use and
possession of all those things which he
claimed ; or did at least claim and sue
for them as Mr. Fleetwood did.' Dr.
Massie was rector from 1605 to 1615.
7* Ibid. 205. ~» Ibid. 213-15.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
the Monday market to be the rector's, but St. Luke's
fair and the Friday market to be the corporation's."
In October 1620 the mayor of Wigan appeared
in the moot-hall where the justices were sitting at
quarter-sessions, and, ' putting on his hat before
them,' claimed the ordering of the alehouses in Wigan,
as belonging to his leet. The justices objected to his
manners, and as he refused to find sureties for good
behaviour sent him to prison ; but their action was
annulled, though the mayor's action for false im-
prisonment also failed."
Bishop Bridgeman in 1622 claimed the pentice
chamber in the moot-hall as built upon his waste
within living memory, and appears to have succeeded.76
His next correction of the assumptions of the corpora-
tion was provoked by the latter ; they refused liberty
to one William Brown to sell his goods, on the ground
that he was not a burgess. The bishop pointed out
that they had no right to elect burgesses ; the true
burgesses were those who paid the lord of the manor
1 zd. rent for a burgage, and he had made William
Brown a burgess by selling to him a burgage house
recently bought of Thomas Gerard of Ince. The
mayor and burgesses were by this time convinced that
it was useless to contend with their lord ; they made
no demur, and asked him to appoint his son Orlando
as one of their aldermen ; he, however, did not judge
it well to do so."
From this time, 1624, till after the Restoration
there appears to be no record of any dispute between
rector and corporation. It can scarcely be doubted
that the Commonwealth period would be favourable
to the latter, and when in 1662 Sir Orlando Bridge-
man was selected as arbitrator in a fresh misunder-
standing, he ruled that though the rector was lord of
the manor and must keep a court baron, yet in view
of the municipal court of pleas it was of little im-
portance except for inquiring into the chief rents due
to the rector, and preventing encroachments on the
waste. Hence the court baron was to be held once
in two years only, in the moot-hall ; no pleas were to
be held between party and party ; and the mayor and
such aldermen as had been mayors should be exempt
from attending. The streets and wastes were to be
regulated as to encroachments by the rector and
mayor. Sir Orlando's father had, by his advice,
leased the rector's Ascensiontide fair and weekly
market to the corporation ; and the arbitrator recom-
WIGAN
mended the continuance of this system as 'a great
means to continue peace and goodwill ' between the
parties, a lease, renewable, for 2 1 years being granted
at a rent of five marks a year. The lease included
tha yearly fair, weekly market, and court leet, and all
tolls, courts, piccage, stallages, profits, commodities,
and emoluments belonging to them.78
Forty years ago the corporation purchased the
manorial rights, an agreement being made 9 July
1860 between the rector and patron on the one side,
and the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses on the other.
The rights transferred were the summer fair, the
Monday market, and various tolls ; quit rents and
manorial rights in slips of waste lying uninclosed
adjoining streets in the borough and in mines under
these slips ; rights in Bottling Wood and the wastes ;
and the ancient quit rents amounting to £45 3/. \d.
The price paid was £2,800. The conveyance was
signed by the rector on 2 September i86i.79
The charter of 1662, under which the borough was
governed down to the Municipal Corporations Act of
1835, confirmed to the mayor, bailiffs, and burgesses
of Wigan all their ancient liberties, and ordained that
the corporation should consist of a mayor and eleven
other aldermen, a recorder, two bailiffs, and a common
clerk. The mayor was to be not only a magistrate
for the borough, but also for the county, but this pri-
vilege was not maintained.80 A supplementary charter
was granted by James II in i685,81 providing in par-
ticular that eighteen burgesses might be chosen to act
as 'assistants,' so that there should be a common
council of thirty-two in all. The mayor was to be
chosen yearly ' on the Sabbath day next after the
feast of St. Michael.' The corporation, like others of
the time, was a close or self-electing one, the towns-
men being able to make their wishes known only
through the jury and court leet. The mayor was
coroner ex official
The election of burgesses was in the jury and court
leet. The corporation had the power of admitting
non-resident and honorary burgesses to vote at elec-
tions without limitation ; in 1802 they made a hun-
dred burgesses in order to rid themselves of the Duke
of Portland's ' patronage.' 83
Under the Act of 1835 Wigan was classed with
other boroughs having a commission of the peace ; it
was divided into five wards, to each of which were as-
signed two aldermen and six councillors.84 In 1888 it
7* Bridgeman, op. cit. 221, 222. The
bishop, accordingly, as rector, held his first
court leet and court baron for the manor
of Wigan just after Easter 1619, and at
Ascension-tide his first fair. The matter
was of great importance as preserving the
lord's rights, but the profits of the courts
were barely sufficient to pay the fees of
the officers ; ibid. 237.
The following year he discharged one
William Brown from his service because
though no burgess he had served in the
mayor's court, ' as they call it," upon the
jury. He did so because in former times
the corporation had claimed the courts as
their own on finding that servants of the
rector had sued or served in them ; ibid.
270, 271.
75 Ibid. 265, 266.
~6 Ibid. 268, 274. On Christmas-eve
in the same year, ' and properly no market
day,' he prohibited the Serjeants and
bailiffs of the town from receiving toll,
' because the wastes and streets are the
parson's* ; and the jury were instructed
to find that the town officers ha«l wronged
the lord of the manor by receiving such
tolls on the Saturday before the wake day.
The jury demurred to the contention that
the streets were part of the wastes, but
gave way, and the tolls collected that day
were given to the rector ; ibid. 274.
77 Bridgeman, op. cit. 287. The dispute
marks another step in the growth of the
rights of the community ; first was the
election of mayor ; next, the appointment
of aldermen ; and thirdly, the co-option
of burgesses. The last was important,
because the burgage plots had a tendency
to become the possession of a very few
persons.
78 Bridgeman, op. cit. 486-91. See also
Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 441,
for a declaration in this sense by the cor-
poration in 1708.
In 1743 Dr. Roger Bridgeman refused
to renew the lease, and a lawsuit followed
which lasted for many years ; ' the result
73
appears to have been that the fair and
markets remained in the rectors' hands,
but the courts leet were never afterwards
held by them' 5 Bridgeman, op. cit. 632.
79 Bridgeman, op. cit. 664-71. A list of
the quit rents is given. They range from
4</. up to £6 141. 8J., this sum being paid
by the Canal Company. A considerable
number were of the exact u., probably re-
presenting ancient burgage rents.
80 Pat. 14 Chas. II, pt. xviii, m. 5.
The charter specially mentions the loyalty
of the town to the late king ; it therefore
allowed a sword to be borne before the
mayor.
81 The charters of 1662 and 1685 are
in the possession of the corporation.
82 Baines, Lanes. Dir. ii, 616.
83 Ibid, ii, 607.
84 The wards were : All Saints, the
central portion of the town around the
church ; St. George's, a narrow strip along
the Douglas ; Scholes ; Queen Street, in
the south ; and Swinley, in the north.
10
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
became a county borough, and in the following year
a rearrangement of the wards was authorized ; the
borough was divided into ten wards, each with one
alderman and three councillors, the membership of
the council being thus unchanged in number.85 The
inclusion of Pemberton in 1904 has caused the in-
crease of the council to fifty-six members, chosen from
fourteen wards.
The old town hall, rebuilt in 1720 at the expense
of the members for the borough, stood at the western
side of the market-place. It was pulled down and
rebuilt in the first half of last century. It stood on
pillars, the space underneath being subsequently filled
with shops. The moot-hall, a stone building in
Wallgate, with meeting-room above and shops below,
was demolished in 1869, and 'the new town hall' in
1882, the present town hall and borough courts
having been finished in 1867. Anew council cham-
ber was opened in 1890. The county police courts
date from 1888. The Fish-stones, which were at the
northern side of the market place, were removed in
1866. The new market hall was opened in 1877;
there is a separate fish market. The ancient cloth
hall was superseded by a commercial hall in the
market-place, erected in 1 8 1 6.
The Public Libraries Act was adopted in 1876,
and two years later there was opened the new free
library building, presented to the town by Thomas
Taylor, who died in 1892. A Powell Boys' Reading-
room, presented by the member for the borough, was
added in 1895. A school board was created in 1872.
The mining college was founded in 1858 ; in 1903
the present mining and technical building was opened.
The corporation have acquired or inaugurated a
number of works and institutions for the health and
convenience of the people. The first Wigan Water
Act was passed in 1764 ; the waterworks were pur-
chased by the corporation in 1855 ; the gasworks,
established in 1822, were acquired in 1875 ; and the
tramways, opened in 1880, in 1902. An electric-
power station was erected in 1 900, and the following
year the corporation electric tramways started run-
ning. The Mesnes Park was opened in 1878, the
sewerage works in 1881, public baths in 1882, and a
sanatorium in 1889. Victoria Hall was built in
1902. The cemetery was established in 1856.
A dispensary was started in 1798, and a building
in King Street provided in 1801, now the Savings
Bank. The Royal Albert Edward Infirmary was
opened by the King, then Prince of Wales, in 1873.
A court of quarter-sessions was granted to the
borough in 1886.
Impressions of the borough seal of the I5th century
are known.86 The device upon it — the moot-hall —
is used as a coat of arms for the borough.
As a borough Wigan sent two burgesses to the
Parliaments of 1295 and 1306, but not again until
1547. From this year the borough regularly returned
two members until 1885, except during the Common-
wealth, when owing to its royalist tendencies it was
disfranchised by Cromwell.87 In the I7th century
the burgesses were of two classes — in and out ; the
latter were principally neighbouring gentry, and do
not seem to have availed themselves to any great extent
of the privilege of voting. On the other hand a large
number of the townsmen made strenuous efforts to
obtain a vote, and in 1639 the mayor, bailiffs, and
burgesses prepared a memorial to Parliament on the
subject. This stated that they were ' an ancient cor-
poration by prescription, and that all such persons as
are or have been burgesses of that corporation have
always been received into that corporation by election
made by the burgesses for the time present of that
corporation, and have been afterwards sworn and en-
rolled as burgesses in the burgess roll,' and that from
time immemorial only such enrolled burgesses had
voted for the burgesses who served in the Parliament ;
but at the recent election, after the choice had been
made — but apparently before a formal declaration —
' divers inferior persons, labourers, and handicrafts-
men, being free only to trade within the said town
and not enrolled burgesses,' demanded voices. The
mayor and bailiffs had replied asking them ' to make
it to appear that they or any others of their condition
had any time formerly any voices in election of the
burgesses for the Parliament ' ; they could not prove
anything of the sort, and so their votes were not
allowed ; but the mayor and bailiffs, at the instance of
the elected burgesses, judged it right to inform the
Parliament concerning the matter.88 By the Redistri-
bution Act of 1885 Wigan was allowed but one
member instead of two as previously.
A number of families come into prominence from
time to time in the records. One of the early ones
took a surname from Wigan itself,89 another from
Scholes.90 Other surnames were Jew,91 Botling,98
88 The central ward is called All Saints;
to the north is Swinley ward, and to the
west of both St. Andrew's ward. The
small but populous district in the south
has three wards, Victoria and St. Thomas,
on the west and east, being divided by
Wallgate ; and Poolstock, to the south of
the Douglas. Scholes has four wards :
St. Qeorge and St. Patrick the inner-
most, divided by the street called Scholes ;
and Lindsay and St. Catherine outside,
divided by Whelley.
88 Lanes, and Ches. Hist, and Cental.
Notes, iii, 100 ; an impression of it occurs
among the De Trafford deeds.
87 Pink and Beaven, Parl. Rep. of Lanes.
217, where an account of the members
will be found.
88 Sinclair, Wigan, i, 222.
89 In 1292 in various suits appear
Quenilda widow of Nigel de Wigan,
Thurstan de Wigan, Henry son of Hugh
de Wigan, and others ; Assize R. 408,
m. 54 d, 97, &c.
About 1 290 Roger son of Orm de Wigan
was defendant ; De Banco R. 167, m.
8d. In 1307 Maud widow of Adam son
of Orm de Wigan claimed dower in Wigan
lands from Adam son of Roger son of
Orm; De Banco R. 162, m. 258 d.;
Assize R. 421, m. 4. Lands of Richard
son of Adam son of Orm are mentioned
in 1310; Crosse D. (Trans. Hist. Soc.),
no. 19.
Margery widow of Roger de Wigan
(son of William son of Hugh de Wigan)
in 1331 claimed certain lands as her
inheritance. A deed granting portion of
them to her brother John atte Cross was
produced, but she denied it to be hers ;
De Banco R. 287, m. 106.
90 In 1291 and 1292 Richardson of
Adam de Scholes claimed various tene-
ments in Wigan ; his legitimacy was
denied, but he appears to have recovered
possession ; Assize R. 407, m. i ; 408,
m. 3.
91 Alice widow of Thomas the Jew,
74
and Alice wife of Robert the Jew, occur
in local suits in 1350 ; Assize R. 1444,
m. 4, 7.
Robert son of Richard de Ince in 1352
granted land in the Scholes, adjoining
John de Longshaw's land, to Hugh son
of Henry the Jew ; Towneley MS. GG,
no. 2618.
In 1383 William de Whittington re-
leased to William the Jew, chaplain, his
claim to the land called Jewsneld near
Whelley Cross; Add. MS. 32106, no.
1351. William the Jew was a trustee in
1417; Crosse D. (Trans. Hist. Sot.), no.
126.
92 William Botling was a burgess about
1 300. Richard Botling made a feoffment
of his estate in 1333 ; Crosse D. no. 6,
44.
John son of William Botling of Wigan
claimed three messuages, &c., from
Richard Botling and others in 1344 ;
Assize R. 1435, m. 45 d.
Birkhead,93 Duxbury,94 Pres-
ton,95 Ford,96 and Scott.97 The
Crosse family, afterwards of
Liverpool and Chorley, were
long closely connected with
98 This family held a good posi-
tion in the town, and furnished
several of the mayors. There is a
quaint note concerning the Bilk-
heads in Leland's Itinerary, vi, 14 ;
he suggests a relationship with the
Windermere Birkheads or Birketts.
In 1308-9 John de Birkhead, son
of Ralph, granted a burgage to Richard
del Stanistreet ; Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 253.
John de Birkhead attested various local
charters down to 1324; Adam de Birk-
head others from 1377 to 1417 ; in the
last-named year his son and grandson,
Henry and John, also attested ; Crosse D.
nos. 41, 72, 1 26. John Birkhead was living
in 1434 ; Townelcy MS. OO, no. 1301.
In 1471 Richard was son and heir of
Henry Birkhead ; ibid. no. 148. John
Birkhead appears in 1504 ; ibid. no. 165.
In 1338 Hugh son of Robert de Birk-
head claimed from Richard de Birkhead,
litster, various tenements in Wigan, but
did not prosecute his claim ; Assize R.
1425, m. 2. Thurstan de Birkhead and
John his brother were defendants in
1356 ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 5, m.
26 ; and Matthew son of Thurstan de
Birkhead, in 1376 ; De Banco R. 461, m.
276 d. Adam de Birkhead and Joan his
wife were plaintiffs in 1374 ; De Banco
R. 456, m. 10 d. ; 460, m. 364. Euphe-
mia daughter of William son of Richard
de Birkhead, litster or tinctor, demanded
in 1357 20 acres in Wigan from Sir
Robert de Langton, Robert his son and
others ; Pal. of Lane. Misc. 1-8, m. 3, 4,
5 ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 6, m. 3.
The younger Robert defended, saying the
land had been granted to himself and
Margaret his wife and their issue.
An undated petition, addressed to the
Archbishop of Canterbury, as Chancellor,
complained that John Birkhead, feoffee of
Richard Birkhead, had refused to make over
an estate in the latter's land to William
Marsh, the cousin and heir ; Early Chan.
Proc. 16-528.
Richard Birkhead, who died in or before
1512, held land in Rivington and a
burgage in Wigan ; Joan, his sister and
heir, was four years of age ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, no. 26. A later
inquisition shows that they were the
children of Hugh, son of Richard, son of
Henry ' Birkenhead ' of Wigan. The last-
named Henry, who had another son John,
had granted nine burgages in Wigan and
other lands there, held of the rector by a
rent of 431. 4</., to feoffees who had granted
five burgages to Maud, the widow of
Richard Birkhead for her life, and four
burgages to Elizabeth, widow of Hugh
Birkhead, who died 16 Jan. 1510-11, ibid,
v, no. 23. Joan, the heiress, married
Thomas, son and heir of Thomas
Tyldesley of Ward ley ; Vitit. of 1567
(Chet. Soc.), 44.
94 Thomas de Duxbury was mayor of
Wigan in 1402-3 ; he or another of the
name was outlawed in 1420 ; Crosse D.
(Trans. Hist. Soc.), no. 95, 127. John de
Duxbury also occurs ; ibid. no. 116, 130.
9d In 1277 Maud widow of Orm de
Wigan claimed burgages and land in
Wigan against William son of William de
Preston, and Eleanor his wife and others ;
De Banco R. 21, m. 62 d. About the same
WIGAN
Wigan : Adam del Crosse98 appears in 1277, his son
John in the first half of the I4th century.99 John's
son Thurstan 10° was followed by Hugh del Crosse his
son,101 after whose death the property went to Richard
del Crosse of Wigan and Liverpool. He may have
CROSSE. Quarterly
gulet and or a cross po-
tent argent in the Jirst
and fourth quarters.
time Adam del
Crosse obtained
from the same Wil-
liam and Eleanor
a messuage and 14
acres of land in
Wigan ; Final Cone.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 153.
From one of the Crosse D. (no. 19),
dated 1310, it appears that Eleanor de
Preston was a daughter of Nicholas de
Wigan, clerk ; this charter concerns land
in Henhurst Meadow, Hitchfield, Lorri-
mer's Acre, Loamy Half acre, Hengande
Half-acre, &c. ; the Stonygate is men-
tioned.
Adam Russell of Preston had land here
in 1307; De Banco R. 163, m. 214 d.
For Henry Russell see Lanes. Inq. and
Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 275.
96 There were two families of this name,
of Swinley and of Scholes ; see Bridge-
man, Wigan Ch. 259. They supplied
many mayors. In Oct. 1864 representa-
tives of James Horrocks of Spennymoor,
claiming to be the heir of Robert Ford
who died in 1772, took possession of the
4 Manor House ' in Scholes and were be-
sieged for some days, to the excitement of
the town.
•7 4 Roger Scott's land ' is mentioned
in 1323 ; Towneley MS. GG, no. 2561.
Roger ton of Roger Scott of Wigan in
1 345 complained that Robert del Mouri-
hilles had been wasting lands 'held by
the law of England* ; De Banco R. 345,
m. 95 d. Further particulars of the family
will be found in the account of Pember-
ton.
98 About seven hundred of the family
deeds are contained in Towneley's MS.
GG (Add. MS. 32107), no. 2196-905.
Some of these and others are printed in
the Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), v-ix,
Crosse D. no. 1-224.
The first of the family of whom any
particulars can be stated is the Adam del
Crosse, 1277, mentioned in a preceding
note. Two grants to him are known,
one being of land in Holywell Carr; Crosse
D. no. 7; Towneley's GG, no. 2535. To
his daughter Ellen he gave land in the
Rye Field and Holywell Carr ; Crosse D.
no. 13. She was living in 1292 ; Assize
R. 408, m. 32 d. Adam del Crosse was
also living in 1292 ; ibid. m. 32. The
Adam son of Richard del Crosse of 1311
(Crosse D. no. 20), was probably a different
person. The de Cruce of Latin deeds also
appears as ' de la Croyz,' 4 atte Crosse,'
and 'del Crosse.' The family seems to
have come from Lathom ; Crosse D. no. 5.
In 1277 Richard, rector of Wigan, had
a dispute with William del Crosse as to
whether the latter's toft belonged to the
church of Wigan or to a lay fee ; De
Banco R. 18, m. 54.
99 John son of Adam del Crosse was
defendant, with others, in a plea of mort
d'ancestor in 1295 ; Assize R. 1306, m.
20 d. Later he had various disputes with
Alan son of Waltsr the Fuller, husband
of his sister Ellen. As early as 1299 he
released all his right in the lands his
father had given Ellen on her marriage,
and in 1315 a final agreement was made ;
75
Towneley MS. GG, no. 2638, 2435 ;
Crosse D. no. 14, 23. He was a de-
fendant in 1292 in two Wigan cases,
Henry de Leigh being one plaintiff, and
Hugh son of William the reeve the
other ; Assize R. 408, m. 54, 76.
In 1304 he had a grant of land in the
Strindes in the islands of Wigan, on the
east side of the high road from Wigan to
Out-town Bridge ; Crosse D. no. 14*. In
1324-5 he granted to his son Thurstan
on the latter's marriage the burgage upon
which his capital messuage was built ;
another burgage which he had received
from his sister Margery; the Greater Hey
called the Eiclyves, and other lands ;
with remainders to the grantor's son
William, and to his daughter Maud, wife
of Henry Banastre ; ibid. n. 36. In
1329, by fine, Henry Banastre of Walton
secured from John del Crosse four messu-
ages and lands in Wigan ; Thurstan son
of John and the rector of Wigan putting
in their claims ; Final Cone, ii, 73.
About the same time Robert de
Clitheroe the rector called on John del
Crosse to render an account for the time
he was the rector's bailiff" in Wigan, viz.
from Michaelmas 1313 till the end of
August 1316, during which time the
profits of three mills, markets, and fairs
amounted to ,£160 ; and from September
1316 to 4 April 1324, during which
time the issues of the church as in
corn, hay, beasts, great tithes, small tithes,
oblations, obventions, and other profits,
amounted he said to ,£1,500. The money
receipts during the same period amounted
to £335 I1J- 7^- At the trial John did
not appear, but the jury decided against
him and he was committed to the Fleet
Prison ; De Banco R. 279, m. 61. In the
following year the rector sought to make
it clear that four messuages and lands
held by John del Crosse and Thurstan
his son were free alms of the church of
Wigan and not their lay fee ; De Banco
R. 283, m. 147. John seems to have
died about this time, and Thurstan only
is named in the following year ; ibid. R.
285, m. 15 d.
100 Thurstan del Crosse and Emma his
wife were plaintiffs in a Wigan dispute in
1334; Coi am Rege R. 297, m. 6.
Thurstan appears as witness to charters
from 1346 to 1367 ; Towneley MS. GG,
no. 2753, 2423. He was defendant in a
suit of 1355 ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R.
4, m. 6.
101 Hugh son of Thurstan del Crosse
made sundry grants in 1370, charging an
annual rent of i mark on his Wigan lands
in favour of William son of Adam de
Liverpool, who seems then to have
married Katherine widow of John son of
Aymory ; Towneley MS. GG, no. 2269,
2896. In 1382 he made a feoffment of
his lands in Wigan and Leigh ; Crosse D.
no. 75 ; and in 1386 he was mayor of
the town ; ibid. no. 80. He appears to
have died about 1392. Katherine his
widow, afterwards wife of Thomas de
Hough, in 1403 granted to trustees the
lands she had had from her late husband ;
Towneley MS. GG, no. 2343. In 1395
the feoffees of Hugh del Crosse gave lands
received from him to his son Henry, with
remainders to his widow Katherine (for
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
been a descendant of Aymory the Walker, who appears
to have been a Crosse also.101 The Marklands were
prominent up to the beginning of the 1 8th century.103
A number of deeds concerning the Marsh family have
been preserved by Kuerden.104 Other surnames were
derived from various trades carried on here.105 In
few cases can any connected account be given of
them.
By an inquisition taken in 1323 it was found that
one William de Marclan had held two messuages and
two acres of land and half an acre of meadow in
Wigan of the rector by the service of I ^d. yearly, and
other lands in Shevington of Margaret Banastre. He
granted them to feoffees, who in turn granted a moiety
to Robert de Holand. The last-named at Christmas
1317 assigned an annual rent of zgs. 6d. out of his
life) ; to Imayne daughter of Hugh and
Katherine ; to William and to Gilbert,
brothers of Hugh ; ibid. GG, no. 2356.
These are not heard of again.
From all this it appears that Katherine,
vrho was a daughter of Adam son of
Matthew de Kenyon (Crosse D. no. 56),
•was four times married : (i) to John son
of Aymory, about 1366 ; (2) to William,
«on of Adam de Liverpool, who died in
1383 (ibid. no. 77); (3) to Hugh del
Crosse, who died about 1392 ; and (4) to
Thomas de Hough, of Thornton Hough
in Wirral, who died in 1409 ; see Ormerod,
Chei. (ed. Helsby), ii, 549, 550 (from p.
576 it appears that Thomas had a pre-
vious wife, also named Katherine). She
had issue by the three earlier marriages.
She was itill living in 1417 ; Crosse D.
no. 126. The pedigree recorded in 1567
Visit. (Chet. Soc. 107) gives her yet
another husband, William de Houghton,
the first of all ; but this may be an
error.
102 Adam del Crosse, who heads the
pedigree, had another son William, who
may have been the William del Crosse
already mentioned in 1277. In 1292
William son of William the Tailor of
Wigan claimed a tenement from William
*on of Adam del Crosse on a plea of mort
d'ancestor ; Assize R. 408, m. 46 d.
This William married Emma daughter
of Thomas de Ince. The widow in 1316
released to John del Crosse all her right
in her husband's lands in Ormskirk ;
Towneley MS. GG, no. 2384.
There seems, however, to have been
another of the name, for in 1331 Isolda
widow of William de Cros complained
that she had been deprived of 401. rent
from a messuage and 60 acres in Wigan ;
Assize R. 1404, m. 18 d.
In 1329 Aymory the Walker, son of
William del Crosse, granted to feoffees all
his lands in Wigan ; these were regranted
forty years later, with remainders to
William, John, Henry, and Thurstan,
sons of Aymory ; Towneley MS. GG,
no. 2513, 2556.
An Aymory the Walker appears as
early as 1309, when William the Frere
granted him half a burgage next to the
half-burgage he already held ; ibid. GG,
no. 2588. In 1316 he had a grant from
Richard de Ince ; ibid. GG, no. 2654.
In 1 345 Lora widow of Robert de Leyland
granted to Aymory the Walker land called
the Souracre ( ' Sowrykarr ' ) in Wigan ;
ibid. GG, no. 2544 ; and in the same
year he is named in De Banco R. 344, m.
432-
Before 1 347 John son of Aymory had
acquired land near Standishgate from Adam
son of John Dickson, whose divorced wife
in that year released all claim to it ;
Towneley MS. GG, no. 2568. A little
later he purchased land in Liverpool from
Adam son of Richard de Liverpool ; ibid.
GG, no. 2576. In 1347 William son of
Aymory granted to Thomas son of Henry
Fairwood a toft lying in the Wirchinbank;
ibid. GG, no. 2604. In July 1359 Wil-
liam son of Aymory the Walker and
Isobel his wife were non-suited in a
claim against Agnes, widow of Aymory ;
Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 7, m. 3 d.
William had a son Aymory, who about
1380 made a feoffment of his lands in
Wigan; ibid. GG, no. 2567, 2534. In
1388 Aymory the Walker leased the
Priestsacre in Botlingfield to Richard de
Longshaw ; Crosse D. no. 96.
John son of the elder Aymory in or
about 1366 married the above-named
Katherine daughter of Adam de Kenyon ;
Crosse D. no. 56 ; see also Towneley MS.
GG, no. 2550. He died in 1369, leaving
three sons by her, Richard, Nicholas, and
Thurstan; Crosse D. no. 66. In 1377
Robert de Picton, cousin and heir of
Robert Barret of Liverpool, released to
William son of Adam de Liverpool,
Katherine his wife, and Richard son of
John Aymoryson of Wigan, all actions ;
Towneley MS. GG, no. 2713.
It is uncertain whether the Richard
del Crosse who followed Hugh was the
latter's son or the Richard son of John
Aymoryson and Katherine born about
1367. The latter is the statement in the
Visit, of 1567, and has probabilities in its
favour. The charters state Richard
del Crosse to have been the son of
Katherine, but do not name his father,
and he is not named in the remainders to
Hugh's feofFment of 1395. Richard del
Crosse first occurs in the charters in
1400-1 (when, if he were son of Hugh,
he could not have been of full age) ;
Towneley MS. GG, no. 2526 ; Crosse D.
no. 96. On the other hand, in a writ
excusing him from serving on juries,
dated 1445, he is said to be over sixty
years of age, while Richard the son of
John and Katherine would have been
nearly eighty years of age ; Towneley
MS. GG, no. 2286. In 1423-4 Richard
Aymory son of Henry Aymoryson (i.e.
son of Aymory son of William) released
to his ' cousin ' Richard del Crosse all his
right in land which had belonged to
Aymory the Walker, son of William, son
of Aymory de Wigan ; Towneley MS.
GG, no. 2511.
Richard del Crosse prospered. He was
receiver for Lady Lovell (ibid. GG, no.
2199) ; and acquired lands in Liverpool
and Chorley at the beginning of the I5th
century. Settling in the former town he
and his successors had little further direct
connexion with Wigan. A schedule of
lands in Wigan included in the marriage
settlement of John Crosse and Alice
Moore in 1566 is printed in Crosse D.
no. 224. Some of these were sold in
1591 and later years ; Pal. of Lane. Feet
of F. bdle. 53, m. 13, &c. For a com-
plaint by John Crosse regarding trespass
on his lands at Wigan see Local Glean.
Lanes, and Ches. ii, 203.
108 A pedigree was recorded at the Vltlt.
of 1664 (Chet. Soc.), 193. A descendant
acquired Foxholes in Rochdale by marriage
with an Entwisle heiress ; Fishwick,
Rochdale, 411. The surname is derived
from Markland in Pemberton. Adam
son of Richard de Marklan(d) attested
a charter dated about 1280; Matthew
and Henry one in 1323 ; Crosse D. no.
»3» 34-
John and Matthew Markland occur in
the time of Richard II, and John son of
Matthew Markland in 1413 ; Kuerden
MSS. ii, fol. 253. John Markland of
Wigan, mercer, occurs in 1443 and 1445 ;
Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 5, m. I ; 7, m. 2,
6 d. Alexander son of Matthew Mark-
land was one of the receivers of the per-
secuted priests in 1586 ; Bridgeman,
Wigan Ch. 166, quoting Harl. MS. 360.
Ralph Markland, as a landowner, contri-
buted to the subsidy in 1628 ; Norris D.
(B.M.).
Captain Gerard Markland had served
in a regiment of horse raised for the
Parliament, but disbanded in 1648, after
which he applied for arrears of pay. He
may be the alderman Gerard Markland
who left ^5 to the poor of Wigan ; Cal.
of Com. for Compounding, i, 173 ; Bridge-
man, Wigan Ch. 716. A short letter of
his is printed in Hist. MSS. Com. Rep.
xiv, App. iv, 62.
104 Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 253. Grants
of land were made to Roger del Marsh by
Richard son of Adam son of Orm de
Wigan and by Adam son of Roger son
of Orm de Wigan in 1322 and 1336. In
1323-4 John son of Robert del Marsh
granted his inheritance to John del Marsh
and Roger his brother.
John son of Roger del Marsh gave
land in Scholefield to Robert de Lai-
thwaite and Anabel his wife.
In 1398-9 Adam del Marsh received
from the feoffees the lands he had granted
them with remainders to Roger his son
by his first wife ; this seems to have been
upon the occasion of his later marriage
with Joan, daughter of Hugh de Win-
stanley.
Deeds of the time of Hen. VI show
the succession ; Roger — s. William, who
married Isabel — s. Robert, whose wife
was Margaret.
In the time of Hen. VIII the lands of
this family appear to have been sold to
Thomas Hesketh.
105 T^ following occur in the I4th
and 1 5th centuries : -Baxter, Bowwright,
Carpenter, Ironmonger, Litster, Lorimer,
Potter, Skinner, Tanner, Teinturer,
Walker, and Wright.
Three minor families occur in the Visi-
tations. The Rigbys of Wigan and Peel
in Little Hulton recorded a pedigree in
1613 ; Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 65. In 1664
Colonel William Daniell of Wigan re-
corded a pedigree ; Dugdale, Visit. (Chet.
Soc.), 95. Also the Pennington family ;
ibid. 232. David de Pennington and
Margery his wife occur in pleas of 1374 ;
De Banco R. 455, m. 424d. ; 457, m.
341. Margery afterwards married Richard
del Ford, and in 1384 a settlement by
fine was made between them and John
de Swinley and Alice his wife concerning
the latter's inheritance ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 2, m. 27.
For the Baldwins of Wigan see Pal.
Note Bit. i, 54.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
share to Aline the recluse of Wigan for her mainten-
ance. This payment ceased when Sir Robert's lands
were forfeited ; whereupon the recluse petitioned for
its restoration, and inquiry was made.10*3
William Ford and the widows of James Houghton
and Nicholas Standish contributed to a subsidy of
Mary's reign as landowners.106 The following were
returned as freeholders in 1600 : Gilbert Barrow,
Peter Marsh, Oliver Markland, William Foster, Ham-
let Green, Charles Leigh, William Burgess, Edward
Challenor, John Tarleton, Gilbert Bank, Ralph Mark-
land of Meadows ; Thomas Molyneux and E Iward
Laithwaite of Wigan Woodhouses ; Alexander Ford
of Swinley, William and Hugh Langshaw, and
William Bankes of Scholes.107 William Ford contri-
buted to the subsidy of 1628 as a landowner.108
Wigan people generally were royalists, but William
Pilkington was in 1650 singled out as a 'grand
delinquent ' ; he escaped with a fine of £29 5/.109
Minor offenders against the Parliament were Robert
Baron, William Brown, and William Tempest.110
The following ' papists ' registered estates at Wigan
in 1717 : Nicholas Mather of Abram, Richard
Tootell, Thomas Naylor of Orrell, Gilbert Thornton,
Thomas Scott, gent., John Thornton, Dr. Thomas
Worthington, and Anne Laithwaite of Berwick.111
The parish church has been described above. The
first additional church in the township in connexion
with the Establishment was St. George's, between
Standishgate and the Douglas, consecrated in 1781.
A district was assigned to it in 1843, and this became
a parish in 1864, on the resignation of Sir Henry
Gunning, rector, as did the two following : 11J St.
Catherine's, Scholes, consecrated in 1841, had a
separate district assigned in 1843."* There is a small
graveyard attached. St. Thomas's, consecrated in
1851, had in the following year a district assigned
to it.114 The rector of Wigan is patron of the above
churches. St. James's, Poolstock, was consecrated in
1866, for a district formed in 1863. The patronage
is vested in Mr. J. C. Eckersley.114 St. Andrew's,
Woodhouse Lane, consecrated in 1882, had a district
assigned to it in 1 87 1.116 The church of St. Michael
and All Angels, Swinley, was consecrated in 1878
as a chapel of ease to the parish church, and became
parochial in i88i.117 The patronage of these two
churches is vested in the rector of Wigan.
The various bodies of Methodists have in all eight
churches and mission-rooms, the Wesleyans having
two, the Primitive Methodists three, the Indepen-
dents two, and the United Free Church one. The
Wesleyans have also built the Queen's Hall, a large
structure opened in 1908.
A Particular or Calvinistic Baptist congregation
was formed in 1795 by seceders from the Countess of
Huntingdon's Connexion (St. Paul's) ; 118 the chapel
in King Street was opened in 1854. There is
another chapel in Platt Lane.
What provision was made by those who became
Nonconformists by the Act of 1662 does not appear.
In 1689 William Laithwaite's barn was certified as a
meeting-place of the Wigan Dissenters,119 and two
years later Roger Kenyon knew of two meeting-places,
one held by Mr. Green, the supporter of Presby-
terianism in Hindley, and the other by ' dissenters who
do furiously dissent from each other.' m An ' old
English Presbyterian congregation ' is mentioned in
1773, and a little later William Davenport, also
minister at Hindley, was in charge. He was pro-
bably a Unitarian, but after his death the chapel was
about 1 797 secured for the Scottish Presbyterians, who
have retained possession to the present time. Trinity
Presbyterian Church was built upon the old site in
l877.m
The Congregationalists formed a church about
1777, probably as a protest against the Unitarianism
taught at the existing chapel ; in 1785 they opened
a chapel, now St. Paul's Congregational Church.
For some time it belonged to the Countess of
Huntingdon's Connexion. Becoming ' unhealthy '
in 1839, it was dissolved and reformed.1" A new
Gothic church replaced the old building in 1902.
A new minister coming to Wigan in 1812 drew a
congregation from dissatisfied Nonconformists, and a
chapel was opened in 1818. Hope Congregational
Church, opened in 1889, is a short distance from this
older chapel, and continues its work.m Silverwell
Congregational chapel originated in a secession from
St. Paul's in 1867 and continued till 1888, when it
was bought by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincoln-
shire Railway Company.1*4 There is a chapel in
Gidlow Lane.
The Welsh Presbyterians have a place of worship ;
the Christian Brethren have two ; and the Catholic
105a Inq. a.q.d. 17 Edw. II, no. 137;
Anct. Petitions, P.R.O. 150-7470.
106 Mascy of Rixton D.
W Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 239-43. Richard Molyneux of Wigan
Woodhouses was trustee for lands in
Orrell in 1522 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. n, m. 192. Thomas Molyneux
was buried at Wigan, 18 Nov. 1611.
John Molyneux of the same place fol-
lowed ; Lanes. Inq. f>.tn. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 279. In the same work
(ii, 1 54) is the inquisition taken after the
death of John Lowe of Aspull, who died
in 1619, holding lands in Wigan.
108 Norris D. (B.M.).
109 Cal. of Com, for Compounding, iii,
2175. 'It was by his aid that the Earl
of Derby got into Wigan ; he helped in
its defence, assisted Prince Rupert with
hay and money, and told the Earl of
Derby that all the Wiganers would go
with the Prince to York or Liverpool
and turn out the Roundheads ; and when
ethers refused, he went himself.' He
had an estate of great value, which he had
gone to London to underrate.
110 Ibid, iv, 2913 ; iii, 1804, 2011.
111 Engl, Catb. Nonjurors, 97, 124, 125,
136, 144. At the time of the Oates Plot
Dr. Worthington of Wigan and his son
Thomas fled into Yorkshire for fear of
an indictment; Lydiate Hall, 125, 126.
'Old Dr. Worthington ' in 1682 entreated
Roger Kenyon to withdraw the warrant
out against him ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep.
xiv, App. iv, 1 39 ; Dr. Thomas Worthing-
ton was with other suspected persons im-
prisoned in 1689 ; ibid. 314.
112 Bridgeman, op. cit. 783 ; Land. Gats.
I Aug. 1843 ; 28 July 1863. Under an
Act obtained in 1904, St. George's will
be removed to the east side of the Douglas.
The Rev. Benjamin Powell, incumbent
from 1821 to 1860, was the father of
Sir Francis Sharp Powell, bart., M.P. for
Wigan from 1885 to the present.
118 Bridgeman, op. cit. 786 ; Lond. Gas.
i Aug. 1843; 14 June 1 864; I4jan.i868.
There is a mission church in Whelley.
77
114 Bridgeman, op. cit. 788 ; Lond. Gax.
24 Feb. 1852 ; 14 June 1864 ; 19 May
1876.
116 Bridgeman, op. cit. 788 ; Lond. Gaz.
i May 18635 2* Julv J^63 > 5 AuS'
1870. There are two Eckersley memo-
rial brasses in the church. There is a
licensed chapel at Worsley Mesnes.
116 Bridgeman, op. cit. 789 ; Lond. Gam.
28 Mar. 1871 ; 28 Apr. 1871 ; 13 Apr.
1883. The incumbent, the Rev. W. A.
Wickham, has given assistance to the
editors.
U7 Bridgeman, op. cit. 790 ; Lond. Gea.
5 Apr. 1881 ; 15 June 1883.
118 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconformity,
iv, 84. For notice of the congregation
in 1798 see Rippon, Bapt. Reg. iii, 21.
119 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App.
iv, 232.
120 Ibid. 270.
121 Nightingale, op. cit. iv, 67.
"» Ibid, iv, 74.
128 Ibid, iv, 84.
124 Ibid, iv, 88.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Apostolic Church has a meeting-room. There are
two unsectarian mission-rooms.
The Swedenborgians have a meeting-place called
New Jerusalem.
Something has already been recorded of the loyalty
of a large number of the people of Wigan to the
ancient faith at the Reformation.115 In 1681 there
were ninety-one ' convicted recusants ' in Wigan, and
an attempt to levy a fine for recusancy — a result of
the Protestant agitation of the time— led to a riot.1-'6
The Jesuits were in charge of the mission. In the
time of James II they had a flourishing school and
well-frequented chapel, but at the Revolution the
excited mob destroyed the buildings and the work
was stopped for a short time.127 The Society of
Jesus, however, still possesses the ancient property.
Fr. James Canell is known to have been there in
1696, and died at Wigan 1722.™ Fr. Charles
Brockholes built a house about i 740, the upper room
being designed as a chapel.1*9 Near this a chapel
was built in 1785, and enlargement being necessary
it was replaced by the present church of St. John
in 1819. It is still served by the Jesuits.130 The
other churches, served by secular clergy, are St. Mary's,
Standishgate, built in 1818 ;130a St. Patrick's, Scholes,
founded in 1847 and rebuilt in 1880 ; St. Joseph's,
1870 ; and the Sacred Heart, Springfield, 1903. A
convent of Sisters of Notre Dame is served from
St. John's.1"
The grammar school was founded before 1596.
PEMBERTON
Pemberton, 1212.
Pemberton is cut off from Wigan on the north-east
by the River Douglas, and from Ince on the east by
another brook running into that stream. Through
the township runs eastward the brook dividing Orrell
from Winstanley. Going north from this brook on
the eastern side are found Hindley Hall, Worsley
Hall, Newtown, Laithwaite House, Marsh Green,
Walthew House, and Markland l ; and on the
western side Tunstead, and Lamberhead Green,
Norley, Kit Green, and Orrell City. To the south,
on the eastern side lie Smithy Brook, Worsley
Mesnes, Goose Green, Hawkley,8 and Wheatlees. The
lowest ground is that in the Douglas valley ; the
surface rises to the south-west, where a height of
125 E.g. in the account of Rector Fleet-
wood. In 1580 the sons of Ford of
Swinley and Marklard were being edu-
cated beyond the seas, * where they were
accustomed and nourished in papistry ' ;
Gibson, Lydiatc Hal!, 218, 226, 240.
For Alexander Markland see Foley, Rec.
Sac. Jesus, vi, 14.7; Douay Diaries, 12,
321, &c. For James Ford, ibid. 12,
202, &c.
In 1583 the Bishop of Chester described
the ' papists ' about Preston, Wigan, and
Prescot, as ' most obstinate and con-
temptuous,' and desired the Privjr Council
to arrange ' to deal severely and roundly '
with them ; ibid. 222 (from S.P. Dom.
Eliz. clxiii, 84).
The story told by John Laithwaite,
born at Wigan in 1585, gives a picture
from the other side. He was the son of
Henry Laithwaite by his wife Jane Bolton,
and he and three brothers became Jesuits
and two of them laboured in England.
He stated, on entering the English college
at Rome in 1603, 'I made my rudiments
at Blackrod under a Protestant school-
master, with two of my brothers ; but
being a Catholic, our parents removed us
and we received instruction at home from
a Catholic neighbour for about half a year.
At length it was arranged for our attend-
ing schools at Wigan until we were older,
and that I did for four years or more.
My father's family is descended from the
Laithwaites, a wealthy family of the
middle class.
' For his faithful adherence to the
Catholic religion my father was driven
away by the Protestants, and compelled
to abandon all his property and posses-
sions, and seek an asylum in another
county, until at length, by favour of
Henry Earl of Derby, he was reinstated
in his property, but rather in the con-
dition of a serf, totally dependent upon
the pleasure and ambition of the earl,
who had the power of committing or dis-
charging him at will. He was thus
enabled to live quietly and securely at
home, protected by the earl from the in-
sults of the heretics, for the space of two
fears ; after which, at the earl's pleasure,
he was thrown into Lancaster Gaol, but
was liberated after two months, on ac-
count of corporal infirmity, and returning
home with health completely broken, he
died a fortnight after.
' My mother, who is descended from
the ancient stock of the Boltons, per-
severing in the Catholic faith, about three
years after my father's death suffered the
loss of her whole property ; but death
at length released her from all her tri-
bulations.' A Joan Laithwaite, widow,
of Pemberton, was 'a recusant and in-
dicted thereof in 1590 ; Lydiate Hall,
247.
' I have five brothers, of whom the
eldest, upon my mother's death, yielding
to the solicitations and threats of many
and the dread of the loss of his property,
unhappily lapsed into heresy. . . . My
second brother is a Catholic, and (as I
hear) is a priest in Spain. My third
brother is now a Protestant. In the first
or second year after my mother's death
he was seized by the pursuivants who are
employed to hunt down the Catholics,
and was taken before the Bishop of
Chester, who endeavoured both by threats
and blandishments to entice him to
heresy, but in vain, for he preferred
torture and death itself to abandoning
his religion. But it seems his words
were widely different from his actions,
for having been discharged from custody,
being under age, he was afterwards se-
duced by a certain intimate friend and,
now, though utterly ignorant, yet he is
obstinate, and as he declares, acts by the
inspiration of the Spirit. My fourth and
fifth brothers were always brought up
Catholics ; the younger of them is now in
grammar at Douay. I have two sisters,
both Catholics ; one married, one still a
child. I was always a Catholic.' Foley,
Rec. Soc. Jesus, iv, 641, 642. The stories
of the other brothers fop. cit.) are full of
interest.
The Recusant Roll of 1641 shows but
few names in Wigan township ; Tram.
Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xiv, 239.
128 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv,
128, 132. The bailiffs made a distress
on the goods of Anne, widow of Richard
Pennington, for a fine of £100. A great
disturbance ensued ; the bailiffs were kept
imprisoned in the house for an hour and
78
a half, and on venturing into the street
were set upon by ' some hundreds,' and
the distress rescued, the men hardly
escaping with their lives.
127 Foley, op. cit. v, 319. 'Some of
the fathers resided there and taught
several classes, numbering more than a
hundred scholars. . . . There were con-
stant sermons, which the mayor, or chief
magistrate of the town, and his suite were
accustomed to attend. . . . The Society
had very large chapels in other places,
which were much better attended than
the neighbouring Protestant churches.'
These sentences are from the Annual
Letters of 1685, &c. In 1687 Bishop
Leyburn confirmed 1,331 persons.
Dr. Kuerden passing through Wigan
about 1695, after crossing the Mill
Bridge from Scholes, saw ' without the
bars, a fair built house lately styled a
college, with officers of learning belong-
ing to it, but since violently pulled down,
and the ruins thereof yet remaining, but
neither Romanist master nor scholars are
left.' Thence by the bars he passed into
Millgate ; Local Glean. Lanes, and Cbes.
i, 214.
128 Foley, op. cit. v, 405. His stipend
in 1701 amounted to ^"31 4?., of which
^10 came from the people ; ibid. 321.
129 Ibid, v, 406. His income in 1750
was £47 101., of which £18 came from
his family and £6 IQS. from the congre-
gation ; sixty general confessions were
made (for the Jubilee), and the ' cus-
tomers ' or attendants numbered 300.
Bishop Matthew Gibson confirmed 230
in 1784, when there were 660 Easter
communions ; in 1793 the numbers were
285 and 300 respectively. The return
made to the Bishop of Chester in 1767
shows an increase of 'papists' from 594
in 1717 to 1,194 in the main portion
of the parish, apart from the chapel-
ries ; Trans. Hist. Sec. (new ten), xviii,
215.
180 Liverpool Catb. Ann. 1901.
isoa por t}je controversy about it see
Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of Engl. Catb. iv, 270.
181 Liverpool Cath. Ann. 1901.
1 Ancient spellings : Marclane, 1276 j
Marghlands, xvi cent.
2 Or Hawcliff.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
245 ft. is attained. The area is 2,894 acres.3 The
population in 1901 was 21,664, including Goose
Green, Highfield, Little Lane, and other hamlets.
The whole district is unpicturesque, bare and open,
occupied for the most part by collieries, mine shafts,
and pit banks. There are, however, fields where
some crops are raised, potatoes and oats surviving the
smoke of the environs. Pastures are scattered about
also. The soil is clay and loam, over Coal Measures
and stone.
There are several important roads. That from
Ormskirk to Wigan enters the township at Lamber-
head Green and passes through Newtown, where it is
joined by the road from St. Helens through Billinge,
and by that from Warrington to Wigan, through
Goose Green. This last road has a branch to Wigan
through Worsley Mesnes. The principal railway is
the Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's line from
Liverpool to Wigan, which has a station called
Pemberton ; a loop line, avoiding Wigan, goes east
to join the Wigan and Bolton line. The same
company's Wigan and Southport railway crosses the
northern corner of the township. There are minor
lines for the service of the collieries.
The Local Government Act of 1858 was adopted
by the township in 1872.* The board was changed
to an urban district council of fifteen members by the
Act of 1894. It has now been dissolved and the
township added to the borough of Wigan, with four
wards each returning three councillors and having an
alderman.
A hospital was erected in 1886 by the local board.
A public park was given by Colonel B. H. Blundell
in 1903 ; and a Carnegie library has been opened.
Coal-mining is the principal industry. There are
stone qurrries. boiler works, iron foundry, cotton
mill, and brick-making. The soil is loam and clay,
with subsoil of clay, stone, and coal ; potatoes and
oats are grown, and there is some pasturage.
The pedestal and portion of a cross exist at Goose
Green.5
There was formerly a burning well at Hawkley.6
At Lamberhead Green in 1775 was born William
Atherton, a Wesleyan divine, president of the Con-
ference in 1846. He died in i85o.7
Before the Conquest, as afterwards,
M4NOR PEMBERTON seems to have formed one
of the berewicks or members of the manor
of Newton.8 It is so regarded in the inquisitions.9
During the 1 2th century it was held in thegnage by
a certain Alan,10 whose son Alan, settling at Windle,
was known as Alan de Windle. At the Survey of
1 212 the latter was holding Pemberton, assessed
as two plough-lands, by the
rent of 2Os. and the service
of finding a judge for the
court of Newton.11 Like other
Windle properties this mesne
lordship may have descended
to the Burnhulls" and Ger-
ards 1S ; no record of it occurs
in their inquisitions, but Sir
Thomas Gerard, who died in
1621, held certain lands in
the township 'of the lords of
Pemberton.' " It seems, how-
ever, to have been alienated
to the Walton family,15 and
so to have descended with Northlegh or NORLET
to Legh of Lyme.16
The first Alan de Pemberton had created a sub-
ordinate manor for a younger son, known as Adam de
Pemberton.17 He in 1212 was holding it of Alan de
Windie, and had granted out a quarter of it to
Henry son of Lawrence, who in turn had granted an
oxgang, i.e. a quarter of his share, to Alan son of
Aldith.18 Adam de Pemberton made grants to the
Hospitallers 19 and to Cockersand Abbey.10 He was
PEMBERTON. Argent
a chrvercn btfwtcn thret
buckets iablt with hoops
and handles or.
8 2,895, including 15 acres of inland
•water ; CensuD of 1901.
* Land. Gaz. 20 Aug. 1872.
• Lanes, and Cbes. Antij. Soc. xiv, 235.
6 Baines, Lanes, (cd. 1836), iii, 563,
quoting Bowen's Geog. Roger Lowe re-
cords that on i June 1665 he went to
*ee the burning well at Pemberton, ' and
we had two eggs which was so done by
no material fire ' ; Local Glean. Lanes,
and Cbes. i, 1 80.
7 Diet. Nat. Biog.
» V.C.H. Lanes, i, 286.
9 See for example Lanes. Inq. p.m.
{Chet. Soc.), i, 138; ibid. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches. ), i, 105.
10 In the Pipe Roll of 1200-1 the
sheriff rendered account of 10 marks from
Alan son of Alan for having seisin of the
land of Pemberton and for his relief;
also for a writ of right against Nicholas le
Boteler, formerly deputy sheriff, concern-
ing 40$. already paid ; Farrer, Lanes. Pipe
R. 132, 141.
In 1202 Edusa, widow of Alan de
Windle, claimed dower in Pemberton
from Alan »on of Alan ; Final Cone.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 37.
11 Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 75.
18 See the case cited below.
18 In the inquisition made in 1447
after the death of Sir Peter Gerard it was
found that he had held messuages, lands,
and tenements, rents, and services in
Pemberton, but the jurors did not know
of whom they were held ; Towneley
MS. DD, no. 1465.
14 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), ii, 300.
15 Alan de Windle granted to Master
Adam de Walton the homage of Adam
son of William de Pemberton, and this
being transferred to Adam de Walton,
lord of Walton le Dale, was by him
granted to Thurstan de Northlegh in
1316 ; Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxxviii,
509. In 1292 Adam de Pemberton was
nonsuited in a claim against Adam de
Northlegh ; Assize R. 408, m. 43. In
1305 Adam de Pemberton claimed est-
overs as against Thurstan de Northlegh
and Maud, the widow of Adam de North-
legh, and his claim was allowed ; Abbrev.
Plac. (Rec. Com.), 258*. Adam de Pem-
berton acknowledged that Thurstan and
Maud had a right to housebote and
haybote without view of the forester, but
they had cut down their wood beyond
due measure, 93 oaks having been re-
moved ; Coram Rege R. 184, m. 53. By
a fine of 1321 7 messuages, 2 oxgangs
and 37 acres of land and 5 acres of
meadow in Pemberton were settled upon
Thurstan de Northlegh and Margery his
wife ; Final Cone, ii, 40 ; see also ii, 3 3,
43. Margery, widow of Thurstan de
Northlegh, occurs in 1346 ; Assize R.
1435, m. 31.
18 Robert de Legh of Adlington and
79
William de Radcliffe of Smithills married
respectively Maud and Katherine, daugh-
ters and co-heirs of Thurstan de North-
legh in Pemberton, by his wife Margery,
daughter and heir of John de Walton ;
Ormerod, Cbes. (ed. Helsby), iii, 66 1 ;
Lanes. Inq p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 35 ;
Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxxviii, 256-9.
In 1448 Robert Cantsfield of Pember-
ton, holding of Peter dc Legh, had a
dispute with John Pemberton 5 Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. 12, m. 2, 14.
In the inquisition (1528) after the
death of Sir Piers Legh his lands in
Pemberton were said to be held directly
of Thomas Langton ; Duchy of Lane.
Inq. p.m. vi, no. 63. In right of Norley
the Leghs of Lyme had a chapel in
Wigan Church, which was given up to
the rector in 1682; Bridgeman, Wigan
Ch. 694.
V Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 75. That
Adam was son of the elder Alan appears
from the Burnhull case cited below.
18 Ibid. It is probable that one of
these grants is represented by Tunstead.
19 Ibid. 76. No grant in Pemberton is
mentioned in the list of the Hospitallers'
lands in 1292 in the Plac.de Quo War. or
in the rental of 1 540.
20 Cockersand Chart. (Chet. Soc.), ii,
668-71. He gave land called Ashbern
ridding, within bound* starting at the
Douglas and going up Whittle Brook to
Flax ridding ; across the carr to the syke
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
still living in i 246." His descendant William died
about 1292," leaving a son Adam,13 who in 1331
made a settlement of the manor, his son William,
who had married Eleanor, being the heir.*4
In or before 1362 William died, leaving Eleanor
a widow," with six children. Thurstan, the heir,
was a minor, and his wardship was in 1367 claimed
by Robert de Legh and William son of Robert de
Radcliffe, in right of their wives.1* Thurstan died
soon afterwards and his five sisters were his heirs.
One of these died young ; the other four each had a
share, and it is easy to trace the descent of two : that
of Emma, who married Robert de Hindley of
Aspull ; *7 and of Katherine, who married Alexander
de Worsley.18 The family of Molyneux of Rainhill
had Hawkley in Pemberton, and in 1578 acquired a
fourth part of the manor.29 As late as 141 5, how-
ever, the lord of the manor was said to be Henry de
Pemberton.30
But few particulars can be given of the descent of
the various portions of the manor. HINDLET HALL
became the property of Meyrick Bankes of Winstanley,
and is held by his trustees.31 The Worsleys of
JTORSLET MESNES " were succeeded by the Downes
between Stephen's assart and the charcoal-
man's assart, and by the syke to the
Douglas. He also granted an assart
which Randle de Pemberton had held,
and another called White's cross. Henry
son of Lawrence released his share of
these lands to the canons.
The abbot shortly afterwards (before
1235) gave them to William son of
Richard White of Wigan, who had
married Hawise, daughter of Adam de
Pemberton, at a yearly rent of ^^d. ;
ibid. 671. About 1268 John the Smith
held these lands by the same rent and a
payment of £ a mark at the death of wife
or heir ; ibid. 668. For the inquisitions
after the death of Edmund the Smith of
Pemberton in 1408,866 Lanct. Inq. p.m.
(Chet. Soc.), i, 92.
31 Assize R. 404, m. 9. Adam de
Pemberton sued Peter de Burnhull for
200 acres in Pemberton, of which Alan,
the plaintiff's father, was seised in the
time of Henry II, i.e. before July 1189.
The decision was committed to the hazard
of a due), and Adam's man Philip being
defeated, Peter de Burnhull was allowed
to hold the land in peace. The sureties
for Philip were Alan de Windle, William
and James de Pemberton, and John del
Marsh. See also Assize R. 454* m- 25-
At the same time Adam de Pemberton
was summoned to answer Robert son of
Hugh, who complained that the lord of
Newton compelled him to do service to
the three-weeks court at Newton, which
Adam as mesne tenant should perform.
Robert's tenement was 1 7 acres, for which
he paid a rent of jd. ; Assize R. 404,
m. 12.
Adam and William his son, together
with James de Pemberton, were charged
with having disseised William White,
John del Marsh, and Adam his brother of
their common of pasture in Pemberton ;
ibid. m. 2. Peter de Burnhull also
claimed 6 acres in Ince from Adam de
Pemberton, William his son, and James
son of Henry; ibid. m. I2d. The last
may be the James de Pemberton of the
preceding case ; then the father may be
the Henry son of Lawrence of 1212.
22 The exact relationship is uncertain.
A case in 1254, in which an Adam son
of William was defendant, alludes to
William de Pemberton as if he were then
dead ; Cur. Reg. R. 1 54, m. 20. In
1292 William son of Roger de Ince
acquired a messuage and two oxgangs in
Pemberton from William son of Adam de
Pemberton and Mary his wife ; Final
Cone, i, 176. Two years later Mary,
widow of William, did not prosecute the
claim she mide against Adam son of
William son of Adam de Pemberton ;
Assize R. 1299, m. 14 d. John son of
William de Pemberton was of full age in
1292 ; Assize R. 468, m. 27 d.
28 Adam de Pemberton was both
plaintiff and defendant in 1292 ; Assize
R. 408, m. 58d. 43. Adam and Henry
de Pemberton were jurors in 1293 ; Lanes.
Inq. and Extents, i, 276. Hugh de Pem-
berton, enfeoffed by Adam de Pemberton
(probably the grandfather), recovered
seisin of a messuage, mill, &c., against
Adam de Pemberton and Robert de Rode;
Assize R. 1306, m. 16. The fine of 1304
(Final Cone, i, 203) may refer to a later
agreement between the parties.
84 Ibid, ii, 79.
William son of Hugh de Pemberton
is mentioned in 1343 ; Assize R. 430,
m. 26.
Hugh de Pemberton, rector of Brindle,
was about this time engaged in a number
of disputes and settlements in Pemberton;
possibly he was the younger son of Adam
mentioned in 1331. In 1356 Thomas
de Pemberton and many others, including
Henry de Pemberton the elder, Henry
his son, Edmund and Lawrence de Pem-
berton, and several 'nailers,' were con-
victed of having disseised Rector Hugh of
two messuages and lands in Pemberton ;
Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 5,m. 5. Roger
de Winstanley was defendant in another
case; ibid. m. 5 d. In 1365 and 1366
Emma, widow of Roger de Winstanley,
who afterwards married John de Ince,
brought a suit against the same Hugh ;
De Banco R. 421, m. 504 d. ; 425, m.
253 d. See also Final Cone, ii, 153.
35 In 1362 Eleanor, widow of Adam
[William] de Pemberton, and other
executors of the will of William son of
Adam de Pemberton, gave half a mark
for a writ respecting a false judgement ;
Fine R. 163, m. 7.
26 De Banco R. 427, m. 236 ; 463, m.
389, from which it appears that four of
the daughters had by 1376 married as
follows : Agnes to Alexander de Lynalx,
Katherine to Alexander de Worsley ;
Alice to Roger son of Richard de Ather-
ton, and Emma to Robert de Hindley.
The other daughter was named Joan.
V See above, and Visit, of 1613 (Chet.
Soc.), 117. In 1531 it was found that
Hugh Hindley of Aspull had held six
messuages, 60 acres of land, &c., and a
water-mill in Pemberton, of Thomas
Langton in socage, by the rent of 101. per
annum, i.e. a moiety of the ancient thegn-
age rent of the whole manor ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, no. 22. He had two
of the shares, as will be seen below.
28 The relationship of Alexander to the
main Worsley stock is unknown. An
Alexander son of Richard son of Henry
de Worsley occurs in 1334, but can
scarcely have been the husband of
Katherine ; Coram Rege R. 297, m. 120.
In October, 1431, a writ of redisseisin
was issued in favour of Robert de Sankey,
Hugh de Hindley, and Alice de Parr,
against William dc Worsley and Alice,
widow of Jordan de Worsley, regarding
80
lands and tenements in Pemberton and
Hindley ; Dtp. Keeper1* Rep. xxxiii, App.
32. Hugh Worsley of Pemberton is
mentioned in 1470 ; Towneley MS. GG,
no. 2671. For a curious claim made after
his death see Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 109.
The Worsley portion of the manor was-
in 1611 said to be held of Richard Fleet-
wood, baron of Newton, by a rent of 5*.
the service for a quarter of the manor ;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanct. and
Ches.), i, 172.
29 From the preceding note it will be
seen that a quarter of the manor is un-
accounted for. Nothing further is known
of William de Pemberton's daughter
Agnes, wife of Alexander de Lynalx.
Alice, who married Roger de Atherton,.
may have been ancestor of the Athertons
of later times.
It appears from the last note that
Robert de Sankey and Alice de Parr were
lords of the manor in 1431, in addition
to the Worsleys and Hindleys. One of
the latter married a Parr heiress, appar-
ently the Alice de Parr just named, so
securing the estate they had later in Parr
and a second quarter of the manor of
Pemberton. The Sankey quarter seems
to have descended to Thomas Sankey and
Thomas his son and heir apparent, who
in 1578 sold it to Thomas Molyneux of
Hawkley, in whose family it afterwards
descended ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
40, m. 171.
80 Lanct. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 103.
Henry, son of Henry de Pemberton, who-
had brothers William and Peter, occurs in
1430 ; Towneley MS. GG, no. 2675 ; and
Henry de Pemberton in 1447 ; Lanct. Inf.
p.m. ii, 54.
81 A moiety of the manor of Pember-
ton, i.e. the Hindley portion, was in the
possession of Robert Bankes of Winstanley
in August 1721, and appears to have
descended with Winstanley ; Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. 515, m. 4; 571, m. 6 d. ;.
628, m. 7.
82 The family attained some promi-
nence in the i6th century. The Wors-
leys of the Isle of Wight were the most
conspicuous offshoot ; Sir James Worsley,
their founder, in 1526 complained of the
destruction of fences in the Crossfield ;
Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), i, 140. Sir
James's will is in P.C.C. Ralph Wors-
ley obtained a grant of Birkenhead
Priory. Ottwell Worsley was concerned
in various suits in 1525 ; ibid, i, 130,
133. A pedigree was recorded in 16135.
Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 72.
James Worsley purchased land in Pem-
berton from Sir Robert Worsley o
Booths and Robert, the latter's son and
heir apparent, and Elizabeth his wife, in
1562; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
24, m. 61.
James Worsley in 1570 had a dispute
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
of Wardley,33 and their estates are now held by the
Earl of Ellesmere.34 The Molyneuxes of HAWK-
LET continued in possession until the death of
Bryan William Molyneux in l8c>5.35 By his will the
Rev. William Hockenhull of Lymm in Cheshire
succeeded, and assumed the surname of Molyneux.33
Hawkley, however, was afterwards sold, and is now
the property of the trustees of Meyrick Bankes.37
The estate called TUNSTE4D was in the possession
of a branch of the Pembertons during the whole of
the 1 5th century.38 One of the daughters and co-
heirs of George Pemberton then carried it by mar-
with James Winstanley and Thomas
Taylor respecting lands abutting on Salters-
ford Brook ; Ducafus Lane. (Rec. Com.),
ii, 403. (It may be stated by the way,
that an Adam the Salter and his wife
Juliana had a tenement in Pemberton in
1292 ; Assize R. 408, m. 44.) James
Worsley died in September 1590, holding
the capital messuage or manor house
called the hall of Worsley, and other
houses and lands, of Thomas Langton by
a rent of 5*. } Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
XT, no. 29.
His brother Ralph succeeded. He was
one of the * comers to church but no
communicants' in 1590; Lydiate Hall,
246. He had spent some time in Salford
gaol for religion in 1582 ; Engl. Martyrs
(Cath. Rec. Soc.), 23-5. Dying in 1610 it
was found that he had held the ' hall of
Worsley ' in Pemberton with messuages,
lands, and rents there, and in Parr, Win-
Stanley, Wigan, and Hindley. The Pem-
berton lands were held of Richard Fleet-
wood in socage, by a rent of 51. but part had
belonged to Upholland Priory,and was held
of the king by the two-hundredth part of
a knight's fee and 21. rent. His widow
Ellen was in possession in 1611, and his
heirs were his sister Alice, aged sixty
years, and Roger Downes of Wardley,
son of another sister, Elizabeth ; Lanes.
Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i,
171-3.
An account of the sinking of a coal pit
on his estate in 1600 is printed in Lanes.
and Cbes. Antiq. Soc. vii, 49-53.
83 Roger Downes represented Wigan in
the Parliaments of 1601 and 1620 ; Pink
and Beaven, Parl. Rep. of Lanes. 223,
224. He was buried at Wigan 6 July
1638. A monument to his grandson
Roger, who died in 1676, is in Wigan
Church. See the pedigree in Dugdale,
Vhit. (Chet. Soc.), 100, and the account
of Worsley.
84 In a fine concerning the Wardley
estates in 1741 George Lewis Scott was
plaintiff and James Cholmondeley and
Penelope his wife were deforciants ; Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 327, m. 80.
Lady Penelope sold them to the Duke of
Bridge water in 1760.
85 Some particulars as to this family
will be found in the accounts of Rainhill
and Whiston.
The Visit, of 1567 suggests that their
coming to Pemberton was due to marriage
with the heiress of the Ince family. Gil-
bert de Ince of Hawkley occurs in 1374 ;
Inq. a.q.d. 48 Edw. Ill, no. 19 ; see also
Coram Rege R. 426. John Molyneux of
Hawkley occurs in 1469 and 1490—1 ;
Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 245, no. 1012 ;
Towneley MS. GG, no. 2537.
An agreement was made in 1512 be-
tween Richard Molyneux of Hawkley or
Hawclifte and Thomas Gerard of Ince
for the marriage of the former's son
Richard (? Roger) with the latter's daugh-
ter Elizabeth ; Chet. P.
In 1543 Thomas Molyneux, son of
Roger and the last-named Elizabeth, and
Elizabeth his wife had a dispute with
Roger Molyneux concerning Hitchcock
carr ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), i,
174. A settlement of lands in Pember-
ton and Hawkley was made by fine in
1546 between Roger Molyneux and
Thomas, his son and heir apparent, and
Elizabeth his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 12, m. 193. Roger was living in
1547 ; ibid. bdle. 12, m. 250.
Hawkley Hall is mentioned in a dispute
between John Kitchen and Isabel his
daughter and Thomas Molyneux, the
owner, in 1561 ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec.
Com.), ii, 228. Thomas Molyneux and
his second wife Sibyl occur in various
fines concerning lands in Pemberton and
Markland from 15725 Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F., bdles. 34, m. 39, &c. ' Thomas
Molyneux of Hawkley, gent., in lands
£40 and in goods £100,' was a recusant in
1 5 77 ; LydiateHall, 215, quoting S.P. Dom.
Eliz. cxviii, 45. He was buried at
Wigan 1 6 May 1586 ; and soon after-
wards disputes arose between his son and
heir Richard and Sibyl the widow. In
the pleadings the descent is thus given :
Richard Molyneux-s. and h. Roger-s. and
h. Thomas-s. and h. Richard. The estate
is described as a capital messuage called
Hawkley, containing demesne lands in
Hawkley and Pemberton, and varioui
lands in Aughton and Uplitherland of
very good yearly value ; Duchy of Lane.
Plead. Eliz. cliv, M. ii ; Decrees and
Orders, Eliz. xx, fol. 37.
Richard Molyneux of Hawkley was in
1590 among the 'comers to church, but
no communicants,' but he and his family
appear to have soon afterwards conformed
to the Established religion ; Lydiate Hall,
246 (quoting S.P. Dor/i. Eliz. ccxxxv, 4).
Pedigrees were reco/ded in 1567 and
1664 ; Vint. (Chet. Soc.), 108,200.
Richard Molyneux and Thomas his son
and heir-apparent made a settlement' of
the manor of Pemberton in 1607 ; Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 71, no. 25.
Richard paid £10 in 1631 on refusing
knighthood ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 213. He was still living in
1664, but Thomas was dead, and hia son
Richard, aged forty at the Visitation in
that year, soon afterwards succeeded to
the estate. Early in 1681 he made a
settlement of the manor and various lands
in Pemberton, as also in Wigan, Ince,
Standish, and Croft, Anne his wife, and
Hugh his son and heir-apparent being
joined as deforciants ; ibid. bdle. 206, m.
91. Richard Molyneux was buried at
Wigan 31 Oct. 1 68 1 ; Hugh suc-
ceeded, but appears to have had no issue,
and administration of his estate was
granted at Chester in 1687.
William Molyneux succeeded his
brother Hugh ; he was buried at Warring-
ton in 1698 and there is an inscription in
the churchyard commemorating him ;
Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. i, 216. His
son William was succeeded by an uncle,
Reginald, brother of the preceding William
and Hugh ; and in turn was succeeded
by his sons William (buried at Wigan
4 Nov. 1740) and Richard (buried
at Warrington in 1748). In a settle-
ment made in 1721, William Molyneux,
gentleman, being in possession, their
part of the manor is described as 'the
81
fourth part ' ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 288, m. 36. A monumental inscrip-
tion for Richard Molyneux exists in War-
rington Churchyard ; Local Glean, loc. cit.
Hawkley descended to his only son
Richard, who married Jane daughter
and heir of Bryan Wilcock of Walsh
Hall, Aughton. Among the Croxteth
Hall muniments is a lease of Hawkley
Hall in 1749, which describes the house
and names the mill and several fields,
as Hastings, Hiscow carrs, &e. In 1757
a fine concerning the manor of Pem-
berton has Hugh Wishaw for plaintiff
and David Brodie, Mary his wife, Rev.
Francis Gastrell, Jane his wife, William
Prujean, Sophia his wife, and Richard
Molyneux as deforciants ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 259, m. in. Richard
Molyneux was buried at Wigan 9 Mar.
1762, and was succeeded in turn by his
sons Richard (died 1771) and Bryan
William. The latter died at Lymm
Parsonage, 29 July 1805, unmarried.
There is a monument to him in Wigan
Church, where he was buried.
A full pedigree, from which this outline
has been taken, will be found in Palmer
MS. E. (Chet. Lib.), 202, 398.
86 The will of B. W. Molyneux stated
expressly : ' The said William Hockenhull
shall not enjoy the said premises other-
wise than upon the express condition
that when such estate shall come to him
in possession under the said trusts, he
shall take use and bear the surname of
Molyneux and shall cause himself to be
called by the surname of Molyneux and
no other.' A pedigree of the family is
given in Burke, Family Rec. 433.
87 Hawkley was sold by the Rev. Bryan
William Molyneux, son of William
Hockenhull.
88 There appear to have been several
families bearing the local surname. James
de Pemberton has been mentioned in
1246 ; Henry son of James occurs in
1276; Coram Rege R. 26, m. 3d.
Henry attested a local charter in 1293 in
the next place after Adam lord of Pem-
berton ; Towneley MS. GG, no. 2649.
Henry de Pemberton and James his son
occur about 1283 ; Cocker sand Chart, ii,
659.
In the Towneley volume just quoted
are a number of charters relating to Tun-
stead, which was at first an oxgang of
land, possibly that belonging to Alan son
of Aldith in 1212.
William de Pemberton granted * an ox-
gang in Pemberton called Tunstead,
which Aynhou (?) de Pemberton formerly
held ' of him, to Christiana, daughter of
Adam de Radcliffe ; Towneley MS. GG,
no. 2649. This afterwards came into the
possession of Simon de Holland, who
called it his 'manor,' and in 1293 granted
it to William son of Roger de Ince ; ibid.
GG, no. 2647, 2648 ; also Crosse D.
Trans. Hist. Soc. no. iia, b, c.
Simon son of Thurstan de Holland
had complained in 1292 that Robert de
Holland, Adam his son, Adam de North-
legh, and others had disseised him of his
free tenement in Wigan and Pemberton
(17 acres). Thurstan de Holland had
II
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
riage to Robert Molyneux of Melling,39 and it
descended with the other lands of this family *° until
they were sold in the middle of the 1 8th century.
MARKLAND was the property of the Hollands,41
and in 1360 was granted to the Priory of Upholland.
On the suppression it was acquired by John
Holcroft."
Alexander Worsley, Thomas and John Molyneux,
Gilbert Scott, and Robert HigginsoR, contributed
to a subsidy of Mary's reign as landowners.45 The
freeholders in 1 600 " were : Ralph Worsley, —
Downes,45 Richard Molyneux of Hawkley, Robert
Arrowsmith, Thomas Laithwaite,46 Richard Pem-
berton,47 Hugh Scott,48 William Walthew,49 Thomas
granted the estate to Juliana daughter of
John Gillibrand, for life, with remainders
to her tons, Thurstan and Adam, and
then to the plaintiff Simon, apparently a
brother. Adam died before Thurstan
without issue 5 Thurstan died at Oxford ;
and Simon, who was then in Scotland,
returned to Wigan to take possession, but
found Robert's men in the tenement. At
Pemberton, Adam de Pemberton, as lord,
had entered, and held until Simon ap-
peared to claim ; Simon had married a
daughter of his. The lands in Wigan
were held of Robert de Holland by the
service of a barbed arrow ; Assize R. 408,
m. i6d.
Nothing further is known of its history
for a century. Richard de Pemberton
died in possession of it in 141 5> a* also °f
other lands called the Marsh, &c. ; his
son Thomas being dead the heir was his
grandson Hugh ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet.
Soc.), i, 103. In the same year William,
another son of Richard, as trustee granted
Tunstead to Alice, the widow of Richard,
for life, with remainders to Hugh son of
Thomas de Pemberton, and then to Hugh
and Thurstan, sons of Richard ; Towne-
ley MS. GG, no. 2626, 2655.
Hugh de Pemberton by his wife Douce
had a son John, whose son George was
the last of the direct male line of the
family. For Hugh's marriage see ibid.
GG, no. 2596, 2597, dated 1435. He
died in or before 1466, when Douce was
a widow, and the son John in possession ;
ibid. GG, no. 2650, 2671, and Crosse D.
no. 146.
89 Beatrice, Elizabeth, Ellen, and Alice
were the daughters and co-heirs of George
son of John Pemberton ; Towneley MS.
GG, no. 2362, 2890, 2405, dated 1512
and 1514 ; and Crosse D. no. 172. Bea-
trice Pemberton and others in 1 5 1 2 claimed
the wardship of Elizabeth Birkenhead ;
Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), i, 127.
The third of the daughters, Ellen, mar-
ried Robert Molyneux of Melling (fisit.
of 1567, p. 100), and in the inquisition
taken after the death of their son and
heir John Molyneux in 1582, the estate,
comprising Tunstead Hall and various
lands, is fully described ; among the
fields were Bridgeley and Mabcroft ; it was
held of the heirs of the lords of Pember-
ton, James Worsley and Robert Hindley,
in socage by rents of 41. 8</. and jd. re-
spectively ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
xiv, no. 73.
40 See Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches. ), i, 43 ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 94, no. 15.
41 In 1241 Robert de Holland q-iit-
claimed to Adam de Pemberton all his
title to twelve oxgangs in Pemberton in
return for the homage and service of
Thomas de Sifrethley ; Final Cone, i, 82.
In 1292 Robert de Holland and Robert
his son had an estate in Pemberton and
Orrell ; ibid, i, 173.
In 1348 Maud, widow of Robert de
Holland, had claimed dower in the
* manor of Markland,' described as three
plough-lands ; De Banco R. 355, m. 307.
Inquiry was made at Prescot on 25
Jan. 1346-7 as to whether or not it
would be to the king's hurt if a messuage,
a mill, 60 acres of land, 3 acres of mea-
dow, and 6 acres of wood in Pemberton,
and the reversion of other lands held
for a term by Adam de Orrell and Nicho-
las his son, should be granted to the prior
and convent of Upholland. The lands
were held of Ralph de Langton by fealty
and rendering a rose at midsummer, and
were of the annual value of 53*. 4^. The
answer of the jury was in the negative ;
the king had already licensed a grant of
lands to the value of £20 a year ; and
after this land had been given Sir Robert
de Holland had the manor of Holland,
worth 100 marks a year, from which to
discharge his liabilities to the king and
others ; Inq. p.m. 41 Edw. Ill (2nd
nos.), no. 12.
In 1535 the clear value was reckoned
at £8 IDS. a year, and after the Dissolution
the various rents came to the same
amount ; Dugdale, Man. iv, 412.
4« Pat. 37 Hen. VIII, pt. iv ; included
in the general grant of the priory lands.
Markland was soon sold to Sir Robert
Worsley of Booths, Thomas Molyneux
purchasing part from Robert Worsley ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdles. 31, ro.
i", M75 35. m. 41.
48 Mascy of Rixton D.
44 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
»» *39-43-
45 Roger Downes had acquired land in
1597 from Thomas Worsley and Kather-
ine his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. $8, m. 19.
48 See the account of Wigan.
47 In 1517 John Pemberton of Lone-
merehead, with his son Thomas and the
latter's wife Elizabeth, leased their chief
place to Robert Molyneux ; Pal. of Lane.
Plea R. 121, m. 6 d. John Pemberton
and Alice his wife had an estate in the
township in 1519; Pal. of Lane. Feet
of F. bdle. n, m. 217. Robert Pember-
ton and Margaret his wife in 1546; ibid,
bdle. 1 2, no. 247. He may be the Robert
Higginson alias Pemberton of 1549, who
had a dispute with Roger Molyneux as to
Wacarrs ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), i,
241. Ralph Pemberton alias Higginson
appears in 1571 (ibid, iii, 25) and Rich-
ard Pemberton alias Higginson in 1579 ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 41, m. 92.
Richard Pemberton, yeoman, died 20
Sept. 1628 holding a messuage and lands
of Roger Downes and Richard Moly-
neux ; the heirs were his daughters,
Margaret wife of Henry Holme, and Mar-
gery wife of Ralph Rylands, aged thirty-
nine and thirty-four respectively ; Towne-
ley MS. C 8, 13 (Chet. Lib.), 976.
48 Roger Scott was a defendant in a
plea by John the Salter respecting a mes-
suage and lands in Pemberton in Lent
1351 ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. i. m.
id. The Scotts held the lands of the
Abbey of Cockersand ; Chartul. iii, 1246,
1243 5 Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), i, 266.
Cuthbert Scott, Bishop of Chester
1556 to 1559, is said to have been a
member of the family, which adhered to
the ancient faith j Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of
82
Engl. Catholics, v, 484. A Cuthbert Scott
and his wife appear in the Recusant Roll
of 1641 ; Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xiv,
*39-
A large number of deeds relating to the
Scotts of Wigan and Pemberton have
been preserved by Kuerden (ii, fol. 259)
from ' Mr. Thomas Scott's charters.' In
1384-5 a settlement was made on the
marriage of Richard son of Roger Scott
with Alice daughter of Richard the Mar-
shal of Wigan (his land was in the
Woodhouses) ; no. 108 ; see no. 37, 36,
45. About 1411 Richard son of Roger
Scott made a grant of land in Scholes in
Wigan between the walk mill and the
high road to his son Roger on marrying
Alice daughter of William Laithwaite ;
ibid.no. 71,69. Roger Scott the younger
received the Marshal lands in Wigan
Woodhouses in 1418 ; ibid. no. 48, 72.
These lands descended by 1467 to Hugh
Scott of Pemberton, a son of Roger Scott;
ibid. no. 38, 53, 6 1. Hugh's son Richard
was in 1467 married to Ellen daughter of
Richaru Warburton ; lands called High
Appletree Croft and Little Scholefield
were granted to them ; Joan, wife of
Hugh is mentioned ; ibid. no. 32, 80.
Richard Scott had a son Hugh, whose
marriage with Agnes, sister of Thomas
Gerard of Ince, was arranged in 1508-9 ;
ibid. no. 14, 47. In 1529 Hugh Scott of
Pemberton, and Gilbert his son and heir,
demised to Gilbert Mason and Margery
his wife a burgage in Millgate, Wigan ;
ibid. no. 104. In 15 52 Agnes, widow of
Hugh Scott, and Gilbert her son, leased a
tenement in Scholes to Charles Bank,
brother of William Bank ; ibid. no. 19.
Richard Scott of Lathom, household ser-
vant to the Earl of Derby, mentioned in
the story of George Marsh, occurs in
these deeds, no. 41, 68.
Gilbert Scott died in or before 1576,
when a settlement was made by Hugh Scott,
his son, and Alice his wife, of various lands
in Wigan, Pemberton,and Urmston, with
remainders to Gilbert and Roger sons of
Hugh 5 ibid. no. 17. Gilbert married a
Margaret, and his son Ralph in or before
1592 married Elizabeth a sister of Gabriel
Hesketh ; ibid. no. 21, 9, 91.
Gilbert Scott died 28 January 1620-1,
his son Ralph being then 27 years of age;
various family arrangements are set out
in the inquisition printed in the Rec. Soc.
Lanes. Inq. p.m. ii, 237-9. Ralph Scott't
estate was confiscated by the Parliamen-
tary authorities, and ordered to be sold by
the Act of 1652 ; Index of Royalists, 41 ;
Cal, of Com. for Compounding, iv, 3105.
Cuthbert Scott, a recusant, petitioned in
1653 to contract for his estates ; ibid, iv,
3J74-
An old ballad about Gilbert Scott and
his wife appeared in the Gent. Mag. 1740;
Preston Guardian Loc. Notes, no. 1460.
49 A Geoffrey Walthew was trustee in
1589 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 31,
m. 147. The William Walthew of the
text was perhaps his son (buried at Wigan,
November 1600) ; for Geoffrey, grandson
of Geoffrey Walthew, died in 1607, leav-
ing a son and heir Robert, three years
Whalley,60 Humphrey Winstanley, and John Worth-
ington. The landowners who contributed to the
subsidy of 1628 were Roger Downes, for Worsley's
lands ; Richard Molyneux, and the heirs of Richard
Pemberton.61 Several ' delinquents ' compounded for
their estates under the rule of the Commonwealth.68
The following ' papists ' registered estates here in
1717: Barbara and Margaret Green, George Uns-
worth, and William Winstanley.63 The land tax
returns of 1787 show the chief owners to have been
the Duke of Bridgewater, the heirs of T. Barton,
Mrs. Percival, W. B. Molyneux, and John Markland.
During the last century a number of places of wor-
ship have been erected in Pemberton. In connexion
with the Established Church St. John's was
consecrated in 1832 as a chapel of ease to the parish
church ; a burial ground was attached to it. The
rector of Wigan is the patron." The church of St.
Matthew, Highfield, built in 1894, serves as a chapel
of ease. St Mark's, Newtown, was built in 1891.
The patronage is vested in trustees. There is a
licensed chapel at Worsley Mesnes.
The Methodist denominations are well represented,
the Wesleyan, Primitive, Independent, and United
Free Methodists having places of worship. There are
also Free Gospel and Congregational chapels.
The Roman Catholic church of St. Cuthbert
dates from 1872 ; it was enlarged in 1887."
A schoolhouse was built at Goose Green by Thomas
Molyneux ; but no endowment was provided.68
BILLINGE
Bulling, 1 2 1 2 and commonly in xiv cent. ; Billinge,
1284 ; Bollynge, 1292 ; Bullynth, 1292.
This township, which originally included Winstan-
ley, has long been divided into two halves regarded as
separate townships and known as Chapel End and
Higher End. They form the south-west corner of
the parish.
The position of Chapel End township — the eastern
one — is bleak and open, and the country bare ex-
cept in the south, where there are more trees and
green fields about the neighbourhood of Carr Mill
Dam, a fairly large sheet of water. In the middle of
this lake the boundaries of three townships meet. In the
north there are sandstone quarries on the highest
point of the hill. There are fields where potatoes,
wheat, and oats are grown, besides pastures nearer the
base of the hillside. The soil is sandy, over a sub-
stratum of gravel and sandstone rock. The chapel
lies near the centre of the boundary between Chapel
End and Winstanley on the north. The village,
WIGAN
with its long straggling street and stone houses, spreads
from it along the road from Wigan to St. Helens,
which is the principal thoroughfare. About the
middle of the township it is crossed by another road
which runs eastward from the chapel to Ashton
in Makerfield. The south-western boundary is formed
by Black Brook, near which lies Birchley ; and the
south-eastern by the Goyt, its affluent, on which
is Chadwick Green. Two detached portions of Win-
stanley lie on this side. The surface rises from
the two streams, a height of nearly 600 ft. being
attained at the northern border. Here stands Billinge
Beacon,1 from which fine views can be obtained. The
area of Chapel End is 1,161 acres/ and the population
in 1901 numbered 2,068.
Billinge Higher End, on the north-west side of
the former township, has an area of 1,571 acres.5
The population in 1901 numbered 1,600.* Near
the centre, by Brownlow, a height of 5 60 ft. is
attained, the surface falling away somewhat quickly
to the south-west boundary, which is formed
by Black Brook, and also to the west and north. This
ridge of high ground, known as Billinge Hill, is visible
for miles around. There are extensive quarries of sand-
stone and a gritstone used for making mill-stones.
In the north of the district there are one or two
unimportant coal-mines. In this part the hill is not
entirely bare in spite of its exposed situation, for there
are plantations of small pine trees and some larger
deciduous trees. The west side of the township is
occupied by cultivated fields where wheat, oats, and
potatoes are grown in a rich sandy soil. On the west
lies Billinge Hall ; to the north are Bispham Hall,
Gautley, and the Great Moss. On the east a brook
divides the township from Winstanley ; Longshaw lies
here, with the village adjacent, on the road from
Billinge chapel to Upholland. The main roads are
macadamized ; others set with square blocks of native
sandstone ; they are protected by walls in the upper
parts and hedges in the lower parts of the township.
A local board for Billinge was formed in 1872,* the
district including both the townships and also part of
Winstanley. This was succeeded in 1 894 by an urban
district council of twelve members.
The present townships of BILLINGE
M4NOR (Higher End and Chapel End) and W. IN-
ST4NLET were originally but one manor,
rated as half a plough-land, and probably forming one
of the berewicks of Newton before the Conquest, just
as they constituted members of the Newton barony
after it.6 The inquest of 1212 shows that this ex-
tensive manor had long been divided into three por-
tions, almost equal. The lord was Adam de Billinge,
old ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 80.
Robert Walthew of Pemberton was
charged with delinquency by the Parlia-
ment in 1650, and his estate was in
ganger of sequestration ; Col. of Com. for
^Compounding, iii, 2333. In 1667 he built
Ihe school at Upholland ; his daughter and
heir Elizabeth married Ralph Markland
of the Meadows ; Gastrell, Notitia Cestr.
ii, 259, 260, with a reference to Nichol,
Lit. Anec. iv, 657.
60 John Whalley of Pemberton, yeoman,
died m 1587, holding lands of the queen
in Orrell and Pemberton by a rent of
2i. 4</. ; Thomas his son and heir was
twenty-eight years of age ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, no. 36. A later
John Whalley died in April 1630, holding
lands in Orrell and Pemberton of the
king ; James his brother and heir was
forty years of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. xxvii, no. 37. James Whalley is
named in Dugdale's Visitation (Chet. Soc.),
319 ; he appears in the recusant roll of
1641 ; Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xiv,
240.
61 Norris D. (B.M.).
62 In addition to those mentioned al-
ready, see Cal. Com, for Compounding, iii,
2014, 2394; Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 257.
48 Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath. Non-
jurors, in, 124, 152.
64 Bridgeman, op. cit. (Chet. Soc.), 782.
A district was assigned in 1838 (Land.
83
Gam. 3 Apr.) ; the inclusion of part of
Orrell led to disputes, as the ratepayers
here were for a time called on to pay
church rates both to the new church and
to Upholland.
55 Liverpool Catb. Annual, 1901.
56 Gastrell, Notitia (Chet. Soc.), ii, 251.
1 It was erected as a sea mark, about
1780 ; Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 565.
2 1163, including 9 of inland water,
according to the census of 1901.
8 1573, including 3 of inland water;
census of 1901.
4 Including King's Moss, &c.
* Land. Gate. 17 Dec. 1872.
8 V.C.H. Lanes, i, 286. See Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 138; ii, 99; ibid.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 105.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
holding of ' ancient feoffment ' by the service of I or.
rent and the finding of a judge at the Newton court/
The two subordinate manors were held by Simon
and by Roger de Winstanley ; each was considered
an oxgang and a third, but the services due are not
recorded. Roger's share soon became independent.
Yet another tenant, Uctred Leute, held a ridding,
and paid \6d. rent.8 Adam had made grants to
Cockersand Abbey and to the Hospital of Chester.9
No satisfactory account can be given of the descent
of these manors, through lack of evidence. Adam dc
Knowsley had lands here in 1246 ; 10 and six years
later he and his wife Godith seem to have had the
lordship.11 Henry de Huyton, the son of Adam, wa&
in 1292 lord of two-thirds of the manor, the other
third being Winstanley.1* Billinge, however, did not
descend with Huyton ; Robert, son of Henry, be-
coming lord of it, either by special grant or in right
of his mother. His daughters were his heirs." In
i 3 74 the manor is found to have been divided into
four parts, which seem to have been held by Eves,
Heaton, Billinge and Winstanley.14 The Eves share
7 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 76. Adam de Billinge
contributed half a mark to the scutage in
1 20 1 and later years ; Farrer, Lanes,
PifeR. 152, 179, 205.
8 Inq. and Extents, loc. cit.
Uctred Leute's holding may have been
in Crookhurst, a family taking its name
from this place. Richard son of Richard
de Crookhurst was a defendant in 1302 ;
Assize R. 418, m. 10 d.
9 To Cockersand Abbey Adam de Bil-
linge gave all Falling and Ruhlow, the
boundaries beginning at Kidsay Brook,
going to Blackley, to Walley Clough, by
this to Wetcroft Lache, and so by Little
Ruhlow to the starting point. Further
he gave half of Crookhurst, the bounds
being from Swinepit Clough to Birchley
Brook and Blackley Brook, and so to the
start ; Cockirsand Chart. (Chet. Soc.), ii,
665, 666. William son of Simon de
Bulling granted the same abbey a part of
his land called Leyerich Ridding, within
the carr and Hennecroft ; also his portion
of Crookhurst, the bounds being named
with great minuteness ; ' the ford next
the house of Thomas Cert which was
burnt' is among them ; ibid, ii, 667.
From the charter last quoted 'the
Hospital* is identified as that outside the
north gate of Chester.
The Abbey's lands in Crookhurst were
in 1461 held by Henry Atherton of Bicker-
stafFe, and descended with this estate ;
ibid, ii, 668 ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
iv, no. 68. The rent paid was \%d.
William de Falling, probably the tenant
of the Abbot of Cockersand, in 1308
held lands under the lord of Winstanley ;
Assize R. 423, m. 2. A later bearer of
the name forfeited his lands for felony,
but those he held of Cockersand were
given up to the abbot in 1384; Def.
Keeper's Rep. xxxii, 356, 357.
The Cockersand lands here, as in other
places, were granted to Thomas Holt ;
Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 288.
10 Christiana widow of Henry son of
Quenilda sued Hugh de Crookhurst for
dower in 12 acres ; it was found that
Adam de Knowsley held the land ; Assize
R. 404, m. 13.
Crookhurst was the subject of an agree-
ment in 1256 between William son of
Hugh and Emma his wife, and Adam
son of Hugh and Agnes his wife ; Final
Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i,
127. William son of Hugh is called
William de Rainford in a suit of 1292 ;
Assize R. 408, m. 61.
11 Final Cone, i, 114.
19 In 1278 William de Billinge com-
plained that Henry de Huyton had
destroyed one of his ditches in Billinge ;
Assize R. 1238, m. 35.
Six or seven years later Adam de Bil-
linge complained that Henry de Huyton
and another had disseised him of his free
tenement in Billinge ; Assize R. 1268,
m. id.
In 1290 it was Henry de Huyton who
was plaintiff, regarding two-thirds of cer-
tain wood and moor, and iron mineral ;
Assize R. 1288, m. 12, 13. The defen-
dants were Roger de Winstanley and
Henry son of Ralph de Billinge ; they
made an exchange of lands in 1283, to
which Hugh son of Ralph de Billinge
was one of the witnesses ; Cockersand
Chart, ii, 659.
Richard de Crookhurst in 1292 com-
plained that Henry de Huyton, Adam de
Billinge, and Roger de Winstanley had
deprived him of estovers in 100 acres of
wood for housebote and haybote — i.e. for
burning, fencing, and building — pannage
for his pigs, &c. Henry, in reply, said
he was chief lord of two-thirds of the
vill, and Roger of one-third ; as chief lords
they had approved from the waste, and
the complainant, who was Henry's tenant,
had sufficient estovers outside the ap-
provement. He wa« non-suited ; Assize
R. 408, m. 12 d.
Adam de Billinge' s right in the manor
is not here defined ; it appears that he
was the representative, and no doubt
descendant, of the Simon of 1212. He
should, therefore, have had a moiety of
Henry de Huyton's two-thirds, and from
another suit of 1292 it appears that he
claimed the moiety of 50 acres of moor
and wood from Henry de Huyton, here
called de Rycroft, and others ; ibid. m.
25. Nine years later the suit, or a simi-
lar one, appears in the rolls, Adam claim-
ing the moiety of 60 acres of wood and
waste. Henry de Huyton, the principal
defendant — the others were William Bird
and Alan son of Eva de Billinge — replied
that he was lord of the two-thirds of Bil-
linge and Adam of one-third ; and they had
agreed that the 60 acres should pertain to
Henry, and another portion of the waste,
called Catshurst, should belong to Adam.
The jury found that Catahurst was only 12
acres, and that Henry had approved 40
acres, a share of which should be given
to Adam; Assize R. 1321, m. 5 d. In
the following year Adam de Billinge and
Henry de Huyton were chief lords, the
complainants being William de Huyton
and Robert his brother ; Assize R. 418,
m. 10 d.
A possible solution is that Winstanley,
having become detached, paid 31. 6d. rent
to the lord of Newton ; that the remain-
ing 6s. 6d. was shared between Henry de
Huyton and Adam de Billinge in the
ratio of two to one, while they divided
the land equally.
18 Robert and William de Huyton were
among the defendants in a suit of 1309
affecting the boundaries of Billinge and
Winstanley, Henry de Huyton and Adam
de Billinge being also joined ; Assize R.
423, m. 2.
Four years later Robert de Huyton
recovered from Henry de Huyton the
manor of Billinge ; Assize R. 424,
m. i d.
84
In 1321 William son of Robert de
Huyton settled messuages and lands upon
Robert de Huyton the elder for his life ;
Final Cone, ii, 41. The pedigree of the
Huyton family is not clear ; but Robert Ac
Huyton the elder was probably a brother
of Henry. Robert son of William brother
of Henry de Huyton and Robert son of
Henry de Huyton were last in the re-
mainders of a settlement made by Ellen
de Torbock in 1332 ; Croxteth D. Z, i,
4. In the same year Robert de Huyton
and William de Billinge contributed to
the subsidy ; Excb. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 26. Six years later
Robert de Huyton of Billinge acquired
some land in Ashton ; Final Cone, ii, 108.
Robert de Huyton of Billinge, pro-
bably a descendant, complained in 1348
of the damage which William Dawson of
Billinge had done to property while he
had it on lease ; he had pulled down a
hall worth £10, and two chambers worth
^5 each, and cut down twenty apple-treei
worth 201. each, <&c. ; De Banco R. 355,
m. 21 ; 356, m. 234 d. Four years later
certain lands were held jointly by Alan
the clerk of Rainford, whose wife was
Agnes, and Robert son of Matthew de
Huyton ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 2
(Pent.), m. 2. Another defendant in the
case was Isolda, widow of Roger de Win-
Stanley and daughter of Roger (? Robert)
de Huyton. Richard de Huyton appears
in 1357 ; ibid. R. 6, m. 5.
14 By charter of June 1331 Robert de
Huyton and Mary his wife granted an
estate in Billinge to trustees, with re-
mainders successively to their children,
Henry, Richard, Isolda, Agnes and Avice.
By 1363 Robert and Mary were dead,
and Henry and Richard had died without
issue j Isolda was the wife of William the
clerk of Wigan, and her estate having
been taken into the king's hands for some
default of Eustace de Cottesbech, for
whom her father had been a surety, she
petitioned for restoration ; L.T.R. Memo.
R.I 28, m. 5. Isolda seems to have been the
widow of Roger de Winstanley ; in 1363
Hugh de Winstanley sued William the clerk
of Wigan and Isolda his wife for waste ;
De Banco R. 416, m. 299 d. It appears
from the following that there was another
daughter who shared the inheritance.
From a plea of 1372 it is clear that the
manor of Billinge, i.e. the Huyton half
as previously explained, had become di-
vided among four co-heirs and their issue ;
for Geoffrey de Wrightington and Ellen
his wife, executors of the will of Robert
de Winstanley (Ellen "being the widow),
in that year claimed dower from Henry
de Scarisbrick as guardian of the land and
heir of Robert de Billinge, from Richard
de Heaton and Isolda his wife ; and from
Alan the Barker and Agnes his wife,
each of the defendant parties holding a
fourth part of the manor ; De Banco R.
447, m. 1 84 d. 5454, m. 141.
Alan the Barker may have succeeded
BlLLINGE : BlSPHAM HALL
ABRAM : BAMFURLONG HALL
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
descended to the Lathoms of Mossborough ; ld and
one of the parts was later held by the Bispham
family.
The Heatons also held BIRCH LET in Chapel End,
the service to the lord of Newton being 3/. zd. rent.16
This manor of Birchley was acquired in the i6th
century by the Andertons of Lostock, a younger
son settling here.17 It is now owned by Lord
Gerard.18
Higher End contains Bispham Hall and Billinge
Hall, named after the lords of other portions of the
manor. The share of the Bispham family 19 was
described as a fourth part even in the 1 8th century,
when it passed by marriage to Thomas Owen of
Upholland,10 and then by his two daughters to Holt
and Edward Leigh.*1 From Holt Leigh it has
ANDERTON of Lostock.
Sable three ihackbolts ar-
gent.
GERARD, Lord Gerard.
Argent a saltire gules.
Alan de Rainford, who, with Agnes his
wife, had a quarter of a moiety of the
manor in 1366, when it was settled upon
them for their lives, with remainder to
Robert del Eves and his heirs ; Final
Cone, ii, 172. It may be conjectured
that this Robert was the son of Agnes by
a former marriage. Thus the four co-
heirs were in 1374 represented by Win-
stanley, Billinge, Heaton and Eves, and
each quarter would pay a rent of is. id.
to the lord of Newton.
Some further light on the descent is
given by claims for debt made by the
executors of the will of Sir John de
Dalton in the next year against Geoffrey
de Wrightington and Ellen his wife,
executrix of the will of Robert de Win
Stanley ; Geoffrey de Urmston, execute r
of the will of Joan, who had been w'fe
and executrix of Robert de Billinge ;
Alan the Barker of Billinge, executor of
the will of Margery, who was the wife
and executrix of Robert de Staverley ; and
Robert de Huyton, executor of the will
of Agnes, who was the wife of Alan de
Rainford ; De Banco R. 4.57, vn. 186.
341 d.
15 Agnes de Rainford being dead, as
appears in the last note, Robert del Eves
came into possession, and was defendant
in 1375 ; De Banco R. 459, m. 162.
He died in or before 1398 ; having held
Galfhey (? Gautley) in Billinge of Ralph
de Langton, baron of Newton, in socage
by the rent of \$d. ; Nicholas, his son
and heir, was twenty-four years of age ;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 68. The
heiress of this family married a Lathom
of Mossborough ; Visit, of 1613 (Chet.
Soc.), 1 06 ; and in 1620 Henry Lathom
died, holding messuages and lands in Bil-
linge of the barony of Newton by a rent
of iT,d. ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.), ii,
205 ; see also Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
x, no. 2.
16 The rent appears to be made up of
2$. zd. due by the heir of Adam de Bil-
linge, and 15. due from the quarter of the
manor inherited from the Huyton family.
In a later inquisition the rent is given as
3>. id. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxx,
no. 7.
What is known of the Billinge family
has been stated in previous notes. A
member of the family married one of the
Huyton co-heirs, while the heiress of the
main branch appears to have married
William de Heaton, son of the Richard
de Heaton who held another quarter of
the Huyton share. In 1398 a dispensa-
tion was granted for the marriage of Joan
de Billinge with William de Heaton ;
Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.) xxxvii. B, 615
Dods. MSS. vii, fol. 326. In 1422 a settle-
ment was made of the manor of Birchley
and messuages and lands in Billinge, &c.,
the holders being William de Heaton and
Joan his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 5, m. 9. In 1530 Richard Heaton
gave the manor of Billinge, and his mes-
suages, mills, and lands there and in
Birchley to trustees, for the benefit of
his son William ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R.
151, m. 8.
" In a fine of 1581 relating to Birch-
ley and a quarter of the manor, James
and Thurstan Anderton, sons of Christo-
pher, were plaintiffs, and William Heaton
and his sons Ralph and Richard, defor-
ciants; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
43, m. 133. Previously, e.g., in 1542,
the manor of Birchley had been included
in the Heaton settlements ; ibid. bdle. 12,
m. 66, &c. James Anderton, of Lostock,
died in 1613, seised among other proper-
ties of the capital messuage called Birch-
ley Hall, and of various houses and lands
in Billinge, held of the Baron of Newton,
in socage, by a rent of 31. id. ; Lanes.
Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.), ii, 26, 27. Roger,
his younger brother, had Birchley by
•arrangement with his brother Christopher,
of Lostock ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 94, m. 3, and note of Mr. Ince
Anderton. In 1631 he paid £10 on
refusing knighthood ; Misc. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 213. He was buried
at Wigan, i Oct. 1640, and Anne, his
widow, on 14 Sept. 1646.
His son, James Anderton, of Gray's
Inn, took arms for the king in the Civil
War, and joined in the attack on Bolton.
Though comprised within the articles of
Ludlow he forebore to compound within
the time fixed, being a recusant, though
not convicted. In 1649 he petitioned to
be allowed to compound. His estates
were, however, confiscated, and included
in the third act of sale, 1652 ; Index of
Royalists (Index Soc.), 41 ; and Thomas
Wharton purchased Birchley in the fol-
lowing year. Soon afterwards, however,
a composition was arranged, the fine of
j£8oo being reduced to £650 31. 4</., and
further afterwards ; Royalist Comp. Papers
i, 75-81. Captain Thurstan Anderton,
another of the family, was wounded at
the battle of Newbury, and died at
Oxford, in Sept. 1643 : Castlemain, Cath.
Apology. Early in 1654, in a fine con-
cerning the ' manor of Billinge,' James
Anderton, Thomas Wharton, and Joseph
Rigby were deforciants; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 153, m. 81. James
Anderton died in 1673 ; Cavalier's Note
Bk. 305. His only child was a daughter
Elizabeth, who married John Cansfield of
Cantsfield. A pedigree was recorded in
1664 ; Dugdale, Visit. 5.
18 Mary, the daughter and heir of the
above John Cansfield, married Sir William
Gerard, and in 1692 her lands were set-
tled as the manors of Robert Hall and
Cantsfield, and a fourth part of the manor
of Billinge, with messuages and lands in
these places, including Birchley ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 229, m. 109.
19 No pedigree was recorded. The ear-
liest of this family known is Thomas
Bispham, who in 1552 was one of various
persons charged with destroying timber in
Galtly Wood, and who early in 1558
made a settlement of three messuages,
and other lands in Billinge and Rainford ;
Ducatus, i, 242 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 20, m. 112. Henry and Thomas,
jun., appear in a fine of 1571 ; ibid,
bdle. 33, m. 39. Two years later, Thomas
Bispham (probably the younger, on suc-
ceeding), made a settlement of 4 mes-
suages and lands in Billinge and Rainford ;
ibid. bdle. 35, m. 19. In 1600 he was
among the freeholders of the township.
William Bispham, who appears in
1628, on refusing knighthood paid £20
in 1631 : Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 212. He died 10 Oct. 1639,
holding lands in Orrell and Billinge, the
latter of the Baron of Newton by a rent
of 1 3</., the regular rent for a fourth part
of the manor ; his son and heir, Samuel,
was of full age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. xxx, no. 97. William Bispham of
Billinge married a niece of Bishop Bridge-
man's ; Wigan Ch. 348. See also Fun.
Certs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 198,
for further particulars of the family ;
Samuel Bispham was one of King
Charles's physicians in ordinary, and had
a son and heir, Thomas, aged 1 8 months
at his grandfather's death.
In 1641 the manors of Orrell and Bil-
linge, and messuages, windmill, and lands
there were the subject of a settlement by
Samuel Bispham, esq. ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 139, n. 32. Thomas
Bispham died 22 Sept. 1677, aged 40 ;
Wigan Ch. 746 ; and another of the
same name followed, for Frances Bispham,
widow of Thomas, and Thomas Bispham
were vouchees in a recovery of the manors
in 1703 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 477, m.
6. Frances died at the end of the same
year ; Wigan Ch. loc. cit.
80 Thomas Bispham had an only daugh-
ter and heir Margaret, who about 1731
married Thomas Owen ; Pal. of Lane.
Plea R. 532, m. 7 ; Feet of F. bdle.
307, m. 8 ; Wigan Ch. 746.
21 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdles. 368,
m. 64; 371, m. 137; Plea R. 599,
m. 12 ; the ' manor or lordship of Orrell,
a fourth part of the manor or lordship or
reputed manor or lordship of Billinge,
with lands, &c., in Orrell, Billinge, Up-
holland, Rainford, and Wigan.'
Holt Leigh died 1 1 March 1785, aged
5 5, and was buried at St. Clement Danes,
London ; his widow Mary died 28 Nov.
1794, aged 53 ; Wigan Cb. 745, 746.
Bispham Hall was about 1850 the pro-
perty of John Holt ; Raines, in Gastrell's
Notitia, ii, 254.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
LEIGH. Gules a cross
engrailed argent between
four lozenges ermine, a
canton or.
descended like Orrell to Mr. Roger Leigh, of Hindley
Hall, Aspull.
The shares of the Bi Hinge"
and Winstanley*3 families can-
not be traced satisfactorily.
One of the quarters of the
manor was acquired by the
family of Bankes of Winstan-
ley.24
Thomas and John Winstan-
ley and Thomas Bispham," as
landowners of Billinge and
Winstanley, contributed to a
subsidy levied about 1556.
The freeholders in 1600
were : Anderton of Birchley,
Thomas Bispham, Richard Billinge, William Ather-
ton, and John Wood.26 In 1628 the landowners,
contributing to the subsidy
were : Roger Anderton, Wil-
liam Bispham, William Black-
burn, Edmund Wood, and
Edmund Bispham. The first
and last of these, as convicted
recusants, paid double.17 Those
who contributed for lands to
the subsidy of 1663 were
James Anderton of Birchley,
Thomas Bispham, Peter Parr,
Geoffrey Birchall, and Alex-
ander Leigh.88 In 1717 the
following, as 'papists,' regis-
tered estates here : John Gerard of Ashton, John
Howard, Richard Mather, and Robert Rothwell of
Winstanley.*9 The principal landowners in 1787,
according to the land tax returns, were William
Bankes, Edward Leigh, and Sir Robert Gerard, con-
tributing together about half of the sum total raised.
BISPHAM. Sable a sal-
tire between four hart?
heads cabossed erminois.
The Inclosure Award, with plan, is preserved in
the County Council offices at Preston.
A chapel of ease was built here in the
CHURCH time of Henry VIII at the cost of the
inhabitants, who also paid the priest's
wages.30 At the beginning of Mary's reign James
Winstanley of Winstanley, ' minding utterly to destroy
the same chapel for ever, out of very malice and hate
that he had and bore towards the service of God,
which he perceived the Queen's majesty was minded
to advance and set forwards,' assembled a band of
twenty ' evil-disposed persons,' and forcibly carried off
the chalice and paten and other ornaments, broke the
windows, turned out forms and chairs and the like
furniture, and made it a barn, keeping his hay and
corn there by force.31 There was ' no preacher ' at
Billinge in 15 go.32 Eight years later the building
was found to be out of repair ; there were no books
but a Bible, the curate was ' no minister, but one
licensed to read.' No attempt had been made to
collect the is. a week fine for absence from the legal
services, nor were there any collections for the poor.
Very few came to the communion thrice yearly ; the
parishioners could not say the Catechism, and many
did not know the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and com-
mandments.33
The Commonwealth surveyors recommended that
the chapel should be made a separate parish church,
but this does not seem to have been carried out.34
The minister in charge was ejected in I662.34 The
old building was demolished and rebuilt in I7i7-i8.ss
The church has been of late considerably enlarged
under the direction of Mr. T. G. Jackson, R.A.
The oldest part of the building dates only from 1717,
and before the additions was a plain rectangle in
plan, 57 ft. by 37 ft., with a small eastern apse. The
elevations are very plain, divided on north and south
into four bays by shallow pilasters, with a round-
83 A pedigree, imperfect, was recorded
in 1665 ; Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 30.
John Billinge was in 1590 reported as
' soundly affected in religion ' Lydiate Hall,
246. He was a trustee in 1573, and
Richard Billinge was a freeholder in 1600.
His grandson, another Richard, recorded
the pedigree, being then 52 years of age.
As a 'papist* two-thirds of his estate fell
into the hands of the Parliamentary
authorities, and in 1652 the whole was
sequestered ; on inquiry it wag found that
his estate in Wigan parish had been
sequestered for recusancy, and that in
Ormskirk parish for recusancy and delin-
quency. Afterwards he petitioned to be
allowed to compound ; Royalist Comf>.
Papers, i,i 73 ; Cal. of. Com. for Compounding,
iv, 3102. His son John was aged 17 in
1665, and in 1691 Frances Bispham,
widow, purchased from John Billinge and
Margaret his wife, and Margery Billinge,
widow, the fi.th part of the manor of
Billinge, with houses, windmill, dovecote,
and lands in Billinge and Rainford ; Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 226, m. 44.
This ' fifth part ' of the manor is named
in a later fine, Holt Leigh being posses-
«or ; ibid. bdle. 368, m. 64.
88 This family may be the Winstanleys
of Blackley Hurst, a detached part of the
township of Winstanley.
34 In a recovery of the fourth part of
the manor of Billinge in 1729 Hugh
Holme was vouchee ; this was before his
marriage with the Bankes heiress 5 Pal.
of Lane. Plea R. 528, m. 8. It has
since descended like Winstanley ; ibid.
Aug. Assizes, 1803, R. 10.
25 Mascy of Rixton D.
96 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 240, 243.
John Wood in 1570 acquired lands in
Billinge, Windle, and Winstanley from
Richard Cowper, and ten years later made
further purchases from Ralph and Richard
Heaton ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
32, m. 51 ; 42, m. 143.
The Orrells of Turton held lands, as
appears by various suits recorded in Duca-
tus Lane. (Rec. Com.), i, 242.
For a Molyneux family, holding under
Fleetwood, see Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec.
Soc.), ii, 128.
a? Norris D. (B.M.).
28 List in possession of W. Farrer, con-
taining also a catalogue of the charterers.
29 Engl. Catb. Nonjuron, 124, 125,
151. The son of Richard and Elizabeth
Mather is described as a Protestant. In
addition, Francis Estcourt of Birchley
registered an annuity of £33 from a house
in Ashton in Makerfield ; ibid. 151.
80 The documents referred to are print-
ed in Canon Bridgeman's Wigan Ch.
749-57-
The dedication of the chapel is un-
known. In the earliest record, 1539-40,
the priest in charge is called the vicar of
Billinge ; op. cit. 750. Nothing but ' one
little bell' belonged to it in 1552; Cb.
Gds. (Chet. Soc.), 75.
86
81 Wigan Ch. 751. It is possible that
the chapel was not used in the time
of Edward VI, there being no 'ornaments '
in 1552, and that James Winstanley had
acquired some title to the building, or
claimed a chief rent. As to his opponents,
it is obvious that they would use the argu-
ment most likely to move the queen. In
the will of James Winstanley of Winstan-
ley, made 12 Mar. 1555-6, and proved at
Chester 19 Dec. 1557, he expressed a
desire to be buried ' within the holy
sepulchre in the parish church of Wigan.'
83 Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 348 ; quoting
S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, 4. A similar re-
port was made about 1610 ; Hist. MSS.
Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 1 3.
88 Wigan Ch. 754 ; Raines MSS. (Chet.
Lib.), xxii, 184.
84 Common-w. Cb. Surv. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 62 ; the salary was
j£5O. An augmentation of stipend to the
amount of ^30 was granted in 1656 ;
Plund. Mini. Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), ii, 145. M Wigan Ch. loc. cit.
86 Ibid. Bishop Gastrell about this
time found the income of the curate to be
^34 os. 8J., of which £6 was paid by
the rector, and the remainder was the in-
terest of various benefactions, £1 5 coming
from Eddleston House, an estate be-
queathed by John Eddleston in 1672, and
containing a stone delph set for £z. A
chief rent of £i was payable to Mr.
Blackburn. One warden was appointed ;
Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 253.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
headed window in each bay, each window subdivided
by mullions into three lights. The walls are crowned
with an embattled parapet, with urns at intervals on
the parapet, and in the west front is the doorway,
with a window of semi-Gothic style over it. All
the work is very good of its kind, of wrought stone
without, and the fittings of oak, while a fine brass
chandelier hangs from the ceiling. Galleries put up
in 1823 have now been taken away. It has lately
been dedicated to St. Aidan. In 1765 the patronage
was disputed, but the rector of Wigan established
his right, and is the present patron.37 The church
became parochial in l882.38
The curates in charge and vicars have been as
follows39:—
1609 Richard Bolton 40
1625 Edward Tempest
1626 Peter Travers
1646 John Wright"
c. 1686 Nathan Golborne"
1699 Edward Sedgwick
1704 John Horobin
1708 Humphrey Whalley
1749 Edward Parr
1763 Thomas Withnell
1776 Richard Carr
1813 Samuel Hall,43 M. A. (St. John's Coll. Camb.)
1833 John Bromilow
1853 Howard St. George, M.A. (T.C.D.)
1898 Francis Broughton Anson Miller, M.A.
(Trinity Coll. Camb.)
There is a Wesleyan Methodist chapel at Higher
End, built in 1 845, and a Primitive Methodist one
in Chapel End.
If Billinge has afforded some evidence, though
questionable, of the existence of a vigorous Protestant-
ism in this part of the county as early as 1550, it also
affords evidence of the vitality of the ancient faith,
the Andertons of Birchley sheltering the missionary
priests. One of the earliest to labour here was the
Jesuit Roger Anderton, who served from 1645 until
his death fifty years later.44 The present church of
St. Mary was built in 1828. A manuscript pre-
served in the presbytery contains the Forma Vivendi of
Richard Rolle of Hampole.45
WINSTANLEY
Winstaneslege, 1212; Wynstanesleigh, 1252;
Wynstanlegh, 1292 ; Winstanislegh, 1293.
Winstanley is situated on the eastern lower slopes
of Billinge Hill, 440 ft. above sea level being reached,
on the edge of an extensive colliery district, several
coal-mines being found in the township itself. The
principal object in the landscape is the mass of trees
surrounding Winstanley Hall, the grounds of which
occupy nearly one-third of the whole area of the
township. The rest of the country is divided into
fields, usually separated by thin hedges, and sometimes
by low stone walls. The arable fields produce crops of
potatoes, oats, and wheat, whilst there are pastures
and meadows, with isolated plantations. The sur-
face soil is sandy, mixed with clay in places, with
sandstone rock not far from the surface.
The park is bounded on two sides by the roads
from Billinge to Wigan and from Haydock to Up-
holland, which cross at its southern point. The Lan-
cashire and Yorkshire Company's Liverpool and Wigan
Railway passes through near the northern boundary. A
colliery railway goes south-west through the township.
Withington lies in the north-west corner, and
Longshaw on the western boundary ; south of this is
Moss Vale. Two detached portions of the township
lie within Billinge Chapel End ; one of these is called
Blackley Hurst.
The township has an area of 1,859 ac*65*1 and in
1901 the population numbered 564.
Thomas Winstanley, an Oxford scholar of some
distinction, was born in the township in 1749. He
became Camden Professor of History in 1790 and
held other university and college appointments. He
died in 1823.'* James Cropper, 1773 to 1840,
philanthropist, was also & native of Winstanley,1 and
Henry Fothergill Chorley, 1808 to 1872, musical
critic and general writer, of Blackley Hurst.3
The earlier stages of the history of the
M4NOR manor have been described in the account
of Billinge.4 There are no materials at
present available for tracing the descent in the family
of Winstanley, which continued in possession until
the end of the i6th century.8 Early in 1596 Ed-
mund Winstanley and Alice his wife sold the manor
W Wigan CA. 755.
M Ibid. 756 ; Land. Gaz.% Dec. 1882.
89 Wigan CA. 756, 757. The first
who was formally licensed to the cure
was Humphrey Whalley, in 1708. Most
of the earlier ones, therefore, except
during the Commonwealth, were pro-
bably curates of Wigan who read the ser-
vice at Biilinge on Sundays.
40 He was merely a 'reader* in 1609
(Raines MSS. xxii, 298), but contributed
to the subsidy of 1622 as curate; Misc.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 65.
41 He was a 'very honest, godly minis-
ter, and of good life and conversation, but
kept not the fast day appointed by Act of
Parliament' ; Commonw. Cb. Sur-v. 63.
42 There is probably some error in
Canon Bridgeman's list at this point, as
Humphrey Tudor' s name does not appear
in Bishop Stratford's visitation list of
1691. In 1689 Nathan Golborne was
'minister' at Billinge, and was 'con-
formable' ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv,
App. iv, 228. In Stratford's list he is
described as curate of Wigan, ordained in
1686. He is probably the Goulburn of
Canon Bridgeman. He was buried at
Warrington 12 Mar. 1691-2.
48 While at Billinge he renounced
Calvinism, became a Universalist, and
left the Established Church. He died in
1858 ; Axon, Mancb. Annals, 275. Later
he returned to the Church, but wai not
again bcneficed.
44 In 1717 the families in the chapelry
numbered 178, ten being 'papists' and
fourteen Dissenters (ten Presbyterian and
four Quakers). There were ninety-four
'papists' in 1767. See Gastrell, Notitia,
ii, 253 ; Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.),xviii.
45 Thedetails in this paragraph are chiefly
from the Liverpool Catb. Annual, 1901.
1 1, 860, including 29 of inland water ;
census of 1901.
la Diet. Nat. Biog. a Ibid. » Ibid.
4 Roger de Winstanley held the manor
under the lord of Billinge in 1212 ; Lanes.
Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 76. He was a contributor to
aids, &c. in the time of King John ;
Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 205, 230. As
Roger de Winstanley, son of Outi, he
made grants to Cockersand Abbey : (i)
Witlow Hurst, the bounds of which were
the Syke, Green Lache, Thornhurst Brook,
and Kempesbirines ; (2) another piece,
the bounds beginning at the road from
Northcroft to Sandyford on Budshaw
Brook; and (3) another, bounded by Eldeley
Brook and Thornhurst Brook to Green
Lache ; Cockersand Chart. (Chet. Soc.), ii,
654-8. The lands were granted by
the abbot to William de Burley, by a rent
of I2</., and los. as obit; William de
Whitlow held them in 1268, and James
de Winstanley, paying zs.t in 1461 ; ibid.
655-6.
6 Adam de Winstanley was in possession
in 1252 ; Final Cone, i, 114. By the
agreement he appears to have secured a
practical enfranchisement of his manor.
It was probably Roger his son who made
a grant to Cockersand of certain land
marked out by crosses ; this had been ex-
changed for other land held by Henry de
Billinge, and the exchange and donation
were confirmed by the lord of Newton in
1283 ; Cockersand Chart, ii, 658-60. Ro-
ger de Winstanley was a plaintiff in 1292
against Henry de Huyton ; Assize R.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
of Winstanley, with the coal mines and view of frank-
pledge, to James Bankes.6 The purchaser, who
belonged to a Wigan family,7 died 4 August 1617,
WlNSTANLEY. Or t-WO
bart azure and in chief
three crosses formy gules.
BANKES. Sable a crosi
or between four jteurs de
Us argent, a canton of the
second.
leaving a widow Susannah, and a son and heir Wil-
liam, then twenty-four years of age. The manor was
held of Sir Richard Fleetwood, baron of Newton, in
socage by a rent of 3/. 6d. ; the other possessions of
James Bankes included the manor of Houghton in
Winwick, and lands in Winstanley and adjacent town-
ships.8 William Bankes, the heir, represented Liver-
pool in Parliament in 1675 ;9 his son, another
William, represented Newton in Makerfield in 1 660 ;10
the latter's son, also William, represented Wigan in
1679." The last William Bankes dying in 1689,
the manors passed to his brother Thomas's son and
grandson.18 Thomas had also a daughter Anne, who
married Hugh Holme of Upholland in 1732, and
their descendants, assuming the name of Bankes,13
ultimately acquired possession, retaining it until the
death of Meyrick Bankes in 1881. His daughter,
Mrs. Murray, was left a life interest in the estate, and
it was entailed in tail male on her sons. She re-
sumed her maiden name and died December 1907,
when her only surviving son George Bankes came
into the property."
Another branch of the Winstanley family15 is
found at Blackley Hurst, a detached portion of the
township. Their lands were sold to Richard or
William Blackburne in 1617," and Blackley Hurst
was later acquired by the Gerards, owners of the
adjacent Birchley.
408, m. 44 d. ; and in the same year
Henry son of Roger de Winstanley and
Adam son of William de Winstanley were
defendants ; ibid. m. 36 d.
In 1305 Roger son of Roger de Win-
stanley recovered messuages and lands
from Richard son of William the Lewed,
Alice his wife, and Amota daughter of
Alice. Alice, it appeared, was the real
defendant ; her title came from a grant
by Robert de Huyton and William de
Winstanley ; Assize R. 1306, m. 19. In
1332 Roger de Winstanley contributed to
the subsidy ; Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 26. Roger son of Roger
de Winstanley and Isolda his father's
widow had disputes in 1352 j Assize
R. 435, m. 29. Particulars of various
suits will be found in the account of
Billinge.
Hugh de Winstanley contributed to
the poll tax in 1 3 8 1 ; Exch. Lay Subs. bdle.
130, no. 24. In 1388 he had licence for
an oratory for two years ; Lich. Epis. Reg.
Scrope, vi, fol. 124. Henry de Winstan-
ley and Malin his wife made a grant of
land in Houghton in Winwick in 1400-1 j
Towneley MS. GG, no. 1007.
At the end of 1433 James de Winstan-
ley the elder granted to trustees all his
lands, &c., in Wigan, Winstanley, Pem-
berton, and Billinge ; these in the follow-
ing year were regranted to him with
remainder to his son James and Agnes his
wife ; ibid. no. 2857, 2224. In 1490-1
Gilbert Langton (of Lowe in Hindley), as
trustee enfeoffed Gilbert Langtree, James
Molyneux, rector of Sefton, and Robert
Langton, son of the grantor, of his manor
of Winstanley and all his lands in Win-
stanley, Wigan, Orrell, and Billinge, then
occupied by Agnes mother of Edmund
Winstanley, and by Randle and Robert
Winstanley. After Edmund's death the
manor and lands were to descend to James
the son and heir of Edmund, with re-
mainder to James's brother Humphrey ;
ibid. no. 2537. Edmund Winstanley was
tenant of the Cockersand lands in 1501 ;
Rentale de Cockersand (Chet. Soc.), 5.
Richard Crosse of Liverpool in 1493
agreed to marry Elizabeth daughter of
Edmund Winstanley ; Towneley MS.
GG. no. 2250 ; Visit, of 1567 (Chet.
Soc.), 107.
Humphrey Winstanley was recorded
among the gentry of the hundred in
1512. A marriage agreement between
him and Evan Haydock in 1505 is in
Towneley MS. GG. no. 1534. For the
child marriage of Humphrey Winstanley
and Alice sister of James Worsley, see
F. J. Furnivall's Child Marriages (Early
Engl. Text Soc.), 2.
6 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 59,
m. 348. The remainder of the holding
included forty messuages, five water-
mills, two dovecotes, 300 acres of land,
100 acres of meadow, common of pasture
for all cattle, and various houses and
lands.
Edmund Winstanley is mentioned in
the Visit, of 1567, pp. 24, 107. He was
steward of the rector of Wigan in 1575 ;
Wigan Ch. 145. There is a deed of his
in Towneley MS. GG, no. 2635.
7 A pedigree was recorded in 1664
(Dugdale, Vis.it. [Chet. Soc.], 26), and
there are later pedigrees in Gregson's
Fragments (ed. Harland), 232 ; Burke,
Commoners^ iv, 213 ; Baines, Lanes, (ed.
Croston), iv, 306.
In 1588 William Bankes purchased a
house and lands in Wigan and Ince from
Miles Gerard and Grace his wife ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 50, m. 171. Five
year* later James Bankes made a pur-
chase in Aspull and Wigan, and in 1597
he and Susan his wife made a sale or
mortgage, Francis Sherington being the
plaintiff in the fine; ibid, bdles. 55, m.
127 ; 58, m. 220.
8 Lana. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), ii, 97-9.
9 Pink and Beaven, Lanes. Parl. Repre-
sentation, 191. He was then 91 years
of age. William Bankes in 1631 paid
j£ 1 2 on refusing knighthood ; Misc. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 213.
10 Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 281.
11 Ibid. 229 ; he was a Whig. Some
of his letters are printed in Hist. MSS.
Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 128, &c.
12 Thomas's son Robert was sheriff in
1742 ; his grandson William (son of Wil-
liam) in 1784; P.R.O. List of Sheriffs,
74. William Bankes died in 1800, with-
out issue, and the estates passed to his
cousin, the Rev. Thomas Holme of Up-
holland, whose mother's monument in
88
Upholland Church states that she died
2 June 1799, aged 93 ; Wigan Cb. 747.
Thomas Holme was incumbent of Up-
holland from 1758 to 1767 ; ibid. 749.
Several of the family have been benefac-
tors to the poor.
is Meyrick son of Thomas Holme
took the surname of Bankes in 1804 ; he
was sheriff in 1805 ; P.R.O. List, 74.
14 A view of the hall, about 1816, is
given in Gregson, Fragments (ed. Har-
land), 231.
15 An undated fragment of a pedigree
in Piccope's MS. Pedigrees (Chet. Lib.), ii,
fol. 18, gives the succession : James — 35.
Ottiwell — s. James, ' said to be an alms
knight at Windsor."
A Humphrey Winstanley about 1560
married Jane, a daughter of William
Heaton, and had disputes with the An-
dertons and Heatons ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec.
Com.), ii, 236 ; iii, 12, 13.
16 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 90, no.
41 ; bdle. 91, no. 27 ; in the former
James Sorocold was plaintiff, and in the
latter Richard Blackburne was joined with
him. James Winstanley and Margaret
his wife were deforciants ; the property is
described as the manors of Winstanley
and Billinge, with various lands, &c., in
these townships and in Ashton.
William Blackburne in 1631 paid ^10
on refusing knighthood ; Misc. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 213.
The Blackburnes, a Protestant family,
near relations of those of Newton, Orford,
and Hale, long continued in possession.
They had an estate — Crow Lane — in
the parish of Winwick, and a burial place
there, for in the registers are records of
the burials of Thomas Blackburne of
Blackley Hurst, 9 Feb. 1664-5 5 J°hn,
18 Dec. 1666, see Roger Lowe's Diary ;
William son of John (of Billinge), 14
July 1719; William, 21 Dec. 1724;
Anne wife of John, i May 1745 ; and
John, 2 Apr. 1766, aged 89 ; then Black-
burne son of Mr. Gildart of Blackley
Hurst, aged 2, 23 Dec. 1767 ; John
Gildart of Billinge, 13 Feb. 1771-2 ; and
Jane Creighton, of Blackley Hurst, aged
86, 20 Jan. 1795. Sophia daughter and
sole heir of John Gildart of Blackley
Hurst married Major Richard Jones, a
son of the fourth Viscount Ranelagh ;
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
In 1600 the freeholders were James Bankes, Ed-
mund Atherton, and James Winstanley of Blackley
Hurst.17 William Bankes and William Blackburne
contributed to the subsidy of i6z8.18 William
Bankes, Thomas Blackburne of Blackley Hurst, clerk,
and the heirs of James Winstanley of Hough Wood,
contributed in i663.19 A number of Winstanley
Quakers were in 1670 convicted as 'Popish recu-
sants,' two-thirds of their properties being sequestra-
ted.20 Thomas Marsh, John Buller, William Jameson,
and Thomas Appleton, as ' papists,' registered estates
here in
ORRELL
Horul, 1212 ; Orel, 1292 ; Orhull, 1294 ; Orul,
1307.^
This township, sometimes called Orrell in Maker-
field, to distinguish it from Orrell in Sefton parish,
has an area of 1,617^ acres.1 It is divided from Up-
holland on the west by Dean Brook, flowing through
a pleasantly- wooded dingle to join the Douglas, which
forms the northern boundary. It is situated on the
eastern slope of the ridge of high ground stretching
north from Billinge to Dalton. The country is open
and varied, and consists of pasture land and fields,
where the crops are chiefly potatoes, wheat, and oats.
Towards the south the country is even more bare and
treeless as it merges into the colliery district. The
soil is clay with a mixture of sand, over a foundation
of hard stone. The town of Upholland is partly
situated in this township, and the Abbey Lake, a small
sheet of water, is the rendezvous of picnic parties and
excursions from the larger towns in the neighbourhood,
such a lake being attractive on account of the scarcity
of water in the district.
The principal road is that from Ormskirk to Wigan,
which passes through the township from west to
east, and is crossed by a road leading northwards
from St. Helens to Standish. Orrell Mount, over
300 ft., and Orrell Post are to the east of the
point where the roads cross ; to the south-west is
Far Moor, and to the north Ackhurst. Lamberhead
Green lies on the eastern edge, partly in Pemberton.
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's Liverpool
and Wigan line crosses the southern corner of the
township, having a station there called Orrell ; the
same company's Wigan and Southport line passes
through the northern portion, close to the Douglas,
with a station called Gathurst.
The population in 1901 numbered 5,436.
Nail-making is carried on, and there is a cotton
mill. Roburite is made at Gathurst. In 1787 there
were coal mines working under five different owner-
ships.2
A local board was formed in i872.s The town-
ship is now governed by an urban district council of
twelve members.
Before the Conquest, as afterwards,
M4NOR ORRELL was the extreme north-west
berewick of the manor or fee of Newton
in Makerfield/ and it remained a member of it until
the 1 7th century.6 The available materials for its
history are but scanty. At the survey of 1 2 1 2 it was
held in thegnage by Richard de Orrell as half a plough-
land, by the service of i os, rent and finding a judge ;
this was an arrangement ' of ancient time.' 6 There
was an ancient subordinate holding, William holding
half an oxgang after giving Thomas de Orrell two ox-
gangs in free marriage in the time of King Richard.
Richard de Orrell himself had recently given one
oxgang to his brother John, and previously 4 acres to
the Hospitallers.7 Soon afterwards grants were made
to Cockersand Abbey by Richard de Orrell and John
his son.8
Gent. Mag. 1785, ii, 747. She died in
1803 without issue.
The following members of the family
matriculated at Oxford, Brasenose College:
William son of William Blackburne of
Billinge, plebeian, i6z6, aged 17 (after-
wards vicar of Chartbury) ; Richard son
of William, 1633, aged 21 ; Thomas son
of William, of Blackley Hurst, 1639,
aged 18 (B.D. 1661) ; John son of Wil-
liam, of Billinge, 1640, aged 18 (B.D.
1662) ; Foster's Alumni.
William son of Thomas Blackburne
occurs in 1673 in the account of Newton
in Makerfield.
William Blackburne, of Blackley Hurst,
John his son and heir apparent, and Wil-
liam the son of John, are all mentioned
in a lease enrolled in 1718 ; Piccope MSS.
(Chet. Lib.), iii, fol. 200, from 2nd R. of
George I at Preston.
A Roger Rigby of Blackley Hurst,
brother of Edward Rigby of Burgh, was
in 1 5 90 reported as ' evil given in religion ' ;
Lydiate Hall, 250.
*l Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 239, 242. Edward Winstanley and
Humphrey Atherton had a dispute con-
cerning lands in Winstanley in 1593 ;
Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), iii, 291, 319. A
settlement of lands in Billinge was made
in 1596, Humphrey Atherton and Alice
his wife, and Edmund, the son and heir,
being deforciants ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 59, m. 21.
Edmund Atherton of Winstanley died
in 1613 holding land in Billinge of the
Baron of Newton ; Humphrey his son
and heir was four years old ; Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 277.
From deeds in the possession of W.
Farrer it appears that Romeshaw House
was part of the Atherton estate.
" Norris D. (B.M.).
19 Schedule in possession of W. Farrer.
A William Blackburne of Blackley Hurst
is also named.
30 Local Glean. Lanes, and Cbes. i, 234,
where lists referring to this and neigh-
bouring townships are printed.
ffl Engl. Catb. Nonjurors, 97, 125, 135,
151. Appleton's house was called The
Riddings.
1 Including 7 acres of inland water ;
Census of 1901.
9 Land tax returns at Preston. The
owners were William German, Blundell &
Co., Hardcastle & Co., Rev. Thomas
Holme, and Richard Culshaw & Co.
8 Land. Gaz. 21 June 1872.
4 y.C.H. Lanes, i, 286.
5 See the various inquisitions of the
Langtons ; e.g. Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet.
Soc.), i, 138 ; ii, 99; ibid. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 105.
6 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 76. Richard de Orrell
occurs from 1201 in the Pipe R. (Lanes.
Pipe R. 152, 179, <fec.), but it appears
from the Survey that he had been in
posseition in the time of Henry II.
7 Lanct. Inq. and Extents, loc. cit.
The grant to the Hospitallers is not
mentioned in the list of their lands
in the Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.),
375, nor in the rental of 1540; but in
1617 James Bankes of Winstanley held
a messuage and various lands in Orrell,
with common of pasture, of William, Earl
of Derby, as of his manor of Woolton, by
i zd. rent ; these were probably the Hos-
pitallers' lands ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec.
Soc.), ii, 98.
8 Cockersand Chart. (Chet. Soc.), ii,
651-4. Richard de Orrell granted a piece
of land between Clamsclough and Bradley
Brook, and between the Douglas and Os-
bernlea.
John son of Richard de Orrell granted
Haselenhurst ; from Bradley Brook where
Small Brook enters it, up to the syke
dividing the Cockersand land from that of
William de Orrell, following the syke to
Small Brook, and down this to the start.
This land had been previously granted to
Adam son of Robert ; the charter state*
that Bradley Brook flowed down from
Swithel Hills.
William son of Leising released his
claim in these lands to the canons.
In 1501 Robert Orrell held a portion of
the abbey's lands, and the heirs of Robert
Holland the remainder, for a total rent
of izd. ; Cockersand Rental (Chet. Soc.),
4, 5-
The Cockersand lands here, as elsewhere,
appear to have been granted to Thomas
Holt.
12
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Before the end of the century, in what way does
not appear, the manor was acquired by the Holands
of Upholland,9 from whom it descended, like their
other manors, to the Levels,10 and, after forfeiture, to
the Earls of Derby."
William, the sixth earl, sold it to William Orrell
of Turton,11 and the latter soon after sold to the
Bisphams, lords of part of the adjacent manor of
Billinge ; ls then by marriage it descended to Thomas
Owen,14 and to Holt Leigh of Wigan.15 His son,
Sir Roger Holt Leigh, of Hindley Hall in Aspull,
left it to his cousin, afterwards Lord Kingsdown, for
life, and then to the present owner, Mr. Roger
Leigh of Aspull.16
The Orrell family had numerous offshoots, but the
relationships cannot be traced. The survey of 1212,
quoted above, shows that there were then two subor-
dinate holdings of one-eighth and a quarter of the
manor. The former may have descended to the
Orrells of Turton,17 and the latter may be the holding
of Alexander Orrell of Orrell Post, whose land in
1607 was held by a rent of 3/.18
The freeholders in 1 600 were the Alexander Orrell
just named, William Prescott, and Thomas Tipping.19
James Bankes of Winstanley also held lands here in
1618"
About the same time another family, the Leighs of
Ackhurst, are mentioned, continuing down to the
9 Robert de Holand was lord in 1292 ;
Assize R. 408, m. 37 ; Final Cone. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 173.
In 1307 Robert de Holand desiring to
give a plough-land in Orrell to the chap-
lain of Upholland, inquiry was made on
behalf of the king ; the manor of Orrell
was found to be held of John de Langton
and Alice his wife by the service of icw. ftd.
— an increase of 6d. — and doing suit at
the court of Newton in Makerfield from
three weeks to three weeks ; Lanci. Inq.
and Extents, i, 322.
At a later inquiry in 1324 the same
statement was made as to the tenure ; the
value of the manor was £6 6s. T&d. ;
Inq. a.q.d. 1 8 Edw. II, no. 68. See also
Inq. p.m. 47 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), no. 19.
10 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 2.
11 Pat 4 Hen. VII, 25 Feb. ; Duchy
of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, no. 68. In 1 597 the
deforciants of the manors of Orrell and
Dalton were William, Earl of Derby, and
Edward Stanley ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 58, m. 254.
12 Bridgeman, Wigan Ch. (Chet. Soc.),
257 ; see further below.
18 See Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.), i,
200, in 1607. William Bispham died in
1639 holding the manor of Orrell of the
king as of his manor of East Greenwich ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxx, no. 97.
14 See the account of Billinge.
15 See the account of Aspull.
16 Burke, Landed Gentry.
^ In 1292 Adam sou of William de Or-
rell, asserting that he was lord of an eighth
part of the vill, complained that Robert
de Holland and Robert his son had dis-
seised him of his free tenement in Orrell.
Some of the waste had been improved by
the elder Robert, and it was shown that
sufficient pasture had been reserved for the
commoners ; thus Adam lost his case 5
Assize R. 408, m. 37.
In 1334 William Hert and Emma his
wife, Roger Hert and Agnes his wife — the
wives being granddaughters (or daughters)
and heirs of Adam de Orrell — claimed
lands in Orrell against Henry de Orrell
and the brothers Roger and William de
Orrell, Henry alleging a grant by Adam ;
Coram Rege R. 297, m. 103.
18 In 1530 there wat a recovery of
the manor of Orrell by William Orrell,
sen., against William Orrell, jun. ; Pal.
of Lane. Plea R. 151, m. i. William
Orrell of Orrell claimed against John
Orrell of Turton in 1551 a messuage and
lands in Orrell, as heir of a certain Robert
Orrell, giving his pedigree thus : Robert
— s. John — s. Peter — bro. Henry — «.
William ; ibid. R. 191, m. 12.
In disputes which arose in the time of
Elizabeth are numerous details regarding
this manor.
It was «tated that William Orrell of
Orrell was seised of a capital messuage
called the Hall of Orrell, a water corn-
mill, and lands in Orrell, by descent from
his ancestors. About 1558 he conveyed
the estate to Hugh Anderton, from whom
it passed to Richard Chisnall of Gray's
Inn, and then to Sir Robert Worsley, who
gave it to his son Robert. The younger
Robert, at the desire of William Orrell,
assured the premises to Gilbert Shering-
ton of Gray's Inn, who about 1570 sold
to Francis Sherington and Katherine his
wife. Two years later William Orrell
was charged with forging deeds to regain
possession, his son John being an accom-
plice, and ' they went to the said premises,
shooting arrows at the said Katherine and
her servants ' ; Duchy of Lane. Plead.
Eliz. bcxxviii, S. 18.
From another document it appears that
Sir Robert Worsley, about 1558, was the
owner of Orrell Hall and conveyed it to
William Orrell, who bought out the in-
terest of Thomas Molyneux in part of the
estate. It is not clear whether Sir Ro-
bert's title arose from a purchase from the
grantee of Upholland Priory, or from a
sale (or mortgage) by William Orrell ;
ibid. Ixxiii, O. 4. The money to be paid
to Sir Robert Worsley was £280. Gil-
bert Sherington paid this ; William Orrell
was to be tenant for life, and his son
Thomas released all his interest in the
estate ; ibid, xciii, O. i.
Somewhat earlier, in 1549, James An-
derton had purchased lands in Orrell from
William Orrell ; PaL of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 13, m. 66. James died shortly
afterwards holding lands in Orrell of the
Earl of Derby by a rent of 31. a year ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. ix, no. 14. In
April 1555 Hugh Anderton, the son and
heir of James, purchased a messuage,
water-mill, &c., from William Orrell ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle, 15, m. at.
Two years later Richard Chisnall secured
the same from Hugh Anderton and Alice
his wife ; ibid. bdle. 17, m. 71.
A settlement by William Orrell and
Thomas his son and heir-apparent was
made in 1561; ibid. bdle. 23, m. 193.
Sir Robert Worsley, his son and heir Ro-
bert, whose wife was Elizabeth, made a
settlement two years later ; ibid. bdle. 25,
m. 225. Gilbert Sherington's purchase
took place in 1569 ; the deforciants being
Robert Worsley and Elizabeth his wife,
William Orrell and Margaret his wife, and
William Stopforth and Blanche his wife ;
ibid. bdle. 31, m. 200.
There were perhaps two estates ; Or-
rell Hall held under the priory and then
under Worsley, and sold to Sherington ;
and another held under the Earl of Derby
and sold to James Anderton. If so, the
90
latter was perhaps regained by the Orrells,
the rent (3*.) being the same in 1552 and
1607. In 1567 John Orrell conveyed an
estate to feoffees ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 29, m. 85. He seems to have
been the great-grandfather of Alexander
(son of John) Orrell, who, as a minor, in
1587 complained that Elizabeth, wife of
John Rivington, and widow of the elder
John Orrell, was detaining part of his es-
tate ; Duchy of Lane. Plead. Eliz. cxlii,
O. 2. This is no doubt the Alexander
Orrell who died in 1607, leaving a son
and heir Ralph, aged eighteen in 1612 ;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 199.
The former, Orrell Hall, was retained
by the Sheringtons. In 1601 William
Orrell of Turton, having purchased the
manor, had disputes with Katherine,
widow of Francis Sherington, as to her
coal mine in Harre hey adjoining the
High Street in Orrell. The latter com-
plained that William Orrell had dug a pit
in the highway and made a passage to her
mine, had caused the water from the
ditch to flow into it, and had stopped up
the gate through which her coals were
carried. He replied that Katherine's
messuage was held of the manor, which he
had demised to his brother Richard, of
London ; and that she had taken coals
from his land ; Duchy Plead. Eliz. cxcv,
S. 10 ; cciv, O. i ; ccv, S. 27.
In 1650 Edward Rigby, who held Or-
rell Hall of Francis Sherington of Booths
at a rent of ,£38, petitioned the Parlia-
mentary Commissioners for relief. Sher-
ington's estate had been sequestered in
1643, and from that time Rigby paid his
rent to the sequestrators ; but when Prince
Rupert was in the county (1644) Shering-
ton took him prisoner, made him pay
£n 55., and seized his goods, &c., the
place being within 3^ miles from Lathom.
He desired that Sherington might not be
allowed to compound until he had satisfied
him ; Cal. of Com. for Compounding, ii,
1192.
19 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i,
242-3. Thomas Prescott died in 1591,
holding a messuage, shop, and lands in
Orrell and Upholland of the queen as of
the late priory of Upholland, by a rent of
iifed. His son William was thirty-five
years of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
xv, no. 7.
William Prescott occurs 1597 ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 58, m. 223. He
died in 1601 leaving a son Thomas, one
year old ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xviii,
no. 21.
20 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.), ii, 97 ;
part was held of Richard Fleetwood, and
part, as already stated, of the Earl of
Derby.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
middle of the 1 8th century.21 They were recusants
and incurred the usual penalties. Emma, or Emeren-
tia, Leigh, widow, Margaret and Catherine Leigh,
spinsters, and their sister, Anne Sandford, widow,
registered their estates in xyiy.22 Thomas Duxon
and William Tarleton were the other ' papists ' who
did the same.83
Orrell was formerly considered part of the chapelry
of Upholland. Recently, in connexion with the
Established Church, St. Luke's Chapel-of-ease has
been erected.
The Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists have
chapels in the township, as also have the Welsh Cal-
vinistic Methodists.
Salem Chapel, built in 1824, belongs to the Con-
gregationalists, who formed a church here about 1805
and erected a temporary chapel about 1 8 1 o. The
building is still called John Holgate's Chapel, from
the name of one of the early ministers, 1820-50. A
later minister conformed to the Established religion,
an occurrence which almost ruined the Congregational
interest.24
The Roman Catholic mission was founded at Cross-
brook in 1 699 and removed to the present site at Far
Moor in 1805 ; the church of St. James was enlarged
in 1841, and a bell- tower erected in 1882. There is a
burial-ground attached.25 Anne Sandford in 1740 gave
j£ioo to the mission with an obligation to say mass
for herself, her mother, and two sisters.26 A convent
of French Benedictine nuns, driven out of their
country by the Revolution, in the first half of last
century occupied the house at Orrell Mount, but
afterwards removed to Princethorpe, Warwickshire.
UPHOLLAND
Holland, Dom. Bk. ; Hollande, 1202 ; Holand,
1224 and common; Holande, 1279; Upholond,
1292 ; Upholland, xvi cent.
This township, distinguished by the prefix from
Downholland near Halsall, is the largest in the parish,
having an area of 4,685 acres.1 The population in
1901 numbered 4,77 3. * From the northern and
eastern boundaries, formed by the River Douglas and
its affluent the Dean Brook, the surface rises rapidly to
a point near the middle of the western boundary,
where a height of about 550 ft. is attained. From this
a ridge extends southerly, the ground to the south-
west falling away continuously to the boundary, which
is formed by Raw Moss and Holland Moss. The
southerly aspect of the township is open and bare ;
on the north there are more trees as the land
dips down to the romantic valley of the Douglas.
The arable fields, many divided by stone walls, are
sown with oats and wheat, and potatoes are very
extensively grown. On the south and west there are
collieries and fire-brick works, whilst stone quarries
give work to a section of the inhabitants. The soil
appears to be chiefly sandy, clayey in places, a shaley
rock appearing now and again on the surface, but the
solid base is sandstone.
The 1 7th-century registers name many * coalers ' and
' delf men ' ; there were also nailers, linen-weavers,
glovers, watchmakers, and other craftsmen, whose
names are found in the township.
Upholland village, where the priory formerly stood,
lies on the eastern slope of the ridge, near the Orrell
boundary. Through it pass from east to west the
road from Wigan to Ormskirk, and from north to
south that from Chorley to St. Helens. The
village has a steep main street, with the church at
the south end, overlooking a wide open space of
churchyard on the north and east. Immediately south
of the church is the site of the claustral buildings, but
their remains, with a single exception, are buried in
the ground and have never been explored. The
houses of Upholland are from an architectural point
of view of little interest, except one, an early 1 7th
or late 16th-century house on the south side of
the main street, with mullioned windows and a
panel with the Stanley crest. To the north lie
Walthew Green, Roby Mill, and Holland Lees ;
to the west are Holland Moor, Birch Green, Dig-
moor, and Tawd Bridge, the River Tawd forming
a portion of the boundary at this point, and being
joined by Grimshaw Brook ; to the south and south-
west are Tontine, Pimbo, and Crawford. The Lan-
cashire and Yorkshire Company's railway from Liver-
pool to Wigan passes through the southern part of the
township, with a station at Pimbo Lane now called
Upholland.
Edward II stayed at Upholland for a fortnight in
October 1323, on his way from the north to Liver-
pool.*
The Local Government Act of 1858 was adopted
by the township in 1872.* The local board was,
in 1894, replaced by a district council of fifteen
members.
81 The inheritance of this family was
derived from Edmund Molyneux, mercer
of London, lord of Vange in Essex, who
died 31 Jan. 1615-16, seised of lands in
Orrell and Upholland, held of Richard
Fleetwood and of the king respectively.
His heir was James Leigh, son of his
»ister Agnes, aged forty in 1618 ; Lanes.
Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii,
99. He was a benefactor of Wigan and
Upholland. His will is printed in Gis-
borne Molineux's Molineux Family, 143 ;
it shows that he was related to the Moly-
neuxes of Hawkley. An Edmund Moly-
neux and his wife Agnes had lands in
Orrell (apparently in the latter's right) in
1532 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. n,
m. 192.
James Leigh and Margaret his wife,
with their daughters Alice, Jane, and
Ellen, were fined for recusancy in 1616.
James and Alexander Leigh also appear on
the recusant roll of 1641. James Leigh
had a small copyhold estate at Barking in
Essex sequestered for his recusancy by
the Parliamentary authorities, and sold in
1648 to Abraham Webb, apothecary-
general to the army ; Alexander Leigh,
the son and heir of James, afterwards
for £220 concurred in the sale. In 1619
he charged his lands in Orrell with a rent
of j£6 1 31. \d. for the maintenance of the
grammar school at Wigan. Under the
Parliamentary rule, two-thirds of his es-
tate was sequestered for his recusancy.
He died in or before 1649, when his son
Alexander succeeded ; Royalist Comp.
Papers (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iv,
86—91 ; Cal. of Com, for Compounding, iv,
2564.
Alexander Leigh appears in the recusant
rolls down to 1667, and Richard Leigh,
9*
probably his son, to 1680. Two of Alex-
ander's sons, Philip and John Joseph, be-
came Jesuits ; the former was the author
of a Life of St. Winefride. See Gillow,
Bill. Diet, of Engl. Cath. iii, 191 ; Foley,
Rec. S.J. vi, 518, 516 ; vii, 448-50.
22 Engl. Catb. Nonjurors, 135, 124.
28 Ibid. 149, 126.
34 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconformity, iv,
37. Daniel Rosbotham of Rainford in
1858 left ,£200 towards the endow-
ment ; Wigan End. Char. Rep. 1899,
P- 57-
35 Liverpool Cath, Ann. 1901.
26 Gillow, op. cit. iv, 191.
1 4,686, including 9 of inland water ;
Census Rep. 1901.
2 Including Bank Top, Crawford, &c.
8 Cal. Close, 1323-7, pp. 25, 27, 28,
41.
4 Land. Cast. 13 Sept. 1872.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
A figure, probably of Cupid, dating from Roman
times was found here.5
A fair, for pigs only, is held on Easter Mon-
day. There was formerly a market on Wednesday.6
There were several crosses which have now disap-
peared.7
In 1066 the manor of HOLLAND or
MANOR Upholland was held by Stein ulf; it was
assessed as two plough-lands and worth
64</.* Nothing further is known of its tenure until
1212, when it together with Melling was held in
thegnage by Henry de Melling ; of him Matthew
and Alan held the two plough-lands in Upholland by
a rent of \2s. a year.9 Ten years earlier Matthew
de Holland — or Holand, as the name was usually
spelt — held fourteen oxgangs here, to which Uctred
de Church quitclaimed all his right.10 Nothing
further seems to be known of Alan, the joint tenant
with Matthew. The latter was a benefactor of
Cockersand Abbey.11
In 1224 Simon de Halsall quitclaimed to Robert
de Holland all his right in the two plough-lands in
Upholland.11 The relationship of this Robert to his
predecessor Matthew does not appear in the records.
He was the ancestor of the great Holand family.
His last appearance was to answer a charge of setting
fire to one of the rector's houses in Wigan in 1241 ;
he and his son Thurstan were lodged in prison, but
released till the trial.13
Thurstan is said to have married a daughter of
Adam de Kellet ; eventually the lordship of Nether
Kellet descended to his heirs by this wife.14 He also
acquired lands in Hale, and large grants in Maker-
field.14 Sir Robert de Holland, the son of Thur-
stan, who succeeded about 1276, married Elizabeth
daughter and co-heir of Sir William de Samles-
bury.16
Robert's son and namesake, Sir Robert de Holland,
became one of the leading men in the county, being
a favourite official of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, from
whom he secured an alteration in the tenure of Up-
holland, which does not seem to have been perma-
nent.17 He extended his possessions by a marriage
with Maud, daughter and co-heir of Alan de la Zouch,18
and had many grants from his patron the earl ; l9
some of these were held to be invalid. He was sum-
moned to Parliament as Lord Holland from 1314 to
1321. He took part in the earl's rebellion, and all
his lands were forfeited ; *° he himself was murdered
in October 1328, it is said by followers of the earl
who regarded him either as a coward or a traitor.21
Among his other acts was the foundation of the
priory at Upholland in 1310 to 1317." This was
practically the conclusion of the family's active interest
in the manor.
The forfeiture of the estates was in 1328 reversed
by Edward III,23 and Holland descended regularly to
Sir Robert's son, Robert, who distinguished himself
8 Watkin, Roman Lanes. 230.
* It had long been discontinued in
1836 ; Baines, Lanes, (ist ed.), iii, 561.
7 Lanes, and Ches. Anti<j. Soc. xix, 237.
« V.C.H. Lanes. I, 284*.
9 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 1 5.
10 Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 14. The two oxgangs not
accounted for may have been Alan's
portion.
11 Cockersand Chart. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 610.
The boundaries of his donation began at
the head of the Ridge on the division be-
tween Holland and Dalton, followed this
division as far as Black lache, and by Black
lache, Rutand Clough, Green lache, Pool
lache, to the syke between St. Mary's
land and the assart of Outi ; then by the
carr beyond the Ridge to the starting
point. He added an assart called Lithe-
hurst, lying between Philip's boundary
and Hawk's Nest Clough. The ease-
ments included oak mast and shealings
(scalingis). The ' St. Mary's land ' men-
tioned was perhaps the abbey's land in
Dalton.
12 Final Cone, i, 47.
18 Cur. Reg. R. 121, m. 25 d., 26 d., 32.
The result is not given. Robert de Hol-
land granted to Cockersand Abbey all the
land which Hugh and Wronow held of
him in Bothams, on the boundary of
Dalton, and apparently adjoining that
granted by Matthew de Holland ; Chart.
ii, 611.
14 See Final Cone, ii, 118. Thurstan
de Holland was one of the jurors as to
those liable to contribute to the Gascon
scutage in 1242-3 ; Lanes. Inq. and
Extents, i, 146.
In 1246 Thurstan de Holland was ac-
quitted of having disseised Amice, wife of
Thomas de Pendlebury, of 16 acres in
Upholland ; Assize R. 404, m. i.
In 1268 Thurstan de Holland, his
brothers Matthew, Richard, Robert, and
William, and his son Robert, were sum-
moned to answer a charge of trespass ;
Cur. Reg. R. 186, m. 23d.; 190, m.
i6d.
As Sir Thurstan de Holland he wit-
nessed a charter to Stanlaw in 1272 ;
Whalley Coucher (Chet. Soc.), ii, 585.
There were other families bearing the
local surname ; thus in 1258 Christiana,
daughter of Adam de Holland, claimed
6 oxgangs of land in Holland from
Roger, Henry, and William, sons of Adam
de Holland ; Cur. Reg. R. 160, m. 5, 32.
15 See the accounts of Hale, Pemberton,
Haydock, Golborne, and Lowton.
16 Robert de Holland and Elizabeth his
wife occur in 1276 ; Assize R. 405, m. 2.
By his marriage he acquired part of the
manor of Harwood and other lands ;
Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 313 ; Final
Cone, i, 173 ; ii, 193. He is supposed
to have died about 1304.
17 In 1295 Upholland seems still to
have been dependent upon Melling, for
the heirs of Jordan de Hulton were respon-
sible for the 1 2s. rent ; Lanes. Inq. and
Extents, i, 288.
Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, by his
charter granted to Robert de Holland and
Maud his wife the manors of Upholland,
Hale, &c., to hold of the chief lords by
the services due, and further by the ser-
vice of distributing each year for the earl's
soul on St. Thomas the Martyr's Day, and
on Christmas Day, to the poor folk coming
to the manor house of Upholland, 20
heaped-up measures of wheaten flour, and
ox, swine, and calf flesh to the value of
£10 ; and of providing a repast of two
courses for 240 poor persons in the hall
of Upholland, on the same feast, to be
served on dishes after the manner of
gentlefolk, and a repast of one course
the following day, a pair of shoes, or 4</.,
being given to each of the guests on de-
parting ; Duchy of Lane. Misc. vol. cxxx,
fol. 14 d.
92
The endowment of the priory may have
been a commutation.
" Robert son of Robert de Holland had
lands in Pemberton and Orrell settled upon
him by his father in 1292 ; Final Cone, i,
173. In 1304 a grant of free warren in
Upholland, Hale, Orrell, and Markland
was made to Robert de Holland ; Chart.
R- 97 (32 Edw. I), m. 3, no. 48.
In 1307 Sir Robert de Holland desired
to assign two messuages and two plough-
lands in Holland, and land in Orrell to
two chaplains in his chapel at Holland to
celebrate for his soul and the souls of his
ancestors for ever. It was found upon
inquiry that the manor was held of Adam
de Pennington — who was perhaps a trus-
tee or a representative of the Melling
family ; he does not occur again — Adam
holding of the Earl of Lancaster, and the
earl of the king ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents,
i, 322.
In 1308 Robert de Holland had licence
to crenellate his manor house at Uphol-
land ; Cal. Pat. 1307-13, p. 57.
The account of the family is mainly
taken from G.E.C.'s Complete Peerage, iv,
236.
19 See the account of West Derby ;
Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), iii, 851.
There are numerous details in the Calen-
dars of Close and Patent Rolls.
20 In 1325 the forfeited manor wa»
held by Amota, widow of Simon de Hol-
land ; Cal. Close, 1323-7, p. 391.
In an account of Sir Robert's lands
made about 1326 the manor of Holland
with garden and castle-stead is recorded ;
Duchy of Lane. Misc. x, fol. 15.
31 For some account of his proceedings
in Lancashire see Coram Rege R. 254,
fol. 60.
22 Dugdale, Man. iv, 409-12.
28 Parl. R. i, 400 ; ii, 1 8 ; Cal. Close,
1327-30, p. 286. Ct. R. of 1326 are
printed in Lanes. Ct. R. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 73.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
in the French wars, and died 16 March 1372-3 ;14
and to the latter's granddaughter Maud, who married
John Lovel, fifth Lord Lovel of Titchmarsh.15 She
(VXAA
fXAAA
OAAA
HOLLAND. Azure
semei de Us a lion ram-
pant guardant argent.
LOVEL. Barry nebu •
lee of six or and gules.
survived her husband, and died 4 May 1423, holding
the manor of Upholland of the king as Duke of
Lancaster in socage by the ancient rent of izs. ; also
the manors of Halewood, Walton in West Derby,
Nether Kellet, half of Samlesbury, Orrell, and a
quarter of Dalton, burgages in Wigan and Lancaster,
and lands in Aughton, Cuerdley, and Ditton. The
other estates had descended to her father Robert's
brother John, as heir male, and he was succeeded by
Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter.86
Lady Lovel's son John having died in 1414.
Upholland was inherited by her grandson William,
seventh Lord Lovel and fourth Lord Holland. It
descended on his death in 1455 to his son John,
Lord Lovel, who died ten years later, and then to
the latter's son and heir Francis, created Viscount
Lovel in 1483. Adhering to the cause of Richard III
he had many offices and honours bestowed upon him ;
but was attainted by Henry VII in 1485 and his
honours and lands were forfeited. Two years later
he fought on the Yorkist side at the battle of Stoke,
and was either killed there or died soon afterwards.17
Upholland and the other forfeited manors were
retained by the Crown until 25 February 1488-9,
when they were granted to Thomas, Earl of Derby,
with the lands and manors of other Yorkists.28 It
continued to descend with Lathom and Knowsley
until 1717, when it was sold by Lady Ashburnham,
as heir of William, the ninth earl, to Thomas
Ashhurst of Ashhurst in Dalton.29 In 1751 Henry
Ashhurst sold it to Sir Thomas Bootle of Lathom,3*
and it has since descended with his manors, the Earl
of Lathom being the present lord.31
After the foundation of the monastery the prior
were the chief residents within the manor. As r.~
the case of most other religious houses the extern ai
history was uneventful.32 After the suppression of the
house by Henry VIII in 1536 the site and all the
lands were granted to John Holcroft,33 who soon
transferred them to Sir Robert Worsley of Booths.34
Seventy years later the site was owned by Edmund
BOOTLE. Gules On a
cJteveron engrailed be-
tween three combt argent
as many crosses formy
ftchyofthe field.
WILBRAHAM. Argent
three bendlett wavy gulet.
Molyneux of London," who bequeathed it to his
nephew, Richard Leigh." It is said to have been
acquired by the Bisphams of Billinge, and descended
with their estates to the Leighs of Orrell and
Aspull.37
24 G.E.C. loc. cit. Robert was sixteen
years old in 1328 ; Cat. Close, 1327-30,
p. 348. From the fine above quoted
(Final Cone, ii, 193) it will be seen that
Sir Robert had three sons — Alan, Robert,
and Thomas. Of Alan nothing further is
known, and it is supposed that he died
before the restoration of the honours.
Thomas married Joan daughter of Ed-
mund, Earl of Kent, and granddaughter of
Edward I ; he was summoned to Parlia-
ment as Lord Holland in 1353 and as
Earl of Kent in 1360; G.E.C. op. cit.
•v, 237, 351, 352.
The inquiry made in June 1349, after
the death of Maud, widow of Robert de
Holland, showed that she had held the
manor of Upholland for her life, with re-
version to her son Robert and his heirs,
in socage by a rent of 121. ; and doing
suit to county and wapentake ; also the
manors of Hale, &c. ; Inq. p.m. 23 Edw.
Ill, pt. I, no. 58. She died outside the
county ; Sir Robert, her son, was of full
»ge.
A similar return was made after the
death of Sir Robert in 1373. The heir
to Upholland and other manors was his
granddaughter Maud (daughter of his de-
ceased son Robert), wife of John Lovel,
and seventeen years of age. The heir to the
moiety of the manor of Haydock, &c.,
was his son John, aged twenty-four and
upwards ; Inq. p.m. 47 Edw. Ill (ist
nos.), no. 19. See also Surv. of 1346
(Chet. Soc.), 42.
Sir Robert in 1367 increased the en-
dowment of Upholland by a grant of
Markland in Pemberton and other lands ;
Inq. p.m. 41 Edw. Ill (2nd nos.), no. 12.
28 G.E.C. op. cit. iv, 236 ; v, 164-6,
from which this account of the Levels is
derived.
26 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 1-3.
For the Exeter family see G.E.C. op. cit
iii, 296.
27 Diet. Nat. Biog.
28 Pat. 4 Hen. VII. There is a later
grant of this and other manors to James
Lord Strange; Pat. 13 Chas. I, pt. 27,
3 July-
In the inquisition taken after the death
of Ferdinando, fifth earl, in 1595, it was
found that Upholland was still held by
the rent of izs. ; Add. MS. 32104, fol.
425.
29 James, Earl of Derby, seems to have
released his right in the manors sold, in
Sept. 1715 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 276, m. 52.
Thomas Ashhurst and Diana his wife
were in possession in 1721; Pal. of Lane.
Plea R. 512, m. 8.
Baines (ed. 1836) gives the date 1717,
apparently from the Lathom D. ; iii, 559.
so Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 347,
m. 26.
81 See the account of Lathom.
93
82 In 1350 Prior John took action
against a number of men who had in-
vaded his lands ; De Banco R. 363, m.
92 d. ; 364, m. 78 d.
83 Dugdale, Man. iv, 411; Pat. 37
Hen. VIII, pt. iv, 22 May ; the price
was ,£344 I2J. \od.
In 1592 an annual rent from the site
and demesnes of Holland Priory was
granted to William Tipper and Richard
Dawe ; Pat. 34 Eliz. pt. iv.
84 Man. iv, 409 n. ; from Orig. 38
Hen. VIII, pt. v, Lane. R. 118 ; Lanes,
and Ches. Recs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), ii, 385.
85 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), ii, 99, where it is simply
called ' a messuage, mill, 50 acres of land,'
&c. in Upholland, held of the king by
knight's service.
88 Gisborne Molineux, Family of Moli-
neux, 143. Richard Leigh was brother
of James Leigh of Orrell. Edward Leigh
of the Abbey gave a rent-charge of ,£5
a year for Upholland School ; Gastrell,
Notitia (Chet. Soc.), ii, 259. The Pres-
cott family also held land which had
belonged to the priory ; Duchy of Lane.
Inq. p.m. xv, no. 7 ; xviii, no. 21. The
site and lands of the priory were the
subject of suits in 1576 and 1580, Mar-
garet Parker being plaintiff; Ducatus
(Rec. Com.), iii, 46, 115.
9~ Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 560.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Little can be said of the remains of the monastic
buildings. They were on the south of the church,
but did not, as it seems, join it except as regards the
western range of the claustral buildings. Part of the
west wall of this range is standing, enough to show
that it was of two stories with a row of narrow
windows on the west side. In the deed of grant to
John Holcroft in i 546 a chamber at the west end of
the church is mentioned, which may be that on the
south face of the tower, the roof corbels of which
still remain.
Sir John de Dalton and his accomplices, after
carrying off Margery de la Beche in 1347, took
refuge for a time in Dame Maud de Holland's manor
at Upholland, which was then vacant ; but fled north
on the arrival of the king's writ for his arrest.38
Among the landowners in the township may be
named Hesketh,"9 Orrell,40 Standish,41 Crosse," and
Fairclough.43 In 1 600 the only freeholder recorded
was Robert Smallshaw.44 In 1628 William Whalley,
Roger Brownlow, and Richard Smallshaw, as land-
owners, contributed to the subsidy.45 A family
named Holme were also settled here. Hugh Holme
of Upholland House in 1732 married Anne daughter
of Thomas Bankes of Winstanley, and her descend-
ants ultimately succeeded to the manors and lands of
the Bankes family.40 Pimbo was held of the Earl
of Derby.47 Though the Recusant Roll of 1641 con-
tains but few names of residents here 48 the Ven. John
Thewlis, a priest, executed for religion at Lancaster
in 1617, was a native of this township.48a
The earliest record of a church of
CHURCH any kind is that concerning Sir Robert
de Holland's endowment of his chapel
in 1307." This was succeeded by the priory church,
which, after the destruction of the monastery, was
preserved for the use of the people, as a chapel of
ease to Wigan.50 It appears to have been well fitted,
but the church goods were seized by the Crown, as
part of the priory,*1 and in 1552 it was but poorly
furnished."
The church of ST. THOMAS THE MARTYR
stands at the south-east end of the village on sloping
ground, the churchyard, which lies on the north and
88 Chan. Inq. p.m. 21 Edw. Ill, no. 63.
89 The Heskeths of Rufford held various
properties in this and neighbouring town-
ships ; see Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v,
no. 16. In 1555 Richard Hey acquired
a messuage and lands from Sir Thomas
Hesketh and Alice his wife ; this property
seems to have been secured in 1578 by
Robert Hey from James, the bastard son
of Richard ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdles. 1 6, m. 137 ; 40, m. 167. See also
Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), iii, 145.
40 The families of this name make
frequent appearances. Henry Orrell was
a defendant in a suit respecting Dean
riddings in 1516 ; Ducatus, i, 127. Wil-
liam Orrell and Thomas his son were
deforciants in 1561 and 1562; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdles. 23, m. 193 ; 24,
m. 256. Lewis Orrell and Ellen his wife
in 1566 ; ibid. bdle. 28, m. 102.
41 George Standish of Sutton held land
in Upholland of the Earl of Derby by the
looth part of a knight's fee ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. ix, no. 3 (6 Edw. VI).
William Standish, the grandson and heir
of George, had secured to him in 1561
the reversion of a tenement of Robert
son of Thomas Topping ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 23, m. 153. William
Standish and Margaret his wife made a
settlement in 1573 ; ibid. bdle. 35, m.
56. John, William's son and heir-ap-
parent, was joined with them in 1597;
ibid. bdle. 58, m. 26.
42 Roger Crosse of the Liverpool family,
in the time of Henry VIII, had copyhold
lands in Upholland of the Earl of Derby
at a rent of ijs. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. vi, no. 18 ; also x, no. 20. See
Crosse D. Tram. Hist. Soc. no. 165.
48 Oliver Fairclough purchased lands
from James Worsley and Beatrice his
wife in 1584 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 46, m. 10. Arthur Fairclough oc-
curs in 1613 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec.
Soc.), i, 276.
Thomas Winstanley, clerk, and Thomas
Fairclough were in 1588 defendants in a
•uit regarding Dean Mill in Upholland
and Orrell 5 Ducatus (Rec. Com.), iii,
199.
Dr. James Fairclough, 1636, and his
son James were benefactors; Notitia Cestr.
ii, 260.
44 Mite. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 241. William and Robert Smallshaw
occur in fines of Elizabeth's reign ; Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 26, m. 55, &c.
The name takes various forms, e.g.
Smoshay.
Thomas Chisnall acquired lands in Up-
holland in 1549 and 1559 ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdles. 13, m. 73 ; 21, m. 90.
They appear to have descended to Ed-
ward Chisnall or Chisenhale, 1635 ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxviii, no. 8.
« Norris D. (B.M.j. Henry Whalley,
as a landowner, contributed to a subsidy
in Mary's reign ; Mascy of Rixton D.
A later Henry Whalley died 31 July
1627 holding lands in Euxton, Tockholes,
and Upholland ; the last of William, Earl
of Derby. His son and heir William
was aged thirty and more ; Towneley
MS. C. 8, 13 (Chet. Lib.), 1288.
48 The surname Holme occurs early ;
in 1352 the executors of the will of John
de Holme of Holland are named ; Assize
R. 432, m. i d. Gilbert Scott of Wigan
married Elizabeth Holme of Upholland
before 1620 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 238. There is a
pedigree in Burke, Commoners, iv, 216.
See the account of Winstanley and A. E. P.
Gray, Woodcock Ped. 13, 14.
4? Thomas Molyneux held the marled
earth and Russell's cliffs in Pimbo. His
widow Cecily, in or before 1598, married
Thomas Worden, and various suits fol-
lowed ; Ducatus (Rec. Com.), iii, 380,
&c.
48 Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xiv, 239.
Bishop Gastrell recorded no ' papists ' in
1717, but there were 216 in 1767 ; this,
however, is for the whole chapelry ;
ibid, xviii, 215.
48a Bishop Challoner, Missionary Priests,
ii, n. 155, relates his story from an
account published at Douay in 1617.
There is another contemporary account
in verse printed, together with extracts
from a poem by Thewlis himself, in
Pollen, Acts of Martyrs, 194-207. John
Thewlis was educated at Rheims and the
English College, Rome ; he entered the
latter in 1590, and was sent to England
as a priest two years later ; Foley, Rec.
Soc. Jesus, vi, 1 8 1, 117. He was for some
time imprisoned at Wisbech for religion ;
afterwards he laboured in Lancashire and
was arrested by order of William, Earl of
94
Derby, and condemned to death for his
priesthood. He escaped from Lancaster
Castle by the aid of a fellow-prisoner for
religion, Roger Wrennall, a weaver ; they
were captured and executed together, 1 8
Mar. 1616-17. It was with great re-
luctance that the authorities carried out
the execution ; the priest was at the last
moment begged to save his life by taking
the oath of allegiance, but to his challenge
— ' Write me out a form of oath which
contains nothing but civil allegiance and
I will take it' — there could be but one
reply, that the Parliamentary form was
binding, and this impossible for him. One
of his quarters was exposed at Wigan.
The name is an uncommon one, but it
appears that the family was connected with
the Asshetons of Lever. A Christopher
Thewlis, alias Ashton, was at the English
College, and sent to England as a priest in
1585 ; Foley, op. cit. vi, 137.
49 Lanes, Inq. and Extents, i, 322, quoted
above.
50 Bridgeman, Wigan Cb. 744.
61 The inventory of the goods of the
priory of Upholland in 1536 is in Duchy
of Lane. Misc. n, no. 47. The plate
was valued at ,£28 3*. cjd. ; some of the
pieces were in pledge to Geoffrey Shering-
ton of Wigan and others. The crosses,
vestments, and other church ornaments
were worth nearly ^12 ; the bells, ^8 ;
the lead (3 'foulders' weight), £10 ; and
the books, 6s. %d. These last included
four old mass-books, ' whereof two in
paper printed and two in parchment
written.' Then follows an account of
the furniture in the hall, parlour, great-
chamber with adjoining chapel, rooms,
kitchen, outhouses, dorter, &c. ; horses,
cattle, &c. ; carts and other gear, corn
and oats. The chambers of two monks
- — John Codling and John Ainsdale — had
furniture valued at icw. zd. and 91. iv/.
respectively ; the former monk had a
feather-bed and bolster ; the latter — per-
haps the vicar of Childwall of that name
— had a mattress and bolster.
The high altar had a tabernacle gilded,
and the altars adjacent had alabaster taber-
nacles. There were twenty-one great and
small images of wood and stone, and
' twelve fair windows glazed with divers
and many pictures.'
sa Cb. Gds. 1552 (Chet. Soc.), 75.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
east sides, falling rapidly from west to east and allow-
ing the introduction of the vestry under the east end.
The building consists of chancel 32ft. 6 in. by
22 ft. 6 in., nave 80 ft. by 22 ft. 3 in., with north and
south aisles 1 1 ft. wide, and west tower 14 ft. by i6ft.,
all these measurements being internal. With the
exception of the chancel and the tower the building
is of 14th-century date, the original structure having
been planned as a T-shaped church with large
central western tower and transepts, the present nave
forming the chancel. Whether this plan was ever
carried out is extremely doubtful, and only excavation
on the west end could determine the extent of the
original building, if it were ever greater than at pre-
sent. It is probable, however, that the building
came to a standstill somewhere about the middle of the
1 4th century, perhaps during the Great Pestilence,
and that in this unfinished state it remained till late
in the I5th century, when the present west tower was
added in the rather clumsy manner now apparent.
In this form the church continued till late in the last
century, the sanctuary being formed in the easternmost
bay, inclosed on the north and south by low walls,
the evidence for which may still be seen in the
arcades ; but in 1882 (when a drastic restoration was
commenced), a new chancel was begun to the east,
and the building was brought to its present condition.
It may be assumed that the original chapel founded
here in 1307 was a small building, and that it stood
for some years after the foundation of the priory
twelve years later. There is no record, indeed, of
the erection of a church by the convent, but probably
a larger and more important building would be
thought necessary, and the present structure begun
towards the middle of the first half of the I4th
century. The conditions of the site, which rises
steeply at the west end, preclude the idea that the
building was ever intended to extend much further
in that direction, and the evidence of the masonry at
the west end of the nave and aisles makes a transeptal
T-shaped plan the only likely one.
The walls are constructed of rough sandstone,
finishing with a plain parapet, and the nave and aisles
are roofed in one rather low span, which detracts
somewhat from the external dignity of the building.
This roof, which is covered with stone slates, is
however not the original one, the line of which may
still be seen on the exterior of the east face of the
tower. The old pitch is only slightly more acute
than the present one, and it may be assumed that the
original aspect was not very different from that which
now exists, the height of the aisle walls precluding
the idea of there having ever been a clearstory.
There seems to have been a restoration in the
middle of the i8th century, the present roof dating
from 1752 according to a date roughly cut on it,
with the initials p T on one of the principals, and
T w on another. The tower also appears to have
been repaired at this time, and many of the bench-ends
put in during the previous century renewed. Galleries
were also inserted, and in 1799 a vestry was built on
the north side at the east end of the aisle, a door being
cut through the wall in the north-east angle of the
aisle. The galleries, which were on the north,
south, and west sides, projected in front of the nave
piers, which were much damaged in being cut away
to receive them. The interior remained in this state,
with square pews and no chancel, down to the
time of the restoration of 1882-6. In this restora-
tion, in addition to the erection of the new chancel,
the tracery of all the old windows which had not
been already restored was renewed. A plan of the
church with the seating as it existed in 1850 now
hangs in the vestry.
The chancel is built in 14th-century style, and is
lit by a large five-light traceried window at the east
and two windows on the north and on the south.
On the north side a stone circular staircase leads
down to the vestry beneath, access to which is
gained on the outside by two doors at the east end.
To obtain room for the vestry the chancel is raised
four steps above the level of the nave, which makes
it dominate the interior rather aggressively. The
chancel arch is modern, of three moulded orders,
and takes the place of a very poor east window,
inserted in 1840, after a former 14th-century
window had been blown out. The older window
is shown in Buck's drawing of 1727.
The nave is of four bays with north and south
arcades of pointed arches springing from piers, and
responds composed of four rounded shafts with
hollows between, with moulded capitals and bases.
The arches are of two orders with the characteristic
1 4th-century wave-moulding. There is no clearstory,
and the nave roof is ceiled with a flat plaster
ceiling at the level of the crown of the arches, the
aisles having plaster ceilings following the line of the
roof. The 18th-century king-post roof above is of
a very plain description, and not intended to be
exposed. At the west end of the aisles are pointed
arches springing from responds composed of three
shafts, the moulded capitals of which range with those
of the nave piers, and were designed to open to the
transepts on each side of the tower. The arches are
now filled in with modern windows, apparently
reproducing early 1 6th-century work. The responds,
both to nave and aisles, form on each side of the tower
part of the great eastern piers of the crossing, the
lofty clustered shafts of which, faeing west, are now
partly exposed on the outside of the building in the
internal angles of the tower and aisle walls, and
partly hidden by the later masonry.
The north aisle has four three-light pointed win-
dows on its north side with net tracery, all modern
copies of the original 14th-century work, and one
similar window at the east end ; the later window,
already mentioned, on the west end is of four lights
with poor tracery, and all the windows have external
labels. The south aisle is similarly lighted except in
the west bay, where there is a deeply-splayed window
placed high in the wall. Originally the wall of this
bay appears to have been pierced for an opening about
1 2 ft. wide which gave access to the western range of
the priory buildings, which abutted here. The
straight joints in the masonry on the outside wall
show distinctly the extent of the former opening, and
the present window must be a late insertion after the
opening had been built up. At the east end of the
south aisle is a good double 14th-century piscina, in
the usual position, with trefoiled head, and on the
corresponding side of the north aisle a square hole
in the wall, probably an aumbry. Under the
windows at a height of 6 ft. there is a moulded
string, which is cut away for some distance on each
wall on the west end. Below the string the walls
have been cemented, but above it are of rough
95
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
masonry. The capitals and upper parts of the western
responds have also been much cut away at the time
when the galleries were inserted.
The west tower is narrower than that originally
designed, built of very friable sandstone, and having
apparently been untouched since the i8th century is
in a very bad state of repair. Some refacing appears
to have been done on the west front on the north
side of the doorway and at the belfry stage, and a
scheme of restoration which it is proposed shortly to
carry out will include the refacing of the tower. It
has little architectural merit, being of low proportion
and little in keeping with the rest of the building.
Externally on the west face it is of four stages, with
rather weak diagonal buttresses of nine stages at the
north and south-west angles. On the north and south
sides the walls are quite plain up to the string under
the belfry windows. The west doorway, now much
decayed, consists of a pointed arch with moulded
head and jambs, with a series of hollows filled with
carvings, and so weathered as to be unrecognizable.
Between the buttresses a moulded string-course forms
the lower member of the sill of a large three-light
west window similar to those of the nave, with net
tracery and external hood-mould. The tracery is
modern, but the jambs appear to be old, and the win-
dow must have been moved here when the tower was
built. Above this again is a string ornamented with
four-leaved flowers which goes round the tower, break-
ing round the buttresses at the level of the belfry
window-sills. The belfry windows, which are of
similar detail on all three sides (north, west, and
south) are of two lights under a pointed traceried head,
and appear to be of 14th-century date. They seem
to have been originally intended for glass, as the jambs
and mullions are grooved, and probably belong to some
part of the monastery building either destroyed or in
decay when the tower was erected. They have now
stone louvres. Above the belfry stage there is a single-
light narrow window on the north, south, and west
sides, and on the east side one of two lights, but these
are now hidden by the clock face. The present clock
was given in 1 907, replacing an older one. The tower
ends in an embattled parapet with 1 8th-century angle
pinnacles, one only of which is perfect. The roof is
apparently of the same date, being in the form of a
stone-slated gable running east and west. There is a
door also on the north side of the tower in the east
angle, and on the south side below the string under-
neath the belfry window are three corbels, showing
that a building was set against it at this point. On the
face of the north buttress is a niche now much decayed,
with a trefoiled head. There is no vice in the tower,
the first floor being gained by a wooden staircase, and
the others by ladders, but at the belfry stage in the
south-east corner is a stone staircase in the thickness of
the wall, descending to a door which is now blocked.
This must have been the original means of access to
the upper part of the tower, and from this stage a
stair in the south-east angle of the tower leads up to
the roof. The tower was evidently meant to be open
to the church up to 35 ft. from the ground, and at
this level a chamfered string, with four-leaved flowers
cut on it, shows on the inner face of the walls, mark-
ing the position of the original floor here.
The tower arch is of two moulded orders spring-
ing from a 1 5th-century impost moulding, and is
filled in at the ringing-chamber stage with modern
glazed wooden tracery, and below with a modern
wooden door screen to the porch under the tower.
The fittings are mostly modern, the pulpit and font,
both of wood, dating from 1882. In the north and
south aisles are the 17th-century bench-ends already
mentioned, carved with initials, names, and dates, the
majority belonging to the year 1635," and at the
west end of the nave is a good oak churchwardens'
pew with the names of the wardens and the date
1679. There is a good 18th-century brass chandelier
in the middle of the nave, suspended by a long orna-
mental iron rod. In the tower porch above the
north door is the board with the royal arms, dated
1755 ; and on the opposite wall is an oak cupboard
with doors inscribed with the churchwardens' names,
Scripture texts, and the date 1720.
There were formerly fragments of ancient stained
glass in various parts of the church, but these were
collected and brought together in the middle window
of the south aisle in 1883.
There is a ring of six bells cast by John Warner &
Sons, London, 1877.
The church plate consists of a chalice 1 706, a paten
1720, another paten 1738, inscribed 'The gift of
Thomas Henry Ashhurst Esqr. to the Chappel of
Upholland in Lancashire 1739' ; two flagons of the
same date ; one with a similar inscription, but the
other without, and a chalice 1817, with the inscrip-
tion * The gift of Meyrick Bankes Esqre. to the
Chapel of Upholland 1817.'
The registers of marriages begin in 1600, those of
baptisms in 1607, and those of burials in 1619. The
first volume (1600-1735) has been printed.533
During the time of Elizabeth, and probably later,
only a reading minister was provided ; 54 but an
improvement took place under Bishop Bridgeman,55
and in 1643 Upholland was made a parish, the
district including also the townships of Dalton and
Orrell, and parts of Billinge and Winstanley.66 The
Act was treated as null at the Restoration, and Up-
holland remained a chapelry until 1882, when by
Order in Council it was made a parish.67
The income of the minister appears to have been
about £60 in i65o.58 The principal tithes were
owned by the Earls of Derby, who paid a small
composition to the rectors of Wigan M ; the lands of
the monastery were tithe-free.60 In 1724 Bishop
Gastrell found the curate's income about ^40, of
68 Many have been recut and a late 1 8th-
centnry date added.
"a Transcribed and edited by Alice
Brierley. Lane. Par. Reg. Soc. xxiii,
1905.
64 Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 248 ; Hist.
AfSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 13. In
1598 there was no curate, but Mr. Moss,
unlicensed, had done service for a time 5
Wigan Cb. 744.
65 It appears from the Act of 1 643 that
William Ashhurst and others had guaran-
teed to Bishop Bridgeman or his son
Orlando, that hit tithes from the rest of
the parish should be at least £600 a year,
if he would consent to an Act being passed
for making the chapelry an independent
parish.
66 The Act it printed in Wigan Cb.
237-9-
w Wigan Ch. 745.
68 Common-wealth Cb. Sur-v. (Rec. Soc.
96
Lanes, and dies.), 60, 62. There was
no residence.
89 Wigan Cb. 254-59. The tithes of
Upholland were sold by Edward, the
twelfth earl, in 1782 to John Morris, and
those of Dalton to — Prescott. The
rector of Wigan still receives £8 8*. io$</.
and £4 4*. $l%d. or 19 marks in all, as
composition for the tithes of the town-
ships.
eo Ibid. 258.
VESTRY
FORMERLY
HERE
rtORTH
AISLE
f
I
I I
THE BROKEN LINES AT THE WEST OF
THE CHURCH SHEW THE CONJECTURAL
DESIGN OF THE ORIGINAL WEST TOWER.
AND TRANSEPTS
10 * f f V
14^ CE.NTURY ? i&~ CENTURY
is- CENTURY |y-r;/':;:| MODERN
PLAN OF UPHOLLAND CHURCH
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
which half was paid by the rector.61 Various grants
and benefactions have since been added, and the gross
income is now about ^oo.6* The rector of Wigan
is patron.
The following is a list of the curates and vicars : w
1598 William Moss
1609 Edward Tempest
1626 William Lever
1628 William Lewes64
1634 Richard Eaton
1636 Richard Whitfield *
1646 Henry Shaw66
1650 Richard Baldwin 67
1653 Samuel Boden68
bef. 1671 Gerard Brown
occ. 1 68 1 John Leigh
1683 Roger Bolton, M.A.69
1694 William Birchall
1719 John Allen, M.A.70
1726 Adam Bankes, M.A.
1728 William (Simon) Warren
1 746 Thomas Winstanley, B.A.71
1747 John Baldwin
1758 Thomas Holme 7SI
1767 Richard Prescott
1798 John Fawel
1802 Thomas Merrick, B.A.
1821 John Bird, B.A.
1844 Charles Bisset, B.D. (Clare Coll.
Camb.)
1 88 1 Frederick D'Austini Cremer, M.A.
(Wadham Coll. Oxf.) 7'a
1888 George Frederick Wills.
There is a licensed mission-room.
There are Wesleyan, Primitive, and United Free
Methodist chapels.
The grammar school was founded in 1668 by
Peter or Robert Walthew."
At Walthew Park, in the north-east part of the
township, is situated St. Joseph's College, the semi-
nary for the Catholic diocese of Liverpool. After
collecting a sufficient sum the foundation was laid in
April 1880, and in 1883 the building was open to
receive students preparing for the priesthood. The
museum contains a rich collection of ancient furniture,
china, &c.74
DALTON
Daltone, Dom. Bk. ; Dalton, 1212.
Dalton occupies hilly ground south of the River
Douglas. The highest point is Ashhurst Beacon,
known locally as the ' Beetle,' 569 ft. above sea level.
From it the land slopes away gradually on every side.
The district is extensively cultivated, fields of corn,
potatoes, and other root-crops alternating with
pastures. Plantations of trees appear more especially
on the north-east under the lee of the hill and away
from the assault of westerly sea winds. A few insig-
nificant brooks find their way towards the Douglas,
which forms the northern boundary of the township
and divides the Hundred of West Derby from that
of Leyland. The view from the top of the hill near
the Beacon is an extensive one, affording a fine
panorama of the surrounding country. The prepon-
derance of holly trees and hedges on the sheltered
side of the district is a noticeable feature. There are
many picturesque stone-built houses in the neighbour-
hood. The soil appears to be loam and clay, over
solid sandstone rock. The area is 2,103^ acres.1
The population in 1901 was 422.
The road from Upholland to Newburgh crosses the
township in a north-west direction, ascending and
descending ; Ashhurst Hall and the church lie on the
western slope of the ridge ; to the north are Hawks-
clough and Dalton Lees, and to the south lies Elmer's
Green. Prior's Wood is in the north, and Cassicarr
Wood on the eastern boundary.
There is a colliery.
The township is governed by a parish council.
Ashhurst Beacon was erected a century ago, when
a French invasion was regarded as imminent.
Watchers were stationed day and night to be ready to
light the beacon fire, and thus give notice of the
enemy's landing.
At the death of Edward the Confessor,
MANOR DALTON was held by Uctred as one
plough-land ; its value was the normal
32^.* On the formation of the Manchester fee
Dalton was included in it, and probably about 1 150
Albert Grelley the elder enfeoffed Orm son of
Ailward, of Kirkby Ireleth, of a knight's fee in
Dalton, Parbold, and Wrightington, in marriage
with his daughter Emma. The heirs of Orm held it
in I2I2.3 Dalton was reputed part of the Manchester
fee down to the I7th century.4
61 Notitia Cestr. ii, 258. There were
two wardens.
63 Liverpool D'toc. Col. For particu-
lars of the grants see Wigan Cb. 744,
745-
68 This list is taken, with a few addi-
tions from Visitation lists, &c., from that
compiled by Canon Bridgeman ; Wigan
Cb. 748. It is not continuous until
1719.
64 Perhaps the same as ' Lever."
65 In 1639 Richard Whitfield, curate,
paid lOi. to the clerical subsidy ; Misc.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 122. He
was in charge when the Act of 1643 was
passed.
66 He was a member of the classis
in 1646; Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1870), i,
227.
67 'A very able minister, a man of
honest life and conversation,' but he had
not kept the last fast day ; Commonvj.
Cb. Surv. 61. The name is spelt Bowden
on p. 63.
68 Paid first-fruiti 9 April 1653;
Lanes, and Cbes. Recs. ii, 414. Probably
a Baldwin also. He had recently been in
trouble with the authorities, it being
alleged that he had taken part with the
Earl of Derby in his recent attempt to
raise forces for Charles II ; Cal. of Com.
for Compounding, iv, 2955 ; v, 3266. He
is mentioned in 1658 ; Plund. Mint.
Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii,
214.
69 Bishop Stratford's Visitation List.
He was 'conformable* in 1689; Hist.
MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 229.
'° At this time the church papers at
Chest. Dioc. Reg. begin.
7* It is possible that a James Miller
(inserted between Winstanley and Baldwin
by Canon Bridgeman) was assistant curate
for a time.
97
For Thomas Winstanley see Foster,
Alumni Oxon.
72 He succeeded his cousin, William
Bankes, at Winstanley in 1800 ; died
17 Aug. 1803.
T**- Now vicar of Eccles.
7» End. Char. Rep. 1899.
7< Liverpool Catb. Ann. 1886.
1 2,102, including five of inland water ;
Census Rep. of 1901.
3 V.C.H. Lanes, i, 284*.
8 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 55.
4 Ibid. 154 (Dalton probably included
with Parbold) and 248. For claims by
Lord La Warr see Ducatus Lane. (Rec.
Com.), i, 264 5 ii, 74. From the Man-
chester Ct. Leet Rec. (ed. Earwaker) it
appears that constables for Dalton and
Parbold were summoned to the court leet
down to 1 73 3, though they did not appear ;
vii, 25.
13
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The descent of the mesne lordship it is not possible
to trace clearly. The descendants of Orm were the
Kirkbys of Kirkby Ireleth, who long retained an
interest in part of the fee of Dalton, Parbold, and
Wrightington. Dalton and Parbold as half a knight's
fee seem very early to have been granted to the
Lathom family,4 and Parbold and part at least of
Dalton were in turn granted to younger sons. In
the 1 3th century Dalton was held by Richard de
Orrell, Richard le Waleys of Aughton, and Henry de
Torbock, but how their interests had arisen there is
nothing to show, though the Torbocks no doubt held
their quarter of the manor by a grant from the
Lathoms.
The Orrell portion, called a fourth part of the
manor,6 was like Orrell itself acquired by the Holland
family,7 and descended in the same way to the
Levels,8 and, on forfeiture, to the Earls of Derby.9
The latter sold it about 1600 to the Orrells of
Turton,10 who soon afterwards sold all their rights to
the Ashhursts.11 The Dalton family, who took their
name from this township, but who are better known
as lords of Bispham in Leyland and afterwards of
Thurnham, probably held under the Hollands and
their successors."
The Waleys portion was divided, half being given
to a younger branch of the family. Richard le
Waleys had a brother Randle, whose son Richerit was
a benefactor of Cockersand Abbey.13 Adam the son of
Richerit sold his quarter share to Robert, lord of
Lathom, who granted it to the priory of Burscough.14
The priory continued to hold this quarter of the
manor to the Suppression, after which its fate has
not been ascertained ; but all or most was probably
6 Inq. and Extents, i, 55 ; see also Final
Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 18.
Robert de Lathom was holding the
knight's fee in Parbold and Wrightington
in 1242 (p. 154). Robert de Lathom
was one of the tenants in 1282, but
Thomas de Ashton did suit ; Mamccestre
(Chet. Soc.), i, 136. The Lathom tenure
was remembered in 1349 ; ibid. 443 ;
and even in the Feodary of 1483 it is
stated that ' Lord Stanley holds Allerton
and Dalton of Lord la Warre ' ; sec also
Feud. Aids, iii, 94.
6 In the grants to Burscough of a
quarter of the vill John de Orrell has the
position of a superior lord, confirming
the grant ; Burscough Priory Reg. fol.
3 1 A. The same John granted to Bur-
scough land held of him by Robert son of
Henry the Smith of Lees ; ibid.
He and his father Richard were bene-
factors of Cockersand Abbey. One of
the father's grants was the half of
Lithurst, the other half of which seems
to have belonged to Richard le Waleys,
with lands of Burscough Priory adjacent.
John de Orrell made grants of Nelescroft
and Fernyhurst and of a piece of land, the
bounds of which cause the naming of
Full clough, Mickle clough, the Hill,
Edwin's ridding, Barn lache, the Dyke,
the carr, Lithurst and Buke side ; ac-
quittance of pannage for thirty pigs in
Dalton Wood was allowed with other
easements ; Cockersand Chart. (Chet. Soc.),
ii, 621-5.
' See the account of Orrell.
In 1320 Sir Robert de Holland was
the principal mesne tenant, Richard le
Waleys, the Prior of Burscough and Ellen
de Torbock following ; Dalton and
Parbold are joined, but the tenant of the
latter is omitted ; the service was 31. for
sake fee and 51. for ward of the castle of
Lancaster. From the later statement of
rents it is evident that half of this was
due from Dalton, and the other half from
Parbold ; thus each of the four quarters
of the former should pay u.
In 1341 and again in 1349 it was
found that Maud de Holland held the
fourth part of Dalton of the lord of
Manchester in socage by a rent of i^d.
and the lord of Manchester of the Earl of
Lancaster by the same service ; Inq. p.m.
15 Edw. Ill (2nd nos.), no. 30; 23
Edw. Ill, pt. i, no. 58. In the latter
year it was worth, in all issues, 535. 4</.
8 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 2.
The rent is this time stated as 6d., so
that half had been alienated, probably to
the Daltons.
A Manchester rental of 1473 shows the
division of the manor at that time : The
Prior of Burscough, 6d. ; William Orrell,
jun. (of Turton), izd. ; Richard Bradshaw
of Uplitherland, izd. ; William Arrow-
smith of Warrington, 6d. ; Lord Lovel,
6d. ; — Dalton, 6d. (making 41.) ; Edward
de Lathom (of Parbold), 41. ; making up
the 81. paid for sake fee and castle-ward
as in 1320 ; Mamccestre, 491.
9 Pat. 4 Hen. VII, 25 Feb.
»' Bridgeman, Wlgan Cb. (Chet. Soc.),
257. Bishop Bridgeman recorded the
division of the manor among four lords,
of whom the Prior of Burscough was
one; and says — 'All these four lords
called themselves lords thereof, and some-
times kept courts all jointly and some-
times severally' ; 258.
11 Thomas Parker, who died in 1600,
held various messuages and lands in
Dalton of William Orrell, which in 1622,
when the inquisition was taken, were
held of Henry Ashhurst } Lanes. Inq,
p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii,
3°7-
12 Robert de Dalton is mentioned as
early as 1293 ; Inq. and Extents, 276.
In 1305 Robert de Dalton was claiming
common of pasture from Ellen, widow of
Henry de Lathom, and from the Prior of
Burscough ; De Banco R. 154, m. 252 d. ;
156, m. 119. There was another family
bearing the local name, who held of the
Torbocks ; thus Gilbert son of Alan de
Dalton speaks of ' my lord, Henry de
Torbock' ; Kuerden MSS. iii, T, 2,
no. 15. Robert de Dalton allowed the
Prior of Burscough to approve in the
hey of Dalton ; Burscough Reg., fol.
34*-
The most conspicuous of the early
members of the family was Sir John de
Dalton, kt., whose exploit in carrying
off Margery de la Beche in 1347 has
been mentioned in the account of
Upholland. Robert de Dalton, his father,
was then living. Sir John died in 1369
holding 40 acres in Dalton of Roger La
Warr, lord of Manchester, in socage, by
the rent of gd. yearly ; Inq. p.m. 43
Edw. Ill, pt. i, no. 31. The service does
not agree with the 6d. named in the
rental previously quoted. Ellen, wife of
Robert de Urswick, was executrix ; De
Banco R. 454, m. 141 d. For later
descents see the accounts of Bispham in
Leyland and Thurnham.
18 By a charter made in the first quarter
of the 1 3th century Richard le Waleys,
with the consent of his brother Randle,
gave land to Cockersand ; Dolfin and
98
Itharthur were two of the tenants ;
Cockersand Chart, ii, 6 1 6. This was
followed by grants and confirmation from
Richerit son of Randle le Waleys ; the
first of these states that the quittance of
pannage had the consent of John de
Orrell ; while another was for the benefit,
among others, of 'the soul of Thomas
Grelley, my patron" (advocates) ; ibid, ii,
617-20. These charters contain a num-
ber of local names, as Hawk's nest
clough, Rushy lea, Rodelea pool, Sandy-
ford, &c. Adam the son of Richerit
was also a benefactor ; ibid, ii, 621.
The Cockersand lands were afterwards
held in 1451 by Henry Birchinshaw by a
rent of izd., in 1501 by the Earl of
Derby, and in 1537 by the Prior of
Burscough (who denied) ; ibid, iv,
1244, &c.
14 Burscough Reg. fol. 31, 31 b.
John le Waleys released to Sir Robert
de Lathom the annual rent of a pair of
gloves due to him from the fourth part of
the vill, which Richerit de Aughton and
Adam his son had held of the lord of
Uplitherland by that rent ; ibid. fol. 33.
John le Waleys also granted lands in
Bokeside, the bounds beginning at Livelds-
bridge ; this charter mentions the house
which Robert de Legh founded on the
land of Blessed Nicholas of Burscough ;
ibid. fol. 33^ ; see also fol. ^zb for another
gift. His son Richard confirmed these
grants ; ibid. fol. 35.
The other Burscough charters include
an agreement between the prior and
Richard son of Stephen de Lees and
Denise his wife as to land in Rodelea
carr ; an engagement by Richard son of
Simon de Haselhurst for himself and his
heirs, to pay 6d. a year to the prior and
canons to the end of the world ; and a
grant of Gibhey, between Priors' Hey
and the Douglas, made by Geoffrey de
Wrightington ; ibid. fol. 34, 35.
At the Dissolution the priory was
drawing a rent of £6 31. from its lands
in Dalton, viz. £4 from Dalton Hey,
Richard Prescott being tenant at will ;
loj. from Gorstilow or Gorstifield, the
same tenant ; 25*. from Haselhurst,
Buckshead, and Willins carr, leased to
John son of Ralph Orrell for 509 years
from 1533, when Edward Prescott was
tenant ; the second best animal, or 6s. 8</.,
was paid as heriot ; and Ss. from a
quarter of the Helde in Dalton, formerly
Walsh's, William Shaw being tenant ;
Duchy of Lane. Mins. Accts. bdle. 136,
no. 2198, m. 7 d.
DALTON : SCOTTS FOLD, DOUGLAS VALLEY
DALTON : STANE HOUSE, DOUGLAS VALLEY
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
acquired by the Earls of Derby,15 and remained with
this family till the sale of Lady Ashburnham's
estates.16
The fourth part retained by
the Waleys family descended
like Uplitherland to the Brad-
shaghs,17 and was sold in 1546
to Matthew Clifton,18 and
then apparently to the Ash-
hursts, who before that seem
to have been the tenants under
Waleys and Bradshagh.
The remaining quarter, that
of the Torbocks, descended for
some time with the principal
manor of Tarbock ; but this
portion of Dalton became, like
Turton, the share of the Orrell family.19 The estate
was often called the manor of Walton Lees. A family
named Lascelles, of long continuance in this township
ORRELL. Argent three
torteaux between two
bendlett gulett a chief
sable.
and Upholland, appear to have been the immediate
holders.80
In 1598 William Orrell of Turton was called lord
of ' three-fourths ' of the manor, holding his here-
ditary share and that of the Holland family ; and
William Ashhurst lord of ' one-fourth,' i.e. probably
the Waleys share.*1 The Burscough quarter does not
seem to be accounted for. Shortly afterwards, as
stated above, the Ashhursts acquired the Orrells' lands
and rights, and became sole lords of the manor. In
1751 they sold it to Sir Thomas Bootle, and it has
since descended with Lathom, the Earl of Lathom
being lord of the manor.
In the absence of records it is not possible to give a
satisfactory account of the Ashhurst family.12 The
earliest known is Simon de Ashhurst, who about the
end of the reign of Henry III granted to his son Robert
all his land in Dalton, and to his son John all his land
in Ashhurst.23 Robert son of Simon next occurs ; 24
and in 1300 Richard son of Robert de Ashhurst made
15 A grant of Burscough lands, includ-
ing Dalton, was made to the Earl of Derby
in 1603 ; Pat. I Jas. I, pt. v, 21 July.
William Rigby of Lathom, who died
just before this date, held land in Dalton
of the Earl of Derby, as parcel of the pos-
sessions of the dissolved monastery of
Burscough ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, zo ; see also i, 30,
and ii, 185.
Part of the Burscough lands was later
granted to Robert Hesketh ; Pat. 12 Jas. I,
pt. 5.
16 Lands in Dalton were included in a
fine concerning the Derby manors, &c., in
1708, John Earl of Anglesey and Hen-
rietta Maria his wife, being deforciants ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 260, m. 53.
They were sold under a decree of 14 July
1719 to Thomas Franke ; Cal. Exch. of
Pleas, D. 3 ; see the account of Lathom.
17 John le Waleys acquired land in
Dalton in 1283 ; Final Cone, i, 161.
Richard le Waleys in 1322 held a fourth
part of the manor of Dalton ; ibid, ii, 46.
This was in possession of Eleanor wife
of Thomas de Formby in 1372 ; ibid, ii,
183.
18 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 12, m.
173 ; William and Edward Bradshagh
were the vendors. About a year after-
wards Matthew Clifton had a dispute with
John Orrell and others regarding a coal-
mine in Dalton ; Ducatus, i, 222. William
Clifton was hanged at Lancaster 28
Aug. 1562 for participation in the mur-
der of William Huyton of Blackrod ;
he had lands in Dalton held of William,
Lord La Warr, by knight's service and
the rent of \zd. ; also lands in Mawdes-
ley and Ormskirk ; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. xi, no. 40.
19 For the descent see the account of
Tarbock. See also Final. Cone, ii, 183,
Maud widow of Richard de Torbock
granted her annuity from Walton Lees to
Gilbert de Haydock in 1340; Raines
MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxxviii, 45 ; also 247,
&c., for other arrangements, in one of
which John the son of Maud is named ;
he is not otherwise known. In the en-
dorsement of one deed Maud is called
' de Standish.' Walton Lees and Turton
were early secured by the Orrells, accord-
ing to the award of the arbitrators in
1425 ; Croxteth D. Z. i, 21. Ralph
Orrell, who died in or before 1535, held
messuages and lands in Dalton of the Earl
of Derby by a rent of I4</. and of
Lord La Warr by a rent of 120". ; Duchy
of Lane. Inq. p.m. vii, no. I ; those said
to be held of the Earl of Derby were per-
haps in Upholland or Orrell.
In 1543 a formal agreement was made
between Lord La Warr and John Orrell
of Turton, setting forth that the latter
held his lands, &c. in Dalton of the lord
of Manchester by fealty and the yearly
rent of izd., and by doing suit at the
court of the manor of Manchester twice a
year ; Manchester Corp. D. ; Ducatus
Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 74. A grant
or confirmation of lands in Orrell and
Dalton was made to William Orrell in
1599 ; Pat. 41 Eliz. pt. 1 1.
20 Walton Lee is mentioned in a grant
to Cock.ers.md ; Chart, ii, 629. Richard
son of Thurstan de Waltonlees in or
before 1270 released 2 acres in the vill of
Walton Lees to Henry de Torbock; Kuer-
den MSS. iii, T. 2, no. 17.
In 1292 Denise, wife of Richard son
of Stephen de Dalton Lees claimed lands
in Upholland and Sivardslee against
Richard Lascelles and Amice (or Avice)
his wife ; William son of Warine son of
Matthew, a minor, was called to warrant ;
Assize R. 408, m. 33. The defendants
are named in an earlier suit ; Assize R.
1238, m. 31 d.
In 1322 Henry son of Richard
Lascelles quitclaimed to Ellen de Tor-
bock all his right in the Green in Dalton ;
Kuerden MSS. iii, T. 2, no. 14.
In 1341 Gilbert de Haydock granted
lands in Dalton to Burscough Priory.
Part at least was held of Maud widow of
Sir Robert de Holland by a rent of J*/. ;
and part had been purchased from Warine
Lascelles; Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. Ill (2nd
nos.), no. 30 ; Kuerden fol. MS. fol. 175.
Three years later Henry Lascelles of
Walton Lees claimed certain lands in
Dalton against Adam del Ley of Welch
Whittle, John the Prior of Burscough,
Gilbert de Haydock, Maud de Standish,
and others ; afterwards the estate was
described as a fourth part of four mes-
suages, 2 oxgangs of land, &c., and the
resulting suits show the descent of the
Torbock quarter of the manor ; Assize R.
1435, m. 38 d.; De Banco R. 346, m.
'55 d- 5 34-8, m. 146, &c. Isolda widow
of Warine Lascelles claimed dower in 1348
from Thomas, Prior of Burscough, and
Henry de Molyneux of Halsnead, respect-
ing the grant to the priory ; Assize R.
I444,m. 6.
99
In 1501 John Lascelles held the
Cockersand lands in Upholland by a rent
of I2</. ; Cockersand Rental (Chet. Soc.), 7.
In 1574 Thomas ' Lassell' and Eliza-
beth his wife had a water-mill and other
property in Upholland ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 36, m. 25. Thomas
Lassell, who seems to have married a
second wife named Margaret, had a son
Edward, whose first wife was named
Grace, and second Ellen; there are various
fines concerning their estate in Dalton and
Upholland, and in 1586 they sold land in
Upholland to Anne Halsall ; ibid. bdle.
41, m. 1 36 ; 48, m. 103, &c. The name
occurs in later documents.
21 Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), iii, 362.
John Orrell was deforciant of the manors
of Turton and Dalton in 1607 ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 72, m. 5. William
Orrell of Turton died in 1612 seised of
the manor of Dalton, which was held of
Sir N. Mosley as of his manor of Manches-
ter by a rent of izd. ; thus only the rent
of a quarter of the manor was paid ;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 224.
22 There are a few brief notes of the
family deeds in Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 95.
Pedigrees were recorded in 1613 and
1664; Visit. (Chet. Soc.), p. 97 and
p. 9 respectively ; abstracts of some deeds
are printed with the former. There is a
later one in Foster's Lanes. Pedigrees.
The place-name occurs in a charter by
Richard le Waleys early in the I4th cen-
tury, mention being made of lands which
Hugh son of Osbert held in Ashhurst ;
Burscough Reg. fol. 35^.
The following other members of the
family are named in the deeds in Harl.
MS. 21 1 2 ; Roger, in Scarisbrick ; Hugh,
with John and Adam his sons, in Shev-
ington ; Thomas, whose mother was
Hannah daughter of Robert Torbock, in
Lathom ; William in Winstanley ; Ralph
and Henry his son in Upholland ; all in
undated deeds.
83 Harl. MS. 2112; Vint, of 1613;
grants from Simon to his sons Robert and
John.
Simon de Ashhurst was defendant in a
plea concerning 20 acres in Dalton in
1292 ; the plaintiff, Robert son of William
de Senington (? Shevington) and grand-
son of Robert son of Osbert, was non-
suited ; Assize R. 408, m. 30.
24 Harl. MS. 2112 ; Ashhurst is called
a vill.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
a release of lands in Pemberton.15 This Richard ac-
quired lands about the same time from Henry the
Miller of Skelmersdale, whose daughter Alice after-
wards released her right in the same.26 Richard's son
Adam was the most distinguished member of the
family until the Commonwealth period. He fought
in the French wars under Edward III and was
knighted, receiving also a grant of lands in Essex and
Hertfordshire." He was succeeded by his son John,
who married Margery, daughter of Henry de Orrell,*8
and had a son Roger. This Roger about 1385
married Maud/9 daughter of Henry de Ince, leaving a
son Robert, whose son John de Ashhurst about 1437
married a daughter of Roger de Dalton.30 From this
date there is an absence of documentary evidence until
the middle of the i6th century,31 about which time, as
already stated, William Ashhurst acquired, probably
from the Bradshaghs of Aughton, a quarter of the
manor, and afterwards acquired the remainder from
William Orrell.
This William Ashhurst was in 1590 reported to be
'soundly affected in religion ' ; " and the family con-
tinued Protestant, adopting Puritan and Presbyterian
tenets. William Ashhurst died in i6i8,M and was
succeeded by his son Henry, who married Cassandra
Bradshaw,*4 and had several children, including Henry,
the draper and alderman of London, a wealthy man
and a consistent Puritan.55 The eldest son William
was a member of the Long Parliament, and also of
Cromwell's Parliament of i654.M He died in January
1656-7, and was succeeded by his eldest son and heir
Thomas, who recorded a pedigree in 1664. John
Ashhurst, the brother of Wil-
liam and Henry, took an active
part in the Civil War on the
Parliamentary side, having a
commission as captain and
major. He engaged in the
second siege of Lathom, and
was present at the surrender
in December 1645 ; he was
subsequently governor of Liver-
pool.37
Thomas Ashhurst, aged
twenty-five in 1 6 64,38 was suc-
ceeded in 1700 by his son
Thomas Henry, who made a settlement of the manor
of Dalton in ijo6,39 and about thirty years later
succeeded also to the manor of Waterstock in Oxford-
shire, which had been bought by the above-named
Alderman Henry Ashhurst. In 1751 the manors of
Dalton, Upholland, and Skelmersdale, with various
lands, were sold to Sir Thomas Bootle by Henry Ash-
hurst, son of Thomas Henry,40 and apparently an elder
brother of Sir William Henry Ashhurst, the judge.
Families named Arrowsmith,41 Prescott," and Hol-
ASHHURST. Gules a
cross bet-ween f our Jleurs-
de-lis argent.
2* Harl. MS. 2112.
86 Ibid. ; Visit, of 1613. Richard and
Adam de Ashhurst contributed to the
subsidy of 1322, the former paying 5*.
out of a total of 1 6s. ; Exch. Lay Subs.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 8.
27 Staff. Hist. Coll. (W. Salt Soc.), xviii,
38, 85, &c. Pardons were granted at his
request in 1347 ; ibid. 277. His retinue
consisted of four esquires and two archers;
ibid. 200.
In 1336, already a knight, he received
a grant of land in Dalton from John the
Harper of Dalton ; Visit, of 1613. Three
years after he had a protection from the
king, dated at Brussels, as being in the
royal service in parts across the seas ;
Harl. MS. 2112. There are also refer-
ences to him in the Cal. Pat.
In 1341 he acquired land in Dalton
from Richard son of Adam de Huyton
and Alice his wife ; Final Cone, ii, 114 ;
see also De Banco R. 328, m. 155 d. He
was still living in 1 3 66,when he granted his
lands to his son John ; Harl. MS. 2112.
28 Visit, of 1613 ; Harl. MS. 2112.
29 Visit, of 1613.
80 Ibid. A John Ashhurst of Dalton
in 1481 granted to William Bolland,
Abbot of Cockersand, a rent of I zd. and
6s. %d. at death as an obit ; Towneley
MS. DD, no. 1553.
81 About 1 540 William Ashhurst was
tenant of the Hospitallers' land in Dalton,
at a rent of \zd. ; Kuerden MSS. v, fol.
84. The rent suggests an alternative
origin for the ' fourth part of the manor '
subsequently claimed for this family. In
1559 a settlement was made of lands in
Dalton by William Ashhurst and Cecily
his wife, who according to the pedigree of
1613 were the parents of the William Ash-
hurst of 1590 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 21, m. 143.
82 Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 246 ; quoting
S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, 4.
88 Manchester Ct. Leet Rec. iii, 19 ;
•his will dated 6 February 1615-16 was
proved at Chester 9 April 1618. He
mentions his wife Margaret ; his son
Henry Ashhurst, and his daughter Anne
Elston, and Robert, Elizabeth, Margaret,
Henry, Anne, and Mary Elston, children of
the latter. Henry Ashhurst was to pay
his mother £40 a year ; in default of which
she was to have all the testator's lands in
Bispham and Wrightington for her life.'
84 Visit, of 1613, p. 98 ; Local Glean.
Lanes, and Ches. ii, 250 ; marriage settle-
ment dated June 1606. Baxter says that
he ' was a gentleman of great wisdom and
piety, and zealous for the true reformed
religion in a country where papists much
abounded. And when King James, the
more to win them, was prevailed with to
sign the book for dancing and other such
sports on the Lord's days, he being then a
justice of the peace, as his ancestors had
been, and the papists thus emboldened
sent a piper not far from the chapel to
draw the people from the public worship,
he sent him to the house of correction.
And being for this misrepresented to the
king and council he was put to justify the
legality of what he did at the assizes ;
which he so well performed that the judge
was forced to acquit him — though he was
much contrary to him ; and an occasion
beingoffered to put the oath of allegiance on
his prosecutors, their refusal showed them
papists, as was before suspected '; ibid. 251.
Henry Ashhurst was the only Dalton
landowner contributing to the subsidy of
1628 ; Norris D. (B.M.). He and Cas-
sandra his wife were in possession of the
manor in 1630 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. n5> no. 3. In the following year
he paid ^25 as composition on refusing
knighthood ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 212. About the same time he
was engaged in the trial of Anne Spencer,
a known witch ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep.
xiv, App. iv, 55.
85 * A very holy man,' according to
Oliver Heywood ; Diaries, ii, 142. His
career and virtues are recorded by Richard
Baxter in the funeral sermon quoted in
the last note. See also Wood, Athenae
Oxon. (Eccl. Hist. Soc.), i, 157-8 ; and
Diet. Nat. Biog.
100
86 Local Glean, ii, 272, 275 ; Pink and
Beaven, Parl. Rep. of Lanes. 280, 73.
He was a member of the fourth Presby-
terian Classis in 1646 ; Baines, Lanes.
(ed. Croston), i, 308.
V Local Glean, ii, 276. Afterwards, as
a leading Presbyterian, he joined in the
attempt to set Charles II on the throne in
1651, and took refuge in the Isle of
Man ; Cal. of Com. for Advance of Money,
iii, 1464. See Civil War Tracts (Chet.
Soc.), 77, &c. ; Royalist Camp. Papers
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 176-7.
88 Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 9.
8» Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 256,
m. 3. The estate is described as the
manor of Dalton, with messuages, barns,
dovecote, lands, wood, common of pasture
and turbary, and 201. rent in Dalton,
Wrightington, Ormskirk, Lathom, Bisp-
ham, Skelmersdale, Shcvington, Orrell,
and Hutton.
In 1721 King's Silver was paid by
Thomas Ashhurst and Diana his wife for
a fine concerning the manors of Dalton,
Upholland, and Skelmersdale ; Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. 512, m. 8.
40 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 347, m.
26. This Henry is omitted in the pedi-
gree in-Foster, but appears in the Alumni
Oxonienses as son of Thomas Henry Ash-
hurst, having entered Exeter College, Ox-
ford, in 1739, aged eighteen ; he was made
D.C.L. in 1754, being then of Water-
stock, Oxfordshire. Sir William Henry
Ashhurst is stated to have been born in
1725 ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
41 William Arrowsmith of Warrington
in the rental of 1473, already quoted,
paid 6d. ; this was possibly a part of the
Burscough quarter, the prior being re-
turned as paying 6d. only. Hugh Arrow-
smith occurs in 1555; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 15, m. 40. In 1598
there was a dispute as to land between
William Ashhurst and Robert Arrow-
smith ; Ducatus (Rec. Com.), iii, 393.
42 As will have been seen from the
Burscough rental the Prescotts were
tenants of the priory at the Dissolution
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
land 43 also held lands in Dalton. In 1 600 William
Ashhurst and William Moss were the only freeholders
recorded.44
The Knights Hospitallers had land.45
In the I jth century an estate called Sifredlea is
recorded ; it disappeared later.46
About 1400, 2 acres of land in Dalton, granted
without royal licence for the repair of Douglas Bridge,
were confiscated, but restored.47
For the adherents of the Established Church John
Prescott of the Grange, owner of the great tithes of
the township, turned the tithe barn into a place of
worship ; a district was assigned to it in iSyo,48 and
it was consecrated in 1872 ; but five years later the
present church of St. Michael and All Angels was
built on an adjoining site, and the old one destroyed.
The patronage is in the hands of Mrs. Prescott.49
INCE
Ines, 121 2 ; Ins, 1292 ; Ince, xvi cent.
Ince, called Ince in Makerfield to distinguish it
from Ince Blundell in the same hundred, lies im-
mediately to the east of Wigan, of which it is a
suburb, and from which it is separated by a small
brook, the Clarenden or Clarington. A large part of
the boundary on the south-west and eastern sides is
formed by mosslands. Ambers or Ambrose Wood lies
on the eastern edge. The ground rises slightly from
south-west to north-east, a height of over 200 ft. being
attained on the latter boundary. The area is 2,320
acres.1 The population in 1901 was 21,262, includ-
ing Platt Bridge.
Two great roads cross it, starting from Wigan ; the
more northerly is the ancient road to Hindley and
Manchester, while the other goes through Abram to
Warrington. A cross road joining these is, like them,
lined with dwellings. The portion of the township
to the north-west of it is called Higher Ince.
Numerous railway lines traverse the township, as well
as minor lines for the service of the collieries. The
Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's line from Wigan
to Bolton and Manchester crosses the centre from west
to east, and has a station called Ince ; it is joined
near the eastern boundary by the loop line through
Pemberton. The London and North - Western
Company's main line goes through from south to
north, and has junctions with the lines from Man-
chester and St. Helens, as also with the Joint Com-
panies' railway through Hindley and Haigh. The
Great Central Company's line from Manchester to
Wigan also crosses the township, with a station, called
Lower Ince. The Lancaster Canal traverses it near
the Wigan boundary, and the Leigh branch of the
Leeds and Liverpool Canal near the western and
southern boundaries.
The general aspect is unpleasing, it being a typical
black country in the heart of the coal-mining area.
The flat surface, covered with a complete network of
railways, has scarcely a green tree to relieve the
monotony of the bare wide expanses of apparently
waste land, much of it covered with shallow ' flashes '
of water, the result of the gradual subsidence of the
ground as it is mined beneath. A good deal of the
ground appears to be unreclaimed mossland. Need-
less to say no crops are cultivated. All the energies
of the populace are employed in the underground
mineral wealth of the district, Ince being famous for
cannel and other coal.
The northern part of the township merges into
the town of Wigan, the principal features being huge
cotton mills and warehouses, crowding the banks of
the canals and River Douglas, which here degenerates
into a grimy ditch, with never a bush or tree to
shade its muddy banks.
The soil is clay, with a mixture of sand and gravel
lying over coal. There are iron works, forges, and
railway wagon works ; cotton goods also are manu-
factured.
The Local Government Act of 1858 was adopted
by the township in 1866.* The local board was
for Dalton Hey and Gorstilow. Alice
and Edward Prescott were among the
defendants in a case regarding these lands
in 1548 ; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), iii, 51. Richard Prescott and
Ellen his wife occur in 1560 ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 22, m. 108. He
seems to have been a lessee of the Orrells
for their manor of Walton Lees, and his
children were orphans in 1596 ; Ducatus,
iii, 206, &c.
The Recusant Roll of 1641 includes two
Prescotts, also Crosses, Holland, &c. ;
Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xiv, 239. The
Earls of Derby owned the tithes of Dal-
ton, and about 1782 sold their right to
Mr. Prescott, in whose family it re-
mains ; Bridgeman, Wigan Cb. 258.
48 In 1554 Lewis Orrell had a dispute
with Robert, Ralph, Hugh, and Agnes
Holland respecting a close in Dalton
called the Barn Hey ; Duchy of Lane.
Plead. Edw. VI, x, O. I. In 1560 Richard
Holland and Margaret his wife had land
at Dalton ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 22, m. 102.
In a fine of 1572 concerning land in
Dalton in which Richard Holland, Ralph
Crosse, Philip Moss, and Edward Prescott
were plaintiffs, and Richard Chisnall and
Thomas Lathom deforciants, the latter
warranted Richard Holland and his heirs
against Lord La Warr, the heirs of
William Bradshagh, deceased, James
Howorth, and Margaret his wife, and
Margaret's heirs, and John Parbold and
Margery his wife ; ibid. bdle. 34, m. 1 6.
Richard Holland died 29 Apr. 1587
holding lands in Dalton, Parbold, and
Ormskirk, which by his will he left to his
wife Margaret for life and then to his
son and heir James ; the latter was sixty-
eight years of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. xiv, no. 20. James Holland, perhaps
a son of the last-named James, died in
160$, leaving a son and heir Richard,
eleven years old ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 30.
In 1717 Ellen Holland, daughter of
James Holland, as a ' papist ' registered
an estate at Dalton for the life of her
sister Mary ; Engl. Cath. Nonjurors, 131.
44 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i,
239,241. In 1653 Edward Moss of Dalton,
two-thirds of whose estate had been se-
questered for recusancy, asked leave to
contract for the same ; Royalist Comf>.
Papers (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iv, 199.
45 Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 375 ;
see also a preceding note.
46 The name has a great variety of
spellings.
In 1 202 Syfrethelegh was part of the
tenement of Alan de Windle (or de
Pemberton) in which Edusa his widow
claimed dower; Final Cone, i, 38. In
101
1241 Robert de Holland released his
claim to twelve oxgangs in Pemberton,
on receiving from Adam de Pemberton
the homage and service (viz. 5*. 6J. rent)
of Thomas de Siverdelege in the latter
place ; ibid. 82.
Very early in the 1 3th century Edrith
de Sivirdeleie granted a portion of his
land to Cockersand Abbey, the bounds
commencing at a burnt oak by Swinley
Carr, so to two oaks, and to Raven's
Oak, and by syke and brook to the great
bank, and so to the start ; this was
afterwards held by a tenant paying I2</.
and a half a mark at death ; Cockersand
Chart. 11,627. In 1271 or 1272 Robert
son of Thomas de Siverthelege released
to Matthew de Bispham and his heirs
all his right in the abbey's land in
Siverthelege, rendering to the abbot izd.
a year; this land was in 1268 held by
Matthew de Holland ; ibid, ii, 629, 630.
It is clear that Matthew de Holland
was the same as Matthew de Bispham,
and it was for him probably that Robert
de Holland had before bought out the
interest of Adam de Pemberton.
47 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App. 2.
48 Land. Gax. 29 Nov. 1870 ; 23 Dec.
1870.
49 Bridgeman, Wigan Ch. 789.
1 Including 100 acres of inland water.
a Land. Gaz. 23 Oct. 1866.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
changed into an urban district council by the Act of
1894 ; it consists of fifteen members.
The manor of INCE appears to have
M4NOR been a member of the royal manor of
Newton before the Conquest,* and to
have been included in the fee of Makerfield from its
formation.4 In 1 2 1 2 Alfred de Ince held this in thegn-
age with Haydock,5 in succession to his father, Orm
de Haydock, whose name occurs as early as Il68.6
The whole of Haydock had been granted out, and half
of Ince was held of Alfred by Richard de Perpoint.7
Some forty or fifty years later Henry de Sefton
began to acquire a share in the manor. In 1261 he
held the Perpoint moiety by grant of Thomas de
Perpoint,8 and seems to have acquired the remainder,
with the mesne lordship, from Henry son of John de
Ince.9 He was still living in 1288,'° but in 1291
his son, styled Richard de Ince, was in possession.11
Richard de Ince occurs as late as 1 3 3 3 ; lt he was
succeeded by his son Gilbert, living in I347-13 At
this time Gilbert had a son Ivo living ; but in 1382
the manors of Aspull and Ince were granted to feoffees
by Richard son of Robert de Ince, whose relation-
ship to Gilbert is not known.14 The manor went
with Ellen, daughter of probably the same Richard
de Ince, who married John Gerard, a younger son of
Peter Gerard of Brynn.15
From their son William the manor descended
regularly to Thomas Gerard of Ince, who in 1514
had a dispute with Sir Thomas Gerard of Brynn, as to
the possession of Turneshea Moss, on the boundary
of Ince and Ashton.16 At his death in 1545 it was
» V.C.H. Lanu. i, 286.
* Ibid. 366, note 8. For later notices
see Lanci, Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, I38;ii,
99 ; ibid. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 105.
6 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 74. The separate
assessment of Ince appears to have been
one plough-land : and its share of the
thegnage rent was probably los. ; one of
the judges being also supplied by it. In
1544 the Gerards' rent was stated to be
51. only ; possibly this was a moiety of
the manor, the other moiety being held
by the Ince family.
6 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 12. Orm de
Haydock gave to Cockersand Abbey a
portion of land in Ince, between two
brooks, as marked out by the canons'
crosses ; Cockersand Chart. (Chet. Soc.),
ii, 673. Robert Anderton held this in
1501 at a rent of lod. ; Cockersand Rental
(Chet. Soc.), 5.
~' Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 74 ; the half
plough-land was held 'of ancient feoff-
ment.'
Richard de (or le) Perpoint was a
benefactor of Cockersand, his grant being
thus bounded : The great brook up the
Thele lache, down the lache between
Beric-acre and Wolveley to the syke be-
tween Hardacre and Bircacre, to the great
brook ; Cockersand Chart, ii, 672. He
seems to have been succeeded by Robert
son of Adam de Perpoint, who released
to the canons the lands he had held of
them in Ince, and whose daughter Godith
did the same ; ibid. 673, 674. For
Alfred de Ince see Lanes. Pipe R. 152,
&c.
8 Cur. Reg. R. 171, m. 28 ; Henry
de Sefton called Thomas de Perpoint to
warrant him as to 4 oxgangs in Ince.
He may be the Henry de Seveton who
with his wife Alice was taken into con-
fraternity with the Knights Hospitallers in
1256; Final Cone. ( Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 128.
9 Assize R. 408, m. 21 d. John de
Ince was witness to an Abram charter
about 1240 5 Cockersand Chart, ii, 664.
10 Assize R. 408, m. 73. It is pos-
sible that there is an error in the date.
11 Assize R. 407, m. 3 d. Gilbert de
Southworth claimed in right of the dower
of his wife Emma, who seems to have
been the widow of Henry de Sefton ; but
this would not have been so if Henry de
Sefton was living in 1288.
About this time there was a long suit
between John son of Richard Maunsel
of Heaton and Richard son of Emma
de Marhalgh as to messuages, mill, &c.,
and 6 oxgangs of land in Ince and Aspull.
Richard is described as son and heir of
Henry de Wigan, a brother of Richard
Maunsel ; Assize R. 1265, m. 22 d. ; R.
1321, m. 13 d. ; R. 418, m. 2, II. As
in one of the pleadings in 1284 (Assize R.
1268, m. ii) Gilbert de Southworth and
Emma his wife were joined in the defence
with Richard son of Emma de Mar-
halgh, it might seem that Henry de
Wigan was the same as Henry de Sefton,
but there it probably some other explana-
tion.
12 In 1292 he was defendant in a
number of suits concerning his father's
acquisitions.
Henry de Litherland claimed 4 ox-
gangs less 12 acres ; he had in 1288 re-
leased his right in them to Henry de
Sefton, but now said he was a minor at
the time ; Assize R. 408, m. 73. It is
possible that the plaintiff was the Henry
son of Thomas de Ince who at the same
assizes claimed 6 acres of land, &c.,
from Robert son of Fulk Banastre,
Hugh de Hindley, Alan son of Peter,
Adam de Urmston and Isabel his wife,
and Richard de Molyneux and Beatrice
his wife ; ibid. m. 68. Agnes widow of
Thomas de Ince was also a claimant in
respect of dower ; 2 oxgangs of land are
named ; ibid. m. 3, 13 d., 64 d. Henry
son of Thomas de Ince held 12 acres
claimed by William, brother and heir of
Robert de Wytonelake, who asserted that
Thomas had demised to Henry de Sefton,
who had disseised Robert ; ibid. m. 51.
Robert de Abram and Emma his wife,
in right of the latter, claimed the moiety
of an oxgang of land, Sec., from Richard
son of Henry de Sefton of Ince, and from
Gilbert de Southworth and Emma his
wife. The latter pair said they had only
Emma's dower out of Richard's inheri-
tance. The plaintiffs said that Henry de
Ince gave the tenements to Adam son of
Wido and Margery his wife ; the latter
being, it would seem, a daughter of Henry;
and that Emma was their daughter and
heir ; Robert was the son of John de
Abram, who had married the said Mar-
gery. Richard de Ince's reply was that
Margery had granted the lands to his
father while she was a widow and free to
do so ; but the jury decided for the plain-
tiffs, believing a grant was made after she
had married John de Abram. Gilbert
and Emma were also to have nothing
from the land, ' because the seisin of the
latter's first husband was unjust'; ibid,
m. 26 d. The last sentence seems to
prove that this Emma was widow of
Henry de Sefton.
In the same year, 1292, Richard de
Ince and Alice his wife, 'put in their
102
claim ' in a fine concerning the manor of
Haydock ; Final Cone, i, 174.
Late in 1334 Richard son of Henry
de Ince granted Gilbert de Culcheth leave
to carry turves from Hindley to Wigan
through Ince ; Lanes, and Ches. Hist, and
Gen. Notes, i, 52.
18 In 1323-4 Gilbert son of Richard
de Ince remitted to Gilbert de Haydock
a rent of 1 31. 4^. ; Raines MSS. (Chet.
Lib.), xxxviii, 33. Gilbert de Ince was
witness in 1334; Crosse D. no. 45.
Ten years later John de Tyldesley made
a claim against Gilbert son of Richard
de Ince and others concerning land ; As-
size R. 143 5, m. 47. A little later, 1347,
William son of John Donning of Ince
sued Gilbert son of Richard de Ince for
a messuage in Ince. Gilbert claimed by
a grant from Elias Donning and Margery
his wife, parents of John Donning ; in
the defence there were associated with
him his brothers Richard, Thomas, and
John ; also his son Ivo ; ibid, m. 41 d.
Gilbert de Ince at Easter 1354 was con-
victed of disseising John son of Thomas
Jew of a rent of 131. $d. in Ince ; and
Hugh, Gilbert's brother, cut off Johr.'s
arm ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 3, m.
3. Henry, another brother, occur, in
1347; Cal. Close, 1346-9, p. 49. Gil-
bert de Ince attested a charter in 1358;
Standish D. no. 46.
14 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 2, m.
36 ; a list of the tenants is given.
Robert was perhaps yet another brother
of Gilbert's, for a Robert son of Richard de
Ince was plaintiff in 1353 against Roger
de Leigh, and others; Assize R. 435,
m. 20.
Richard and Thomas de Ince contri-
buted to the poll tax of 1381 ; Lay Subs.
Lane. bdle. 130, no. 24.
15 Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), ii, 131,
where it is stated that a dispensation was
granted for the marriage. John Gerard
of Ince occurs in 1425 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Chet. Soc.), ii, 13.
In 1420 John Gerard of Ince and Ellen
his wife arranged for the succession of the
manor of Ince, with fifteen messuages,
140 acres of land, &c., in Warrington,
Wigan, and Aspull ; Pal. of Lane. Feet
of F. bdle. 5, m. 18. At the inquisition
after his death, taken in 1434-5, his son
and heir William was said to be aged
twenty-three ; Ormerod, loc. cit.
16 Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 3-7 ; the date should be 6
Hen. VIII. The plaintiff's pedigree is
given : ' The said moss ... is the freehold
and inheritance of plaintiff as parcel of
his manor of Ince, whereof William
Gerard his great-grandfather, Thomas
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
found that he had held the manor of Ince of Sir
Thomas Langton in socage by a rent of 5/. ; also
the manor of Aspull, a burgage in Wigan, and land?
in Abram and Hindley. Miles
Gerard his son and heir was
thirty years of age.17 Miles
died in August I 5 5 8,18 leaving
a son William,19 who in turn
was succeeded by his son,
another Miles Gerard.10 The
family adhered to the ancient
faith, and Miles Gerard in
1590 was reported to be 'in
some degree of conformity, yet
in general note of evil affection
in religion.'81
Miles Gerard was still liv-
ing in 1613, when a pedigree was recorded, show-
ing Thomas his son and heir to be twenty-two
GERARD. Azure a lion
rampant ermine crowned
or.
years of age.28 Thomas was a convicted recusant
in i628,83 and his estates were in 164.3 sequestered
' for his recusancy and supposed delinquency.' 24 The
documents relating to the matter give a number of
interesting particulars as to the mining of cannel
and the charges upon the lands ; K they also show
that Thomas Gerard, his son, had fought against
the Parliament, and had been taken prisoner at
Naseby in 1645 ; afterwards he took the National
Covenant and compounded for his part of the
estate.86
It appears to have been Anne, the daughter and
heir of the younger Thomas, who carried the manors
of Ince and Aspull to her husband John Gerard, a
younger son of Sir William Gerard, third baronet ;
and the manors were afterwards sold to Richard
Gerard, uncle of John.87 Richard's son and heir
Thomas and his wife, Mary Wright, were in posses-
sion in i683.18 His son Richard Gerard of Highfield
his grandfather, and William his father,
and many others of his ancestors were
time out of mind peaceably seised.'
In 1448 Thomas Gerard son of William
Gerard, Roger Geranl, and Cecily wife
of William Gerard, were accused of caus-
ing the death of Robert Gidlow, but
were acquitted ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R.
12, m. 25 ; see also R. 1 1, m. 15, 1 6.
In that year a dispensation was granted
by Nicholas V for the marriage of Thomas
son and heir of William Gerard of Ince,
and Elizabeth a daughter of William
Norris of Speke, the parties being related
in the third degree ; Norrit D. (B.M.),
no. 643. Ten years later an indenture
was made, reciting the fact of this mar-
riage, and stating that lands in Aspull and
Hindley had been assigned to them ;
William Gerard, the father, 'had not
made and would not make any alienation
of the manor of Ince or of any mes-
suage, lands, and tenements that were
Ellen's that was wife to John Gerard
mother to the said William Gerard,' but
such as should determine at his death.
William's brothers, Robert, John, Hugh,
and Richard are named, as also his younger
sons, Roger, Edmund, Lawrence, and Seth;
ibid. no. 644..
To Thomas Gerard, the son, a pardon
was granted in 1479 5 Towneley MS.
RR, no. 1430. In this year Thomas
Gerard of Ince and William his son, with
Roger and Seth his brothers, were par-
ties to an engagement to keep the peace
with Alexander Standish and others ;
Standish D. nos. 160, 161.
In 1490 the marriage of Thomas son
and heir apparent of William Gerard, and
Maud daughter of Sir Henry Bold, was
agreed upon ; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 210,
nos. 1 1 8, 119.
V Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vii, no. 27.
The burgage in Wigan was held by the
rent of a pair of gloves.
18 Ibid, xi, no. 1 2 ; he held the manors
of Ince and Aspull, with various messu-
ages and lands, &c. ; including a wind-
mill and a water-mill in Ince, and the
same in Aspull ; sixty burgages, &c., in
Wigan, and various lands there, held by a
rent of 571. id. ; also lands in Pcmber-
ton, Abram, and Hindley. William his
son and heir was twenty-three years of
age.
19 William was a plaintiff against Sir
Thomas Gerard in 1549 ; Ducatus Lane.
(Rec. Com.), ii, 101.
In 1567 a pedigree was recorded 5 Vlut,
(Chet. Soc.), 1 01. William Gerard was
buried at Wigan, 29 Nov. 1583 ; Reg.
30 A settlement of the manors of As-
pull and Ince was made by fine in 1586 ;
Miles Gerard and Grace his wife being
deforciants ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 48, m. 299 ; there was a later one
in 1612; ibid. bdle. 82, m. 51. Several
other fines relate to dealings with their
properties ; ibid. bdle. 47, m. 57, &c.
In I 599, as lord of the manor, he com-
plained that Ralph Houghton and others
were withholding suit ; Ducatus Lane.
(Rec. Com.), iii, 336, 399.
21 Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 245, quoting
S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, 4. He and his
wife had been accused in 1586 of sheltering
one Worthington, a persecuted priest ; and
his own brother, Alexander Gerard, was
another priest in the neighbourhood ; ibid.
239, 240. Thomas and Alexander Gerard,
aged eighteen and seventeen respectively,
entered Brasenose College, Oxf. in 1578 ;
Foster, Alumni. In spite of a discrepancy
in the dates — it being recorded that
Alexander left Rheims for England in
1587 — it seems certain that Miles's
brothers were the Thomas and Alexander
Gerard imprisoned for religion in Wisbech
Castle, where Thomas died ; their brother
Gilbert, born in 1569, and therefore not
recorded in the Visitation pedigree, entered
the English College, Rome, in 1587, and
became a Jesuit ; Foley, Rec. S.J. vi,
1755 vii, 293.
In September 1590 Miles Gerard
was indicted for fourteen months' absence
from church, but for most part of the
time he had been ' so extreme sick ' that-
his life had only been preserved by the
use of goat's milk ; before that he said
he had been a regular attendant at church ;
Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv,App. iv, 597. See
also Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. ii, 252.
Miles Gerard, a Douay priest, executed
at Rochester in 1590 for his priesthood,
is supposed to have been of this family ;
Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of Engl. Cath. ii,
430-2. He does not occur in the pedi-
gree, but Miles seems to have been a
favourite Christian name in this branch.
M Vltit. of 1613 (Chet. Soc.), 25.
' Miles Gerard of Ince, esquire, was buried
at Wigan, 1615, in his own chancel, the
28th day of September' 5 Reg.
Thomas son and heir of Miles Gerard
of Ince entered St. Mary Hall, Oxf. in
1607, aged seventeen ; he was afterwards
of Gray's Inn ; Foster, Alumni Oxon.
38 Norris D. (B.M.). For a settlement
IO3
in 1641 see Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 138, m. 38. He paid £13 6*. %d.
on refusing knighthood in 1632 ; Misc.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 222.
84 Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 34 ; petition of his
wife and daughters.
85 Ibid, iii, 34-51. Thomas Gerard
had a mine of cannel in Aspull, for which
he needed a trench through lands of James
Gorsuch, paying him £20 for leave.
Owing to neglect in the various seques-
trations the trench was filled up, and the
mine was ' totally drowned up ' ; the fault
being that of the agents of the seques-
trators. He asked for compensation or
assistance to put the mine in order.
The rents of the confiscated two-thirds
of the estates amounted in 1653-4 to
£11 1 ijs. 6d.; it consisted of the
demesne lands at Ince, a mill, tenants'
rents, tithe corn, rents in Aspull, and a
cannel mine in Aspull farmed to his son
Thomas Gerard ; ibid. 47.
Ince Hall was the subject of suits be-
tween Thomas Gerard and Roger Stough-
ton in 1663 ; Exch. Depot. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 37, 48.
In 1667 an inquiry was made touching
an annuity granted by Thomas Gerard
to John Biddulph ; Lanes, and Cbes. Recs.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 348.
28 Royalist Comp. Papers, iii, 40-43. It
being alleged that the younger Thomas
was ' a delinquent papist and not to be
admitted to composition, notwithstanding
his conformity,' his friends moved that he
might be allowed to give the committee
further satisfaction by taking the oath of
abjuration.
*i For Richard Gerard see Diet. Nat.
Blog.
The descent which follows is taken
from Piccope's MS. Pedigrees (Chet. Lib.),
i, 1 19, with additions from his abstracts
of Roman Catholic deeds enrolled in the
Preston House of Correction. There is
also a pedigree in Gregson, Fragments (ed.
Harland), 239. John Gerard died in July
1672, and was buried at Winwick ; Local
Glean. Lanes, and Ches. i, 191.
28 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 211,
m. 25. Besides the manors the property
included messuages and lands and a water
grain mill in Ince, Aspull, and Wigan ;
also tithes in Ince. For a fine of 1700
see bdle. 245, m. 93 ; Thomas Gerard,
Sir William Gerard, and William Gerard
were the deforciants. Thomas Gerard is
usually described as 'of Highfield' in
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
succeeded, but dying without issue the manor of
Ince went by the provisions of his will M to his
wife Margaret for life and then to his heir, his
cousin Richard Gerard's son William.30 William's
heirs were his sisters, Mary and Elizabeth ; but as
the latter died unmarried, the whole devolved on
the former, the wife of John Walmesley, a relation
of the Showley family.51 They settled at West-
wood House in Ince, and the manor has descended
regularly to the present lord, Mr. Humphrey Jeffreys
Walmesley, of Ince and Hungerford.3J The Hall
of Ince was sold by Richard Gerard in 1716 to
John Walmesley oi Wigan, whose descendant Mr. John
Walmesley of Lucknam and Ince is the present
owner."
Ince formerly possessed three halls, each bearing
the name of the township ; two of them, very much
modernized, still stand. The first of these, now
known as above mentioned as Hall of Ince, stands in
Warrington Road, near the cemetery, and was restored
about ten years ago, the old timber work at the back,
which was then visible, being removed, and the wall
rebuilt in brick. 33a The whole of the exterior of the
building, which was formerly timber framed, is now
stuccoed and otherwise modernized, but the roofs
retain their old stone slates. The building is now
divided into three houses.
Another branch of the Gerard family also resided
in Ince from about 1600 ; their house was called the
New Hall.34
The house now known as Ince Hall, which is
situated off Manchester Road, near Rose Bridge, was
originally surrounded by a moat and approached by a
fine avenue of elms. It was a good specimen of
timber and plaster building erected about the reign
of James I, with a picturesque black and white front
of five gables.343 The entrance hall is described as
being spacious and with a richly ornamented plaster
ceiling and wainscoted walls. Three other rooms
also were stated to have been panelled in oak, and the
drawing-room ceiling was ornamented with ' carved
work representing birds, shells, fruit, and flowers.
There were two chimney-pieces of fine Italian
marble. The staircase was of oak and 6 ft. wide, the
ceiling much ornamented with stucco. The best bed-
rooms were covered with tapestry.' 34b In 1854
the house was so seriously damaged by fire as to
necessitate a practical rebuilding. The ancient
timber front has therefore given place to a brick
elevation of no architectural pretension, and the
house is internally wholly modernized. The line of
avenue still remains, but the trees have disappeared,
and the opening of coal pits in the immediate
vicinity about thirty years ago has destroyed any
sense of picturesqueness that the rebuilt structure
might have possessed.35
A family using the local surname came into note in
the 1 6th century.35* Thomas Ince, who died in April
1573, held a capital messuage and other messuages
with lands and wood at Ince of Thomas Langton in
Aspull. As a 'papist' he registered his
estate in 1717, the value being given as
£345 17*. 4<£ ; Richard Gerard, of High-
field, who registered an annuity of ^150
out of the manor of Aspull, was no doubt
his son ; Engl. Cath. Nonjurort, 128, 153;
he also owned the hall of Southworth ;
Piccope, op. cit. Two of his sisters were
nuns.
In 1694 an inquiry was made as to the
suspected devotion of the Hall of Ince to
religious uses ; Exch. Depos. 84.
29 Richard Gerard of Highfield died
without issue in 1743. In 1721 he was
in the remainders to the Brynn estate.
By his will dated I Feb. 1734-5, he
g-ive the manor of Ince to his wife
Margaret, who was daughter of John
Baldwin of Wigan, for life, with re-
mainder to his right heirs ; his manors
of Southworth and Croft to his brother
Thomas ; Piccope, op. cit. This Thomas
and another brother Caryll were priests ;
for the latter see Foley, Rec. S.J. vi,
468.
30 Richard Gerard, a younger brother of
Thomas, was an apothecary in Wigan.
He and his son Richard registered as
'papists' in 1717; Engl. Cath. Non-
jurors, 107, 148. They mortgaged a
messuage in the Market-place in 1731.
The son, who died in 1743, married Isa-
bella, another daughter of John Baldwin
of Wigan ; and their son William, de-
scribed as an apothecary in 1 744, was the
heir to Ince. Aspull is not mentioned,
having probably been sold. In 1751-2
William Gerard was deforciant of the
manor in a fine, which included lands in
Ince, Abram, Himlley, Newton in Maker-
field, and Wigan ; also 'one chapel open
to the north side and adjoining the parish
church of Wigan ' ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 346, m. 108.
81 In 1773 John Walmesley and Mary
his wife, Elizabeth Gerard, spinster,
William Moss and Margaret his wife,
and Richard Baron and Anne his wife
were the deforciants in a fine re-
garding this manor; ibid. bdle. 389, m.
176.
32 The descent is thus given in Burke,
Landed Gentry — John Walmesley, d.!78o;
son, Richard, d. 1790 ; son, Charles, d.
1833 ; son, William Gerard, d. 1868 ;
son, William Gerard, d. 1877 ; brother,
Humphrey Jeffreys, born 1 846.
83 Information given by the present
owner, \\ho also inherited the house in
Hallgate, Wigan, in which the Young
Pretender slept in November 1745. For
the pedigree of the family see Burke,
Landed Gentry, Walmesley of Hall of
Ince.
333 A view of the Hall, as it was a cen-
tury ago, is given in Gregson, Fragment!
(ed. Harland), 236.
84 One Thomas Anderton had lands
in Ince in 1529, as recorded in a later
note ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, n.
14, 30. One of his daughters and co-
heirs married Thomas Gerard, and a
division was sought in 1546 ; Pal. of
Lane. Writs, file 30. Ralph Gerard and
Grace his wife sold lands here in 1548 ;
James Gerard was a purchaser ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 13, m. 133, 136.
See also Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xv,
no. 1953 James Gerard was buried at
Wigan 21 Sept. 1590. This James may
have been the father of Miles Gerard,
who in 1600 was one of the freeholders in
Ince ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 239. The same name, as 'of New
Hall ' appears among the landowners
contributing to the subsidy of 1628 5
Norris D. (B. M.). He was buried at
Wigan in 1640, and in 1654 Charles
son of James Gerard, of the New Hall,
was buried, as appears by the Wigan
registers.
For some ' delinquency ' James Gerard's
IO4
estate was sequestrated about the end of
1651 by the Parliamentary authorities;
as ' son and heir of Miles Gerard, late of
Ince,' he was admitted to Gray's Inn,
1646 ; Royalist Comp. Papers, iii, 21 ; iv,
34-
In 1671, on a complaint by Henry
Backer and his wife Jane against Ellen
Gerard, depositions were taken as to the
marriage of John Davies of Manby
in Cheshire, with Alice eldest daughter
of Miles Gerard, late of Peel Ditch in
Ince, and moneys agreed to be paid to
Jane and Margaret, daughters of Miles ;
and touching a sum of £400 lent to
Thomas Gerard of Ince ; Exch. Depos.
49-
843 The house is the subject of one
of Roby's Traditions of Lancashire, where
a view of it in its original state is
given.
84b Manchester City News, N. and Q.
iv, 7 (1881).
85 There is a tradition that the Young
Pretender slept here when he was in
this part of Lancashire, and that there
was a skirmish in the hall during his s;ay
in which two men were killed.
8oa They may have descended from the
Henry son of Thomas de Ince, of 1292,
who had a son Thomas ; Assize R. 419,
m. 12 ; De Banco R. 198, m. i36d.
Richard son of Henry de Ince contributed
to the subsidy in 1332; Exch. Lay Subs.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 6. The
Thomas of 1381 may also have belonged
to it ; a release by Thomas son of Robert
de Ince, dated 1379, is in Towneley MS.
GG, no. 2439. Robert son of William de
Ince, occurs in 1398 ; Crosse D. (Trans.
Hist. Soc.}, no. 86. Henry de Ince occurs
in 1415 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i,
107. Thomas son of Henry de Ince was
party to a bond in 1428 ; GG, no. 2655.
Henry Ince of Ince was one of the gentry
of the hundred in 1512.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
socage by a rent of $t.Kb The residence was known as
Ince Hall, or the New Hall. They also adhered to the
ancient faith,36 and John Ince's estate was sequestered
by the Parliamentary autho-
rities during the Common-
wealth,37 but not confiscated
outright. It descended from
him to his great-great-grand-
daughter Frances Sobieski,
daughter of Christopher Ince,
and wife of William Anderton
of Euxton. She died in 1 8 1 6,
when the family ceased to
reside here.38
The third hall, the resi-
dence of the family of Ince,
stood on a site a short distance from the junction of
Ince Green Lane and Warrington Road, part of which
is occupied by a building apparently erected some
sixty years since from the materials of the former
house. Two date stones, now on a rockery in front
INCE. Urgent three
torteaux between two
bendlets gules.
of the house, are said to belong respectively to the
old barn and a stable now pulled down. One bears
the date 1578 and the initials GJM, and the other
the inscription
w p
referring to the above-named
__
William Anderton and Frances his wife. There is
also part of a stone sundial, dated GM- The hall
1741
is sa:d to have been built about 1721.
Property here was acquired by a family named
Brown,39 in which it descended for about a century
and a half.40 Henry Brown, by his will in 1726, left
it to his grand-nephew Edward, son of Robert Holt
of Wigan ; by two daughters and co-heiresses it be-
came the property of General Clegg and Thomas
Case of Liverpool.41
Miles and Peter Gerard, Thomas Ince, and Ralph
Brown were the landowners recorded about I556.4*
Richard Pennington was a freeholder in 1600."
The four halls of Ince were duly noted by Kuerden
Kb Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiii, no. 6.
Miles Ince was his son and heir, and of the
age of twenty-five years. The rent pay-
able seems to prove that this was a moiety
of the manor. Mr. H. Ince Anderton
gives the descent as : Thomas Ince (15
Edw. IV) — s. Henry (20 Hen. VII) — s.
Arthur — s. Thomas ; from Harl. MS.
1987, fol. 88i.
The father of Thomas was Arthur Ince,
who in 1546 and later had a dispute with
Ralph Brown over the marriage between
the latter's daughter Ellen and Thomas
Ince, son and heir apparent of Arthur ;
Duchy Plead, ii, 211. In 1569 Miles
Ince, as grandson of Ralph Brown, put in a
claim to lands in Ince, Aspull, and Wigan;
Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 378, 360.
88 Miles Ince was one of the ' comers to
church but no communicants' in 1590 ;
Lydiate Hall, 246 (quoting S.P. Dom.
Eliz. ccxxxv, 4). He was buried at Wigan
7 Apr. 1593; Reg.; and was succeeded by
John Ince, probably his son, returned as a
freeholder in 1600; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes.
and Ches.), i, 241. With him begins the
pedigree recorded in 1664; Dugdale,
Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 163. In 1628 he paid
double to the subsidy as a convicted recu-
sant ; Norris D. (B.M.) ; and died the
following year, being buried at Wigan.
8' In 1643 two-thirds was sequestered
for Thomas Ince's religion only, and so
remained till his death in Feb. 1653-4;
it does not appear that he took arms for
the king. John Ince was the only son
and heir, thirty-four years of age, and in
1654 had a wife and four small children
depending on him. He mortgaged his
property in order to pay his father's debts
and provide for his wife Margaret and
his children Thomat, Hugh, &c. ; Royalist
Camp. Papers, iv, 1-13.
88 Dugdale's pedigree is supplemented
by that of Piccope (MS. Pedigrees, ii,
291), who consulted the Roman Catholic
deeds enrolled in the House of Correction,
Preston. It appears that Thomas, the
eldest son of John, mentioned in the pre-
ceding note, had no issue, and the estate
descended to Christopher Ince, a younger
brother, who in 1717 as a 'papist' regis-
tered his estate, being described as ' of
Aughton;' Engl. Cath. Nonjurors, 1 12. His
four sisters, Dorothy, Anne, Ellen (wife
of James Twiss), and Elizabeth also re-
gistered ; ibid. 124.
4
Christopher was executor of his bro-
ther Thomas's will (dated 1703), and by
his own will, dated 12 Dec. 1728, he left
Ince Hall to his grandson Christopher ;
John, the son, to have 'the profits of part
of Brook House,' if he behaved himself to
the satisfaction of the trustees. Thomas,
a younger brother of John, had lands in
Aughton and Billinge, divided between
his sons Thomas and James ; Piccope, op.
cit.
Mr. Ince Anderton adds that papers in
Chest. Dioc. Reg. show that Christopher
Ince died in 1735, leaving two sons, John
and Thomas ; and that administration of
the goods of John Ince of Ince was
granted on 14 Jan. 1739-40.
Christopher Ince, son of John, accord-
ingly succeeded to Ince ; in 1740 he
married Mary Catherine Parry of Holy-
well ; and their daughter and heir,
Frances Sobieski Ince, married in 1769
William Anderton of Euxton ; Pic-
cope.
89 In a suit in 1609 respecting a place
called Rundiefield in Ince, the following
pedigree was adduced : — Roger le Brown,
to whom the rent of 41. from the land
had been granted by William de Ince — s.
Rowland — s. William — s. Ralph. Ralph
in 1545 granted the rent to William
Brown, whose son Roger was defendant
in 1609 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 303, m.
1 6.
Roger Brown of Ince, in August 1517,
granted to Cecily daughter of Richard
Urmston a burgage in Scholes for her
life, with remainder to Ralph Brown,
junior, son and heir of William Brown ;
and at the same time this Ralph Brown,
describing himself as next of kin and heir
apparent of Roger, granted his burgages,
&c., in Scholes to the same Cecily, pro-
bably on his marriage with her ; Towne-
ley MS. OO, no. 1109, 1108.
Thomas Anderton of Ince died in
August 1529, seised of messuages and
lands in Ince held of Thomas Gerard of
Ince, by a rent of zs. So1. ; and other lands
in Thingwall, Walton, Halewood, and
Aughton. His heirs were his daughters
Margaret, Ellen, and Cecily, said to be
ten, nine, and eight years of age in 1534.
They were in the wardship of Ralph
Brown of Wigan, who accordingly took
possession ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vi,
no. 14, 30.
105
Ralph Brown next appears in 1535 in
a dispute with Thomas Gerard as to lands
in Whitreding ; Ducatus Lane, i, 201 ;
and then in 1546 regarding the marriage
covenant with Arthur Ince, already re-
ferred to. William Brown, feoffee of
Ralph, and James Brown appear in 1568
and 1569 in the disputes with Miles Ince.
In 1581 William Brown made complaint
as to Charles Bank, Miles Gerard, and
Lawrence Wood regarding lands called
Foxholes, &c. ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.),
iii, 92, 107.
William Brown died 13 May I5961eav-
ing a son and heir Roger, then about six-
teen years of age ; he had held two mes-
suages and various lands in Ince of Miles
Gerard, by a rent of 41. 6d. and sixteen
messuages in Wigan ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Cheg.), i, 157.
Roger Brown, in 1597, alleged that
Miles Gerard was withholding suit ; Du-
catut Lane. (Rec. Com.), iii, 350. He
died 2 Jan. 1619-20, seised of the paternal
lands, and leaving as heir his son William,
aged seventeen ; there was a younger
son Ralph, as appears by a feoffment made
in 1611 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 202. He had lived
' roguing about London,' in Bishop Bridge-
man's opinion ; Bridgeman, Wigan Cb.
249.
40 William Brown died in 1626, for his
uncle Ralph, brother of Roger Brown,
tendered his relief on succeeding ; he was
buried at Wigan ii Mar. 1626-7, anc'
succeeded by his son ; Bridgeman, op. cit.
250. The 'heirs of Ralph Brown' are
mentioned in the Wigan rental of 1627 ;
ibid. 310.
41 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 568}
Gregson, Fragments, 176.
48 Mascy of Rixton D. ; a subsidy roll.
48 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 241.
In 1546 was a fine between Nicholar
Pennington (or Pinnington) of Wigan and
John Pennington of Ince, respecting pro-
perty in the latter place ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 12, m. 167. In 1559
John Pennington was again deforciant {
ibid. bdle. 21, m. 134. In 1600 Gilbert
Bank sued Robert and Nicholas Penning-
ton concerning a cottage and lands called
Emme Fields ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.),
iii, 412.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
about 1696." In 1717 John Clarkson and Richard
Richardson, as * papists,' registered estates here.44
Ambrewood inclosure award may be seen at
Preston.
The Established Church has two places of worship
in the township ; Christ Church, consecrated in
1864, the district assigned being the whole town-
ship j46 and St. Mary's, Lower Ince, consecrated
I887-47 The patronage of both is vested in Simeon's
trustees.
The Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built in 1866;
the Primitive Methodist one in 1885. The Con-
gregationalists also have a place of worship.
The adherents of the ancient religion found assist-
ance in the constancy of the families of Gerard and
Ince. The chapel at New Hall was built in 1760 ;
this was closed in 1818. There was a private chapel
at Westwood House, and in 1873 the church of
St. William was opened. Twenty years later the
Church of the Holy Family at Platt Bridge was
added.48
HINDLEY
Hindele, 1212 ; Hindelegh, 1260 (common) ;
Hindeley, 1292.
Hindley lies in the centre of the great Lancashire
coalfield, and consists of a level-surfaced country
dotted over with collieries and black pit-banks.
A close network of tramways and railways covers
the face of a singularly dreary stretch of country,
where the pastures are scanty and blackened. Fre-
quent pools of water lie between the collieries, in-
dicating subsidences of the earth caused by mining.
What trees remain standing appear as dead stumps,
with leafless branches reflected weirdly in the ' flashes'
of water. In the more favoured parts of the town-
ship, wheat, oats, and potatoes manage to find an
existence. There is some pasturage also. The area
is 2,610^ acres,1 and the population in 1901 was
23,504.
The ancient road from Manchester to Wigan goes
west-north-west through the township. The town of
Hindley lies to the north of this road. At this point
is a cross road leading north-eastward from Platt
Bridge and Lowe Green to Westhoughton, having
a branch north to Aspull. Through the town,
adjacent to this cross road, runs a brook known here
as the Borden. Near the eastern boundary is the
village of Hindley Green ; from this a road leads
south to Leigh. The London and North-Western
Company's Manchester and Wigan Railway passes
through the township from east to west, with stations
at Hindley Green and Platt Bridge. The Lancashire
and Yorkshire Company's line from Wigan to Man-
chester also crosses the northern corner, where there
is a station ; and the two companies' joint railway
runs north through the western part of the township,
being there joined by a connecting line from the
North-Western main line. The Great Central Rail-
way's line to Wigan crosses the western end, and has
a station called Hindley and Platt Bridge.
There were formerly two * burning wells ' here, one
in Derby Lane, the other near Dog Pool, now called
Grange Brook.2
The great business is coal-mining ; there is also an
iron foundry, and cotton manufacturing is carried on
extensively. The first factory is said to have been
erected near the end of the i8th century by Richard
Battersby at Lowe mill, formerly a water corn-mill.
A little later hand-loom weaving was one of the chief
industries, each cottage having a weaving shop at-
tached.3
The Local Government Act of 1 8 5 8 was adopted
by the township in l867.4 Under the Act of 1894
an urban district council of fifteen members has been
constituted. New council offices were opened in
1904.
A fair is held on the first Thursday in August.
A sundial, dated 1699, formerly stood at Castle
Hill.5
HINDLET was no doubt one of the
M4NOR fifteen berewicks of the royal manor of
Newton before the Conquest.6 After the
Conquest it continued to form part of the fee of
Makerfield,7 and in 1212 one part was held in thegn-
age, in conjunction with Ashton, by Thomas de Burn-
hull.8 The remainder was held by local families.
Swain son of Leofwin held the Burnhull share,
and gave it to a certain Gospatric in free marriage ;
in 1 2 1 2 Roger the son of Gospatric held this portion
of Thomas de Burnhull. Two oxgangs were at the
same time held by Adam de Hindley 'of ancient
feoffment,' i.e. by a title going back to the time of
Henry I at least. Another half plough-land was held
by Richard de Hindley, son of Robert ; portions of
this had been given to the Hospitallers and to Cocker-
sand Abbey. Some portion was perhaps still held in
demesne.9
44 Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. i,
209-14. He states that the Browns
had the Cockersand lands.
45 Engl. Cath. Nonjurors, 125, 152.
46 Bridgeman, Wigan Ch. 787 ; a dis-
trict had been assigned in 1862 ; Land.
Gax. 4 Nov.
47 Bridgeman, loc. cit.
48 Liverpool Catb. Ann. 1901.
1 2,612, including 30 of inland water;
Census Rep. of 1901.
2 Leyland, Hindley, 7. Baines quotes
an account from the Life of Lord Guild-
ford, of a visit to the burning well in
1676 ; Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 555.
8 Leyland, op. cit. 96, 104. An inter-
esting account is given, pp. 105-8, of the
former customs of the place ; the pace-
eggers and their drama, the Eastertide
lifting, maypole on the green, rush-bear-
ing, &c.
4 Land. Gax. 2 July 1867.
8 Land, and Ches. Antiq. Notes, i, 165.
6 V.C.H. Lanes, i, 286. The ancient
assessment appears to have been a plough-
land or a plough-land and a half.
7 See e.g. Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.),
i, 138; ii, 99; ibid. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 105.
8 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 74. He had half a
plough-land in Hindley.
9 Ibid. 75. The Hospitallers' holding
is named in the Plac. de Quo War. (Rec.
Com.), 375 ; see also Lanes, and Cbes.
Hist, and Gen. Notes, i, 35. In the
rental of their lands compiled about 1540,
the following particulars are given : John
Atherton, a messuage, it. 4</., and a close
2s. $d. ; Robert Lee, a messuage, 6d. ;
Jonathan (?) Bate for Crockholcs, 6d. ;
Peter Langton, a messuage, 6d. ; Gilbert
106
Hindley, a messuage, 6d. ; 6s. in all ;
Kuerden MSS. v, fol. 84. John Leigh of
Westhoughton in 1619 held lands for-
merly belonging to the Hospitallers by a
rent of 6d. ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 133.
The Cockersand Chart. (Chet. Soc.), ii,
642-51, contains particulars of the grants
made to this abbey. Robert de Hindley
gave 6 acres, partly in Twiss Car by Lanu-
lache and partly by Aspenhead, with pas-
ture for as many animals as the man
might have who held the land from the
canons ; he also gave an acre on the
northern side of Bickershaw. Richard
his son confirmed these charters, and gave
further parcels in Berlets-housted and
Osbern meadow, and a third with his
body. Adam de Hindley also was a
benefactor, 10 acres and a messuage on
the north of Stony street, 4 at Ferny-
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
The mesne lordship of the Burnhulls appears to
have been surrendered, and the lords of Makerfield
had the various Hindley families as immediate tenants.
It appears, however, down to 1330, and the Pember-
ton holding was part of it.10 Gospatric's immediate
successors seem to have been the Waleys or Walsh
family.11
The two oxgangs of Adam de Hindley may
have been joined to that half plough-land or to
the half plough-land of Richard de Hindley to
form the moiety of the manor held by a family bear-
ing the local name. Gilbert de Culcheth was over-
lord of this in 1300. In November 1302 Adam
de Hindley complained that a number of per-
sons had joined in disseising him of a free tenement
in Hindley, a messuage with an acre of land, and an
acre of meadow, which he had had from one Adam
de Plumpton, who had purchased from Hugh de
Hindley. Gilbert de Culcheth replied as chief lord ;
he had taken possession fearing that the feoffment
made by Adam de Plumpton was contrary to the
statute.1* Some settlement was made, and the claim
was not prosecuted.
This moiety was divided into four parts, the descent
of which can be traced for some time.13
In 1308 half of the manor was claimed by Robert
son of Fulk Banastre.13a This was afterwards re-
covered by Robert de Langton, baron of Aewton,
from Jordan de Worsley,14 and about 1330 the lord-
ship of the whole manor, together with lands in it,
halgh, and a land called Crokeland,
one head of which lay towards Platt and
the other towards Thuresclough, and
another portion bounded in part by the
Lanulache. These grants conveyed the
usual easements, including quittance of
pannage for pigs in Hindley Wood. Go-
dith daughter of Adam de Hindley gave
Tunkercroft by Glazebrook, lying north
of the Hospitallers' land. Robert Ban-
astre gave land in Fernyhalgh, and Robert
his son confirmed the preceding and other
gifts to the abbey. Thurstan Banastre
gave all his portion of the water called
Glazebrook from Marefalford to the ditch
of Henry the Hosteller of Hindley. In
1501 the heirs of Thomas Turton (6d.)
and Gilbert Langton (6</.) held these
lands ; Cockersand Rental (Chet. Soc.), 4.
10 Katherine wife of Hugh de Venables,
as widow of Peter de Burnhull, in 1331
claimed dower in two-thirds of an eighth
part of the manor of Hindley ; De Banco
R. 284, m. 119; 287, m. 185 d. Peter's
sisters and heirs, then minors, were called
to warrant ; ibid. R. 286, m. 170. Wil-
liam son of Adam de Pemberton was the
tenant.
11 Gospatric also had a grant of land in
Lathom, supposed to be represented by
the Cross Hall estates, of which in the
1 3th century the tenants were named
Waleys (i.e. Welsh). In Hindley Richard
le Waleys and Eleanor his wife held lands,
of which a portion was given in arms to
Cockersand Abbey ; Cockersand Chart, ii,
648.
"Assize R. 418, m. 3, 13. The de-
fendants were : John de Langton and
Alice his wife, as chief lords of the fee ;
Gilbert de Culcheth and Gilbert his son,
as lords of Hindley ; Henry de Atherton;
Richard de Molyneux of Crosby and
Beatrice his wife ; Alan de Windle ;
Robert son of Fulk Banastre ; Adam de
Bradshagh ; Adam de Urmston and Isa-
bel his wife ; Robert Bulgut ; Henry son
of Roger de Ince ; Hugh de Hindley ;
John son of Henry le Suur of Hindley ;
and Richard son of William Hert.
18 Some tenants occur in the last note.
In 1306 and 1307 Beatrice widow of
Hugh de Hindley claimed dower from
Hugh son of Roger de Ashton and others.
Hugh de Ashton called to warrant him
Adam son of Hugh de Hindley ; Adam de
Bradshagh and Margaret his wife also
called Adam de Hindley and John de
Broadash ; Thomas son of John son of
Maud called William son of Simon de
Warrington and Emma his wife ; John
Gillibrand called Hugh and Gilbert sons
of Richard de Culcheth ; De Banco R.
1 6 1, m. 132 ; 164, m. 212. Henry de
Atherton and Beatrice his wife in 1330
claimed 25 acres in Aspull, Hindley, and
Ince from Cecily the widow and Robert
the son of Robert de Hindley ; but it
appeared that Beatrice while sole had
demised them to Cecily, and the latter's
title was therefore admitted ; Assize R.
1411, m. 12 d.
In the following year Henry de Ather-
ton the elder and Beatrice his wife did
not prosecute a claim for lands in Aspull
and Hindley ; Henry de Atherton the
younger was one of his sureties ; Assize
R. i4°4» m- 1 8. Their sons were Henry,
William, John, and Thomas ; De Banco
R. 297, m. 103.
The younger Henry married Agnes
daughter and heir of Thomas son and heir
of Richard de Molyneux of Crosby and
Beatrice his wife; Assize R. 1411, m.
I2d. ; Final Cone, ii, 1 8. Henry and
Agnes were concerned in numerous actions
as to tenements in Hindley ; among others
was a claim in 1345 by Beatrice widow of
Richard de Molyneux to her dower in one-
eighth part of the manor of Hindley ; De
Banco R. 344, m. 442. The latest case
in which they are mentioned is in 1356;
Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 5, m. lod.
Agnes daughter of Henry de Atherton of
Hindley, after a divorce between herself
and Adam son of John Dickson, released
her right to lands in Wigan in 1347 ;
Towneley MS. GG, no. 2568.
In 1358 Beatrice daughter and heir of
Henry de Atherton, and then wife of
Thomas de Wight, claimed from Richard
de Atherton and others a messuage and
lands in Hindley. The defence was a
grant by Henry de Atherton to Richard ;
see Hindley D. no. 25, 26, in Local Glean.
Lanes, and Ches. ii, 150. Beatrice alleged
that this had been merely in the nature of
a trust, she being then under age. Her
claim, however, was rejected ; Assize R.
638, m. 3d. Beatrice was soon left a
widow ; Dtp. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App.
338 ; and afterwards married Thomas
Hert ; De Banco R. 462, m. 199 d. In
1460 a bond of £100 was given at Wigan
by John son of Richard Hert to Charles
Hert, who purchased the Hert estate in
Hindley and Westleigh ; Ellis son of
Charles sold in 1500-1 to Thurstan
Southworth ; Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.),
iv, 166-71. Margaret wife of Richard
Tothill and Alice wife of William Edge
were in 1519 the heirs of their father John
Hert, described as son of Richard son of
John »on of William Hert ; Pal. of Lane.
Plea R. 128, m. 14 d.
The share of the manor derived from
the Molyneux family was by Thomas
Hert in 1390-1 released to William de
Charnock of Charnock, Richard and Henry
Blundell of Little Crosby, other heirs of
107
Richard and Beatrice de Molyneux ;
Blundell of Crosby D. K. 282. In 1517
the feoffees of Nicholas Blundell released
to him their interest in the eighth part of
the manor ; ibid. K.. 179. Henry Char-
nock was in 1535 found to have held a
messuage and lands in Hindley of Sir
Thomas Langton by fealty only ; while
in 1573 a moiety of (the eighth part of)
the manor was claimed for Thomas Char-
nock ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. viii, no.
28 ; xiii, no. 5. In 1346 Robert de
Nevill of Hornby demanded a messuage
and land in Ashton in Makerfield from
John son of Henry de Atherton of Hind-
ley, in right of his wife Joan daughter of
Henry son of Hugh de Atherton and heir
of the latter ; De Banco R. 346, m. 349.
It is probable that her inheritance was a
portion of the estate in this neighbourhood
held by the Harringtons of Wolfage in the
i6th century; Hindley in the partition
was allotted to the Standishes ; Norris D.
(B.M.).
The Athertons of Atherton held lands
in Hindley under the Hospitallers; Lanes.
Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 107. See also
the Inq. p.m. of George Atherton in 1535;
v, no. 12. His son John is named in the
list of their tenants already given. A
decree as to Kidd land in Hindley was
made in Elizabeth's time between Stand-
ish and Atherton ; Lanes, and Cbes. Recs.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 253.
The Lathoms of Wolfall in Huyton
held their lands under the Culcheths by a
rent of id. ; Inq. p.m. ix, no. 10 ; the
Gerards of Ince under the Langtons of
Lowe by the rent of 3.1. id. ; ibid, vii, no.
27. John Urmston in 1508 was found
to have held his lands of Gilbert Langton
of Lowe by fealty and a rent of zs. "jd. ;
ibid, iii, no. 30.
Hugh Hindley of Aspull was in 1531
found to hold his lands in Hindley of
Thomas Langton by a rent of iod. ;
ibid, vi, no. 22. In this case the mesne
lord may have been overlooked.
Ua Harl. MS. 2042, fol. 60 ; quoting
De Banco R. 167. In 1303 this Robert
Banastre alienated an oxgang and a half
to Jordan son of Richard de Worsley ;
Final Cone, i, 202. John son of Robert
de Langton and Alice his wife put in
their claim as chief lords of Makerfield.
14 In 1316 and later years Robert son
of John de Langton and Alice Banastre
claimed from Jordan de Worsley two
parts of the moiety of the manor of
Hindley which Robert Banastre, great-
grandfather of the claimant, granted to
Fulk Banastre and his issue, and which
after the death of Robert son of Fulk
Banastre without issue should revert to
him. Jordan at first pleaded that the
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
LANGTON. Argent
three cheverom gulei.
was granted to Robert de Langton, a younger son ot
the Robert just named, from whom descended the
Langtons of LOfFE in Hindley,15 the last of the line
being Edward Langton, who
died in 1733. The descent
is stated in cross-suits by Peter
Langton and Ellen widow of
John Langton in 1444. The
former said that Henry son of
Adam de Manchester, chap-
lain, holding (as trustee) the
manor of Hindley, granted it
to Robert de Langton and
Margaret his wife and their
heirs.16 In virtue of this
their son and heir Robert
succeeded them, and was followed by his son John,
who married Amice daughter of Roger de Brad-
shagh of Westleigh. John lived to a great age,
dying in July 1443 ; his son Gilbert died before him,
leaving as heir his son, the above-named Peter ;
John's second wife Ellen was the other party to the
suits.17 Peter Langton died at sea in May 1450,
leaving a son and heir Gilbert, seven years of age.18
In 1528 there was a dispute between Robert Lang-
ton of the Lowe and others as to the title to waste
lands and the right to dig coal. The plaintiff, son of
Gilbert Langton, asserted that he was sole lord and
owner of the manor of Hindley, and he had built
some cottages on the waste, assigning to each a plot
of ground ; this was on account of ' the increase and
multiplying of the people in those parts,' and
sufficient pasture had been left for the other free
tenants. Gilbert Culcheth, however, held a manor
described as ' half the manor,' and a dwelling called
Hindley Hall ; and Hugh Hindley of Aspull, whose
ancestors had from time immemorial been seised of nine
messuages and 80 acres in this moiety of the manor,
took the law into his own hand, disregarded the in-
closure, and dug and got coal and turf as accustomed,
and this 'with strong hand, by the aid of certain his
masters, gentlemen.' It appeared that about 1475
permission to get coal had been asked by ' old Hugh
Hindley's wife,' and had been granted by Gilbert
Langton, then chief lord of Hindley. Inclosures
being then a general grievance, the Chancellor of the
Duchy and his council ordered seven of the cottages
to be pulled down and various parcels of land to be
restored to the common, from thenceforth ' not to be
kept in severally by any pretending to be lords of the
said waste.' Others they allowed to stand. The
tenants were to have the right to take turf and dig
coals, which, ' within late years,' had been found on
the waste ; but to prevent abuses Robert Langton
and his heirs were to nominate three charter-holding
tenants and Gilbert Culcheth one, to ' appoint the
places where coal and turbary should be digged and
taken for fuel ' of the general body of tenants.19
Peter Langton at his death in January 1572—3 held
the manor of Hindley of the heirs of Thomas
Langton of Makerfield in socage by fealty only.20
The heir was his son Robert, then twenty-six years of
grant to Fulk had been in fee and not to
his issue, but seems to have withdrawn,
and the case went against him by de-
fault; De Banco R. 216, m. 56 ; 257, m.
72d.; 264, m. 264. In 1319 there was
also a claim for the third part of the moiety
against Adam de Bradshagh and Isabel his
wife, widow of Fulk Banastre ; De Banco
R. 229, m. 129.
Jordan de Worsley left a daughter and
heir Margaret, who married Thurstan de
Tyldesley, and they at Michaelmas 1352
claimed the manor of Hindley against
Sir Robert de Langton. The jury, how-
ever, did not allow it ; Duchy of Lane.
Assize R. 2, m. 2 d.
Edward Tyldesley of Morleys in 1621
held his lands in Hindley of Philip Lang-
ton ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes.
and Ches.), ii, 260.
15 Lanes. Inq .p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 95.
There is a difficulty in having a younger
Robert de Langton so early as 1330, but
the pleadings seem to require it. It
should be noticed that Robert de Lang-
ton, the husband of Margaret, is usually
identified with the baron of Newton ; see
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 98, and
Vint, of 1533 (Chet. Soc.), 24, 25.
16 Final Cone, ii, 194. The whole
grant comprised a third part of the manor
of Langton in Leicestershire, a messuage
and plough-land in Hendon, a messuage
and 38 J acres in Walton le Dale, the
manor of Hindley, and half the manor of
Golborne.
A number of Hindley deeds are among
the additional charters in the B.M. in-
cluding : —
No. 17670. Grant by Robert son of
Sir John de Langton to Henry de Milne-
gate, chaplain, of the manor of Hindley ;
I325-
No. 17674. Grant by Robert de Lang-
ton to Henry (son of Adam) de Man-
chester, chaplain, of the manor of Hindley
and half the manor of Golborne ; 1334.
No. 17683. Quitclaim by Ralph son
and heir of Sir John de Langton to
Robert son of Sir Robert de Langton of
the manors of Hindley, Langton, and
Hendon ; 1361.
No. 17687. Quitclaim by Henry son
and heir of Ralph de Langton to John son
and heir of Robert de Langton, junior, of
the manor of Hindley, &c. ; 1395.
No. 17690. Refeoffment to John de
Langton of Hindley and Agnes his wife
of tenements in Hindley; 1419.
No. 17694. Settlement by John de
Langton of Hindley in favour of his wife
Ellen de Radcliffe ; 1429.
No. 17698. Grant in tail by Peter de
Langton, chaplain, to John de Langton
his brother ; 1432.
No. 17699. Grant to William son of
John de Langton ; 1433.
V Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 6, m. 1 5, 1 6.
In the former of these suits Peter claimed
from Ellen a box of charters, containing
among others the final concord and
marriage covenant referred to' and an
exemplification of the said fine granted
by Richard II in 1391 at the request of
John de Langton. In the second Ellen
claimed damages from Peter Langton,
Robert Gerard, and many others, for
trespass on her close at Hindley and
destruction of her corn and grass. Ellen
claimed a life interest in the manor by
grant from her late husband ; but as she
did not appear when summoned judge-
ment was given for the accused.
In a later case William son of John
Langton is mentioned ; ibid. R. 8, m. i,
37*.
The inquisition taken after the death
of John Langton in 1443 confirms the
statements in the text ; Peter the grand-
son and heir was then twenty-four years
108
of age. It recites a grant made in 141 3 by
the deceased to Gilbert his son and his
wife Elizabeth daughter of Sir Thomas
Gerard, who afterwards married William
Gernet. The manor was held of Henry
Langton, lord of Makerfield, but by what
service the jury were ignorant ; it was
worth, including the Hollinhey, £10 a
year ; Towneley MS. DD, no. 1471.
18 Early Chan. Proc. 22-137, and
26-611 ; petitions by William Langton,
to whom his ' cousin ' Peter had be-
queathed Gilbert's wardship.
19 Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 160-71. The hall was tenanted
by James Strangeways, and came to be
known as Strangeways Hall.
The Gilbert Langton, father of Robert,
had a brother Thomas, to whom in 1485
certain tenements in Hindley were granted
for his life ; Agecroft D. no. 348. By an
indenture of the same date Robert son
and heir of Gilbert Langton of the Lowe
confirmed a grant by Ralph Langley,
warden of Manchester, to Peter Langton,
son of the said Gilbert, for life ; B.M.
Add. Chart. 17707.
Gilbert Langton of Lowe, ' squyer,'
was one of the gentry of the hundred in
1512. Robert his son and heir apparent
occurs in 1505 ; Towneley MS. GG, no.
1534. In 1512 Gilbert Langton made a
grant of certain lands in Hindley to
Robert his son and heir apparent ; B.M.
Add. Chart, no. 17715. In Aug. and
Sept 1555 Sir Thomas Hesketh of
Ruffbrd and others made grants of lands
in Hindley to Gilbert son of Peter Lang-
ton of Hindley, deceased ; ibid. 17719-20.
20 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, no. 14.
Peter Langton was in possession of the
manor in 1549, when he made an ex-
change of lands with Gilbert Culcheth ;
Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. ii, i. It is
with him that the recorded pedigree begins.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
age. The tenure is stated * as in free socage, by a
rent of three pepper-corns ' in the inquisition after
the death (1595) of Robert Langton, who was
succeeded by his son Philip, then aged twenty-six.21
Robert Langton of the Lowe, a justice of the peace
but of 'mean living,' was in 1590 reported to be
' well affected in religion ' ; he had spoiled his estate
and used ' bad company.' M At the same time
Edward Langton of Hindley, one of the ' gentlemen
of the better sort,' and perhaps a brother of Robert,
was a ' recusant and thereof indicted.' 23 The head
of the family, however, soon reverted to the ancient
religion/33 and Abraham Langton, son and heir of
Philip, in 1628, as a convicted recusant, paid double
to the subsidy.24
This Abraham Langton, as a ' papist delinquent,'
had his estates sold for treason by the Parliament in
1652 ;25 but appears to have recovered at least a
portion of them. He was living, sixty-six years of
age, in 1664, when he recorded a pedigree at the
Visitation."3 His son Philip, then aged thirty-six,
succeeded him, and was tried in 1694 for participa-
WIGAN
tion in the Lancashire Plot.26 Very shortly after-
wards he was succeeded by his son Edward Langton,27
who as a 'papist' registered his estate in 1717."
Edward died without issue in 1733, leaving his pro-
perty to Catherine his wife for life and to nephews
and nieces named Pugh. Wil-
liam Pugh had Hindley, and
his nephew and heir, Edward
Philip Pugh of Coetmor in
Carnarvonshire, sold the manor
of Hindley and the Lowe
Hall estate to the Duke of
Bridgewater, the Earl of
Ellesmere being the present
on
owner.
The Culcheth moiety of
the manor descended to Tho-
mas Culcheth, who died about
1744 ; by his will it passed
to the Traffords of Croston.30
Among the other early families of the place may
be named Nightegale,31 Barker/2 and Harper.33
EGERTON, Earl of
Ellesmere. Argent a
lion rampant gules be-
tween three pheons sable.
21 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvi, no.
12. Philip Langton and Mary his wife
were deforciants of tenements in Hindley
in 1597 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
jS, m. 324 ; and of the manor and
estate in 1612-13 ; ibid. bdle. 81, m. 52.
22 Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 244, quoting
S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, 4.
23 Gibson, op. cit. 246.
233 In 1607 lands of Philip Langton,
recusant, were farmed out to Sir Arthur
Aston ; Pat. 5 Jas. I, pt. 22, 25 July.
He died at Lowe 22 Jan. 1625-6 ; the
manor was held of Sir Richard Fleet-
wood and the heir was Abraham Langton
son of Philip, then aged twenty-nine
years and more ; Local Glean. Lanes, and
Ches. ii, 2. The heir's Christian name
was derived from his mother's surname,
she being one of the coheirs of Thomas
Abram or Abraham of Abram.
» Norris D. (B.M.). Elizabeth his
wife occurs in the Recusant Roll of 1641 ;
Tram. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xiv, 239.
Abraham Langton in 1631 paid £10 as a
composition on declining knighthood ;
Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i,
213.
28 Index of Royalists (Index Soc.), 43.
He afterwards petitioned to be allowed
to compound ; and on the petition of
' divers well-affected persons," his tenants,
he was informed that it was 'just and
reasonable' to request him to allow his
tenants liberty of pre-emption or a
renewal of their leases at the ancient
rents. Later, in Dec. 1653, Major John
Wildman, who had contracted to purchase,
received an order to take possession ;
Royalist Camp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), iv, 56-9.
25a Dugdale, Vitit. (Chet. Soc.), 174.
36 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv,
303, &c.; on p. 362 is an account of his
arrest at Wepre in Flintshire, where he
was attending the burial of his sister-in-
law ; he had married a daughter of Ed-
ward Pennant of Bagillt. In Jan.
1688-9 he broke an innkeeper's head
with his cane, for proposing the health of
the Earl of Derby — a sufficient indication
of his politics ; see the amusing anecdote
on p. 214. He had been indicted for re-
cusancy in 1678 ; ibid. 109.
87 In Aug. 1687 a fine was made
concerning the manor of Hindley, seventy
messuages, a water-mill, dovecote, gardens,
lands, wood, furze and heath, turbary,
moor and moss and 801. rent in Hind-
ley and Westleigh ; the deforciants were
Philip Langton and Elizabeth his wife,
Edward Langton son and heir of Philip
and {Catherine his wife, and George
Langton ; George Pennant was one of
the plaintiffs ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 219, m. 64.
28 Engl. Catb. Nonjurors, 123. The
value of the estate was ^69 is. 20". For
a mortgage by him see Local Glean. Lanes,
and Ches. i, 272. Edward Langton of
Lowe in 1728 granted to John Rigby of
Hindley a messuage and land there ; B.M.
Add. Chart. 17733.
89 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1870), ii, 191 ;
from information ' supplied by Mr.
William Langton.' In Piccope's MS.
Pedigrees in the Chet. Lib. (ii, 234) it is
stated that Edward Langton's sister Eliza-
beth married — Pugh; their son William is
described as ' of Lowe, jeweller.' Their
other children were Philip Pugh of
Pemerhyn or Penwryn, Carnarvonshire
(whose son Edward was the vendor),
Joseph, Winifred, Anne, and Frances. The
references are to Piccope MSS. (Chet.
Lib.), iii, 178, 234, 254, 258, 270, from
the Roman Catholic D. enrolled at Pres-
ton.
In Aug. 1758, by fine, Edward
Philip Pugh and Mary his wife remitted
to William Carghey messuages and lands
in Hindley ; the manor is not named ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 361, m.
132.
80Cal. Exch. of Pleas, Lanes. C. 301,
where the will of Thomas Culcheth is
given. In 1771 Humphrey and John
Trafford were vouchees of the manor of
Croston and various other lordships, in-
cluding a fourth part of the manor of
Hindley, with the hall known as Hind-
ley Hall or Strangeways Hall ; Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. 613, m. 10; also at
Aug. Assizes, 1797, R. n.
In 1364 Gilbert de Culcheth, a minor,
by his guardian John de Blackburn, de-
manded against Cecily, widow of Gilbert
de Culcheth the elder, messuages and
land in Hindley which the elder Gilbert
gave to Gilbert his son and Joan his wife,
and which should now descend to the
plaintiff as son and heir. Cecily claimed
the manor of Hindley and all its demesne
lands for life by a charter from her late
husband and a quitclaim from his son,
plaintiff's father; dated 1354; De Banco
R. 418, m. 227.
John Culcheth, who died at the begin-
ning of the reign of Charles I, held ' the
manor of Hindley ' ; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. xxix, no. 67. For a decree as to
Strangeways Hall at this time see Lanes,
and Cbes. Recs. ii, 244.
81 A number of suits are on record
brought in 1292 by John Nightegale and
Alice his wife against Hugh de Hindley,
Adam son of Hugh de Hindley, Robert
son of Adam de Hindley, and others.
Alice was the widow of Adam de le
Woodhouses. John had a son Henry.
The surname is spelt in many ways —
Nutegal, Nithingale, Nichtegale, Nithe-
gale, and Nightingale ; Assize R. 408,
m. 12, 7 d. 59 d. 58 d. 57.
In 1330 Robert del Coran and Eva his
wife, Jordan de Rixton and Agnes his
wife, and Amota daughter of Robert de
Ashton, claimed land in Hindley from
William the Fisher by inheritance. It
appeared that Roger son of Whinilda
married Leukia daughter of Richard the
Boor, seised in the time of Edward I,
and left a daughter Agnes as heir ; Agnes
had three daughters — Eva and Agnes
plaintiffs, and Emma, formerly wife of
Robert de Ashton, represented by her
daughter Amota ; De Banco R. 275, m.
7 ; 278, m. 31 d. ; 281, m. 78 d.
82 Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. ii, 144.
Alice daughter of Robert Dicconson of
Hindley married Hugh the Barker in
1401 ; her property descended, in the reign
of Henry VIII, to William Barker, who
was succeeded by five daughters, Agnes,
Margery, Ellen, Cecily, and Elizabeth,
married respectively to John Hulme,
James Harrison, Richard Astley, Henry
Waterworth, and William Ainsworth.
88 In Towneley MS. OO, are preserved
a number of deeds regarding the lands of
Adam the Harper of Hindley and his
descendants. Adam's son William acquired
lands about 1299, an<^ was living in 1331 ;
nos. 1465, 1470, 1449. His son John
made a feoffment in 1334 ; no. 1466; and
his sons John and Thomas sold their
lands in 136410 Adam son of Richard
son of John de Hindley ; no. 1443,
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Philip Langton of Lowe, Robert Pinnington, and
Peter Harrison of Hindley, occur among the free-
holders of 1600.** In 1628 Abraham Langton and
Christopher Stananought were the freeholders contri-
buting to the subsidy.84 Nicholas Ranicars of Hindley
had his estate sequestered by the Parliament in 1650
* for delinquency in the late wars,' and was allowed to
compound.36 A family named Marsh resided here.*7
A decree concerning the boundaries between
Hindley and Ince, and the division of the wastes, was
made in the time of Charles I.88
Before the Reformation there was a chapel at Lowe
in Hindley ; but the Langtons probably claimed it as
private property, and then allowed it to decay ,39
The next church in Hindley was erected in 1641
on land given by George Green,40 subscriptions
being collected for the building from the inhabitants.
It was built with the approbation of the rector of
Wigan, then Bishop Bridgeman ; there was a chancel
at the east end, and the Established services were
adhered to, one of the Wigan curates officiating.41
The place was, as early as 1643, regarded as Puritan,41*
and its first regular minister, Thomas Tonge, con-
formed readily to the Presbyterian discipline estab-
lished a few years later.41 He was succeeded by
William Williamson,48 and he by James Bradshaw,
ejected in 1662 for nonconformity.44 The chapel
seems to have remained unused for six years, and
then a succession of curates followed ; some of the
feoffees were Nonconformists or sympathizers, and
thus conforming ministers had probably an uneasy
time.45 In 1690 a determined attempt was made to
secure the chapel for the Dissenters, their worship
now being tolerated, by the appointment of Thomas
Whalley, an open Nonconformist.46 The matter was
finally taken into the Duchy Court ; after a long trial
the chapel was secured for the Establishment and con-
secrated in 1698 on All Saints' Day.47 It was rebuilt
in I766,48 and with some alterations remains in use.
It is now known as All Saints' Church. The church
property is still in the hands of trustees, but the
curates and vicars since 1708 have been appointed by
the rectors of Wigan.49 There is a mission chapel
called St. Augustine's.
St. Peter's, Hindley, was consecrated in 1866, the
patronage being vested in trustees.50 To the recent
churches of St. Nathaniel, Platt Bridge (1905), and
St. John the Evangelist, Hindley Green (1903), the
Bishop of Liverpool collates.51
The Wesleyan Methodists acquired land in 1846,
and built a chapel in 1851. Another chapel was
built in 1869 in Walthew Lane, Platt Bridge." The
United Methodist Free Church have two chapels at
Hindley Green — Brunswick Chapel, built in 1855,
and another in I866.53 The Primitive Methodists
have one at Castle Hill, built in 1856, and another at
1462 ; Trans. Hist. Sac. (new sen), iv,
161 ; the purchaser had a son Richard,
who in 1430 made a settlement of his
lands ; OO, no. 1459. The ancestor of
this branch of the Hindley family was
perhaps the Richard son of Beatrice who
had a grant from Robert Banastre, lord of
Makeriield ; the rent was to be 41. a
year ; no. 1471.
A grant of Burghurst in Hindley by
Hugh de Thursaker is printed in Pal.
Note Bk. iv, 150.
84 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 238, 243, 251.
In the Hindley D. printed in Local
Glean. Lanes, and Ches. ii, 167, are some
referring to the Harrisons of Hindley ;
Peter Harrison, living in 1637 and 1651,
had a son and heir John, who in the
latter year was rector of Ashton under
Lyne, and has found a place in Diet. Nat.
Biog.
Peter Harrison, 'late solicitor to the
County Committee,' had in 1651 joined
the Earl of Derby, but being angry with
him for plundering, recalled his two sons ;
Cal. of Com. for Compounding, iv, 2955.
These sons are called Captain Jeremiah
and Lieutenant Nathaniel Harrison in
1652 ; Cal, of Com. for Advancing Money,
iii, 1445.
Richard Wood of Hindley died 12 Jan.
1612-13 seised of a messuage and lands
in Hindley held of the king, as of his
manor of Enfield by a rent of 31. 4^. ;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 262.
86 Norris D. (B.M.). Christopher Stana-
nought was son and heir of William,
living in 1602 ; Hindley D. no. 10.
86 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, iv,
2519. John Ranicars was not allowed
to compound for a messuage and lands
purchased from Nicholas.
8? Wills of John and James Marsh, of
1670 and 1687 respectively, are printed in
Lanes, and Ches. Hist, and Gen. Notes,
ii, 44, 80. See also Gillow, Bibl. Diet,
of Engl. Cath. iv, 467-70.
88 Lanes, and Cbes. Recs. ii, 278.
89 It is mentioned in one of the
Culcheth deeds dated 1517 ; as an an-
nuity was to be paid there it must have
been open to the people of the district ;
Lanes, and Ches. Hist, and Gen. Notes,
', ij.
40 This account is derived from Canon
Bridgeman's Wigan, 757-80, in which are
reprinted a number of the Hindley D.
from Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. ; John
Leyland, Mem. of Hindley, 1873 ; the
Kenyon MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv,
App. iv) ; Lanes, and Cbes. Hist, and
Gen. Notes, i, 12, &c. In Leyland's
book are given extracts from the wardens'
accounts and many personal reminiscences.
In the Liverpool Dioc. Gay,, for Oct. 1905
will be found a further account, the
object being to show that this was not a
Puritan effort ; special stress is laid upon
the almost perfect orientation.
A contributor was Chisenhall Bret-
targh, who died before 1652. In October
that year a settlement was made of
disputes between Alice Brettargh the
widow and Edward son of Edward Chisen-
hall, the former surrendering the lease of
her house on receiving ,£260. Chisenhall
Brettargh was a captain at the defence of
Lathom House, and otherwise took part
in the wars on behalf of Charles I ; he was
buried at Wigan 12 Dec. 1645, being
described as ' Captain Chisnall Bretter de
Hindley'; he left children: — Edward,
Jonathan (died in 1664), Frances, and
Elizabeth. From j. P. Earwaker's MSS.
41 Leyland, Hindley, 21, from the
petition for consecration in 1698. The
statement that the ' prayers of the
Church' had been duly said from 1641 to
1669 requires to be corrected by the re-
membrance that at least the period 1645
to 1668 was an exception. Part of the
endowment was given in 1655 by John
Ranicars.
41a For the Cavaliers' behaviour in
Hindley (Henden) Chapel see Ormerod,
Civil War Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 63.
IIO
4a Thomas Tonge was in 1646 a mem-
ber of the fourth Presbyterian Classis ;
Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1870), i, 227.
48 William Williamson was minister in
1650, 'an able, godly, and painful
minister," the Parliamentary Commis-
sioners described him, 'of good life and
conversation ' ; Commonto. Cb. Surv.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 61. He
died 9 Feb. 1656-7 ; Plund. Mins. Accts.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 181.
44 Bridgeman, op. cit. 758-60 ; he
afterwards ministered at Rainford Chapel.
Another James Bradshaw had been acting
rector of Wigan, 1643-53.
45 Ibid. 779, 762.
46 Bridgeman, op. cit. 763, 765-7.
John Green in 1690 tendered a certifi-
cate to the justices at Lancaster, so that
the chapel might be recorded as ' a place
appointed to dissenting Protestants for
their religious worship ' ; but the court,
on the opposition of the Bishop of
Chester, refused ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep.
xiv, App. iv, 245, 246 ; see also 270,
where the quarrels of the Dissenters are
noticed ; and 415.
4? Bridgeman, op. cit. 769-72. In this
document it is not called All Saints'
Church.
48 A brief was issued in 1763 on behalf
of the rebuilding.
49 Bridgeman, op. cit. 602-5. See
Lend. Gax. 2 July 1878 for the formation
of the present chapelry.
John Croudson, incumbent from 1789-
1811, was also head master of Wigan
Grammar School ; he visited the village
one day in each week ; Leyland, op. cit.
29.
80 Land. Gaa. 14 May 1867, 26 Mar.
1875, &c. See Bridgeman, op. cit. 780 ;
Leyland, Hindley, 57, 58.
61 Leyland, op. cit. 75-7 ; Nightingale,
Lanes. Nonconf. iv, 13.
52 Leyland, op. cit. 78, 79 ; Nightingale,
op. cit. iv, 21. The chapel was practically
unused from 1862-82.
58 Leyland, op. cit. 79.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
Platt Bridge, built in I854.54 The Independent
Methodists have one at Lowe Green, built in 1867."
The Particular Baptists built Ebenezer Chapel in
Mill Lane in i854.56
The Congregationalists made a first effort in 1 794,
but no church was formed until 1812 ; St. Paul's
Chapel was built in 1815, meetings for worship having
been held some years earlier in cottages. Certain
differences between the minister, the Rev. William
Turner, and the majority of the congregation caused
him to resign in 1830; his friends opened a tem-
porary building in the Bridge Croft, and built a
church in 1838, where he officiated till l86z.57
The ejected Presbyterians of 1698 built another
place of worship for themselves ; it has been continu-
ously used, the present congregation being Unitarian
in doctrine.58
Nothing is known of the permanence of the ancient
religion during the I7th century, but mass was prob-
ably said at Lowe Hall as opportunity was afforded.
Dom John Placid Acton, a Benedictine, was stationed
at this place in 1699, and died there in 1727 ;
succeeding priests, who till 1758 resided chiefly at
Park Hall in Charnock Richard, or at Standish Hall,
moved the chapel to Strangeways and then to
Hindley village; this change was made in 1789.
From 1758 there has been a resident Benedictine
priest in charge ; and the present church of St.
Benedict in Market Street was built in
ABRAM
Edburgham, 1212; Adburgham, 1 246, and com-
mon ; Abraham, xvi cent. ; Abram, xviii cent. Pro-
nounced Abbram.
Abram is situated in the centre of a coal-mining dis-
trict ; the surface of the country is flat except in the
south, where it is very slightly undulating. The sur-
roundings are characteristic of a coal-producing district,
distinctly unpicturesque, dingy grass-fields alternating
with collieries, pit-banks, and railway lines. Some
fields are arable and produce crops of wheat and oats.
There is much pasture land. Trees are in the
minority, and stunted and blackened with smoke.
The hawthorn hedges which divide the fields are low
and spare. The soil is a stiff clay which holds a
quantity of water on its surface, for besides occasional
* flashes ' caused by mining, the fields appear to be
slightly flooded at most seasons of the year. It is a
district of sett-laid roads and cinder-paths. In the
northern part of the township the geological forma-
WIGAN
tion consists of the Coal Measures. At some distance
from the southern boundary this formation dips under
the New Red Sandstone and the intervening Per-
mian Beds.
The area is 1,982 acres,1 and in 1901 the popula-
tion numbered 6,306. Part of the western and nearly
all of the southern boundary is formed by a brook
running through Hindley, and called successively Eye
Brook and Glazebrook ; by it Bamfurlong,3 in the
extreme west, is cut off from the main portion of the
township.
Abram village lies in the north-western corner,
where the road from Wigan to Warrington by Gol-
borne crosses the township, meeting at the village
other roads from Ashton on the south-west, and from
Leigh on the east. Bickershaw 3 lies by the last-
named road, near the eastern boundary. Plank Lane
is a hamlet in the south-eastern corner, situate on the
road from Leigh to Newton. Dover is a hamlet on
the south-west border.
The London and North Western Company's railway
from Warrington to Wigan crosses the western
corner of the township, with a station called Bamfur-
long ; a branch of its Wigan and Manchester line
has a station at Plank Lane ; the Great Central Com-
pany's Manchester and Wigan line passes north
through the middle of the township, with two stations
called Westleigh and Bedford, and Bickershaw and
Abram. The Leigh branch of the Leeds and Liver-
pool Canal passes through near the southern border.
Coal-mining began about sixty years since.
A local board was formed in 1880. The township
is now governed by an urban district council of twelve
members, elected by four wards.
Before the Conquest, as after, ABRAM
MANOR appears to have been a member of the
manor and fee of Newton.4 Henry II
gave it to Warine son of Godfrey, and his descendants,
assuming the local name, held it to the I7th century.
This Warine confirmed a grant by his nephew, William
de Occleshaw, to Cockersand Abbey, for the souls of
King Henry and others.5 His son Richard was a
benefactor to the same house, granting Bernegrenes,
on the south of Walter's Pool, with other lands and
liberties.6 Richard de Abram was in possession in
1 21 2, holding the manor as 4 oxgangs by a rent of
\s. ; a third part had been given in alms.7 John son
of Richard confirmed the previous grants to Cocker-
sand and added a ridding by Glazebrook.8 Warine
Banastre granted an oxgang of his demesne to the
same canons,9 and Robert son of Robert Banastre
gave a general confirmation about I25O.10
54 Leyland, op. cit. 79.
55 Ibid. 79.
56 Ibid. 78.
*7 Ibid. 75-7; Nightingale, op. cit. iv,i3.
58 Leyland, Hindley, 64-75. The chapel
was built in 1700 by Richard Crook of
Abram and conveyed to trustees in 1717,
James Green of Abram being one. Owing,
it is said, to an attempt by William Daven-
port, minister in 1777, to carry the endow-
ment to the Presbyterian chapel at Wigan,
he became unpopular, was assaulted and
finally resigned. He is said to have been
Arian in doctrine. Unitarianism pre-
vailed here by the end of the i8th century,
but from the account of a disturbance in
the chapel in 1833 it would seem that
some Trinitarians then remained in the
congregation. Particulars of the endow-
ment, now considerable, on account of coal
mining on the land, are given in the
Report of the End. Char, of Wigan, 1899,
pp. 90-7.
59 Mr. Gillow in Trans. Hist. Sac. (new
ser.), xiii, 153, 154, where it is stated
that Bishop Matthew Gibson confirmed
fifty-nine at Strangeways in 1784 ; there
were 259 communicants ; Liverpool Cath.
Ann. 1901. See further in Leyland,
Hindley, 62, 63, for reminiscences of Dom
Anselm Appleton, 1808-36.
1 1,984, including 26 of inland water;
Census of 1901.
2 Banforthlang, 1448.
8 Bykershagh, 1365.
4 V.C.H. Lanes, i, 286.
6 Cockersand Chart. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 661.
' Ibid. 663. The first of his charters
III
names ' the deep lache which was the
boundary between Abram and Occleshaw.'
' Lanes, Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 77. How King Henry
came to have Abram in his hands is un-
known. The third part in alms probably
refers to the Occleshaw and other gifts
recorded in the text.
8 Cockertand Chart, ii, 664. In 1246
John de Abram quitclaimed his right in
200 acres of land to Peter de Burnhull ;
Final Cone. (Rec.Soc. Lancs.and Ches.),i, 98.
9 Cockersand Chart, ii, 660.
10 Ibid, ii, 643. The following were
the abbey tenants in 1501 : John Ashton,
I2</. ; William Culcheth, I2</. ; Richard
Atherton and Robert Bolton, in Bicker-
shaw, each 6d. j Cockersand Rental (Chet.
Soc.), 4.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The family pedigree cannot
be traced satisfactorily.11 A
Gilbert Abram died about 1470
leaving two daughters as heirs ;
Constance married Henry By-
rom and Isabel married James
Holt ; " and the later holdings
of these families probably re-
present the inheritance of the
daughters." The manor, how- ABRAM. Azurtawn
ever, continued in the male »» tplendour or,
line 13a to Thomas Abram, who
died in 1606, also leaving two daughters to divide the
property.14 The elder, Susan, married Henry Lance,
of a Cornish family,15 and the manor was assigned to
her ; the younger daughter, Mary, married Philip
Langton of the Lowe in Hindley.16 All adhered to
the ancient religion, and suffered accordingly under
the persecuting laws in force.17 In 1652, however,
Abraham Lance, the son and heir of Henry and Susan,
being ' conformable,' petitioned for the removal of the
sequestration of his mother's lands, and on condition
that he abjured his religion they were allowed to
him.18 It does not appear whether he actually re-
gained possession or not, but the ruin of the family,
several members of which fell in the Civil War fighting
as Royalists, could not be averted.19
Shortly afterwards William Gerard and Anne his
11 Adam de Abram occurs in 1246;
Assize R. 404, m. 13 d. In 1270-1
Robert de Abram and Robert and Adam
his sons were defendants ; Curia Regis R.
20 1, m. ijd. From one of these may
descend the John son of Richard son of
Robert de Abram mentioned in 1 342 ;
Towneley MS. GG, no. 2670.
Richard de Abram, probably the head of
the family, was a juror in 1288 ; Inq. and
Extents, i, 273. Johnson of Richa d de
Abram was a defendant in 1301 ; Simon
de Holland was plaintiff; Assize R. 419,
m. 4d. ; 418, m. 2. John de Abram
seems to have died soon after his father,
for in 1 305 the defendants in a case con-
cerning land were Richard son of John de
Adburgham, Agnes widow of John, Maud
widow of Richard (probably the grand-
father), Henry de Huyton, William and
Roger de Bradshagh, Simon de Holland,
John Gillibrand, and William son of
Roger de Ashton ; the plaintiff was
Richard son of Adam del Lache. This
list probably includes all or most of the
freeholders ; Assize R. 420, m. 8. Many
years later, in 1324-5, Richard del Lache
claimed common of pasture from Richard
de Abram ; Assize R. 426, m. 9. In
1 3 24 an agreement was made between
Adam de Kenyon and Richard de Abram
that the latter should marry Adam's
daughter Godith, her portion being ,£40 ;
Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 159-9$.
William de Abram was a juror in 1387 ;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 25. Soon
afterwards there are several references to
Gilbert de Abram, who was a juror in
1416 ; ibid, i, 116. In 1419 a proclama-
tion was issued forbidding armed men to
go about to the peril of the king's peace,
with special reference to Gilbert de Abram
and his sons John and William, who had
entered the lands of Richard del Lache at
Abram ; Def>. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App. 17.
John de Abram, probably the son of
Gilbert just mentioned, appears to have
died about the beginning of 1446, when
the writ Diem clausit extremum was issued ;
Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxix, App. 533.
William de Abram, gentleman, and Joan
daughter of John de Abram, occur in suits
of 1445 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 8,
m. I, 6.
12 In the time of Edward IV there was
made a settlement of his estate, or part of
it, in favour of his two daughters ; Towne-
ley MS. CC, no. 651. It is described as
seven messuages, 124 acres of land, &c.
John Abram was the deforciant. Possibly
he was the heir male ; in which case Gil-
bert must have been dead at that time.
In the Visitations the father's name is
given as John.
About 1500 James Holt with Isabel his
wife and Constance Byrom a widow, as
cousins and heirs of Hugh Boydell and
daughters and heirs of Gilbert Abram
claimed a right of toll from all who crossed
the Mersey between Runcorn and Thel-
wall ; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 39-41. In Ormerod's Ches. (ed.
Helsby), i, 596, it is stated that Isabel,
one of the sisters and co-heirs of Robert
Boydell, was married to John Abram as
early as 1405 ; Gilbert was the son and
heir ; a few years later she was the wife
of Nicholas Langton. The other sister,
Margaret, married Hugh Reddish. See
also op. cit. ii, 723.
18 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, no. 46 ;
Thomas Holt of Grislehurst. In the in-
quisition taken after the death of Henry
Byrom in 1613, it was found that he had
held lands in Abram, &c., of the lord of
Newton, but the service was not known ;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 273 ; ii, 12.
X8a Thomas Abram seems to have been
lord about 1500 and John Abram in 1528 5
Duchy Plead, i, 162, 163. In 1540 Thomas
Abram was defendant in a claim to mes-
suages, &c., in Abram put forward by Gil-
bert Hindley and Elizabeth his wife ;
Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), i, 163.
14 In 1 567 Thomas Abraham, the last of
the family, was deforciant of the manor of
Abram, and lands in the township ; Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 29, m. 68 ; and
again, in conjunction with Mary his wife,
in 1600; ibid. bdle. 62, m. 275. The
remainders in the former settlement are
thus stated : To Peter brother of Thomas,
Sir Thomas Gerard, Thomas and George,
sons of the late Richard Abraham of
Westleigh ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 223,
m. 1 8. Thomas Abraham, in October
1606, was buried at Wigan, as 'father-in-
law to Mr. Henry Lance of Abram ' ;
Wigan Reg. He was on the recusant list
of 1599-1600; Gillow, Bill. Diet, of
Engl. Catb. iv, 112.
15 Visit, of Corn-w. (Harl. Soc.), 124.
The story of the marriage is curious.
'Abram of Abram, a gentleman of £100
land in Lancashire, put his daughter
and heir unto my lady Gerard of the
Brynn. Sir Thomas and my lady being
here in London, one Dwelles, a fencer
near Cecil house, and his wife, by indirect
means — being of kin to the girl — did in-
vite all my lady's children and gentle-
women unto a breakfast. They came
thither, and at their coming the youths
and serving men were carried up to the
fence school. My lady's daughters and
gentlewomen must needs play at the cards,
will they nill they. The girl Abram, by
the wife of the house, was conveyed into
a chamber and shut the door after her and
there left her. The girl found in the
chamber four or five tall men. She knew
112
them not. And immediately the girl fell
into a great fear, seeing them to compass
her about. Then began an " old priest "
to read upon a book. His words she
understood not, saving these words: "I
Henry take thee Susan to my wedded
wife," etc. This done they charged the
wench never to discover this to anybody
living ; and so sent her down to her
fellows. And dinner being done the
wench told to her fellows very lamentably
what had been done ; and they over to
Sir Thomas and my lady.' The date of
this deposition is 1583. Quoted in Ley-
land's .Abram from Ellis's Original Letters
(Ser. i), ii, 292.
16 By an indenture of 10 Dec. 1598
the estate was secured to Mary wife of
Thomas Abram for life, with reversion
to Henry Lance and Susan his wife, eldest
daughter of Thomas Abram, and their
heirs ; in default, to Philip Langton and
Mary his wife, younger daughterof Thomas
Abram ; Leyland, op. cit. 1 1. Mary
Abram gave £90 to the school at Hindley.
17 An informer gave evidence that Abra-
ham Lance and Abraham Langton — so
named from their mother's family — were
' present at a meeting of some of the
leading Catholics of the county, held at
the house of Widow Knowles in Ashton
the day before Newton Fair, 30 July 1623,
at which Sir Thomas Gerard is asserted to
have made a treasonable speech. In 1626
Abraham Lance, of Abram, gent, and
Emma his wife are found in the recusant
rolls' ; Gillow, op. cit. iv, 112.
In 1628 Henry Lance the father, as a
convicted recusant, paid double to the
subsidy ; Norris D. (B.M.). He was
buried at Wigan, 7 Jan. 1629-30.
18 Cal. Com. for Compounding, iv, 2967 ;
Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), iv, 55. No reason is assigned
except the recusancy of the petitioner's
mother, who was buried at Wigan 9 Sept.
1648, as 'Old Mrs. Susan Lance of Dai-
ton.' Emma wife of Abraham Lance
was buried at the same place 17 Mar.
1651-2.
19 Abraham Lance certainly had issue,
for a son Henry was baptized at Wigan
in 1619, and another was buried in
1620; Wigan Reg. Hence the Cap-
tains Abraham and Robert Lance stated
by Lord Castlemain to have been slain at
Rowton Heath may have been his sons ;
John Lance was another of the family,
killed at Islip ; Gillow, loc. cit. A Cap-
tain Lance was taken prisoner 6 Mar.
1 643-4 ; Civil War Mem. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.) 125. Abraham mar-
ried again, Elizabeth daughter of Richard
Mascy of Rixton, and afterwards wife of
George Mascy, being his second wife ;
Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 194.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
wife were in possession,*0 and sold the manor to
Richard Hilton/1 with whose daughter Abigail it
descended to her children by her husband Thomas
Crook.22
The new owner it appears was a zealous Protestant,
and his son Richard Crook was the builder of the Non-
conformist chapel at Hindley, after the existing one
had been recovered by the Bishop of Chester.23
Richard died without issue in November 1 727, and the
inheritance, which, besides Abram, included lands in
Walton le Dale and elsewhere in the county,24 passed
to his five sisters as co-heirs.25 The manor of Abram
seems to have been the portion of the second sister,
Anne, who married John Darbyshire of Warrington,
and her only child, Abigail, married Thomas Clay-
ton, M.D., of Little Harwood.16 Their grandson,
Thomas Clayton, in 1785 sold the manor to Peter
Arrowsmith of Astley, who in 1828 sold it to John
Whitley, and his son Henry Jackson Whitley, of Big-
gleswade, succeeded.27 His son, Mr. John Henry
Arthur Whitley, of Bourton, Salop, is the present
owner ; but no manorial rights are claimed.28
The portion called OCCLESHAW, as has been seen,
was granted to Cockersand Abbey,29 and was occupied
by the Urmston family ; 30 after the Dissolution it
came into the possession of the Earl of Derby.31 The
Occleshaw family long continued to hold an estate in
the township ; 32 this eventually passed into the hands
of Abigail Crook, and became part of her Abram es-
tate.33
BAMFURLONG was the possession of the Ashton
family for a long period34 ; it then passed to a junior
90 In 1649 Abraham Lance appointed
William Gerard of Garswood, son and heir
apparent of Sir William Gerard of Brynn,
receiver for behoof of Abraham Lance and
his wife and their heirs, with remainder
to the use of the said William Gerard ; a
bond, signed by William Gerard in 1667,
mentions that Abraham Lance had died
about seven years before without male
issue. See J. Leyland's Abram, 12, for
fuller abstracts of these and other deeds.
Fines relating to the above are Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdles. 146, m. in ; 180,
m. 17.
21 On 1 6 Sept. 1667 the estate was
conveyed to Richard Hilton of West-
leigh, yeoman, for £1,505 ; it included
two pews in Wigan Church ; also the fol-
lowing fee-farm rents : ' William Leyland,
51. ; John Anderton, p. 4^. ; late Fran-
ces Dukinfield, I \d. ; Richard Occleshaw,
I3</. ; James Wreast, 3*. 5</.; Thomas Hol-
land, is. 6d. ; Roger Culcheth, zd. ; John
Lithgoe, id.;' see Leyland, op. cit. 12,
13. Richard Hilton died at the beginning
of 1690.
22 Ibid. 14. Thomas Crook is described
as of Hoole, Lancashire. He was the
founder of numerous charities, and left
money ' to the preaching Protestant min-
ister of Hindley chapel.' He expressed a
desire to be buried with his mother (Mar-
garet Green) and brother in Standish par-
ish church ; Leyland, op. cit. 14, 1 18-21 ;
also Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. i, 147.
An accusation of coin clipping, probably
false, was made against William Crook and
Thomas his brother in 1684 ; Hist. MSS.
Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 173, 175.
23 Leyland, Hindley, 65.
34 The will of Thomas Crook already
quoted mentions estates at Bretherton,
Much Hoole, Mawdesley, Walton le Dale,
Billinge, Euxton, Ulnes Walton, Leyland,
Farington, Alston, and Whittingham.
Richard had an elder brother Caleb, who
also died without issue.
Abigail Crook, the widow, died about
1705 ; an abstract of her will is printed in
Local Glean, ii, 231, in which volume is
much information as to the Crook family.
Several documents about their properties
are in the possession of W. Farrer.
25 Ibid, ii, 231, 237. The eldest sister,
Lydia, married Thomas Yates of Whit-
church ; the second, Anne, married John
Darbyshire of Warrington ; the third,
Abigail, married in 1707 John Andrews
of Bolton le Moors ; the fourth, Margaret,
married (i) John Percival of Liverpool
and Allerton, and (2) Thomas Summers
of Liverpool ; the fifth, Isabel, married (i)
— Danvers, and (2) Rev. Thomas Heysof
Rainhill.
36 In 1734 all the heirs joined in a
lease of the manor of Abram, viz. — Tho-
mas Yates and Lydia his wife, Thomas
Clayton and Abigail his wife, John An-
drews and Abigail his wife, Thomas Sum-
mers and Margaret his wife, Thomas
Heys and Isabel his wife. There is an
account of the Clayton family in Abram's
Blackburn, 556-61.
a' Leyland, Abram, 15, 1 6.
28 Information of Mr. Whitley and
Mr. William Valiant of Newton.
39 ' The whole land of Occleshaw ' was
granted by William de Occleshaw to the
canons of Cockersand about the end of
the 1 2th century. The bounds are thus
given : 'From where Deep lache runs
down from Bageley head, by the lache to
Glazebrook, up this brook and Occleshaw
brook, to Rushy lache and so to Bicker-
shaw, then up the lache to the Slavi-lache,
by this to within Bageley wood Eves, and
so to Deep lache ;' Cockersand Chart, ii,
660, 664. William de Occleshaw is
called William Gillibrand in the confirm-
ing charter ; and John Gillibrand had the
land as the canons' tenant in 1268 at a
rent of izd. ; ibid. 643, 66 1. Other Oc-
cleshaws occur in Hindley and Aspull.
The spelling of the Cbartulary is Aculue-
saue or Aculuesahe ; in 1292, Okeleshawe.
80 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p. m. iii, no. 30 ;
John Urmston of Westleigh, 1507.
81 Lana. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), ii, 433 ; Richard Urmston, 1624.
The rent payable was i zd., as paid by John
Gillibrand.
82 In 1292 William del Platt unsuccess-
fully claimed right of way beyond the
lands of Thomas and Roger de Occleshaw
in Abram ; Assize R. 408, m. 65 d. The
same William demanded lands in Abram
and Ince from William Gillibrand, Mar-
gery his wife, and others in 1305 ; it was
agreed that he should receive a rent of $d.
for them ; Assize R. 420, m. 3 d. A fine
between Beatrice daughter of Thomas
de Occleshaw and her father in 1303 set-
tled a messuage and lands upon her ; Final
Cone, i, 200. Richard Gillibrand and
Cicely his wife ; Roger Gillibrand ; and
Margery and Lucy, daughters of Adam
son of William Gillibrand, occur in vari-
ous suits of 1365 ; De Banco R. 419, m.
192, io8d. ; 420, m. 17.
John Occleshaw of Abram, gentleman,
was a trustee in 1531 ; Add. MS. 32105,
no. 912. Thomas Occleshaw in 1568
held four messuages, &c. in Abram ; Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 30, m. HI. In
1600 John Occleshaw was a freeholder
and Henry Occleshaw in 1628 ; Misc.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 240 ;
Norris D. (B.M.).
88 A mortgage by Richard Occleshaw
and Thomas his son in 1698 seems to
have prepared the way to a sale, the re-
lease being granted 3 Apr. 1700 ; the
purchase money was £590. In 1713-14
an indenture was made between Thomas
Occleshaw and Elizabeth his wife, and
Thomas son of Thomas and the repre-
sentative of Abigail Crook. From ab-
stract of title in possession of W. Farrer.
84 It is possible that this was the oxgang
of land held by Alan de Burton in 1212,
rendering yearly i zd. in fee-farm ; Lanes.
Inq. and Extents, i, 77.
William son of John de Ashton was a
defendant in 1305 ; Assize R. 420, m. 8.
Amota daughter of Robert de Ashton
by his wife Emma was with Robert del
Coran and Eva his wife and Jordan de
Rixton and Agnes his wife a plaintiff in
1329 respectingjlands in Abram; De Banco
R. 278, m. 31 d. ; 281, m. 76. Another
suit of the series is recorded under Hind-
ley ; the defendant in the Abram cases is
called William de Ashton instead of
William the Fisher. William de Ashton
contributed to the subsidy of 1332 ; Exch.
Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 13.
Richard de Ashton of Abram attested a
Newton charter in 1373 ; Raines MSS.
(Chet. Lib.), xxxviii, 146. Richard de
Ashton of Abram in 1388 granted to his
son Roger and another lands in Sankey
and Penketh acquired from Margaret
widow of Simon de Langtree ; ibid. 87.
The name occurs in 1445 in a complaint
by Katherine the widow and Gilbert the
son of William de Ashton, as executors,
against Richard de Ashton of Abram and
others, respecting the seizure of cows and
other property ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 8,
m. 6. In the following year there were
cross-suits between Katherine the widow
and Oliver, Gilbert, and James the sons
of William de Ashton, and Richard, also
son of William de Ashton of Abram,
Hindley, and Ince ; ibid. R. 9, m. 1 3^, 14,
146. In 1448 William son of Richard
de Ashton of Bamfurlong was charged
with breaking into Sir John de Byron's
close at Atherton ; ibid. R. 12, m. 6.
In 1478 a marriage was agreed upon
between Oliver son and heir of Thurstan
Anderton and Margaret daughter of
John Ashton of Bamfurlong ; Duchy Plead.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 92, 97.
John Ashton, about fourteen years of
age and in ward to Roger Anderton of
Bickershaw, being son and heir of Gilbert
Ashton, in 1552 made complaint that
various servants of Sir Thomas Gerard
had prevented his viewing Bamfurlong
Hall and its lands, Sir Thomas apparently
asserting that a Richard Ashton was the
15
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
branch of the Gerards, described as ' of Brindle ' 3i ; and
probably by sale to the later Gerards of Ince, and has
descended with the Westwood property.86
Nothing definite can be stated about the descent of
BICKERSH4W, formerly called a manor.17 In the 1 6th
century it was owned by the Holcrofts, and sold by
them to Richard Ashton in I599-'8 Ralph Ashton
about thirty years later sold it to Frances widow of
Robert Dukinfield of Dukinfield near Stockport.*9
It descended in this family until 1760, when it was
sold to Richard Clayton of Adlington ; and it was
again sold in 1790 to Edward Ackers of Newton,
surgeon. The trustees of Abraham Ackers, who died
in 1864, are the owners ; it is leased to the Abram
Coal Company.40
A branch of the Culcheths were long seated in
Abram.41 The inquisition taken after the death of
John Culcheth in 1586 shows that he had held lands
in Abram of Thomas Abram by a rent of I d., and in
Hindley of John Culcheth of Culcheth by a rent of 6d.a
A pedigree was recorded in i664,43 but the family
afterwards migrated to War-
wickshire, and in 1750 sold
the property.44
Adam Bolton,44 John Occle-
shaw, John South worth, Roger
Culcheth, Cecily Ashton, and
Nicholas Huyton, were the
landowners contributing to a
subsidy collected about 1556.46
The Corless,47 Lithgoe,48 and
Leyland49 families were long
resident here.
A plot of land in Park Lane,
known as the Morris Dancers'
ground, is popularly supposed to be held by them on
condition that a morris dance be celebrated there
once in twenty years.*0
CULCHETH. Urgent
an eagle sable preying up-
on a child swaddled gules.
true heir; ibid, iii, 124, 125. At the
same time John Ashton and Richard his
son alleged their title to Bamfurlong
against Richard, Cecily, and Anne Ashton,
Roger Anderton, Gilbert Lee, Gilbert
Houghton, and Ralph Anderton ; Ducatus
Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 1 14.
John Ashton of Bamfurlong, senior, and
his son and heir were in 1590 among the
'comers to church but no communicants';
Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 246, quoting S.P.
Dom.Eliz.ccxxxv, 4. Ini 598 as an avowed
recusant he was called upon to pay £10
for ' her Majesty's service in Ireland ' ;
ibid. 262, from S.P. Dom. Eliz. cclxvi, 80.
John Ashton, claiming by inheritance
from Richard Ashton, deceased, demanded
in 1 594 an estate in Bamfurlong, &c., from
Adam Hawarden, Margaret Ashton, and
Lawrence Bispham ; Duchy Plead, iii, 293.
In that year Richard Ashton of Bamfurlong
had died holding nothing, as the inquest
found, and leaving a son Richard who was
but sixteen in 1609 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 130. At
the Visitation in 1613 (Chet. Soc. 17)
Richard was said to be twenty years of
age ; his father Richard was son of John
Ashton of Bamfurlong. John Ashton had
died in 1603, being buried on 30 July at
Wigan ; Reg. Richard Ashton, being a
convicted recusant, paid double to the sub-
sidy in 1628 ; Norris D.(B.M.).
85 This family recorded a pedigree in
1664, in which they are already described
as 'of Bamfurlong'; Dugdale, Visit.
(Chet. Soc.), 1 1 8. It is not clear how
they obtained possession. In 1684 John
Ashton called for an inquiry as to the
title of Henry Gerard, son of Henry
Gerard, a solicitor, deceased, to the
hall of Bamfurlong, a water corn-mill, and
various lands, formerly the property of
Richard Ashton and his daughter Mary,
deceased ; Exch. Depot. (Rec. Soc.), 65.
There is a charge of ' dishonest contri-
vances' against the elder Henry.
86 See Gillow, Bill. Diet, of Engl. Cath.
ii, 43 1 ; Leyland, Abram, 1 8, 19. From
the latter it seems that Henry Gerard the
son in 1681 married Cecily West, who
in 1717 (now Cecily Howett) as ' a papist '
registered an annuity of £80 derived from
her first husband ; Engl. Catb. Nonjurors,
128. Henry's brother Ralph, a priest,
served the domestic chapel at Bamfurlong.
87 Sir Thomas Holcroft held Bickershaw
manor of James Browne by a rent of 6J.
in 1558 ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. x, no.
13. There was a large amount of dis-
puting about it at the time, as will be
seen by a reference to the Ducatus Lane.
(Rec. Com.), i, 145, 150; ii, 56, 194.
Hugh Bradshaw and Constance his wife
were in possession in 1535, but Thomas
Holcroft's title was allowed.
88 William Holcroft and Elizabeth his
wife were vendors ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 61, m. 139.
89 It was purchased from Edward Bolton
in 1671, according to the statement in
Leyland's A bram, 20 ; but was acquired by
Frances Dukinfield in 1633 or 1634 from
Ralph Ashton and Katherine his wife ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 124, m. 18.
The later succession is described in
Leyland, 21-8. See also Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 362, m. 129.
40 Leyland, op. cit. 23, 24 ; and infor-
mation of the secretary to the company.
Nothing of the old house remains.
41 Some deeds concerning the family have
been preserved by Towneley, Add. MS.
32105, no. 906-23. The other informa-
tion is given in the Culcheth papers publish-
ed in Lanes, and Ches. Hist, and Gen. Notes.
In 1392 John son of Thomas de Cul-
cheth had lands in Abram and Hindley ;
his son Roger had married Ellen daughter
of Henry son of Robert de Blackrod ; Add.
MS. 32105, no. 915.
William Culshaw in 1531 arranged for
the marriage of Roger, his son and heir,
with Janet daughter of John Richardson ;
his own wife was named Margery ; ibid.
no. 911, 912,919. The lands in Hindley
were called Occleshull and Taleor, and in
Abram, Longfield.
42 Ibid. no. 909. The holding in Abram
was two messuages, two tofts, two gardens,
two orchards, 40 acres of land, 20 acres
of meadow, and 20 acres of pasture.
Roger Culcheth was his son and heir, and
six years of age.
48 Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 92.
Roger Culcheth was still living, aged eighty-
four; his son George recorded the pedigree.
His two eldest sons had been slain at
Newbury, and a younger son in Wirral in
the Civil Wars ; Thomas, the third son,
aged forty-four, was the heir.
44 See Lanes, and Ches. Hist, and Gen.
Notes, ii, 228, for a continuation of the
pedigree by Mr. J. P. Rylands. Roger
Culcheth of Wottenbury in Warwick-
shire, by his will of 1701, left his estate
in the parish of Wigan to his brother
Thomas of Studley in Warwickshire,
tanner; ibid. p. 120. This Thomas left
a son William, who seems to have been the
114
last of the family connected with Abram;
ibid, i, 275, 276. See also Payne's Engl.
Cath. Rec. 26. Part of their land is now
the property of the trustees of Abigail
Crook's charities.
Roger Culcheth of Abram, as a ' papist,'
registered his estate in 1717, the value
was £64 151. 4</. ; Engl. Cath. Nonjurors,
124. The name of the family had
constantly appeared on the Recusant Rolls ;
Gillow's Bibl. Diet. Engl. Cath. i, 608.
45 Adam, son and heir-apparent of
Robert Bolton, was a surety for William
Culcheth in 1531 ; Add. MS. 32105, no.
912. The father and son were engaged
in numerous disputes as to their property,
called Blackfields, Mossheys, Lower House,
New Earth, etc. ; see Ducatus Lane. (Rec.
Com.), i, 1 66, &c. It appears that Robert
Bolton died in 1552 or 1553 ; his wife's
name was Elizabeth Holden. Another
Robert Bolton is mentioned in 1583 (ibid,
iii, 149), and the inquisition after the
death of Edward Bolton in 158713 in Duchy
of Lane. Inq. p.m. xv, no. 48. The tenure
is not recorded ; Edward's heir was his son
William, twenty-three years of age.
William Bolton was a freeholder in
1600 and Edward Bolton in 1628 ; Misc.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 239 ;
Norris D. (B.M). This is perhaps the
Edward Bolton who sold Bickershaw Hall
in 1671. Deeds relating to Bolton House
in Abram and other properties of the family
are printed in Lanes, and Ches. Hist, and
Gen. Notes, ii, 39, 47.
46 Mascy of Rixton D.
47 Richard Corless as a landowner con-
tributed to the subsidy of 1628 ; Norris D.
(B.M.).
48 Nicholas Huyton of Blackrod in 1528
held lands in Abram of the heirs of John
Abram by a rent of 51. ; Duchy of Lane.
Inq. p.m. vi, no. 53. In 1628 John Lith-
goe contributed to the subsidy 'for Huy-
ton's lands ' ; Norris D. (B.M.).
49 William Leyland was a trustee in
1626 ; Add. MS. 32105, no. 906. Their
connexion with the township ceased about
1 780; but John Leyland of Cheetham
House (afterwards called the Grange) in
Hindley represented them down to his
death in 1883 ; his accounts of Hindley
and Abram, published in 1873 and 1881,.
have been used in these notes. A grant
of arms was made to him in 1863 ; Lanes,
and Cbes. Hist, and Gen. Notes, iii, 34.
50 Leyland, op. cit. 1 14 ; the custom
was observed in 1880. Mr. William Vali-
ant informs us that this is still kept up.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
The church of St. John was erected in 1838 for the
accommodation of members of the Established Church.41
The rector of Wigan is patron of this, but trustees
present to the new church of St. James and St. Eliza-
beth, Bickershaw
A Congregational chapel was built in 1897.
A school was founded at Lowe in 1632 by Mrs.
Mary Abram.42
HAIGH
Hage, 1193 ; Hagh, 1298, and common, with
Haghe ; Ha, Haw, xvi cent. ; also Haigh.
This township forms the north-eastern corner of
the parish. On the west it is bounded by the Doug-
las, and on the north a small brook running into the
Douglas divides it from Blackrod. The ground rises
towards the east and north, and the village of Haigh,
near the middle of the Aspull boundary and z\ miles
north-east of Wigan, is one of its highest points,
about 5 20 ft. above sea level. The Hall is on the
slope of the hill to the west of the village. The
area is 2,135^ acres.1 The population in 1901 was
1,164.'
Roads lead from the village, north to Blackrod, west to
Standish, and south to Wigan and Aspull. The London
and North Western and Lancashire and Yorkshire Com-
panies' joint railway passes through the township on the
western side, where it is joined by a short connecting
line from the Wigan and Preston Railway ; there is
a station called Red Rock. The Lancaster Canal
also winds through the western part of the township,
near the Douglas.
The woods and grounds of Haigh Hall, occupying
500 acres, clothe the south-western slopes with
pleasant scenery in contrast with the surrounding
collieries of a black country. It is a common sight
to see the gaunt and black coal-shafts rising from
the midst of corn fields and plantations. For Haigh
has its agriculture, as well as mining and manufacturing
industries, wheat, oats, and potatoes being grown in
spite of an exposed situation and smoke from
neighbouring factories &c., the soil being clay upon
a shaley rock. The Hall itself commands a fine
panorama of the district around Wigan. Haigh has
long been celebrated for its cannel coal ; 3 this is
almost exhausted, but coal-mining is the great indus-
try of the place. There are also a brewery, and
dyeing and bleaching works.
The township is governed by a parish council.
William Roby, 1766 to 1830, a Congregational
divine of note, was a native of Haigh.4
The early history of the manor of
MANOR HAIGH cannot be traced. About
1220—1230 it belonged to the Marsey
fee, sold to Ranulf, Earl of Chester.4 A Hugh de
Haigh, most probably Hugh le Norreys, to whom the
adjacent Blackrod was granted, paid 3 marks in
1193—4 for having the king's good will.6 Richard
de Orrell granted to Cockersand Abbey land in
Haigh, adjacent to Hugh's ridding, about I22O;7
and as a century later Sir Robert de Holland held
it of the Earl of Lancaster,8 together with other
manors which had belonged to Richard de Orrell,
it might be supposed that Haigh was part of the
Orrell family's holding.9 In 1282, however, Hugh
son of Alan le Norreys was lord of Haigh.10
In 1298 William son of Richard de Bradshagh
and Mabel his wife were in possession of the manors
of Haigh and Blackrod,11 which were Mabel's right
as heir of the last-named Hugh le Norreys. Her
husband from his name is supposed to have been a
descendant of the Bradshaghs of Bradshaw, near
Turton.
In 1302 William de Bradshagh held the twelfth
part of a knight's fee in Haigh of the Earl of
Lancaster ; " ten years later the title of William and
81 Leyland, Abram, 29-35. The tenures
of the second and third of the incumbents
appear to have been shortened by their
parishioners' objection to what was called
' ritualism.' The district chapelry was
formed in 1843 ; Land. Gats. I Aug. and
3 Oct. 1843.
53 Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 256.
1 2,130 acres, including 68 acres of
inland water ; Census Rep. of 1901.
2 Including Willoughby's.
8 See the account by Roger North in
1676, quoted in Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836),
from the Life of Lord GuildfirJ, iii, 554 j
see also Baines, Lanes. Dir. 1825, ii, 613.
There is a notice of a cannel mine being
on fire in 1737 in Lanes, and Ches. Hist,
and Gen. Notes, iii, 106.
4 Diet. Nat. Biog.
6 Ormerod, Cbes. (ed. Helsby), i, 37,
from the Duchy Coucher. The Marsey
fee is only imperfectly described in the
survey of 1212.
6 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 78 ; after the
rebellion of John, Count of Mortain,
afterwards king. If Hugh le Norreys be
rightly identified with Hugh de Haigh it
may indicate that he had been settled in
Haigh before Blackrod was granted to him;
Lanes. Inq. and Extent* (Rec Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 68, where he is called Hugh
de Blackrod.
7 Cockersand Chart. (Chet. Soc.), ii,
612. The boundaries began at 'the road
to the church,' and went up to the head
of Green syke, and so to Hugh's ridding,
and by the dyke to the starting point.
8 Inq. 1 1 Ed w. II, no. 4, quoted
below. Haigh and Blackrod were both
held of Sir Robert.
After Robert de Holland's forfeiture it
was found that he had held the manor by
a rent of lod. ; Roll of Foreign Rent
of Derbyshire in Duchy of Lane. Ren-
tals, 379. In an account of his lands
made about 1326 it is stated that his
manor of Haigh had been leased to Henry
de Atherton and Adam de Bradshaw for
£20 a year ; Duchy of Lane. Misc.
10/15.
In the Feodary compiled in 1324 it is
stated that Robert de Holland held the
manor of Haigh by the service of io</.
as the fourth part of a knight's fee ; Dods.
MSS. cxxxi, fol. 36^. In all other
inquisitions the twelfth, not the fourth,
part of a fee is recorded. The lod. rent
continued down to the I7th century.
9 See the account of Orrell.
It is more likely that Robert de Hol-
land had had the grant of a mesne manor
from Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and that
it was not restored to him by Edward III.
10 So described he attested a Haydock
charter of Robert de Holland's in that
year ; Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxxviii,
231. From the account of Blackrod it
will be found that the descent was as
follows : — Hugh le Norreys (1191-1221)
— s. Hugh (1233) — bro. Alan — s.
"5
Hugh — dau. Mabel. Hugh son of Alan
had a brother Henry, &c.
Emma la Norreys held messuages and
lands in Haigh in 1290; De Banco R.
86, m. 95.
11 Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 185 ; a surrender to William
de Atherton. It is recorded that Thomas
de Osbaldeston put in his claim. Kuerden
(MSS. ii, fol. 213, no. 5) has preserved a
grant of the manor by William de Ather-
ton to William de Bradshagh, about that
time or earlier.
In 1295 William and Mabel de Brad-
shagh had a contest with Adam de Walton,
rector of Wigan, the latter charging them
with having diverted the water-course
between Haigh and Standish to the injury
of his mills. They replied that they had
only erected a mill by the Douglas, two
leagues from Adam's mill. The jury
found that the new mill had been made
by William's father, Richard de Bradshagh,
while he was guardian of William and
Mabel, and that it had been to the loss
of the rector's mill; Assize R. 1306, m.
19; 1321, m. 7d.
Brief and unsatisfactory abstracts of
some Bradshaw deeds are printed in
Croston's edition of Baines, Lanes, iv,
291, 292. There are others in Kuerden
MSS. loc. cit.
12 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 313; Feud.
Aids,m,%i. The mesne lordship of Robert
de Holland is not recognized here or later.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Mabel was assured by a fine.13 For his share in
Adam Banastre's rebellion in 1315 and the death of
Henry de Bury,14 Sir William de Bradshagh was
outlawed for felony and by 1317 his manors of Haigh
and Blackrod had been taken into the king's hands
and demised to Peter de Limesey, but Mabel de
Haigh intruded herself.15 Sir William was living in
I328,16and appears to have been killed at Winwick
in August i333-ir
Mabel's title to the Norreys lands must have been
recognized, for in 1336 and 1337, when a widow
and childless, she arranged for the succession to the
manors as absolute owner, granting them to her
husband's nephews ; Haigh to William, a son of John
de Bradshagh, and Blackrod to Roger son of Richard,
who was another son.18 In 1338 she founded a
chantry in Wigan Church for her husband's soul and
her own, as also for the soul of Edward II.19 In
1346 Mabel de Bradshagh, heir of Hugh le Norreys,
held the manor of Haigh for the twelfth part of a
knight's fee and by the service of lod. yearly.20 She
was living two years later.*1
Early in 1365 Roger de Bradshagh of Westleigh
demanded the manor of Haigh from William de
Bradshagh and Sir Henry de Trafford, in virtue of
the settlement of 1312." There may have been two
Williams in succession, for William de Bradshagh,
who died in 1380 seised of the manor of Haigh, left
a son and heir Thomas only twelve years of age.23
Thomas de Bradshagh took part in the Percy rising
of 1403 and was present at the battle of Shrewsbury ;
afterwards he received a pardon from Henry IV.24
He was living in 14.2$.™
His son and heir was James Bradshagh,26 who, with
many others, was accused of the death of John
Tailor ; he appears to have been released from
attendance at the trial, but died in the summer of
1442 before it came to an end.27 He had held lands
in Wigan called Rudgatehurst of the rector, and the
manor of Haigh of the king, as Duke of Lancaster, for
the twelfth part of a knight's fee and by the service
of ioJ. yearly. His son and heir was William
Bradshagh, aged twenty-three.28
William Bradshagh was accuser and accused in
various pleas of the next succeeding years." He had
several children, but the manor descended to his son
James,30 who died in May 1491, leaving as heir his
son Roger, then twenty-three years of age and more.
There were also two younger sons, Ralph and William,
and a daughter Constance.31 Roger, who was made
a knight, had no children, and died in December
1537, the heir being his brother Ralph, then about
18 Final Cone, ii, 9. The remainder
was to 'the heirs of William,' which
occasioned a lawsuit later. Also Kuer-
den, loc. cit. no. 3.
14 Coram Rege R. 254, m. 52.
15 Inq. a.q.d. II Edw. II, no. 4. The
inquiry was made at Haigh in June 1318,
when the manors had been in the king's
hands a year and a day. It may be added
that in 1319 Mabel asserted that her
husband was dead ; Assize R. 424, m.
8d.
These facts are utilized in the well-
known legend of Sir William and his
wife ; see Bridgeman, Wigan Ch. 695-9 5
also Harland and Wilkinson, Lanes.
Legends, 45 ; Topog. and Gen. ii, 365—9.
That there is some basis for the legend
may be gathered from entries in the
Close R., Mabel being called wife of Peter
de Limesey in 1318 (unless there is an
error in the record) and ' Mabel de
Haigh' simply in the following year ;
Cat. Close, 1313-18, p. 554; 1318-23,
p. 8.
16 De Banco R. 273, m. 121 d. ; Sir
William de Bradshagh charged Adam de
Hindley and others with having forcibly
carried off his goods at Haigh and Black-
rod.
*' Coram Rege R. 297, Rex, m. 23 d.
18 Final Cone, ii, 101, 107. The
former of these was a grant of the manor
of Haigh to William de Bradshagh for his
life. The latter was a settlement of the
succession after Mabel's death ; to Wil-
liam son of John de Bradshagh, with
remainders to the sons of Richard de
Bradshagh his brother, and a further
remainder to Henry son of Robert le
Norreys. Alan son of Henry de Elton-
head, another Norreys, put in his claim.
Also Kuerden, loc. cit. nos. ii, 13.
As Mabel de Haigh she made a grant
of two plough-lands (probably the manor)
in Worthington in 1318 ; Final Cone, ii,
28.
19 See the account of Wigan Church ;
Kuerden, loc. cit. no. 16-21.
20 Surv. of 1346 (Chet. Soc. 36).
In the same year Dame Mabel accused
William son of John de Bradshagh of
breaking down her close and doing other
damage ; De Banco R. 348, m. 338.
21 The sheriff accounted for lod.
from Mabel de Bradshagh for the manor
of Haigh for ward of Lancaster Castle ;
Duchy of Lane. Var. Accts. 32117, fol.
7b.
22 De Banco R. 419, m. i8od. 5 425,
m. 363 d. ; 429, m. 68. The descent
is clearly stated ; Sir William de Brad-
shagh died without issue, and the claim-
ant, as son of Richard son of John de
Bradshagh, brother of Sir William, was
the heir entitled to the manor. For the
Trafford feoffment see Kuerden, loc. cit.
nos. 35-8.
28 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 9 ;
Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 354.
In the aid collected in 1355 Wil-
liam de Bradshagh contributed for the
twelfth part of a knight's fee formerly
held by Hugh le Norreys ; Feud. Aids,
iii, 91.
In 1397-8 Isabel, widow and executrix
of William de Bradshagh, was called upon
to account for the issues of a house at
Haigh ; L.T.R. Mem. R. 163, m. xiii,
167, m. x.
24 Add. MS. 32108, nos. 1491, 1495,
1507.
25 He was juror from 1397 to 1425 ;
Lanes. Inq. (Chet. Soc.), i, 65 &c. In
1399 his feoffees regranted the manor to
him with remainder to James his son and
heir ; Kuerden, loc. cit. no. 39.
William de Bradshagh seems to have
been in possession of Haigh at the time of
Thomas's outlawry ; Duchy of Lane.
Knts. Fees, 1/20, fol. 8i. Edward was
there in 1429 ; Lanes. Inq, (Chet. Soc.),
i', 35-
26 Croston's Baines, iv, 292 ; his
mother was Margaret, daughter of
Robert de Highfield. It was an earlier
Robert de Highfield who granted lands in
Rudgatehurst to William de Bradshagh
and Mabel his wife ; Kuerden, loc. cit.
no. 10, 12.
97 Lettice, widow of John Tailor,
summoned a large number of people in
116
the neighbourhood to answer for the
death of her husband on 2 Feb. 1440-1.
They included James Bradshagh of Haigh,
Alice his wife, William son of James,
Christopher »on of Thomas Bradshagh,
the wife of Gilbert (another son of
Thomas), Ivo and Richard, sons of
Thomas son of Ivo Bradshagh of Haigh
or Pennington, Richard Houghton of
Aspull, Ralph and John, sons of
John Gidlow of Aspull, Alexander and
Gilbert Nowell of Read, etc. ; Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. 3, m. 15. James Brad-
shagh seems to have taken part in the
assault, but was allowed to go sine die ;
ibid. m. 37. Two years later the trials
concluded ; Christopher Bradshagh was
outlawed for the felony, James had died,
and the rest were all acquitted ; ibid. R.
5, m. i8£ ; 21, 5^.
28 Tovrneley MS. DD, no. 1484. In
1436-7 a dispensation was granted for
the marriage of William Bradshagh and
Agnes daughter of John Gerard of
Ince ; Baines, op. cit. (ed. Croston), iv,
292.
29 Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 5, m. 24,
ordered to keep the peace towards Tho-
mas Cayley ; R. 8, m. 3, and R. 9, m.
loA charged Christopher Bradshagh and
others with waylaying him with intent to
kill, but did not prosecute ; m. 12, 19^,
37, accused of trespass and fined for
defaults ; R. 10, m. 36^, warrant for his
arrest. A pardon was granted in 1457-8 ;
Baines, loc. cit.
80 By fine in August 1477 the manor
of Haigh with its appurtenances, as also
a water-mill and land in Wigan, were
settled on James son and heir of William
Bradshagh of Haigh, whose widow Agnes
was living, with remainders to Roger,
Ralph, and William, sons of James
Bradshagh and Joan his wife, daughter of
Alexander Standish, and heirs male ; Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 9, m. 3. The
covenant of marriage between James and
Joan is dated 1463 ; Baines, loc. cit.
81 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, no.
106 ; James's wife was named Joan, and
Roger's Anne.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
sixty years of age.31 Ralph died early in 1554, his
heir being his brother William's son Roger, aged
about thirty-six.33
Roger Bradshaw of Haigh
died 20 February 1598-9."
To the religious system estab-
lished by Elizabeth he showed
'some degree of conformity,'
but was of 'general note of
evil affection in religion, and
a non-communicant.' 35 In
temporal matters the time was
one of prosperity for the fa-
mily, the cannel-coal of Haigh
being famous already, and
bringing wealth to the lord of the manor.86
His son James having died before him he was
BRADSHAW OF HAIGH.
Argent two bendleti be-
tween three martlets sable.
WIGAN
succeeded by his grandson Roger, twenty-one years
of age in I599-37 He also, after some wavering,
adhered to the ancient religion,38 but died in May
1641, before the outbreak of the Civil War.39 His
grandson and heir Roger, being then only thirteen
years of age, took no part in the war, and the estates
escaped the sequestration and forfeiture which would
no doubt have overtaken them under the Common-
wealth.40 The minority, however, involved the
placing of the heir under a Protestant guardian ;
he changed his religion and conformed to that
established by law.41 In 1679 he was made a
baronet"; he was knight of the shire in i66o,43
showing himself an opponent of the Presbyterians 44
and also of the adherents of Monmouth.45 He died
in 1684, and his son Roger three years later,46 when
the third Sir Roger Bradshaw, his son, succeeded.4'
82 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vii, no.
16 ; the fine of 1477 and other settle-
ments are recited. Roger Bradshagh was
'not at home' when the herald came
in 1533, so that only his arms were
recorded ; Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 174. His
will is in P.C.C.
Sir Roger's widow Anne married
Nicholas Butler of Rawcliffe and various
disputes followed ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec.
Com.), ii, 70. She died at Hoole
22 Aug. 1554; Duchy Plead. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 182.
Henry Bradshagh of Halton, Bucking-
hamshire, attorney-general of the king,
seems to have been concerned in the
manor ; Close, 37 Hen. VIII, pt. ii, no.
46 ; pt. iv, no. 37.
33 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. x, no. 41.
William Bradshaw is named in various
suits of the time ; Ducatus (Rec. Com.),
ii, 32.
84 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii, no.
59 ; the tenure was unchanged. A
pedigree was recorded in 1567 ; Visit.
(Chet. Soc.), 88.
85 Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 245, quoting
S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, 4. His son
Thomas was a serjeant-at-arms to the
queen ; Ducatus (Rec. Com.), iii, 295.
86 Leland, writing about 1536, noted
that ' Mr. Bradshaw hath a place called
Haigh a mile from Wigan. He hath
found much cannel like sea coal in his
ground, very profitable to him ' 5 Itin. vii,
47. These mines led to various law
suits ; see Ducatus (Rec. Com.), ii, 179, &c.
In 1554 Roger Bradshaw said that
he was owner of the demesne lands of
the manor of Haigh, within which there
had always been certain mines or pits of
a kind of fuel called cannel, wherein the
tenants within the lordship had been
accustomed to dig and get cannel to be
'spent and brent' in their tenements,
for which they had paid by boons, presents,
and averages ; Duchy Plead, iii, 182.
8? James son and heir of Roger Brad-
shaw married, in or before 1567, Jane
the daughter and heir of Thomas Hoghton
of Hoghton ; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 44.
88 Richard son of Roger Bradshaw of
Haigh was baptized at Wigan, 28
Dec. 1601 ; Reg. 51. In 1623, on en-
tering the English College at Rome
under the name of Barton, he gave the
following particulars : ' My true name is
Richard Bradshaw. I am in my twenty-
second year, was born in Lancashire, and
for the most part brought up there. My
parents are Roger Bradshaw of Haigh . . .
and Anne his wife. The former, who had
been brought up in the Catholic religion,
left it in his youth ; at length, however,
by the goodness of God, about six months
ago, he again embraced the true faith and
I hope will persevere in it until death.
My mother, brought up a Catholic by her
parents [Anderton of Lostock], has never
professed any other religion. I have
seven brothers and six sisters, all of whom
are Catholics. I received some local
schooling until my fifteenth year, when I
gave myself up to hunting and suchlike
youthful sports ; but by good fortune
being sent to St. Omers College, I
applied myself to humanity studies. I
was always a Catholic.' He afterwards
joined the Society of Jesus, and from
1655 to 1660 was head of the English
Province ; Foley, Rec. Soc. Jesus, i,
229-32, where extracts from his letters
are given ; vii, 78 ; Gillow, Bibl. Diet,
of Engl. Cath. i, 287 ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
Thomas Bradshaw, a younger brother,
entered the English College from St.
Omers in 1626, and made a similar
declaration : ' My chief relations are
uncles and aunts, all Catholics, except
one uncle, Alexander Bradshaw, who is
a Protestant'; Foley, i, 228. He also
became a Jesuit and laboured in England
from 1650 to 1663 ; vii, 79. A third
brother Peter, also a Jesuit, served the
English missions from 1650 to 1675, and
was twice rector of the Lancashire
district ; ibid, vii, 77. Another brother,
Edward, a Carmelite, after a term of
imprisonment was banished, but returned
to England and ministered at Haigh Hall ;
he was a student of English antiquities ;
Gillow, op. cit. i, 286. Another brother,
Christopher, was a secular priest. Three
of the sisters were nuns. A brother
William was knighted by Charles I ; his
will is printed in Lanes. Wills (Chet. Soc.
new ser.), ii, 66.
89 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxix, no.
66. His eldest son James was buried
at Wigan 7 June 1631 ; Royalist Comp.
Papers (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i,
229, 230.
A pedigree wat recorded in 1613 ;
Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 57. Roger refused
knighthood, paying in 1632 a composition
of 20 marks ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 222.
40 Royalist Comp. Papers, \, 228-33 ; it is
obvious that strict inquiries were made
by the Commonwealth authorities. There
are numerous references to the family in
the Cal. of Com. for Compounding.
41 The guardianship system was a
common and successful means of induc-
ing such conformity.
Dr. Wrocj warden of Manchester, who
117
preached the funeral sermon, said :
' His religion was true Protestant ; not
that of late falsely so called, but that
which is by law established, the religion
of the Church of England ; in which he
was happily educated and instructed in
his greener years by the care and directions
of the Right Honourable James, Earl of
Derby, to whom he was entrusted by his
faithful guardian, John Fleetwood of
Penwortham, esq. ; to whose religious
designs and the joint endeavours of his
virtuous consort he owed the early
impressions of piety, and in that family
first commenced Protestant, and was
thence sent into the Isle of Man, where
the principles he had already imbibed
were soon cultivated and improved under
the umbrage of that religious, loyal and
great man ; ' quoted in Pal. Note Bk. ii, 34.
One of his sisters was a nun and the other
married Thomas Culcheth of Culcheth.
42 Burke, Extinct Baronetcies. A pedi-
gree was recorded in 1664; Dugdale,
Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 52.
48 Pink and Beaven, Parl. Rep. of Lanes.
77, 78. He was made a knight in the
same year ; Le Neve, Knights (Harl. Soc.),
77. He was re-elected in 1661, this
Parliament lasting till 1678. There is a
monument to him in Wigan Church ;
Bridgeman, op. cit. 701, 702.
In a fine of 1673 the estate is described
as the manor of Haigh, sixty-four
messuages, two water-mills, a saw-mill,
500 acres of land &c., with views of
frankpledge in Haigh and Wigan. The
deforciants were Sir Roger Bradshaw,
kt., Elizabeth his wife, and Roger Brad-
shaw, esq. ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
191, m. 71.
*» Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 84.
There are a number of Bradshaw letters
in this volume. 46 Ibid. 161.
46 The son represented the borough of
Wigan in 1678, and the county in 1685 ;
Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 228, 79. Like his
father he was a Tory. He was knighted
in 1679 5 ke Neve, Knights, 330.
47 He was a member for Wigan in
fourteen successive Parliaments from 1695
till his death, 25 Feb. 1746-7 ; Pink and
Beaven, op. cit. 230-3. According to
this he was Tory down to the accession
of George I, when he became a Whig.
He restored the family chapel in Wigan
Church in 1719 ; Bridgeman, op. cit. 620.
A view of Haigh Hall as it existed in his
time is given in Baines" Lanes. For
recoveries of the manor in Aug. 1697,
see Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 466 ; in 1727,
R. 524, m. 7d. 5 in 1730, R. 533, m.
2d.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
LINDSAY, Earl of Craw-
ford and Balcarres. Quar-
terly, i and 4 : Gules a
Jesse cheeky argent and
azure for LINDSAY ; 2 and
3 : Or a lion rampant
gules debruised by a ribbon
sable, for ABERNETHY.
His son Sir Roger, the last baronet, died in 1787
without issue,48 the heir to the manor and estates
being his sister Elizabeth.49
She married John son of Sir
Humphrey Edwin,50 and her
daughter and heir, Elizabeth,
married Charles Dalrymple of
North Berwick, whose daugh-
ter and heir, Elizabeth Brad-
shaigh,51 married Alexander
Lindsay, sixth Earl of Bal-
carres. He thus became lord
of the manor of Haigh,5* which
has descended regularly M with
the title to James Ludovic
Lindsay, Earl of Crawford and
Balcarres, who succeeded in
i88o.M His son, Lord Bal-
carres, is the member of Par-
liament for the Chorley divi-
sion of the county. At the Hall is a valuable library,
including a Mazarin Bible among the printed books.66
Apart from the Bradshaw family there do not seem
to have been any important landowners 56 in the town-
ship, though in 1600 Ralph Charnock was also re-
turned as a freeholder."
A poor man named John Rycroft was in trouble
with the Commonwealth authorities during the Civil
War ; he explained that he had assembled with the
king's men on Westhoughton Common but had not
joined them later.68
In connexion with the Established Church St.
David's, Haigh, was consecrated in 1833 as a chapel
of ease to Wigan ; a district was assigned five years
later. The rector of Wigan is patron.69 At New
Springs, St. John Baptist's, an iron church, was licensed
in 1871 ; and rebuilt in brick in 1897.
A school was founded here about 1660 by the
township.60
ASPULL
Aspul, 1 21 2 ; 1292 ; Hasphull, 1277 ; Haspehull,
1292; Aspehill, 1292 ; Aspell, 1301; Asphull, 1304,
common ; Aspull, 1356, common. Aspden and Asp-
shaw occur in the district.
This township, though in the parish of Wigan, is
in the hundred of Salford. It is separated from West-
houghton by a brook running through Borden or Bors-
dane Wood, but has no marked physical separation
from the other neighbouring townships, which, like
itself, are in Wigan parish. The ground rises from
south to north, reaching 400 ft. The area is 1,905
acres.1 The population in 1901 was 8,388.*
The principal road leads north from Hindley to
Haigh, passing through Pennington Green, which
lies z\ miles east-north-east of Wigan Church. To
the south-west of this lies Hindley Hall, and a
road branches off to the north-west, going through
New Springs to Wigan. The Lancaster Canal passes
through the western corner of the township.
Aspull Moor lies in the northern half of the town-
ship.
Cannel coal was found in Aspull. There are several
large collieries, also malt kilns and a cotton mill. Wheat,
oats, and potatoes are grown.
A local board was formed in 1876. This has been
succeeded by an urban district council of nine members.
The earliest notice of ASPULL is that
M4NOR contained in the survey of 1 2 1 2, when, as
one plough-land , it formed part of the Child-
wall fee held by Richard son of Robert de Lathom,
under the lord of Manchester.3 Immediately after
this lands in Aspull are found among the possessions
of William de Notton, being described as the right of
Cecily his wife, daughter of Edith, lady of Barton-on-
Irwell.4 The Lathom mesne manor was commonly
ignored5 ; thus, in 1302 Richard de Ince, as son and
heir of Henry de Sefton, and Adam de Hindley, were
48 Little seems to be known of the
last Sir Roger, or of the male descendants
of the previous baronets.
49 These and the subsequent particulars
are from the pedigree in Baines, Lanes.
(ed. Croston), iv, 294-296.
80 See the note in G.E.C., Complete
Peerage, ii, 419 ; Herald and Gen. vi, 62 ;
viii, 1 86, 187.
"She died 10 Aug. 1816. There is
a monument to her in Wigan Church ;
Bridgeman, op. cit. 703. There was a re-
covery of the manor in 1804; Aug.
Assize, 44 Geo. Ill, R. 5.
53 The Earl of Balcarres resided at Haigh,
which has since remained the principal
seat of the family. He became de jure
23rd Earl of Crawford in 1808, but did not
assume the title. He died in 1825, and
was buried at Wigan ; see Diet. Nat. Biog.
53 See G.E.C. loc. cit. James, son of
the sixth earl by Elizabeth Dalrymple, was
member for Wigan 1820 to 1825, and was
created Baron Wigan of Haigh Hall in
1826. In 1848 the House of Lords de-
cided that he had justified his claim to the
earldom of Crawford. He died 15 Dec.
1869. For his younger son Colin, see
Diet. Nat. Biog.
The eldest son and heir, Alexander Wil-
liam Crawford Lindsay, Earl of Crawford
and Balcarres, author of Hist, of Christian
Art, &c., died 13 Dec. 1880; see Diet.
Nat. Biog. He was succeeded by his son,
the present lord of Haigh.
54 He was member for Wigan 1874 to
1880, is a fellow of the Royal Society, and
was formerly president of the Royal Astro-
nomical Society.
68 Lanes, and Ches.Antiq. Sac. i, 59 ; iii,
236.
06 Robert ion of Richard de Windle
granted to his brother Adam Haleshurst
and Middlehurst in Haigh ; Kuerden MSS.
ii, fol. 213, n. 22.
*7 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i,
238,243.
Robert Charnock, in right of James
Bradshaw, claimed possession of a water-
mill, &c. in Haigh in 1581 ; Ducatus
(Rec. Com.), iii, 109; see also iii, 435.
Roger Bradshaw was the only landowner
contributing to the subsidy in 1628 ; Nor-
ris D. (B.M.).
Other holders of land in the i6th century
were Thomas Holt, Christopher Anderton,
and Gilbert Sherington, probably as pur-
chasers of land of suppressed monasteries
and chantries.
88 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, ii, 1093.
89 Bridgeman, Wigan Ch. 783 ; Land.
Can. 3 Apr. 1838.
'"Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 251.
1 1,906, including 23 of inland water,
according to the Census of 1901.
2 Including New Springs and Tor-
lock.
8 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 54. The fee was a
composite one of 6 j plough-lands (of which
118
Aspull formed one), held chiefly by Richard
de Lathom, and partly by Roger de Samles-
bury and Alexander de Harwood.
4 The evidence of Edith's holding is
contained in grants preserved in the
Cockersand Chart. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 695-8.
Edith de Barton herself gave the canons
of Cockersand a portion of land in Aspull
in free alms ; Lonington Brook, Holelache,
Scraplache, and Cranberry Lea, are named
among the boundaries ; no. 6.
William de Notton, with the assent of
Cecily his wife, of whose dower it was,
gave half of Hulgreave in Aspull ; and
added a portion bounded by the Roskit
(brook), from the ford, thence by a lache
and oaks marked with crosses to the
Meanway, and so back to the ford ; no. 4,
I. Sir Gilbert de Barton, son of William
and Cecily, confirmed these gifts, and him-
self added the Millward's croft ; the bounds
of this went by Mickle Brook, starting at
the ford, to the boundaries of Richard de
Hindley's land, and by various dykes to
Sinerhill Leach, and so to the ford ; also
waste near Brinshope; no. 5, 2. The land
called Scrapps in Aspull was in 1501 held
by Richard Houghton at a rent of zd . ;
Cockersand Rent. (Chet. Soc.), 4.
8 From a subsequent note it will be
teen that the lordship of the Lathoms
was recognized in 1290. In 1346-55
Sir Thomas de Lathom is said to have
held the same fee, including Aspull ; Feud.
Aids, iii, 89.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
found to hold Aspull, as the eighth part of a knight's fee,
directly of Thomas Grelley." From this time the lord-
ship has been held with the adjacent Ince by the fami-
lies of Ince and Gerard in succession ; until Aspull was
sold to the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres,lordofHaigh.7
The Hindley family appear to have had a quarter of
the manor by grant of William son of Richard son of
Enot de Aspull. The succession can be traced from
Adam son of Hugh de Hindley, living in izgz,6
until the i yth century,9 when Roger Hindley suc-
6 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 314.
Richard de Ince and Robert de Hindley
held the same in 1322 ; Mamecestre (Chet.
Soc.), 579-
Towneley (GG, no. 1 604), preserves an
agreement between Henry de Sefton and
the free tenants of Aspull, including those
of the Hospitallers, their names being
given. These granted to Henry as their
lord all the land bounded by a line starting
at Haigh on the west, going to the Quint-
acres, Terneshaw Brook, Brinshope Bridge,
and so to Quintacres ; also land in Fald-
worthing shaw. Henry on his part granted
them certain liberties.
' See the account of Ince above.
John son of Peter Gerard and Ellen
his wife made a settlement of the manor
of Aspull in 1421 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet
of F. bdle. 5, m. 12.
Thomas Gerard, in 1473, held the lord-
ship of Aspull of the lord of Manchester
by a rent of So1, and the same sum for
ward of the castle of Lancaster ; Mame-
cestre, 48 1 .
Miles Gerard, in 1558, held the manor,
&c., of Lord La Warre in socage by a rent
of i%d. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi,
no. 12.
Aspull descended with Ince until the
early years of the 1 8th century, when
Richard son of Thomas Gerard of Higli-
field appears to have sold it to the Gerards
of Brynn. The manor of Aspull was Sir
William Gerard's in 1796, as appears from
R. 12 of the Lent Assizes, 1796 (Pal. of
Lane. Plea R.). It was sold tothe Ear!
of Crawford and Balcarres before 1825 ;
Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 553.
8 A plea of 1292 gives an account of
the acquisition. Adam de Hindley alleged
that Robert de Lathom, Richard de Ince,
Gilbert de Southworth, Emma hi« wife,
and others had disseised him of a messuage
and 1 2 acres of moor and pasture in Aspull.
Gilbert, however, claimed nothing but
common of pasture. Robert de Lathom
claimed lordship only. Richard de Ince,
as tenant, asserted that Adam had no
right beyond common of pasture, but had
inclosed the disputed land by night, his
fence being promptly thrown down the
next day.
The jury, however, found that Adam's
title was derived from William son of
Richard son of Enot de Aspull, who had
delivered seisin of all his lands to Adam
de Hindley ; that Henry de Sefton and
Richard son of Enot had been lords of the
waste in common, and had divided an
approvement, Henry taking three parts and
Richard the other part, amounting to
7 acres ; that after they had lain unculti-
vated Adam inclosed them, at the same
time adding 5 acres more without the
assent of Richard de Ince, and he and his
man dwelt there some time ; that Richard
ejected him vi et armis ; and that the
7 acres should be restored to Adam, and
the 5 remain waste at formerly ; Assize
R. 408, m. 6.
The Hindleys had several branches, one
by marriage acquiring Culcheth. The
Hindleys of Aspull continued to hold land
in Hindley also. Hugh de Hindley, father
of Adam, is mentioned in 1258-9 ; Ori-
ginalia, 43 Hen. Ill, m. 3. Hugh de
Hindley was living in 1292 ; Assize R.
408, m. 12 ; and Beatrice widow of Hugh
de Hindley — perhaps another Hugh —
claimed dower in 1307 ; De Banco R.
16 1, m. 132 ; Lanes, and CAes. Hist, and
Gen. Notes, i, 27.
Adam son of Hugh de Hindley, and
Robert his son, were defendants in a plea
concerning a markate of rent in Hindley
and Ince in 1291 and 1292 ; Assize R.
407, m. 3d.; 408, m. 7 d. This »uit
arose through a certain Adam de Wood-
house, who gave land as dower for his
wife Alice ; she took a second husband
John Nightegale, and gave the land to
Henry son of her previous husband, for
the tent of 131. 4^. Adam de Hindley
seems to have secured the land, and re-
fused to pay the rent; the jury allowed
half a mark to the claimants.
Then Cecily, widow of Henry son of
Adam de Woodhouse, claimed dower from
lands in Hindley and Ince from Adam
son of Hugh de Hindley, and Maud his
wife ; they asserted that Henry was not
dead, but living at Paris ; Assize R. 408,
m. 55. Adam de Hindley occurs as plain-
tiff or defendant in many suits ; e.g. Assize
R. 419, m. 12 ; 421, m. id.; 1411, m.
I2d. There was another Adam son of
Richard de Hindley; Assize R. 1294,
m. 9 d.
• A pedigree was recorded at the Visita-
tion of 1613 (printed by Chet. Soc. pp.
117, 1 1 8), in which abstracts of some
family deeds are given. From these and
other sources it is possible to give an out-
line of the family history. The somewhat
earlier pedigree printed in the Chet. Soc.
Visit, of 1567 is from Harl. MS. 6159.
Robert son of Adam de Hindley occurs
in 1291, as already stated, and was in
possession in 1322 ; Mamecestre, 379.
He and his brothers Adam, Thomas, and
John, seem to have taken a share in the
rebellion of Thomas of Lancaster ; Coram
Rege R. 254, m. 60. Robert married
Cecily daughter of Henry de Tyldesley ;
Visit. 117. She was a widow in 1329, when
Henry de Atherton and Beatrice his wife
claimed from her and Robert son of Robert
de Hindley the fourth part of the manor of
Aspull, and various lands in Aspull, Ince,
and Hindley ; but it was shown that Bea-
trice had granted them while sole ; Assize
R. 1411, m. 12 d. From an earlier suit
it appear* that Beatrice was a daughter
of Adam de Hindley's ; Assize R. 420,
m. 2 d.
Among the Culcheth deeds is a grant
from Adam son of Hugh de Hindley to
his daughter Beatrice, for her life, of his
lands in Aspull, ' Kastrelegh ' in Hindley,
&c. ; she was to pay a rent to her brother
John ; Lanes, and Ches. Hist, and Gen.
Notes, i, 27. A release of lands was made
in 1332 by Henry de Atherton to Robert
son of Robert de Hindley; Visit. 117.
Cecily the widow of Robert afterwards
married Robert de Warrington ; Duchy
of Lane. Assize R. i, m. 5 d.
The younger Robert occurs in 1343
and 1358 ; Assize R. 430, m. 26 ; 438,
m. 8. He was still living in 1365, as
appears by a suit concerning lands in Win-
die, in which he was a plaintiff; the pedi-
gree is there given as Robert son of Robert
119
(and Cecily) son of Adam son of Hugh ;
and it is further stated that Robert the
father was seised of the lands in dispute
in the time of Edward I ; De Banco R.
421, m. 108.
' Robert, who married Emma, a daughter
and co-heir of Pemberton, had a son Hugh,
as appears by a release made by Hugh son
of Robert in 1398-9' ; Visit. 117.
Robert son of Hugh de Hindley was
a plaintiff in 1447 ; and at the same time
Robert and Adam de Hindley of Aspull
were defendants in another suit ; Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. 10, m. 2, 2b. Robert
Hindley in 1473 held a messuage and
lands in Aspull of the lord of Manchester
by the service of the eighth part of a
knight's fee and a rent of i\d. ; paying a
further 2 \d. for ward of the castle ; Mame-
cestre, 480. This Robert Hindley and
his son ' old Hugh Hindley ' are both men-
tioned by aged witnesses in a dispute con-
cerning the wastes of Hindley in 1528 ;
Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 165. He made a lease to his son Hugh
in 1472 ; Visit. 117.
Hugh Hindley had a son Robert who
married Alice daughter of William Parr,
as appears by an entail dated 1489-90 ;
ibid. Alice wife of Robert Hindley the
younger and her husband, as well as Hugh
Hindley, had numerous disputes with the
Parr family from 1466 onwards ; Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. 30, m. 10; 44, m. 6 d. ;
&c.
There were three sons, Hugh, Gilbert,
and Roger. Hugh Hindley's name is
entered in a list of the gentry compiled
about 1512 ; he died 30 Apr. 1531 hold-
ing lands in Aspull called Greenhalf,
Pilats croft, Kiln croft, and Rosket, of
Thomas Gerard of Ince by the rent of
5*. 4</. ; also Mickle croft of the heirs of
John Aspull, by a rent of I2d. ; and six
messuages, 100 acres of land, &c. and a
water-mill, of Lord La Warre, by knight's
service and the rent of 2^./. a year. He
held other lands in Ince, Hindley, Pem-
berton, and Parr. His son and heir was
Robert, aged only about five years ; but
six other sons had annuities assigned to
them ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, no.
22. His wardship was assumed by Lord
La Warre, who granted it to George
Leigh, of Manchester, by whom it was
sold to Peter Anderton, and by the last-
named to Grace the widow of Hugh de
Hindley ; Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 237.
From a suit in 1549 it appears that
Hugh Hindley had been married, about
1510 at Wigan, to Ellen Langton, both par-
ties being ' within the age of consent ; ' and
that they were in 1522 divorced by a decree
of Richard Smith, rector of Bury, acting as
commissary of Adam Becconsaw, rector of
Brington and official of William Knight,
archdeacon of Chester ; and then Hugh
married Grace Turner, Robert, declared
heir in 153 i, being their son. This decree
was afterwards reversed in the Court of
Arches, it appearing that Hugh and Ellen
had lived together for eight years before
the divorce was granted, and Gilbert,
brother of Hugh, claimed the inheritance ;
on Gilbert's death without issue Roger,
another brother, claimed it, and the court
gave sentence in his favour, the dispossessed
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
ceeded.10 HINDLET HALL, as the residence of the
Hindleys was called, became the property of James, a
younger son of Robert Dukin-
field of Cheshire.11 In the
1 8th century it was acquired
by the Leighs of Whitley Hall,
Wigan, and Sir Robert Holt
Leigh lived here till his death
in 1843." His estates then
passed for life to his cousin
Thomas Pemberton, who took
the name of Leigh, and made
Hindley Hall his residence ; HINDLEY. Azure a,
he was raised to the peerage hart lodged argent.
as Baron Kingsdown in 1 858."
After his death in 1867 it passed by the will of
Sir R. H. Leigh to Mr. Roger Leigh, the present
owner.14
The Knights Hospitallers held lands here from an
early period.15
One of the ancient families here was that of Occleshaw.
In 1246 Richard son of William recovered 8 acres in
Aspull from Gilbert de Barton, Henry de Occleshaw,
and Hugh his brother.16 Thirty years later the prior
of St. John of Jerusalem was claimant against John
de Occleshaw and another ; 17 and John de Occleshaw
and Henry his brother occur in izgi.18 Afterwards
Occleshaw was acquired by the Ince family.19
Yet another early family was that of Gidlow, whose
residence was long known as GIDLOW HALL. In
1291 Robert de Gidlow was a freeholder in Aspull,20 and
the name occurs frequently down to the i yth century,81
son Robert, then about twenty-four years
of age, appearing and renouncing his title ;
Duchy Plead, iii, 69.
Roger's son Robert, one of the ' gentle-
men of the better sort ' who were ' soundly
affected in religion' in 1590 (Gibson,
Lydiate Hall, 246), was living at the
Visitation of 1613 (p. 1 1 8), and his will
was proved in 1620. Roger Hindley was
assessed to the subsidy in 1622, and refusing
I knighthood compounded in 1631 ; Misc.
j Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 162, 216.
10 It appears from the Wigan Registers
that he had several children ; his wife
Alice died in Jan. 1624-5 > Roger Hind-
ley himself was buried at Wigan, 1 5 Nov.
1651. Robert son of Roger Hindley was
baptized at Winwick in 1607.
Margaret, a 'daughter and co-heir of
Roger Hindley of Hindley,' is said by Dug-
dale, Visit. (54), to have married Roger
Bradshaw of Aspull ; it appears from the
registers that the marriage took place in
1596, a daughter Elizabeth was born
in 1597, and in the following year the
wife died.
11 Ibid. p. too ; Ormerod, Ches. (ed.
Helsby), iii, 817. Old Mrs. Dukinfield
and her son James are mentioned in Roger .
Lowe's Diary, 1663 ; Loc. Glean. Lanes,
and Ches. i, 170, 171, 189. The mother
left money to the chapel and school of
Hindley.
12 Alexander Leigh, the grandfather,
procured the Act of 1720 for making the
Douglas navigable from Wigan to Preston ;
for an anecdote of him see Hist. MSS. Com.
Rep. xiv, App. iv, 458. Holt Leigh, the
father, of Hindley Hall, Aspull, and Whit-
ley Hall, Wigan, married Mary daughter
and co-heir of Thomas Owen, of Uphol-
land ; acquiring the manors of Orrell and
Bi Hinge. Robert Holt Leigh was born
at Wigan in 1762. He was educated at
Manchester School, and Christ Church,
Oxford, but though he passed the examina-
tions he did not graduate till 1837. He
was made a baronet in 1815, at the in-
stance of Canning, and represented Wigan
in Parliament from 1802 to 1820 ; he is
described as ' a high Tory and firm Church-
man, but strenuous Protestant.' He had
a high reputation as a scholar, linguist,
and man of culture, but ' over the latter
years of his life it is better that a veil
should be drawn. It is very sad to record
folly and profligacy in the mature years of
a life in which, otherwise, there is much
to admire ; ' Manchester School Reg. (Chet.
Soc.). He died at Hindley Hall, 21 Jan.
1843.
His brother, Roger Holt Leigh, of Leeds,
died 13 May 1831 from injuries received
during election disturbances.
18 Diet. Nat. Biog. } G.E.C. Complete
Peerage, iv, 401.
14 Burke, Landed Gentry.
15 Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 375.
The rental compiled about 1540 shows
that there were four tenements yielding a
total rent of 41., viz. one messuage held
by Thomas Gorsuch, 6d. ; Occleshaw,
by Alexander Catterall, i%d. ; Whittington
House, by John Byrom, izd. ; and a
messuage by William Houghton, \zd. ;
Kuerden MSS. v, fol. 84.
16 Assize R. 404, m. 1 1 d.
V De Banco R. 18, m. 6 ; 21, m. 26.
18 Assize R. 1294, m. 9 d.
19 By her charter, Cecily daughter of
John de Occleshaw granted to her first-
born son John all that she had received
from her father in Aspull ; Henry de
Occleshaw was a witness ; Add. MS.
32104, fol. 117 (509). She is perhaps
the same Cecily who, as wife of John de
Worthington, in 1323-4 claimed a mes-
suage and lands from Richard de Occleshaw
and William son of Henry de Occleshaw ;
Assize R. 425, m. 3 ; and, as wife of John
de Warrington, quitclaimed to Hugh de
Ince the land called 'Oculshagh' in Aspull,
of which John son of William de Occle-
shaw was once seised. Her grandson and
heir, Thomas son of Henry son of Robert
de Ulneswalton, in 1359 claimed it from
Hugh de Ince ; Duchy of Lane. Assize
R. 7, m. 2 d.
Another Cecily, wife of Robert de War-
rington, claimed dower here in 1351 ;
ibid. R. I, m. v d ; 2, m. 2.
30 Assize R. 1 294, m. 9 d. ; Henry son of
Gunna and Roger de Swinley were other
defendants. The Gidlows were probably
so named from Gidlow in Wigan ; the
name is spelt Gydelowe, Gudelowe, Good-
law, &c. Robert de Gidlow was plaintiff
in 1304 ; Astize R. 420, m. 2 d.
21 Some family deeds have been preserved
by Towneley (Add. MS. 32107, GG, no.
1586-1619), and these and others more
briefly by Kuerden (ii, fol. 244^), but they
are not sufficient for a complete history.
Henry, lord of Ince, gave lands in Ince
to William de Gidlow, with reasonable
entry from his land in Aspull, by follow-
ing the Mill Brook and that part on which
the Harleton lies to Ince boundary, ren-
dering two white gloves ; GG, no. 1588.
Robert de Gidlow gave the mill of Brins-
hope ao 8.ichard de Ince ; Kuerden, loc.
cit. vio. 27. Henry de Sefton (father of
Richard de Ince) gave land in Ince to
Robert son of William de Gidlow in
exchange for some the latter had from
Roger son of Godith ; also the greater
hey in Aspull, the bounds mentioning
Longshaw, Ballisdene, and the highway
I2O
to Westhoughton ; GG, nos. 1595,1603.
This latter was in 1294 transferred by
Robert to his son William, except por-
tions he had given to his daughter Ellen
and another son Robert ; 131. a year was
payable to Richard de Ince ; no. 1593.
William son of Robert de Gidlow in
1326 gave the Blackfield to his son
Richard ; nos. 1598-9.
Robert son of Roger de Gidlow at
Easter 1354 claimed a messuage and
lands in Aspull from John son of Richard
de Gidlow, Gilbert de Ince, and William
de Ince of Aughton ; but Gilbert de Ince
showed that the father had held of him
by knight's service, so that he had law-
fully entered into possession, as guardian,
on Roger's death ; Duchy of Lane. Assize
R. 3, m. 3 d.
Another John Gidlow, of the time of
Henry VI, is the next of whom informa-
tion is forthcoming; GG, no. 1586. Ralph
son of John Gidlow was in 1444 con-
tracted to marry Joan daughter of John
and Elizabeth Parbold ; no. 1591. In
1445 Thomas Pleasington accused John
Gidlow and others of an assault upon him
at Heapey, and Amice Gidlow accused
Randle Charnock and others of waylaying
her with intent to kill ; Pal. of Lane.
Plea R. 8, m. i, \b ; 9, m. 6, 2. In the
same year Ralph Gidlow was to be arrested
for felony ; ibid. R. 7, m. i6b. In 1471-2
the feoffees regranted to John Gidlow,
senior, all his messuages and lands in
Aspull, with remainders to John son of
Ralph son of the elder John ; then to
John, William, and Robert, brothers of
Ralph ; GG, no. 1600.
Ralph Gidlow of Aspull referred his
disputes with Roger Brown to arbitration
in 1514; no. 1529. He was murdered
with a dagger 22 Sept. 1531 by one
Christopher Shakerley. Thomas Gerard
of Ince was called out of his bed by the
constables of Aspull to view the body and
search for the felon ; and on returning
home with a crowd of neighbours, Cecily
and Agnes, daughters of Ralph, desired him
to take charge of two boxes belonging to
their father. The complaint of Anne the
widow followed ; Duchy Plead, ii, 25-27.
At the inquisition after Ralph's death it
was found that he had held lands in Lang-
tree, Coppull, and Aspull ; the jury did
not know what knight's service belonged
to the last. Robert Gidlow his son and
heir was sixteen years of age ; Duchy
of Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, no. 12.
In 1535 another inquisition was made
at the petition of Robert the heir. It
appeared that Ralph Gidlow had in 1520
made a feoffment of the Dower house and
others of his tenements in Aspull and Ince,
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WIGAN
when a short pedigree was re-
corded." In 1 5 84 and 1586
rights of way were investigated,
Thomas Gidlow claiming a
footpath from Gidlow Hall
westward across Roger Hind-
ley's meadows called Longer
Hey to the highway between
&c., for the use of Anne Shakerley,
widow, for her life. Robert asserted
that he was of full age, and not six-
teen only, when the former inquisi-
tion was taken ; also that the pre-
mises in Aspull were held of Thomas
Gerard of Ince and not of Lord La
Warre. The messuage in Langtree had
been the property of one John Perle-
barn, whose heirs were Ralph Gidlow,
Roger Haydock, and James Aspenall, de-
scendants of his daughters Joan, Katherine,
and Margaret. Joan had married a Gid-
low (obviously the John Gidlow, senior,
of a previous paragraph), and her son was
Ralph father of John father of the Ralph
Gidlow of 1531 ; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. iii, no. 6.
On Robert's coming of age Lord La
Warre remitted all actions, &c. ; GG,
no. 1610; and soon afterwards, in 1541,
Robert made a settlement of his lands, the
remainder being to Thomas his son and
heir ; Kuerden MSS. loc. cit. no. 20. In
15523 further settlement seems to have
been made by Robert Gidlow and Ellen
his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
14, m. 1 06 ; and another including the
capital messuage called Gidlow, Hindley
House, Bank House, &c., three years
later, perhaps on the marriage of his son
Thomas with Elizabeth daughter of Wil-
liam Kenyon of Pilkington ; GG, no.
1 60 1, 1609, 1611. A release was made
to Thomas in 1584 by John son of Wil-
liam Kenyon; GG, no. 1606. Two
years later Thomas Gidlow was elected
coroner ; GG, no. 1608. He died 28 Oct.
1606, holding various lands and the Lee
in Aspull of Miles Gerard of Ince, by a
rent of 141. and \id. ; also 12 acres and
the water-mill of the king, as of the late
Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. Thomas
his son and heir was aged thirty-three
years ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 73.
William Kenyon, who died in 1557,
held part of the old Hospitallers' lands in
Aspull by the gift of Robert Gidlow ; John
his son and heir was sixty years of age in
1586 ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, no. 27.
22 Vint, of 1613 (Chet. Soc.), 50. The
last-named Thomas Gidlow recorded it ;
his son and heir, another Thomas, being
then twenty years of age.
The elder Thomas died about 1618-19,
but the age of his son Thomas is given as
only twenty-two years ; Kuerden, loc. cit.
no. 23. Thomas Gidlow contributed to
the subsidy in 1622 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 162.
23 Towneley, GG,no. 1613-15. Risley
Hey and a stile called the Merrel are
mentioned ; also a lane called ' a certain
lisle lane' which led to Aynscough Lane,
going north to Aspull Moor.
24 John son of Thomas de Halghton,
or Houghton, of the Westhoughton family,
had two messuages and land in Aspull in
1317; Final Cone, ii, 25. John son of
Thomas de Houghton was defendant in a
claim for dower in 1351 and 1352; Duchy
of Lane. Assize R. I, m. v d. and R. 2, m. 2.
A Ralph Houghton of Kirklees married
Margery daughter of Richard Molyneux
Aspull Moor and Pennington Green, and so to
Wigan.23
The Houghtons of KIRKLEES long continued in
possession ;24 Ralph Houghton in 1653 renounced
his faith in order to secure his lands.25 The Brad-
shaghs, already mentioned,26 the Lathoms of Wolfill,27
and the Lowes *s also held lands here. Later families
were the Rigbys M and Penningtons.30
GIDLOW. s-izur
r on argent between fwo leo-
pard's beads in chief and a
cross formyjitchy in base or.
of Hawkley ; Visit.
of 1567 (Chet.
Soc.), 109. For a
plea of 1554-5 by
Roger Heigham
claiming against Ralph Houghton lands
called Smyrrels and Gromerscroft in Aspull
see Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 184.
Richard Houghton acquired lands in
Aspull, Ince, and Wigan from Christopher
Kenyon and Margery his wife in 1572,
and made a settlement in 1577 ; Lanes,
and Ches. Rec. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), ii, 255 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 34, m. 138 ; bdle. 39, m. 13.
Ralph Houghton was a purchaser in 1593 ;
ibid. bdle. 55, m. 200. He was one of
the ' comers to church but no communi-
cants 'in 1 590 ; Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 246.
Richard Houghton of Kirklees in 1616
married Bridget daughter of Adam Mort ;
Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 211. Richard
son and heir apparent of Ralph Houghton
of Kirklees in Aspull was a trustee for
William Heaton in 1619 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 1 60.
The succession of the various Richards
and Ralphs is not quite clear ; for Clem-
ence Simpson, formerly wife of Ralph
Houghton, in 1604-5 claimed an interest
in the Great Scraps in Aspull ; she had
formerly had a writ of dower against
Richard Houghton, uncle to Ralph,
Thomas, and Anne Aspull, Christopher
and Margaret Kenyon ; Duchy of Lane.
Plead. Hil. 2 Jas. I, bdle. 221.
A ' Mr. Ralph Houghton of Kirklees '
was buried at Wigan 12 Aug. 1643.
28 ' By some omission or mistake ' his es-
tate was in 1653 ordered to be sequestered ;
he had never 'acted against the State,'
had subscribed the engagement, but was
also required to take the oath of abjura-
tion. He was conformable, but being in-
firm asked for more time ; and afterwards
took the oath. The sequestration was dis-
charged in 1654; Royalist Comp. Papers
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 293 ;
Cal. of Com. for Compounding, iv, 3124.
26 In 1343 John de Ince, John son of
Henry de Tyldesley, and Robert son of
Robert de Hindley were charged with
having overthrown the house of William
son of Adam de Bradshagh at Aspull, and
shot at him ; Assize R. 430, m. 1 8 d. 20 d.26.
In 1473 Henry Bradshagh held a mes-
suage of the lord of Manchester, by rent
of 2d. and zd. for ward of the castle ;
Mamecestre, 480. The name of William
Bradshagh of Aspull occurs in a list of the
local gentry compiled about 1512. Wil-
liam Bradshagh contributed to the subsidy
of 1541, 'for £20 in goods' ; Misc. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 143. For his
will see Lanes, and Ches. Wills (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 187.
James Bradshagh in 1568 was deforciant
of fourteen messuages in Aspull, Wigan,
Hindley, and other places ; Humphrey
Bradshagh was one of the plaintiffs ; Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 30, m. 75. Roger
Bradshagh was a purchaser or feoffee in
1583 ; ibid. bdle. 45, m. 122. He was
reported as ' soundly affected in religion '
in 1590; Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 246.
121
Margaret Bradshagh, daughter of Roger
Hindley, was in 1598 found to have held
lands in Aspull called the Several or Inland
of Miles Gerard by the hundredth part
of a knight's fee ; and other lands of
Roger Hindley. Elizabeth Bradshagh, her
daughter and heir, was only a year old ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii, no. 43.
Roger Bradshagh was a freeholder in
1 600 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc.), i, 247. The
same or a later Roger contributed to the
subsidy of 1622 as a landowner ; ibid.
162. He died 17 June 1625, holding three
messuages and cottages and lands in Aspull
of Edward Mosley, as of the manor of
Manchester, by the tenth part of the eighth
part of a knight's fee ; also other mes-
suages and lands in Hindley ; William and
John were his sons by his first wife, liv-
ing in 1619, and Edward by his second
wife Ellen ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
xxvi, no. 52.
There is a short pedigree of these Brad-
shaghs in Dugdale, Visit. 54.
About the end of the I7th century
Nathaniel Molyneux had lands in the Hall
of Bradshaw in Aspull, Westhoughton, &c.
2? The Atherton family may have de-
rived their holding here as also in Hindley
from a grant by Adam de Hindley. In each
township it seems to have descended to
the Lathoms of Wolfall. The evidence,
however, is defective.
In 1420 Thomas de Atherton and
Margery his wife were deforciants of
eight messuages in Aspull, &c. ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 5, m. 16. In
1473 Thomas Lathom of Knowsley held
of the lord of Manchester a messuage in
Aspull, in right of his wife, daughter and
heir of Henry Atherton of Prescot, by the
rent of T,d. with $d. for ward of the cas-
tle ; Mamecestre, 48 1 .
The Lathoms, as the inquisitions show,
held the lands here till the end of the 1 6th
century, when Thomas Lathom and
Frances his wife disposed of them ; Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 36, m. 158, 250.
28 Robert Law or Lowe in 1473 held a
messuage of the lord of Manchester, by a
rent of $d. and %d. for castle ward ;
Mamecestre, 481.
29 Alexander Rigby of Middleton in
Goosnargh, who died in 1621, held land in
Aspull of Thomas Gerard by a rent of
loi. %d. ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), iii, 456, 458. His son, Jo-
seph Rigby ' of Aspull,' Parliamentarian
officer, to whom it had been bequeathed,
is named in the pedigree in Dugdale,
Visit. 245 ; Diet. Nat. Biog. Joseph
and Alexander Rigby were clerks of the
peace under the Commonwealth ; Pal.
Note Bk. iv, 144-5. The father, Major
Joseph Rigby was, however, accused of
'impeding profits,' by trying by threats to
secure the lands of 'papists and delin-
quents ' for himself under value ; Cal. of
Com. for Compounding i, 371. The son,
Alexander, was said to have joined Lord
Derby in 1651 ; Cal. Com. Advancing
Money, iii, 1455.
80 In addition to those already named
Robert Pennington, Robert Gorton, Roger
Rycroft, and John Ainscough were free-
16
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
In 1626 the landowners contributing to the subsidy
were Roger Hindiey, the heirs of Roger Bradshaw,
Thomas Gidlow, and Ralph Houghton. The two
last-named, as convicted recusants, paid double.31
The hearth tax roll of 1 666 shows that i 3 5 hearths
were charged. The most considerable houses were
those of Richard Green, nine hearths ; Peter Orrell
and James Dukinfield, eight each ; Major Rigby and
Thomas Molyneux, seven each ; and Edward Gleast,
six."
John Roscow of Aspull compounded for his estate
under the Commonwealth.33 Besides Thomas and
Richard Gerard of Highfield, the following ' papists '
registered estates here in 1717 : — James and Roger
Leigh, Thomas Cooke, and Robert Taylor.*4
The land tax returns of 1797 show the landowners
to have been Robert Holt Leigh, Sir Richard Clayton,
and others.35
In connexion with the Established Church
St. Elizabeth's was built in 1882 by Mr. Roger
Leigh. The patronage is vested in trustees.36 There
is also a licensed chapel known as Hi-dley Hall
chapel.
There are Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, and
Independent Methodist churches.
The adherents of the ancient faith were formerly
indebted to the lords of the manor for the mission
established at Highfield; the Jesuits were serving it in
1701." In 1858 the permanent church of Our Lady
of the Immaculate Conception was erected 38 ; and
mo-e recently services have been commenced at New
Springs.
WINWICK
NEWTON GOLBORNE
HAYDOCK LOWTON
WINWICK WITH HULME KENYON
ASHTON CULCHETH
HOUGHTON, MIDDLETON,
AND ARBURY
SOUTHWORTH WITH
CROFT
The ancient parish of Winwicklies between Sankey
Brook on the south-west and Glazebrook and a tribu-
tary on the north and east, the distance between these
brooks being 4^ or 5 miles. The extreme length of
the parish is nearly 10 miles, and its area 26,502
acres.
The highest ground is on the extreme north-west
border, about 3 50 ft. ; most of the surface is above the
I oo ft. level, but slopes down on three sides to the
boundaries, 25 ft. being reached in Hulme in the
south. The geological formation consists of the Coal
Measures in the northern and western parts of the
parish, and of the Bunter series of the New Red
Sandstone in the remainder. Except Culcheth, which
belonged to the fee of Warrington, the whole was
included in the barony of Makerfield, the head of
which was Newton.
The townships were arranged in four quarters for
contributions to the county lay, to which the parish
paid one-eighth of the hundred levy, each quarter
paying equally : — (l) Winwick with Hulme, half;
Newton, half; (2) Lowton and Kenyon, half; Hay-
dock and Golborne, half ; (3) Ashton ; (4) Culcheth,
two-thirds ; Southworth and Croft, a third. To the
ancient 'fifteenth,' out of a levy of £106 gs. 6d. on
the hundred, the parish contributed £8 $s. 6f</., as
follows: — Newton, £i los. ; Haydock, los. 9^.;
Ashton, £z 14*. ^\d. ; Golborne, 8/. ; Lowton,
15*. %d. ; Culcheth, £i 8/. \Q\d. ; Southworth and
Croft, gs. zd. ; Middleton with Arbury, 6s. 8<£
holders in 1600 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes.
and Ches.), i, 249, 251.
Ribert Pennington contributed to the
subs'dy in 1622 ; ibid. 162. Pennington
Hall is still marked on the map.
Robert Gorton purchased a messuage
&c. in 1581 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 43, m. 129. He died 10 Dec. 1624,
holding a messuage and lands in Aspull of
Edward Mosley, lord of Manchester, by
the twentieth part of the eighth part of a
knight's fee ; James, his son and heir, was
aged forty and more ; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. xxvi, no. 48. James died soon after-
wards ; ibid, xxvi, no. n.
Roger Rycroft seems to have purchased
part of the Lathom holding ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 36, m. 250. He died 15
Dec. 1612 holding of Miles Gerard, as of
the manor of Aspull ; his eldest ion
William having died before him he was
succeeded by his grandson, Roger Rycroft
the younger, son of William ; Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii,
3M--
Thomas Shaw and Alice his wife, and
John Ainscough and Ellen his wife, were
deforciants of a messuage and lands in
Aspull in 1392 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 54, m. 67. Miles Ainscough of
Aspull was a juror in 1619; Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 127.
John son of Henry del Ford of Aspull
recovered land here from Robert son of
Richard de Ince and a number of others,
including John de Buckshagh, in 1356;
Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 5, m. 29.
Emma de Buckshagh, who had been
'waived' for felony and died in 1401,
held as widow of William Buckshagh some
land here of Robert de Hulton and
Katherine his wife, in right of the latter.
Ellen daughter of William de Buckshagh
was the heir, and twenty-two years of age
in 1404 ; Lanes. Inq. (Chet. Soc.), i, 79,
80.
The Suttons and Gorsuches of Scaris-
brick also held land here, as appears by
their inquisitions. Edward Gorsuch had
a dispute as to lands called Asmoll and
Brandearth in Aspull in 1639 ; Exch.
Dtp. 26.
Hugh Swansey of Chorley was in 1567
found to have held lands in Aspull of
William Gerard of Ince by a rent of \d. ;
Robert was his son and heir ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, no. 29. Robert
Swansey and Anne his wife, and Edward
their son and heir apparent, were deforci-
ants of lands in Aspull four years later ;
John Ainscough was one of the plaintiffs ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 33, m.
146.
Peter Catterall of Shevington (1583)
122
had held part of the Hospitallers' lands by
a rent of 1 8</. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
xiv, no. 70.
A yeoman family named Pemberton
held land under the Hindleys. They became
Quakers, suffering accordingly, and emi-
grated to Pennsylvania in 1682, being
among the earliest settlers ; Friend? Misc.
(Phila.), vii ; Life of John Pemberton.
31 Lay Subs. R. bdle. 131, no. 312,
Lanes.
82 Ibid. bdle. 250, no. 9, Lanes.
88 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, ii,
1151.
84 Engl. Catb. Nonjurors, 153.
86 R. H. Leigh possessed Hindiey Hall,
Bank House, Leyland'sand Morris's ; the
devisees of James Hodson had Halliwell
and Leylands, the same and • — Doncaster
had Kirklees ; Sir R. Clayton had Gidlow
Hall, and Sir John Smith Bradshaw
Hall.
86 Bridgeman, Wigan Ch. (Chet. Soc.),
784 ; Land. Gam. 24 Apr. 1883.
8? Foley, Rec. Soc. Jesus, v, 320 ; Fr.
Richard Moore was in charge, with an
allowance of £5. Soon after him Fr.
John Bennet was there until his death in
1751 ; ibid, v, 323 ; vii, 50. At this
time ' Mr. Fazakerley ' is named as the
owner or tenant of Highfield.
88 Salford Dioc. Cal.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
One of the great roads from south to north has
from the earliest times led through Winwick, Newton,
and Ashton, and there are several tumuli and other
ancient remains.
The Domesday Survey shows that a large part of
the surface consisted of woodland, and Garswood in
Ashton preserves the name of part of it. In the
Civil War two battles were fought near Winwick. In
more modern times coal mines have been worked and
manufactures introduced, and Earlestown has grown
up around the wagon-building works of the London
and North- Western Railway Company.
The agricultural land in the parish is utilized as
follows : — Arable land, 16,2 5 8 acres ; permanent grass,
4,820 acres ; woods and plantations, 653 acres. The
following are details : —
Winwick 2,192 247
Southworth and Croft . . . 1,596 130
Newton in Makerfield . . . 1,614 423
Lowton 960 570
Haydock I>244 411
Golborne 951 448
Ashton in Makerfield . . . 3,228 1,210
Culcheth and Kenyon . . . 4,473 1,381
I*
25
72
16
433
9°
Newton has given the title of baron to the lord of
the manor, who has, however, no residence in the
parish ; Lord Gerard of Brynn has his principal seat
at Garswood.
Dr. Kuerden thus describes a journey through the
parish made about 1695 : — ' Entering a little hamlet
called the Hulme you leave on the left a deep and
fair stone quarry fit for building. You meet with
another crossway on the right. A mile farther stands
WINWICK
a fair-built church called Winwick church, a remark-
able fabric. . . . Leaving the church on the right
about a quarter of a mile westwards stands a princely
building, equal to the revenue, called the parsonage
of Winwick ; and near the church on the right hand
stands a fair-built schoolhouse. By the east end of
the church is another road, but less used, to the
borough of Wigan.
'Having passed the school about half a mile you
come to a sandy place called the Red Bank, where
Hamilton and his army were beaten. Here, leaving
Bradley park, and a good seat belonging to Mr.
Brotherton of Hey (a member of Parliament for the
borough of Newton) on the left hand, and Newton
park on the right, you have a little stone bridge over
Newton Brook, three miles from Warrington. On
the left hand close by a water mill appear the ruins
of the site of the ancient barony of Newton, where
formerly was the baron's castle.
' Having passed the bridge you ascend a rock,
where is a penfold cut out of the same, and upon the
top of the rock was lately built a court house for the
manor, and near to it a fair re-edified chapel of stone
built by Richard Legh, deceased, father to Mr. Legh,
the present titular baron of Newton. There stands a
stately cross, near the chapel well, adorned with the
arms belonging to the present baron. Having passed
the town of Newton you leave a cross-road on the
left going to Liverpool by St. Helen's chapel. You
pass in winter through a miry lane for half a mile ;
you leave another lane on the left passing by Bil-
linge. . . .
* Then passing on a sandy lane you leave Haydock
park, and (close by the road) Haydock lodge, belong-
ing to Mr. Legh, and going on half a mile you pass
123
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
by the chapel and through the town of Ashton,
standing upon a rocky ground, which belongeth to
Sir William Gerard, bart., of Brynn, who resides at
Garswood, about a mile to the east (sic). Having
passed the stone bridge take the left hand way, which
though something fouler is more used. You then
pass by Whitledge Green, a place much resorted to
in summer by the neighbouring gentry for bowling.
Shortly after, you meet with the other way from
Ashton bridge by J. Naylor's, a herald painter and an
excellent stainer of glass for pictures or coats of arms.
Through a more open coach-way passing on upon the
right leave the Brynn gate, a private way leading to the
ancient hall of Brynn, and upon the left another road
by Garswood to the hall of Parr, a seat belonging to
the Byroms, and to St. Helen's chapel ; and thence
past Hawkley to Wigan.' *
Among the worthies of the parish may here be
noted Thomas Legh Claughton, born at Haydock
Lodge in 1808, who became Bishop of Rochester in
1867, resigning in 1890, and died in 1892 ;s also
Thomas Risley, a Nonconformist divine, 1630 to 1716.*
The following in 1630-3 compounded by annual
fines for the two-thirds of their estates liable to be
sequestered for their recusancy : Ashton, Sir William
Gerard of Brynn, £106 I 3/. \d. ; Jane Gerard ; Cul-
cheth, Richard Urmston, £6 ; Lowton, Peter and
Roger Haughton, £3 ; Southworth, Christopher Bow
of Croft, £2 ios.&
The church of ST. OSWALD has a
CHURCH chancel 6 with north vestry, nave with
aisles and south porch, and west tower
and spire. It is built of a very inferior local sand-
stone, with the result that its history has been much
obscured by repairs and rebuildings, and cannot be
taken back beyond the I4th century ; though the
dedication and the fragment of an early cross, now set
up outside the chancel, both point to an early occupa-
tion of the site.
The chancel was entirely rebuilt in 1847—8 in
14th-century style, the elder Pugin being the archi-
tect, and is a fine and well-designed work with a high-
pitched leaded roof, a four-light east window, and
three-light windows on north and south. There are
three canopied sedilia and a piscina, and the arched
ceiling is panelled, with gilt bosses at the intersection
of the ribs, and a stone cornice with carved paterae.
The nave is of six bays, with a north arcade having
pointed arches of two orders with sunk quarter-round
mouldings, and curious clustered piers considerably
too thick for the arches they carry, and projecting in
front of the wall-face towards the nave. The general
outline is octagonal with a hollow between two
quarter-rounds on each cardinal face, and a deep
V-shaped sinking on the alternate faces. The abacus
of the capitals is octagonal, but the necking follows
the outline of the piers, and pairs of trefoiled leaves
rise from the hollows on the cardinal faces. The
bases, of very rough work, are panelled on the cardinal
faces, with engaged shafts 6 in. high, while on the
diagonal faces are badly-cut mitred heads.
There is a curious suggestion of 14th-century de-
tail in the arcade, in spite of its clumsiness, but the
actual date is probably within a few years of 1600.
The clearstory above has three windows set over the
alternate arches, of four lights with uncusped tracery
and low four-centred heads.
The south arcade, ' from the first pillar eastward to
the fifth west,' was taken down and rebuilt from the
foundations in 1836. It has clustered piers of quatre-
foil section, and simply moulded bell capitals with
octagonal abaci, the arches being of two chamfered
orders with labels ending in pairs of human heads at
the springing. The original work belonged to the
beginning of the I4th century. The clearstory on
this side has six windows, of four uncusped lights
without tracery, under a four-centred head, all the
stonework being modern.
At the east end of the north aisle is the Gerard
Chapel, inclosed with an iron screen, which about 1 848
replaced a wooden screen dated 'in the yere of our
Lord MCCCCLXXXI.' There is a three-light east window
and two four-light windows on the north, all with
16th-century uncusped tracery. In the aisle west of
the chapel are three four-light north windows with
embattled transoms and uncusped tracery, and a north
doorway with a square-headed window over it, of four
uncusped lights. The tracery, except part in the
Gerard Chapel, has been lately renewed, the original
date of the windows being perhaps c. 1530-50. On
the external faces of the transoms is carved the IHS
monogram. The two east bays of the south aisle are
taken up by the Legh Chapel, and separated by an
arch at the west from the rest of the aisle. This
western portion was rebuilt in 1530, being dated by
an inscription running round the external cornice,
and the Legh Chapel is somewhat earlier in date,
perhaps c. 1500. The chapel has a small doorway on
the south, a three-light window on the east, and two
on the south, all with uncusped tracery, the stone-
work being mutilated, and in the aisle are three four-
light windows on the south, with embattled transoms
and tracery uncusped except in the upper middle
lights, and one window at the west, also of four
lights, but of different design. On the external faces
of the transoms are carved roses, all the stonework
being modern. The aisle has a vice at the south-
west angle. The south porch is low, and the inscribed
cornice of the aisle runs above it without a break.
The porch has been completely refaced, and opens to
the south aisle by a four-centred doorway with con-
tinuous mouldings. Both aisles and clearstory have
embattled parapets and leaded roofs of low pitch. The
inscription round the south aisle is in leonine hexa-
meters, running from west to east, and is as follows : —
Hie locus Oswalde quondam placuit tibi valde ;
Nortanhumbrorum fueras rex, nuncque polorum
Regna tenes, prato passus Marcelde vocato.
Poscimus hinc a te nostri memor esto beate.
Anno milleno quingentenoque triceno
Sclater post Christum murum renovaverat
istum ;
Henricus Johnson curatus erat simul hie tune.
The tower retains much of its old facing, though
the surface is much decayed. It has a vice at the
* Local Gleanings Lanes, and Ches. i, 209.
On p. 214 is his note of the other road
from Winwick to Wigan as follows :
' Leaving the church on the left hand,
half a mile from thence you have a fair
built house formerly belonging to Charles
Herle, parson of Winwick. . . . You
leave Lowton township, passing over Low-
ton Cop, leaving Byrom not far on the
right and the New Church, being a paro-
chial chapel to Winwick.1
8 Diet. Nat. Biog.
124
* Ibid. ; see also the account of Cul-
cheth. 8 Lucas, ' Warton ' (MS.).
6 For the former chancel see Sir S.
Glynne's account, Ch. of Lanes. (Chet.
Soc.) 27, 91 ; also generally the Rev.
W. A. Wickham in Trans. Hist. Soc. 1908.
WINWICK CHURCH, FROM THR SOUTH
WINWICK CHURCH : NORTH ARCADE OF NAVE
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WINWICK
south-east angle, which ends with a flat top at the
level of an embattled parapet at the base of the spire.
The spire is of stone, and has two rows of spire lights,
and the belfry windows are of two trefoiled lights with
quatrefoils in the head. All the work belongs to the
first half of the I4th century, and in the ground
story is a three-light west window with modern net
tracery, flanked by two empty niches, with below it
a four-centred doorway with continuous wave-mould-
ings. The tower arch is of three continuous wave-
moulded orders. On the west face of the tower, to
the south of the niche flanking the west window on
the south, is a small and very weathered carving of a
pig with a bell round his neck, known as the Winwick
pig. His story is that, like other supernatural
agencies under similar circumstances elsewhere, he in-
sisted on bringing all the stones with which the church
was being built on another and lower site to the pre-
sent site, removing each night the preceding day's work.7
The roof of the Gerard Chapel is modern, but
that of the Legh Chapel has heavily-moulded timbers,
ceiled between with plaster panels having moulded
ribs and four-leaved flowers at the centres. Below
the beams, at the wall plates, are angels holding
shields with heraldry.8
The roofs of the aisles have cambered tie-beams and
braces, with panels between the beams divided into
four by wood ribs. Neither roof is set out to space
with the arcades or windows, the south aisle roof
being of seven bays, that in the north aisle of six ;
they belong probably to c. 1530.
In the vestry is a very fine and elaborate I Jth-cen-
tury carved beam, found used up in a cottage. It
has eleven projecting brackets for images, that in the
middle being larger than the others, and may have
been the front beam of the rood-loft. It is 15 ft.
long. An altar table in the vestry dated 1725 is
inlaid with mahogany, with a * glory ' in the middle
and initials at the corners, and a monogram AT.
In the Gerard Chapel is the fine brass of Piers
Gerard, son of Sir Thomas Gerard of the Brynn,
1485, and in the Legh Chapel is a second brass, now
set against the east wall, with the figures of Sir Peter
Legh, 1527, and his wife Ellen (Savage), 1491. Sir
Peter was ordained priest after his wife's death, and is
shown on his brass tonsured and with mass vestments
over his armour. Below are figures of children.
There is a brass plate in the chancel pavement to
Richard Sherlock, rector, 1689.
Later monuments in the Legh Chapel are those of
Sir Peter Legh, 1635, and Richard Legh and his wife,
1687. On the south side of the chapel some ala-
baster panels with strapwork and heraldry, from a
destroyed Jacobean monument, are built into the wall.9
There are six bells, re-cast in 1711.
The church possesses two chalices, patens, and
flagons of 1786 ; two chalices, four patens, and two
flagons of 1795 ; and a sifter and tray of the same
date. Also a pewter flagon and basin, two large
copper flagons, red enamelled, with gold flower paint-
ing of Japanese style, a gilded brass almsdish and two
plates, designed by Pugin, and an ebony staff with a
plated head, the gift of Geoffrey Hornby, rector,
1781-1812.
In the chancel hangs a brass chandelier, given by
the Society of Friends of Warrington.
The registers begin in 1563, the paper book not
being extant. The first volume contains the years
1563-1642, the entries to 1598 being copies. The
next volumes in order are 1630—77, 1676-95,
1696-1717, 1716-33.
The octagonal bowl of a 14th-century font found in
1877 beneath the floor of the church now lies outside
the east end of the chancel, in company with the
piece of an early cross-head described in a previous
volume.10 It is much worn, but has had four-leaved
flowers on each face, with raised centres, and must
have been a good piece of work when perfect.11
' St. Oswald had two plough-lands
ADrOWSON exempt from all taxation ' in 1066,
so that the parish church has been
well endowed from ancient times.11 Possibly the
dedication suggested to Roger of Poitou the pro-
priety of granting it to St. Oswald's Priory, Nostell,13
a grant which appears to have been renewed or con-
firmed by Stephen, Count of Mortain, between 1114
and 1 12 1.14 In II 23 Henry I
wrote to the Bishop of Ches-
ter, directing that full justice
should be done to the prior
and canons of Nostell, whose
clerks in Makerfield were de-
priving them of their dues.15
From this time the prior and
canons presented to the church,
receiving certain dues or a fixed
pension ; but beyond the state-
ment in the survey of 1 2 1 2 16
nothing is known until 1252,
when Alexander, Bishop of
Lichfield, having been appealed to by the prior and
the canons, decreed that on the next vacancy they
should present ' a priest of honest conversation and
competent learning ' as vicar, who should receive the
whole of the fruits of the church, paying to Lichfield
Cathedral and to Nostell Priory a sum of money as
might be fixed by the bishop. In the meantime the
annual pension of $os. then paid to Nostell from the
church of Winwick was to be divided equally, half
being paid to the church of Lichfield.17 A century
NOSTELL PRIORY.
Gules a cross beKveen
four lions rampant or.
1 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xxiii, 213.
The niche may have held an image of
St. Anthony.
8 These shields have been repainted,
and it is evident that this has been done
incorrectly. They seem, however, to be
intended for the arms of the following
families : — Butler of Merton, Croft of
Dalton, Legh of Lyme, Boydell, Boydell
and Haydock.
9 The inscriptions on the various monu-
ments are given in Beamont, Win-wick,
119-25 ; see also Thornely, Brasses, 61,
169. Notes of the arms, &c. found in
the church in the i6th and ijth centuries
are printed in Trans. Hist. Soc. (new
ser.), vi, 265 ; xiv, 210.
10 y.C.H. Lanes, i, 262.
11 Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. ii, 113 ;
Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xvii, 69.
For a traditional rhyme — ' When a
maid is married there the steeple gives
a nod' — see Lanes, and Ches. Hist, and Gen.
Notes, iii, 10. la V.C.H. Lanes, i, 286.
18 Lanes. Inq. and Ext. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 72.
14 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 301.
15 Ibid. 300.
16 Lanes. Inq. and Ext. loc. cit.
17 Lich. Epis. Reg. v, fol. 6ib. It may
125
perhaps be inferred from the notices of the
rectors that the prior and canons had
farmed out the church to a family of here-
ditary ' clerks ' ; and when this arrange-
ment was terminated, opportunity wag
taken to secure a certain payment to the
priory, and also an equal sum to Lichfield
Cathedral. In future the actual holder of
the rectory was to be styled a 'vicar,'
though he received all the revenues ; and
for a century and a half accordingly he
was usually so called, though ' parson '
also occurs frequently. The poverty of
both priory and cathedral was alleged as
the reason for the pensions.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
later it appears that a pension of 24 marks was due
from the vicarage to the monastery.18
In 1291 the annual value was estimated as
£26 i$s. 4</.,19 while in 1341 the ninth of the corn,
wool, &c. was valued at 50 marks.20
The first dispute as to the patronage seems to have
occurred in I 307, when John de Langton claimed it
in right of his wife Alice, heiress of the lords of Maker-
field. The priors of Nostell, however, were able to
show a clear title, and the claim was defeated.81
About fifty years later the patronage was acquired by
the Duke of Lancaster." In 1381 the king was
patron,*3 and the Crown retained the right until
Henry VI granted it to Sir John de Stanley, reserving
to the prior an annual pension of ioo/.24 From this
time it has descended with the main portion of the
Stanley properties, the Earl of Derby being patron.
In 1534 the net value was returned as £ 1 02 9/. %d.,K
but in 1650 the income was estimated at over £660,™
and Bishop Gastrell reckoned it at about j£8oo after
the curates had been paid.*7 At the beginning of last
century, before the division of the endowment, the
benefice was considered the richest in the kingdom,23
and its gross value is still put at ^i,6oo.S9
The following have been rectors : —
Instituted
oc. 1191 . .
OC. I 2 I 2 .
oc. 1232 . .
c. 1250 . .
oc. 1287 . . .
8 Feb. 1306-7.
1325 . .
Name
Hugh80
Richard"
Robert81
N33
Alexander de Tamworth M
Augustine de Darington K
John de Mosley 36 . . .
John de Bamburgh 37
Presented by
Priory of Nostell
John de Chisenhale M Bishop of Lichfield
Cause of Vacancy
d. of J. de Bamburgh
18 Lich. Epis. Reg. ii, 125 b.
19 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 249.
80 Inq. Non. (Rec. Com.), 40. The
separate townships stood thus : — Ashton,
£8 6s. 8</. ; Haydock, 311. 8<£ ; Newton,
£4 31. 4</. ; Golborne, ^3 is. %d. ; Low-
ton and Kenyon, ^4 ; Middleton and
Houghton, £i ; Culcheth, £5 i6s. %d. ;
Croft and Southworth, £2 6s. %d. ; Win-
wick and Hulme, ^3.
81 De Banco R. 162,01.4. The canons
had presented on the three preceding
vacancies, viz., Alexander de Tamworth,
Augustine de Darington in the time of
Henry III, and John de Mosley. These
were probably all that had been appointed
since the termination of the old arrange-
ment.
Again in 1325, on the death of John
de Bamburgh, the Prior of Nostell had to
defend his right, the Bishop of Lichfield
claiming on the ground that the prior
having presented an unfit person (Roger
de Atherton, Canon of Nostell) the right
had devolved on himself as ordinary, and
he had conferred the vicarage on one John
de Chisenhale. The prior vindicated his
right, but the bishop's presentee retained
possession ; De Banco R. 258, m. 4 d.
In 1 349 it was agreed that a canon of
Nostell should thenceforward be appointed
to the vicarage; Cal. Pat. 1348-50, p. 423.
82 In 1360, and later, the king and
John of Gaunt claimed the advowson,
the church being then vacant ; De Banco
R. 404, m. 3 ; 406, m. 252 ; 409, m. 18 d.
All charters relating to Winwick have
been omitted from the Nostell chartulary.
83 See the appointments in 1384 and
later years. One of those nominated was
a Boteler, as if the claim of Sir William
Boteler had been recognized in some way.
At this time, however, the prior of
Nostell sold to Robert de Morton an an-
nuity of 8 marks for £240, which sum
the prior was to employ in procuring the
appropriation of Winwick ; he misspent
the money and involved the house in a
debt of 1,200 marks; Beamont, Wmtvick,
12, quoting Batty, Nostell Priory, 20.
84 Close, 12 Hen. VI, m. 13 d. which
records a grant (undated) of the advowson
made by John, Prior of Nostell, to Sir John
de Stanley, Sir Thomas de Stanley, and
Henry de Byrom. It will be seen that
Sir John de Stanley was patron earlier,
having presented Thomas Bourgchier at
the beginning of 1433. The Bishop of
Lichfield had presented, by lapse, ten years
before; and as the rector then appointed
was a Stanley, it is probable that this
family had already acquired the patronage,
or the promise of it. In 1 5 1 8 the Prior
of Nostell claimed the IOQJ. rent and ^30
arrears from the executors of Bishop Stan-
ley ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 123, m. 9.
8S Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 220.
The gross total was made up thus : Rents,
£44 8j. j.d. ; great tithes, £58 161. %d. ;
small tithes, oblations, and Easter roll,
£15 — in all £118 41. Gowther Legh
(the steward) and the bailiff had each a
fee of £5 ; the same amount was paid to
Nostell Priory ; and i$s. \d. was paid to
the Archdeacon of Chester. 'A good
benefice ' is Leland's note on Winwick ;
Itin. vii, 47.
84 Common-wealth Ch. Surv. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 46. The parsonage
house and glebe lands were worth £160 a
year ; three water corn-mills, ^30 ; rents
of tenants, £28 ; tithes, £445 zs. — all of
which the rector then had to his own use.
8? Not. Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 260-4 5
the tenants of the glebe renewed with
every new rector, and once in twenty-one
years if he continued so long ; what was
paid by the tenants upon each renewal
amounted to about £1,000, but the rector
was not obliged to renew. There were
four churchwardens and four assistants,
serving for the four quarters they lived in.
88 Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland),
340. In 1835 its value was said to be
^7,000 a year, of which ,£3,000 was from
tithes ; Baines, Lanes, (ist ed.), iii, 623.
The Winwick Church Acts authorizing
the division are 4 & 5 Vic. cap. 9 (pri-
vate), and 8 & 9 Vic. cap. 9 (private).
89 Liverpool Dioc. Cal.
80 Wballey Coucher (Chet. Soc.), i, 40.
81 Lanes. Inq. and Ext. i, 72.
88 Lich. Epis. Reg. Stavenby, v, fol. 6 1*;
rector named as then living in the ordi-
nance concerning a vicarage at Winwick.
Robert is mentioned also in a suit in
126
1277 as having made a grant of land ; De
Banco R. 19, m. 54 d. In 1271 Robert
son of the rector of Winwick, and Amaria
and Juliana his sisters accused Henry de
Sefton of taking their goods and chattels ;
Cur. Reg. R. 204, m. 1 1 d. He was a
son of Robert the rector ; see Beamont,
Winiuick, 16. William son of Robert the
rector also occurs ; Towneley MS. HH,
no. 1699.
38 ' N. rector of Winwick ' attested a
deed made about 1250; Dods. MSS. liii,
fol. 176.
84 De Banco R. 162, m. 4.
85 Ibid. ; appointed in the time of
Henry III, and vicar for thirty years. He
appears as plaintiff in the early years of
Edward I down to 1279, an(^ 's some-
times called Augustine de Winwick ; De
Banco R. 18, m. 15 ; 23, m. 21.
86 De Banco R. 162, m. 4 ; his death
was the occasion of a dispute as to the
patronage early in 1307. He was vicar
as early as 1287 and in 1292 ; Harl. MS.
21 12, fol. 1586-1946; Assize R. 408,
m. 58 d.
In a plea of 1352 it was asserted that
' John de Warnefield, vicar of the church
of Winwick,' granted the lands in dispute
in the time of Edward II ; Duchy of
Lane. Assize R. 2, m. 6 (Mich.). Bea-
mont, however, states that his name
occurs in 1292 (Winivick, 17) ; in which
case he must be identical either with
John de Mosley, who died a short time
before the accession of Edward II, or
with John de Bamburgh.
8' Lich. Epis. Reg. Langton, i, fol.
lob ; he was ordered to reside in the
parish. Nothing further is known of him
except that he was defendant in a case in
1307 ; De Banco R. 164, m. 324.
88 For the circumstances of his pre-
sentation see a preceding note. He gave
a bond to the prior of Nostell for £316 ;
Nostell Reg. fol. 23 (B.M. Cott. Vesp. E.
xix). He occurs as vicar in 1332 as
defendant in a suit concerning land in
Culcheth : De Banco R. 290, m. 3 ; and
Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
ii, 86, and in later cases, e.g. Coram
Rege R. 297, m. 6 d. (where he is called
' parson ').
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WINWICK
Instituted Name Presented by
12 Dec. 1349 • Geoffrey de Burgh 39 Priory of Nostell .
. . William de Blackburn40 ....
oc. 1384—5 . . John de Harwood 41
23 Jan. 1384-5 . Thomas le Boteler u The King . . .
- 1386 . . Walter de Thornholme 43 . ... „ . . .
1388 . . Robert le King " The Pope . . .
6 May 1389 William Daas45. . . . {ThePope. * '
(The King . . .
3 April 1423 . Mr. Richard Stanley46 Bishop of Lichfield
ii Mar. 1432-3 Thomas Bourchier47 Sir John Stanley .
oc. 1436 . . George Radcliffe, D. Deer. 48 . . .
19 June 1453 . Edward Stanley 49 Sir Thomas Stanley
22 Nov. 1462 . James Stanley 50 Henry Byrom . .
25 Aug. 1485 . Robert Cliff 51 Lord Stanley . .
27 Feb. 1493-4. Mr. James Stanley, D.Can.L. " . . Earl of Derby . .
2 1 June 1515 . Mr. Thomas Larke S3 „ ...
1525 . . Thomas Winter 54 The King . . .
23 Dec. 1529 . William Boleyne" „ . . .
10 April 1 5 52 . Thomas Stanley 56 Earl of Derby . .
Cause of Vacancy
d. J. de Chisenhale
d. R. Stanley
d. G. Radcliffe
d. E. Stanley
d. J. Stanley
res. R. Cliff
d. Bp. of Ely
res. T. Larke
res. T. Winter
d. W. Boleyne
89 Lich. Epis. Reg. Northburgh, ii, fol.
I2$£. He was a canon of Nostell. His
institution was confirmed eight years
later, viz., 28 Nov. 1357 ; ibid, ii, fol.
126. In the following year he was
described as ' lately vicar ' ; Raines MSS.
(Chet. Lib.), xxxviii, 425. The church
was vacant in 1360 ; De Banco R. 404,
m. 3.
40 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xl, App. 523. It
is not known whether Blackburn and his
immediate successors were ever insti-
tuted.
41 Ibid. A protection for John de Har-
wood, vicar of Winwick, against William
de Blackburn, late usurper of the benefice ;
dated 22 Jan. 1384-5.
43 Cal.Pat. 1381-5, p. 528. It will be
noticed that he was presented the day
after the protection to John de Harwood
was granted.
48 Ibid. 1385-9, p. 127 ; this was only
a ' ratification of his estate.' He was to
have accompanied John of Gaunt into
Aquitaine in 1388, but stayed behind in
London ; ibid. pp. 497, 518.
44 Robert le King is named as ' per-
petual vicar" of Winwick, in July 1388 ;
Towneley MS. OO, no. 1539.
45 Cal. Pat. 1388-92, pp. 32, 363.
After the disputes and unsettlement in-
dicated by these rapid changes came a
time of rest, this rector remaining for
about thirty years.
It was the pope who presented William
Daas to the rectory, the advowson being
in his hands ; but the Statute of Provisors
causing difficulty the king presented the
same clerk, and afterwards ratified his
title. These facts appear from a petition
by the rector, about 1398, complaining
that a certain Robert de Hallam had in-
formed the king that the church was
vacant, and procured a presentation for
himself; P.R.O. Anct. Pet. file 220,
no. 10999.
William Daas had licence for an ora-
tory in 1393 ; Lich. Epis. Reg. Scrope,
vi, fol. i29/>. From this and other evi-
dences he appears to have been resident.
A complaint was made by him in 1393
that having closed a path through one of
his glebe fields, Sir John le Boteler and
others had forcibly broken through. The
verdict was in his favour ; Pal. of Lane.
Misc. bdle. i, file 8, m. 6, 7. He is
al*o mentioned in 1404 and 1405 ;
ibid, file 9, m. 71, 68. In 1407 he pur-
chased from Sir William Boteler the right
to make a weir or attachment for captur-
ing fish in Sankey water ; Beamont,
Winiuick, 19 (quoting Butler Deeds). He
with Thomas de Longley (late Archdeacon
of Norfolk), Eustace Daas, and John
Drewe, gave fine for a writ in 1411-12 ;
Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvii, App. i, 173.
46 Lich. Epis. Reg. Heyworth, ix, fol.
uzb. As the bishop collated, the 'vicar-
age,' as it is still called, must have been
vacant for some time, but the reason is not
given. Master Richard Stanley was ap-
pointed archdeacon of Chester in 1426 ;
Le Neve, Fasti, i, 567.
47 Lich. Epis. Reg. Heyworth, ix, izib.
The new ' rector ' probably held the bene-
fice till his consecration as Bishop of
Worcester in 1435 ; he became Arch-
bishop of Canterbury ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
48 Dr. George Radcliffe, son of Sir
Ralph Radcliffe of Smithills, was Arch-
deacon of Chester in 1449; Le Neve, op. cit.
He held a canonry in St. John's, Chester,
till his death ; Ormerod, Cbes. (ed. Hels-
by), i, 310. He is mentioned as rector
in 1436 ; Kuerden MSS. Hi, W. 6, no. 79.
He had been rector of Wilmslow and
Longford in succession ; Earwaker, East
Cheshire, i, 88. For pedigree see Whi-
taker, Whalley (ed. Nichols), ii, 319.
49 Lich. Epis. Reg. Boulers, xi, fol. 37^.
He was also appointed Archdeacon of
Chester ; Le Neve, loc. sup. cit.
60 Lich. Epis. Reg. Hales, xii, fol. ioob.
Henry Byrom was patron for this turn.
James Stanley was a son of the first Lord
Stanley ; Archdeacon of Chester 1478,
Warden of Manchester 1481, and Rector
of Warrington 1482, holding all these
till his death ; see Le Neve.
61 Lich. Epis. Reg. Hales, xii, fol. 120 ;
he engaged to pay a pension of 24 marks
a year to the dean and chapter of Lich-
field. One Robert ClifFe was priest of a
chantry in St. John's, Chester, from 1478
to 1516 ; Ormerod, op. cit. i, 313.
62 Lich. Epis. Reg. Smith, xii, fol. 157^.
He was son of the patron, and had suc-
ceeded his uncle as Warden of Manches-
ter in 1485. He became Bishop of Ely
in 1506, retaining Winwick till his death.
An account of him will be found in Diet.
Nat. Biog.
53 Lich. Epis. Reg. Blyth, xiii-xiv, fol.
59. He held various benefices, being one
of Cardinal Wolsey's chaplains, and his
confessor. He continued faithful to Wolsey
on his fall and died just before him in
1530 ; see L. and P. Hen. VIII , iv, 2936,
I27
&c. The scandal of the times alleged
that his sister had been the cardinal's
mistress.
In July 1515 Thomas, Earl of Derby,
granted to Sir William Pole and others
the advowson of Winwick, with instruc-
tions to present Randle Pole, clerk, at the
next vacancy ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
v, no. 68. Randle Pole was rector of
Hawarden in 1516.
54 L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv, 3095 ; the
king presented on account of the minority
of the patron.
Thomas Winter is usually stated to
have been the son of Cardinal Wolsey,
but was perhaps his nephew. He appears
at this time to have been only a boy, and
in 1519 was learning Latin. In 1528
he was living in Paris, continuing his
studies. The manner in which benefices
and dignities (e.g. the deanery of Wells,
the archdeaconries of York, Richmond,
Suffolk, and Norfolk) were heaped upon
this non-resident youth is a singular illus-
tration of the zeal for Church reform
sometimes attributed to Cardinal Wolsey.
Winter appears to have resigned his pre-
ferments at or soon after the cardinal's
fall, and nothing more is known of him.
See L. and P. Hen. VIII, iii, iv, and Le
Neve.
55 Lich. Epis. Reg. Blyth, xiii-xiv, fol.
65^. The presentation, dated 20 Nov.,
was made by the king, the Earl of Derby
being still a minor ; L. and P. Hen. VIII,
iv, 2710. He received other church pre-
ferments about this time, being probably
William Bolen, Archdeacon of Win-
chester, 1529 ; Le Neve, op. cit. iii, 26.
For the bells, plate, and other orna-
ments in 1552 see Ch. Gds. (Chet. Soc.),
62-5.
56 Act Bks. at Ches. Dioc. Reg. He
paid his first-fruits 5 Apr. 1552 ; Lanes,
and Ches. Recs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), ii, 408. A fuller account of him
will be found under Wigan, of which
church, as also of North Meols, he was
rector ; Bishop of Sodor and Man ; see
Diet. Nat. Biog.
In Oct. 1563 Bishop Stanley leased
the rectory, including the manor and
glebe, for ninety-nine years at a rent of
£120 to Sir Thomas Stanley. The Earl
of Derby, father of the lessee, and the
Bishop of Chester were consenting parties.
This lease appears to have caused much
difficulty and loss, and in 1618 the rector
endeavoured to have it cancelled ; by a
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Instituted
19 Mar. 1568-9
7 Jan. 1575-6-
1 8 Feb. 1596-7.
27 Mar. 1616 .
27 June 1626
19 Oct. 1660 .
24 July 1689
30 July 1692
9 Sept. 1725 .
13 Sept. 1740 .
18 May 1742 .
24 Aug. 1764 .
Name
Christopher Thompson, M.A.
John Caldwell, M.A. M . .
Presented by
Thomas Handford.
Earl of Derby . .
John Ryder, M.A. • . .
Josiah Home w . . . .
Charles Herle, M.A. 61 .
Thomas Jessop * . . .
Richard Sherlock, D.D. G3 .
Thomas Bennet, B.D.64 .
Hon. Henry Finch, M.A. 6i
Francis Annesley, LL.D. M
Hon. John Stanley, M.A. 6r
Thomas Stanley, LL.D. 68
Hon. John Stanley, M.A. *
The King . . .
Sir Edward Stanley
Cause of Vacancy
d. Bp. Stanley
fdepr. or removal of
{ Chr. Thompson
prom. Bp. Ryder
d. J. Home
Earl of Derby ....
John Bennet . . . . d. R. Sherlock
Earl of Derby . . . . d. T. Bennet
Trustees res. H. Finch
Charles Stanley . . . d. F. Annesley
Earl of Derby .... res. J. Stanley
. . . . d. T. Stanley
compromise the hall and manor were given
to the rector, but the remainder continued
to be held by the Earl of Worcester, Sir
John and Dame Frances Fortescue, and
Petronilla Stanley, representatives of Sir
Thomas Stanley, whose son, Sir Edward,
had left four daughters as co-heirs. It
continued to give trouble until its expiry
in 1662. See Beamont, Win-wick, 32,
37, 41, 56 ; alio references in Lanes, and
Cbes. Recs. ii, 263, 346.
»' Church Papers at Chester Dioc. Reg.
Thomas Handford presented by grant of
the Earl of Derby. The new rector paid
his first-fruits 31 March 1569; Lanes,
and Ches. Recs. ii, 409. He afterwards
renounced Protestantism, went to Douay,
and being ordained priest, was sent on the
English mission in 1577; Knox, Douay
Diaries, 8, 25, 276. He was very soon
apprehended by the Earl of Derby ' as a
vagrant person and one suspected of some
lewd practices by reason of his passing to
and fro over the seas ' ; Acts of Privy C.
I577~8, p. 309. After suffering seven
years' imprisonment in the Marshalsea
and Tower he was sent into exile in
1585; Misc. (Cath. Rec. Soc.), i, 70;
ii, 228 ; Knox, op. cit. 288.
48 Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxii, 52.
It appears that the Bishop of Chester
claimed the presentation, perhaps by lapse,
John Shireburne, B.D., being nominated
by him (see Brindle). The Earl of Derby's
nomination prevailed, and Caldwell paid
his first-fruits on 20 Feb. 1575-6 ; Lanes,
and Cbes. Recs. ii, 410. He was also
rector of Mobberley ; Ormerod, Ches.
(ed. Helsby), i, 412,428. He was one
of the earl's chaplains, and a favourite
preacher ; Derby Household Bks. (Chet.
Soc.), 132, 133.
49 Lanes, and Ches. Recs. ii, 411. He
was born at Carrington in Cheshire, and
educated at Jesus Coll. Oxf. ; M.A.
1583. He had a number of preferments
in England and Ireland, and does not
seem to have resided at Winwick. On
being made Bishop of Killaloe in 1613
he was allowed to hold Winwick 'in
commendam ' ; but resigned it in 1615 ;
Foster, Alumni Oxon. ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
John Andrews, M.A., was presented by
the Earl of Worcester in 1609 ; Act
Bks. at Ches.
60 Lanes, and Cbes. Recs. ii, 412 ; Pat.
13 Jas. I, pt. xxiii. The king presented
on the ground that the previous rector
had been appointed to a bishopric ; but
the claim was challenged, and Thomas
Bold, M.A., was presented by the Earl
of Worcester ; later still John Mere, a
prebendary of Chester, was presented.
Home, however, retained the rectory till
his death in 1626. There was a lecturer
at Winwick, Mr. Golty, who paid £1 to
a subsidy in 1622 : Misc. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 53, 65.
61 From this point the dates of institu-
tion have been taken from those in the
Inst. Bks. P.R.O. printed in Lanes, and
Cbes. Antiq. Notes. Herle paid his first-
fruits I July 1628 ; Lanes, and Ches. Recs.
ii, 412. This, the most distinguished of
the modern rectors of Winwick, was born
at Prideaux Herle, in Cornwall ; educated
at Exeter Coll. Oxf.; M.A. 1618 •, had
various preferments, and was chaplain to
the Countess of Derby ; was a zealous
Puritan, and became president of the
Westminster Assembly, 1643. He was
not resident at Winwick during the war,
but returned in 1650, and was buried at
Winwick in 1659. See Diet. Nat. Biog.}
Fuller, Worthies ,- Foster, Alumni Oxon.
For his conduct in 1651 see Royalist
Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
iii, 175.
62 As early as 20 June 1660 Dr. Sher-
lock petitioned for admission to the
rectory, stating that he had been pre-
sented by the true patron, whereas Mr.
Jessop had only 'an illegal grant from
the commissioners of the pretended Great
Seal, after the interruption of the late
Parliament so called ; ' Hist. MSS. Com.
Rep. vii, App. 500. Mr. Jessop conformed,
and in Oct. 1662 became vicar of Cog-
geshall in Essex ; Baines, Lanes, (ed.
Croston), iv, 359.
68 Dr. Sherlock was a kinsman of
Richard Sherlock, rector of Woodchurch,
Cheshire ; educated at Trinity Coll., Dub-
lin ; M.A. 1633 ; he was a zealous ad-
herent of the royalist party during the
Civil War, and employed by the Earl of
Derby in the Isle of Man. He published
various works, including Mercurius Chris-
tianus ; the Practical Christian, in 1673 ;
Diet. Nat. Biog. The 6th edition of the
Practical Christian, printed in 1713, con-
tains a portrait of Sherlock and a memoir
by Bishop Wilson. He did not obtain full
possession of Winwick for some time,
owing to the disputes with his predecessor.
He received a presentation or confirmation
of the rectory from the king in 1663 ;
Pat. i 5 Chas. II, pt. iv, no. 27. He con-
stantly resided on his benefice and em-
ployed three curates ; Beamont, Winwick,
6 1. His will is printed in Wills (Chet.
Soc. new ser.), i, 173. The inventory
shows a library valued at £64. The
funeral sermon, preached by his curate
Thomas Crane (see Newburgh in Lathom),
was printed ; N. and Q. (2nd Ser.), ii,
233-
M He was the son of John Bennet of
Abingdon, Cambridgeshire ; educated at
University Coll. Oxf. ; M.A. 1681 ; B.D.
128
1689. He became master of the college
in 1690, and died there 12 May 1692 ;
Foster, Alumni Oxon. The patron for
this turn was probably the John Bennet
of Abingdon, who was one of the mem-
bers for Newton from 1691 to 1695, and
afterwards a master in Chancery ; Pink
and Beaven, Lanes. Parl. Representation,
284.
65 A son of Sir Heneage Finch, Earl of
Nottingham. He was educated at Christ's
Coll. Camb., of which he was fellow ;
M.A. 1682. His brother Edward was for
a time rector of Wigan. Henry was in
1702 made Dean of York, but held Win-
wick also until 1725 ; Le Neve, Fasti,
iii, 127.
66 The patrons were the Earl of Angle-
sey and Francis Annesley, trustees of the
Hon. Henrietta Ashburnham, granddaugh-
ter and heir of William, ninth Earl of
Derby. Annesley was educated at Trinity
Coll. Dublin ; LL.D. 1725 ; married
Elizabeth Sutton, divorced 1725 ; and
secondly, Anne, daughter and co-heir of
Sir Robert Gayer, by whom he had a son
Arthur, ancestor of the present Viscount
Valentia ; Baines, op. cit. iv, 361.
67 The patron exercised his right ac-
cording to the wish of James, Earl of
Derby. The earl's will reads ; ' To the
same Charles Stanley (eldest son of
Thomas Stanley, of Cross Hall, deceased),
the first and next turn of presentation
and right of nomination to the rectory
of the parish church of Winwick, when-
soever vacant ; providing he instituted
the said Thomas Stanley (younger brother
of Charles) if of age and ordained ; if
not, then to appoint some other clerk
who should give security to resign the
said rectory when the said Thomas was
of age, if then ordained.'
The new rector was a younger son of
Sir Edward Stanley of Bickerstaffe, who
became Earl of Derby in 1735 ; educated
at Sidney-Sussex Coll. Camb. of which he
became a fellow ; M.A. 1717. He held
many benefices — Liverpool, 172610 1740;
Winwick, 1740 to 1742, and 1764 to
1781 ; Bury, 1743 to 1778 ; Halsall,
1750 to 1757. For his character see
Beamont, op. cit. 67. He took Winwick
till his successor was ready.
68 Of Trinity Hall, Camb.; LL.B. 1744;
LL.D. 1757. Second son of Thomas
Stanley of Cross Hall, Lathom ; from
his son James descends the present owner.
This was the relation the late earl had
wished to appoint, but in 1735 he was at
Cambridge, and had not been ordained
when Dr. Annesley died ; Gregson, Frag-
ments (ed. Harland), 285.
69 He died 16 May 1781, and there is a
tablet to his memory in Winwick Church.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WINWICK
Instituted
7 June 1781
19 Dec. 1812
— Nov. 1855
29 April 1890
Name
Presented by
Geoffrey Hornby 70
James John Hornby, M.A. 71 . .
Frank George Hopwood, M.A. " .
Oswald Henry Leycester Penrhyn,
M.A."
Earl of Derby
Cause of Vacancy
d. J. Stanley
d. G. Hornby
d. J. J. Hornby
d. F. G. Hopwood
As in the case of other benefices the earlier rectors
were probably married ' clerks,' enjoying the principal
part of the revenues of the church, and paying a
priest to minister in the parish. Two sons of Robert,
rector in 1232, are known. After the patronage had
been transferred to the Stanleys the rectory became a
' family living,' in the later sense.
In the Valor of 1535 the only ecclesiastics men-
tioned are the rector, two chantry priests at Winwick,
and a third at Newton.74 The Clergy List of I 5 4 1 -2 75
shows three others as residing in this large parish, in-
cluding the curate, Henry Johnson, paid by Gowther
Legh, the rector's steward. The list is probably
incomplete, for at the visitation of 1548 the names
of fourteen were recorded — the rector, his curate,
Hugh Bulling, who had replaced Henry Johnson ;
the three chantry priests and two others just named,
and seven more. By 1554 these had been reduced
to six — the rector, his curate, Richard Smith, two of
the chantry priests still living there, but only two of
the others who had appeared six years earlier. In
1562 a further reduction is manifest. The rector,
Bishop Stanley, was excused from attendance by the
bishop ; three others appeared, one being a surviving
chantry priest, but the fifth named was absent. In
the following year the rector was again absent ; the
curate of Newton, the former chantry priest, did not
appear ; but the curates of Ashton and Culcheth
were present, and another is named. The improve-
ment was only apparent, for in 1565 the rector,
though present, non exhibuit, and only two other
names are given in the Visitation List, and they are
crossed out and two others written over them. It
seems, therefore, that the working staff had been
reduced to two — Andrew Rider and Thomas Collier.76
How the Reformation changes affected the parish
does not appear, except from these fluctuations and
reductions in the staff of clergy. The rector was not
interfered with on the accession of Elizabeth ; his
dignity and age, as well as his family connexions,
probably saved him from any compliance beyond em-
ploying a curate who would use the new services. His
successor became a Douay missionary priest, suffering
imprisonment and exile. Though the rector in 1590
was ' a preacher ' he lived in Cheshire, and his curate
was ' no preacher ' ; nor were the two chapels at
Newton and Ashton any better provided.77 The list
drawn up about 1610 shows that though the rector,
an Irish dignitary, was 'a preacher,' the resident
curate was not ; while at the three chapels there were
* seldom curates.'78
The Commonwealth surveyors of 1650 were not
quite satisfied with Mr. Herle, for though he was
'an orthodox, godly, preaching minister,' and one of
the most prominent Presbyterians in England, he had
not observed the day of humiliation recently appointed
by the Parliament. They recommended the creation
of four new parishes — the three ancient chapelries,
and a new one at Lowton.79 After the Restoration
two or three meetings of Nonconformists seem to
have been established.80 In 1778 each of the four
chapelries in the parish was served by a resident curate,
paid chiefly by the rector, except Newton, paid by
Mr. Legh.81
The great changes brought about by the coal
mining and other industries in the neighbourhood
have ecclesiastically, as in other respects, produced a
revolution ; and by the munificence of Rector J. J.
Hornby — a just munificence, but rare — the modern
parishes into which Winwick has been divided arc
well endowed.
There were two chantries in the parish church.
The older of them was founded in the chapel of the
Holy Trinity in 1330 by Gilbert de Haydock, for a
fit and honest chaplain, who was to pray for the
founder by name in every mass, and say the com-
mendation with Placebo and Dirige, every day except
on double feasts of nine lessons. The right of pre-
70 Eldest son of Edmund Hornby of
Poulton and Scale Hall. He is said to
have served in the Navy in his early
years; in 1774 he was sheriff of Lan-
cashire ; P.R.O. List, 74. Afterwardt
he was ordained, and having married a
sister of the Earl of Derby was presented
to Winwick. He died in 1812, and was
buried at Winwick. One of his curates,
the Rev. Giles Chippendale, who had lost
an arm in the naval service, was said to
have been with him in the same ship ;
Beamont, op. cit. 68.
His son Sir Phipps Hornby had a
distinguished career in the Navy.
71 Second son of the preceding rector.
Educated at Trinity Coll. Camb. ; M.A.
1802.
An attractive sketch of his character
is given by Mr. Beamont (op. cit. 71-80).
As rector, his most conspicuous act was
the procuring, in conjunction with the
Earl of Derby as patron, of the Winwick
Church Acts of 1841 and 1845, by
which Croft, Newton, Culcheth (New-
church), Lowton, Golborne, and Ashton
became separate parishes, each being en-
dowed with its tithes ; and two other
chapelries were formed. Thus the glebe
of Winwick and the tithes of Houghton
were all that was left of the ancient en-
dowment of the parish church. Besides
this Mr. Hornby contributed liberally to
the erection of churches in the detached
portions of his parish, and rebuilt the
chancel of his own church at a cost of
£6,000. He died 14 Sept. 1855.
<a Educated at Christ Church, Oxf. ;
M.A. 1840; Foster, Alumni Oxon. In
this year he became incumbent of Knows-
ley and chaplain to the Earl of Derby ;
canon of Chester, 1866. He had mar-
ried in 1835 Lady Eleanor Mary Stanley,
daughter of Edward, Earl of Derby. He
died at Winwick n March 1890.
'8 The new rector is a cousin of the
patron. He was educated at Balliol Coll.
Oxf. ; M.A. 1852 ; incumbent of Bicker-
staffe, 1858 ; vicar of Huyton, 1869,
and canon of Liverpool, 1880. Foster,
Alumni Oxon.
7< Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 220.
129
7* Published by the Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches. 15. It should be stated that
Henry Johnson's name does not occur in
the later lists, so that the remarks in
Baines, Lanes, (ed. Croston), iv, 355, are
baseless. The other priests probably
served Ashton and Culcheth.
7* From the Visitation lists, 1548-65,
preserved at the Ches. Dioc. Reg.
77 Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 248 (quoting
S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, 4). In 1598
the curate did not wear the surplice, and
again in 1622 there was neither Bible
nor surplice ; Raines MSS. xxii, 182,
1 88 (from Chest. Act Bks.).
78 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 13.
7* Common-wealth Ch. Sur-v. 46-50.
80 In 1669 several persons were pre-
sented to the Bishop of Chester for hav-
ing unlawful conventicles in their houses,
Oliver Taylor of Holcroft Hall being
one ; Visit. Papers, at Chester. See also
Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 231,
232.
81 Return by Rector Stanley in the
Dioc. Reg. Chester.
17
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
sentation was vested in the founder and his heirs, but
after a three months' vacancy it would lapse to the
bishop.8* A few of the names of the priests of this
foundation occur in the Lichfield Registers, and others
have been collected by Mr. Beamont from the Legh
deeds.83 In 1534 the income was 66s. 8^., and it
remained the same till the confiscation in i 548.**
The second chantry, known as the Stanley chantry,
was founded by the ancestors of the Earl of Derby.
It was in the rector's chapel, and endowed with bur-
gages in Lichfield and Chester, bringing in a rent of
66s. 8^.M
A grammar school, once of some note, was founded
by Gowther Legh in the time of Henry VIII, and
refounded in 1619 by Sir Peter Legh.86
The charities of this parish are
CHARITIES numerous and valuable. As in other
cases, some are general, others applic-
able to particular objects or townships.
For the whole parish are the ancient bread chari-
ties and other gifts to the poor,87 the Bible charity
founded by Dean Finch,88 and the modern educational
funds.89
For Winwick-with-Hulme are gifts of linen, &c.,
for the poor,90 and funds for binding appren-
tices,91 and buying school books.9* At Houghton,
Middleton, and Arbury are poor's cottages.93 Gol-
borne and Lowton together share in William Lead-
beater's benefaction.94 The townships separately
have some minor charities,94 including poor's cot-
88 Lich. Epis. Reg. Northburgh, iii, fol.
76*, and Beamont, Win-wick, 82. The
original endowment consisted of eight
messuages, seven tofts, 41 f acres of land,
with appurtenances in Newton in Maker-
field, with the reversion of others held
for life by Adam de Walton. Chalices,
books, vestments, and other ornaments
were provided by the founder. Should
the chaplain be unable through infir-
mity to attend to his duties he was to
receive a portion of the fruits sufficient
to support him decently. See Final Cone.
ii, 81.
88 Beamont, 83-6. The list (omitting
the first names and making one or two
other corrections) is as follows : —
1334. Peter de Winwick, nominated
by the founder, Gilbert de
Haydock; Lich. Epis. Reg.
Northburgh, ii, fol. 109^.
OC. 1343. William de Rokeden.
1358. Richard de Heton, presented
by John de Haydock, on
the death of W. de Rokeden;
Lich. Epis. Reg. Northburgh,
ii, fol. 134^.
1361. Ralph de Tabley, presented
by John de Haydock, on
the resignation of Richard
de Heton ; ibid. Stretton.
iv, fol. 78*.
oc. 1370. William de Wigan, by the
same patron.
— — Matthew de Haydock by the
guardian of P. Legh.
oc. 1478. Matthew Fowler, by Peter
Legh.
oc. 1478. William Gam, by Sir Peter
Legh.
1505. Christopher Houghton, by the
same.
— Robert Garnet ; by the same.
1532. Lawrence Pennington ; by
the same. He was cele-
brating according to his
foundation up to the sup-
pression ; Raines, Lanes.
Chant. (Chet. Soc.), i, 69.
He was then aged 48, and
lame ; ibid, i, 72 n. He
appeared at the Visitation
of 1554, but not later.
•* Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 220. In
1478 a further endowment was made by
Sir Peter Legh the patron ; Raines MSS.
xxxviii, 523.
The endowment in 1548 is given in
detail in Lanes. Chant, i, 71-4 ; it was
derived from a number of tenements in
Newton in Makerfield, the principal tenant
being James Greenforth, who paid a rent
of 14*. A chalice and two old vestments
belonged to it.
84 Valor Eccl. v, 220 ; Lanes. Chant, i,
67-9. There was no plate. The chan-
try priest in 1534 was Roger Gillibrand,
and in i 548 William Stanley ; the latter
was fifty-six years of age. He was living
in 1553, but did not appear at the Visita-
tion 0/1554. The lands of the Stanley
chantry were given by Queen Mary to the
Savoy Hospital when she refounded it, and
were leased by the Master to Christopher
Anderton ; Anderton of Lostock D. no. 8,
10, 15 ; Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. xxiii,
168.
M End. Char. Rep.
The Rev. Robert Wright, master of
the school from 1717 to 1735, published
tables of longitude ; Local Glean. Lanes,
and Cbes. i, 177, 226.
87 The particulars in the following
notes are taken from the Wtniuick En-
dowed Charities Report of 1901, which
includes a reprint of that of 1828.
Dr. Richard Sherlock, rector, by his
will in 1689 directed £300 to be invested
for the use of the poor ; it was employed
in buying chief rents from premises in
Croft, amounting in 1824 to £i i 81. 5c/.,
distributed in bread at the parish church
and four chapcls-of-ease. In 1900 the
rent-charges amounted to £9 13*. 3</.,
others having been redeemed and the
money invested in consols. The sum
available is divided in a customary pro-
portion among the different ecclesiastical
districts, and is spent chiefly in bread for
the poor.
Adam Mather in 1818 left money for
bread for poor persons who were also com-
municants ; the latter condition is now
not insisted upon.
Rector Stanley in 1772 left £1,000 for
the poor, and £50 interest was in 1828
given in various ways — doles or blankets,
&c. The capital, invested in the War-
rington and Wigan Turnpike, was in
great part lost on the termination of the
Turnpike Act ; £400 was recovered and
invested in consols, producing £i i 171. 4</.
yearly ; this is distributed by the rector
and other clergy at their discretion.
88 He died in 1728 and left £200 to
the rector and churchwardens for Bibles,
prayer books, and instruction in the
Church of England catechism. In 1828
the income was £9 1 5*. gd., given usually
in books, but sometimes applied to the
Sunday schools. The income is now
£6 141. 8<£, and is distributed by the
rector every three years, being chiefly
devoted to the Sunday schools.
89 These are partly derived from the
endowments of the older schools, and
partly by gifts by George McCorquodale,
of about £600 in all, for prizes at the
Endowed School and St. Peter's School,
Newton.
90 In 1685 a poor's fund had accumu-
130
lated by the gifts of sundry benefactors,
and Dr. Sherlock, the rector, added £89 ;
other gifts were made in subsequent years,
and in 1828 the interest amounted to
£7 2s., spent on gifts of linen, &c., to
poor cottagers. The capital has to a great
extent been lost, and the yearly income is
now £i 131. 8</., distributed in gifts of
calico.
91 Thomas March and Henry Low about
1720 left money for binding apprentices,
but by 1828 half the original capital, £52,
had been lost, and the interest was added
to the linen charity ; this erroneous use
continued down to 1900.
98 John Bankes, sometime schoolmaster
at Winwick (died 1775), left a small sum
for books for the children attending the
school in Winwick churchyard. This in
1828 had been wrongly united to the linen
charity, and so continued in 1900.
93 The poor's money appears to have
been invested in two cottages, but the
rents, £11, were applied to the poor rate
in 1828. A rent of izs. from Delph
House in Middleton had then ceased. In
1840 the rent had increased to £14, but
£3 was and is payable to the highway
authority : the rest is given by the rector
of Winwick in clothing.
94 The testator gave an estate in Low-
ton and Golborne to the poor, and by his
will in 1685 gave £40 to erect at his
house at Lowton two good bays of build- j
ing, and £10 more to raise up the bay
called ' the shop ' the height of the afore- '
said bays, &c. ; a large stone was to be laid
upon his burial place inscribed so that
people might learn of his benefaction. In
1828 the rents amounted to £55, equally
distributed in linen or flannel for the poor
of the two townships. Various changes
have since occurred ; part of the land has
been sold to the Wigan Junction Railway,
1877; another part has been let on
a building lease of 999 years ; and the
coal under another has been mined. The
rental is now £119 17*. 6d., of which
£23 is derived from the founder's house
in Church Lane, Lowton, and is distri-
buted by the trustees appointed under a
scheme made in 1892.
95 For Golborne John Mather left a
charge of los. for the poor, to be added to
Leadbeater's Charity; and Hannah Hooper
left £zo, the interest, £i, being paid in
1828. These have been added to the
Golborne share of the Leadbeater Charity
under the scheme of 1 8 92, and the amount
is applied in subscriptions to dispensaries,
nurses, clothes, &c., or temporary relief in
money.
Miss Frances Moon, by her will in
1873 bequeathed £1,000 for the sick and
aged poor ; but only about £420 was
realized.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
tages at Lowton.96 Newton had an ancient poor's
stock, spent in providing linen, and other benefac-
tions.97 A legacy by James Berry in 1836 has
failed.98
For the township of Culcheth as a whole, most of
the ancient charities have been united ; " the Blue
Boy Charity continues.100 For Newchurch with Ken-
WINWICK
yon are funds for the poor, &c. ; m at Risley the
almshouse has failed,102 but John Ashton's Charity,
founded in 1831, produces £31 los. a year, distri-
buted in money doles.103
At Southworth-with-Croft a calico dole is main-
tained.104 Ashton in Makerfield has charities for
linen, woollen, apprenticing boys, &c.10i At Hay-
96 For Lowton Richard France left £5
to the poor, and in 1828 51. was paid as
interest by the overseer of Lowton.
Nicholas Turner, by his will of 1712,
charged the Little Meadow in Golborne
with 2cu. for linen for the poor ; this also
was still paid in 1828 ; and like the pre-
vious sum was added to the Lowton half
of Leadbeater's Charity. So also was
£2 IOJ. derived from tenements purchased
with a bequest of Elizabeth Byrom,
widow, in 1738. The overseers in 1828
had ,£22 IQS. derived from the rents of
two cottages, which sum had been devoted
to the poor, but was then applied to the
debt incurred in rebuilding the cottages.
In 190x2 these charities had been united
with the Lowton share of the Leadbeater
Charity, and were administered under the
scheme of 1892, the objects permissible
being almost the same as those in Gol-
borne. The payment of 51. out of the
rates had been disallowed by the auditor
in 1846, and thus France's Charity has
lapsed.
9' James Low in 1 6 34 and others sub-
sequently contributed various sums, which
together amounted to £273 by 1733 ;
sixty years later the total was £288, laid
out upon the workhouse, and the interest
•was spent on linen for the poor. In 1825,
interest having fallen into arrear, it was
agreed that the capital should be considered
,£400, and in 1827 £20 was paid as in-
terest. Robert Bankes in 1747 left £40
for the poor, and the interest in 1828 was
added to the foregoing charity. — Bro-
therton left £50 to found a bread charity ;
and Mrs. Legh left ,£100, which with £50
(probably the last-mentioned sum) was in
1 800 in the hands of Thomas Claughton,
trustee of Thomas Legh of Lyme during
minority, by whose bankruptcy the capital
•was endangered. A sum of £$ had been
paid out of the estate of William Brown
Brotherton to the eldest poor widow in
Newton ; the estate having been sold
about 1821 to Thomas Legh, the payment
has been since discontinued.
The workhouse was sold in 1856, when
,£288 was invested in consols, this being
held to be all that was legally chargeable.
The income, £8 51. 8<y., is distributed in
tickets for clothing. The Bankes Charity
was still continued in 1900 by Mrs. Bankes
of Winstanley Hall, and distributed with
the foregoing. The other charities had
been lost, no dividend apparently having
been paid out of Thomas Claughton's
estate.
98 This was a bequest of £50 for the
benefit of poor communicants at Newton
Chapel. The executors paid interest for
some time, but the residuary legatee, on
coming of age, refused to pay.
99 The amalgamation took place under
a scheme of the Charity Commissioners
in 1898. There were six different foun-
dations : —
i. Twiss Green School, founded by John
Guest of Abram, Adam Shaw and Christo-
pher Bordman assisting. A lease of 1808
stated that the purpose of the school was
instruction in the English language and
in the precepts of the Christian religion.
ii. Thomas Shaw gave £80 to the poor.
iii. John Risley gave ,£60 to the same.
iv. William Smith in 1626 left lands in
Culcheth called Gregory's Land to a Ralph
Bate, the interest on ,£60 being payable
to the poor. In 1828 the fields were
called Shnckshots.
v. Ambrose Yates in 1722 left his
tenements at Twiss Green to his cousins
Henry and James Bate for the benefit of
the poor. The property, called Quakers,
was in 1828 in the possession of Thomas
Bate of Macclesfield as heir-at-law of
Henry Bate.
vi. Mrs. Anne Clough left ,£40 for the
poor, and Thomas Ellames Withington of
Culcheth Hall gave ^50 consols to the
official trustees.
The yearly payment of £3 for Smith's
Charity in 1861 was redeemed by John
Clare, owner of the land, who paid £78
to the official trustee ; and the real estate
of the Yates Charity was sold in 1887 for
,£500 ; in each case the money was in-
vested in consols.
By the new scheme all these charities
are administered by the same trustees ;
the Twiss Green School is managed as a
Church of England Sunday and day school,
and the dole charities are distributed to
various ways, but chiefly in small gifts in
the poor.
Richard Garton by will in 1670
charged £(, a year for the poor on lands
called Radcliff Meadows in Kenyon ; the
rent, after a short discontinuance through
inadvertence, is paid to the same trustees.
100 Henry Johnson by his will in 1727
left various amounts of South Sea Stock
for the education at Twiss Green School
of poor Protestant children, and providing
them with clothing and books. In 1828
the income was ,£32 161., and nine boys
were provided for. A sum of ,£1 5 5, then
in the hands of a John Cockshott, cannot
be traced, but the capital of the charity,
invested in consols, now brings in
£25 71. 4</. a year, sixteen boys (not
necessarily members of the Church of
England) benefiting.
101 Anne Withington gave £100 in
1868 for the use of the poor ; the interest
is distributed by the rector. The same
benefactor, as Mrs. Anne Boulton of
Aughton Rectory, gave ,£300 London and
North-Western Debenture Stock for the
schools and for the curate of Bury Lane.
The stock has been divided, the interest
of part being paid to the Church of Eng-
land school, and the rest of the capital
applied to the endowment of Glazebury
ecclesiastical parish, which has grown out
of the Bury Lane curacy.
Mary Lucy Black in 1893 left money
towards the payment of the organist's
salary at the parish church ; and the £4
interest is so applied.
102 John Risley (? 1702) directed an
almshouse to be built, and in 1828 six
houses were used rent free by as many
poor families. The occupants, however,
have long claimed a freehold in them, the
property passing from time to time by
delivery of the keys, in consideration of a
cash payment.
William Ashton, who died in St. Croix
in the West Indies in 1814, left £10,000
for the poor of Risley. Many difficulties
arose, and it was uncertain whether the
testator's assets were sufficient to do more
than discharge his debts ; hence John
Blackburne, lord of the manor, after
spending a considerable amount in the
endeavour to secure this benefaction,
seems to have ceased his efforts, and
nothing resulted.
108 A scheme was made by the Charity
Commissioners in 1891, but seems to have
been a dead letter. The money is distri-
buted in doles at Michaelmas.
104 Thomas Gerard in 1723 gave a cot-
tage and croft to Thomas Stanley on a
1000 years' lease, and seven years later
the latter gave it to the trustees of the
poor's stock of Croft. In 1828 there
were three cottages, Arkenshaw, Round
Thorn, and the Smithey ; the overseers
managed the property and disposed of the
rents, some £$ to £7, in calico and linen
for the poor. None of the cottages are
now standing, and part of the land has
been sold ; the gross income is now only
£i 1 6*.
The Rev. Robert Barker of Winwick
in 1797 proposed to give £105 for the
benefit of the free school in Croft ; but it
does not appear that the money was ever
paid. Richard Speakman of Winwick
gave £20 for the purchase of books for
the same school ; the money was given
to the Rev. Geoffrey Hornby, rector, and
so used by him. After his death pay-
ments ceased.
105 This charity began in 1588 with a
sum of £10 given by Robert Birchall for
shirts and smocks for the poor of Ashton ;
he also gave £4. for the repair of the foul
ways of the township, which was after-
wards added to his former gift. Various
other benefactors appeared from time to
time, and investments were made in land
which in 1828 produced an income of
£41 in. spent in linen for distribution
each January. The land bought included
the Two Makerfields, Two Lower Over-
fields, and the Overfields next the Lane.
A woollen stock charity was founded
by the will of Thomas Harrison 1692, to
which others added, and land called the
Two Stubshaws was purchased in 1720.
Other sums were given afterwards and
buildings were erected, producing a rent
of £24 15*. a year in 1828. The trustees
also had 30*. a year by the gift of Cathe-
rine Wallis, and 101. from George
Latham ; los. was paid to the incumbent
for a sermon on St. John's Day.
An apprentice stock charity was
founded in 1704 by James Pilkington
devising his tenements in Blakeley for
this purpose ; and others gave various
sums for the same object, and the Fleece
Inn and other properties were added, £261
being borrowed from the school stock.
James Burn in 1782 charged his tene-
ment called Stubshaw Cross with 42*. a
year for bedgowns and petticoats. A sub-
sequent owner becoming bankrupt, the
purchaser refused to pay the 421. on the
ground that the gift was void in law.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
dock there are an ancient poor's stock and a clothing
endowment.10*
NEWTON IN MAKERFIELD
Neweton, Dom. Bk.
Makeresfeld, 1205, 1351; Makefeld, 1206;
Makerefeld, 1213 ; Makerfeld, 1242 ; the last is the
prevailing form.1
This township is usually called Newton in Maker-
field or Newton le Willows, to distinguish it from
other places of the name. It has an area of 3,103
acres,* and the population in 1901 numbered 16,699.
Sankey Brook and its tributary Newton Brook form
the greater part of the southern boundary ; the latter
is joined by the Millingford Brook, which crosses the
township from north to south.
The surface of the country is generally flat, only
slightly undulating in the south and west, where the
ground is 142 ft. above sea level. The pebble beds
of the Bunter series of the New Red Sandstone under-
lie the greater part of the township. The Coal
Measures fringe the western and north-western
borders. The town of Newton is pleasantly situated ;
by it is a large lake surrounded by willows.
Earlestown has the less pleasant surroundings of bare
open country and few trees. The open country con-
sists of arable fields and pasture land, the former
yielding crops of potatoes and corn, with occasional
turnip fields. In the west there are still a few patches
of mossland, gradually becoming invaded by factories
and railways.
The northern road through Warrington and Wigan,
here somewhat to the east of the ancient Roman road,
passes through the village. From this point roads
lead eastward to Leigh and westward to St. Helens
and Haydock. The St. Helens Canal goes by the
side of the Sankey Brook. The Liverpool and
Manchester line of the London and North Western
Railway crosses the centre of the township, having
stations at Earlestown and Newton.8 The same
company's main line from London to the North also
passes through the township, and has a junction with
the former line.
Newton, from its position on a great road, half way
between Warrington and Wigan, and from its feudal
dignity as the head of a hundred and then of the
fee of Makerfield, has long been a place of impor-
tance. A borough was formed and a market and fairs
were granted. Leland thus describes its condition
about 1536 : 'Newton on a brook; a little poor
market, whereof Mr. Langton hath the name of his
barony.' * Soon afterwards it returned two members to
Parliament.
The borough returned two members to Parliament
in the ijth century.5
A gathering of the gentry at Newton in 1748,
ostensibly for hunting, was regarded by the populace
as a Jacobite meeting, and considerable rioting
ensued.6
In 1824 the market had fallen into disuse; but
the court baron and court leet were still held in April, ;
May, and October by the steward of the borough and
the bailiff of the manor. A race-course and cockpit
existed, but the sports had been discontinued ; the
race-meeting was revived and is still held. The fairs
were held on 1 7 and 1 8 May and 1 1 and 1 2
August. There were daily coaches to Liverpool and i
Bolton, and a market coach from Wigan to Warring-
ton passed through on Wednesdays.7
Manufactures sprang up, cotton-spinning, crown
glass, iron founding, and vitriol works existing in
1840. A large iron foundry and printing and
stationery works are among the chief industries at
present ; there are also paper mills, glass works, and
collieries.
In addition to these EARLESTOWN has grown
up in recent years around the great wagon works of
the London and North Western Railway Company
at the Sankey Viaduct ; it has also engineering works
and a sugar refinery. A market is held on Friday.
Two newspapers are published weekly. The railway
company have erected a mechanics' institute. The
Vulcan Foundry has given its name to the village
which has grown up round it. Wargrave is another
village in the same part of the township, and Hey, by
the Sankey, is near.
A local board was established in i863.8 Newton
is now governed by an urban district council of
fifteen members, the township being divided into five
wards.
There is an ancient barrow called Castle Hill about
half a mile north of the village. There is another at
the western end of the township. St. Oswald's Well
is near the junction of the boundaries of Newton,
Winwick, and Southworth.9
There is a town hall in High Street. The Liver-
pool Farm Reformatory School was established in
i859.10 The old market cross was taken down in
1 8 19." The stone uprights of the stocks remain
Land producing ^4 51. a year had been
given by Gerard Ashton in 1759, but
nothing was known of it in i8z8.
The apprenticing system having become
obsolete the fund was in 1886 added to
the grammar school estates. The property
belonging to the other stocks now brings
in £92 21. \d. annually, but from various
causes the chanty was in debt in 1899 to
the extent of £260, so that the amount
of clothing distributed had had to be cur-
tailed.
Something appears to have been re-
covered from the Burn bequest, for in
1832 £6 151. was deposited on its ac-
count in the Wigan Savings Bank. This
has been allowed to accumulate, the fund
now being over £43. To the trustees of
the Abram charities 61. 6J. a year is paid.
Lord Gerard pays 101. to the incum-
bent for a sermon on St. John's Day for
Catherine Wallii's charity.
104 In 1706 the poor's fund amounted
to £18 101., and £80 more was added by
later benefactors ; the capital was invested
in the workhouse at Newton, and in 1828
£6 to fj was paid out of the township
rates as interest. This was laid out by
the overseer in the purchase of linen. On
the sale of the workhouse in 1856
^99 101. was paid to the official trustees,
and the interest, ^2 171.4^., is distributed
with the Haydock Clothing Endowment
— a capital 0/^327 in. 8</. subscribed in
1863, principally by Mr. William John
Legh and the Messrs. Evans. Blankets,
flannel, and linsey are given.
I The phrase ' Two Makerfields ' as the
name of a piece of land occurs in an
Ashton document ; End. Char. Rep.
II 3,105, including 55 of inland water;
census of 1901.
8 It was at Parkside, to the east of
Newton, that William Huskisson, M.P.,
132
was killed at the opening of the line in
1830. The Sankey Viaduct is near.
4 I tin. vii, 47 ; the words ' on a brook
called Golforden ' ( ? Golborne) seem to
belong to this sentence.
5 Ret. of Memb. of Par I. 1213-1702,
P- 536.
6 Lanes, and Ckes. Antiq. Notes, ii, 157.
" Baines, Lanes. Dir. 1825, ii, 433-5.
Fairs in May and Aug. were held in 1836 ;
others had fallen into oblivion ; Baines,
Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 647.
8 Land. Gaz. 8 Dec. 1863 ; 18 June
1869. » See V.C.H. Lanes, i, 366 n.
10 Land. Gass. 12 Apr. 1859.
11 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 647 ;
a handsome cross, the shaft on the model
of Cleopatra's Needle, was in the ceme-
tery; ibid.
Newton Cross was the scene of an
interview between a Haydock man, who
had been to the smith at Hulme with
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
outside the churchyard. The village wake was falling
into disuse in 1836," and no wakes have been held
in the district for the last half-century.
Among the place names in 1824 were Pepper
Alley, Wagry Moss, and Ruff House.
Before the Conquest NEWTON
HUNDRED was the head of a hundred assessed at
five hides. One of the hides, includ-
ing Newton itself, was held in demesne by Edward
the Confessor, as lord of the
manor. In 1086 the demesne
was valued at £q..13
Afterwards the
BJRONr fee or barony of
MAKERFIELD
was formed, embracing much
the same area as the older
hundred, and Newton became
the head of the barony. The
story of this fee and its suc-
cessive lords — Banastre, Lang-
ton, Fleetwood, and Legh —
has been told elsewhere.14
In 1346 it was found that Sir Robert
M4NOR de Langton held the plough-lands in
NEWTON by the service of one knight's
fee, paying io/. for ward of Lancaster Castle, and
doing suit at the wapentake court at West Derby
LANGTON. Argent
three chrverons gules.
WINWICK
every three weeks.15 The manor of Newton, with its
members, Lowton, Kenyon, Arbury, a moiety of
Golborne, and the advowson of
Wigan Church, was so held ;
the other manors of Newton fee
— Southworth, Wigan, Ince,
Hindley, Abram, Ashton, Pem-
berton, Billinge, Winstanley,
Haydock, Orrell, Winwick-
with-Hulme, Woolston, Poul-
ton, Middleton, Houghton,
and the other moiety of Gol-
borne— were held by fealty
only.18 At Newton a three-
weeks court was kept for the
barony.17 A grant of free warren was obtained by
Robert Banastre in 1 2 5 y,18 and licence to crenellate
his mansion by Robert de Langton in 1341."
Manorial rights are still claimed, but no court has
been held for many years.
A number of grants by the Banastres and Langtons M
have been preserved.
A resident family or families took the local name ;
one of them in the time of Edward III was known
as Richard the Receiver, from the office he held under
the lord of the fee." Another also had an official
name — Serjeant ; the family remained here down to
the end of the iyth century." Among the other
BANASTRE. Argent
a cross fatonce sable.
some plough irons, and the spirit of his
departed mistress, who begged him to
have masses said for her in her torment ;
from a Narracio de celebracione Misse by
Mr. Ric. Puttes, 1372, in Trin. ColL
Oxf. MS. vij, fol. 49, kindly transcribed
by the Rev. H. E. D. Blakiston, B.D.,
fellow and tutor.
12 Baines, Lanes, loc. cit.
18 V.C.H. Lanes, i, 286. About 1141
Randle Gernons, Earl of Chester, con-
firmed a grant of the demesne tithes of
Newton to the abbey of Shrewsbury,
which appears to have been first made by
Roger of Poitou ; Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R.
277.
« V.C.H. Lanes, i, 366-75. For a
manumission of villeins by Robert Banastre
in 125 6 see Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 125. A deed of sale of the
barony of Newton in 1594, Thomas
Langton being vendor and Thomas Fleet-
wood purchaser, is printed in Local Glean.
Lanes, and Cbes. ii, 1 84.
15 Sur-v. of 1346 (Chet. Soc.), 36.
16 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App. 6,
17 ; also Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii,
99-
!7 Assize R. 404, m. 412. The 15th-
century description of the tenure does
not agree with the survey of 1212, by
which the lords of Lowton and Golborne
were found to be charged with the
knight's service of the fee ; Lanes. Inq.
and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
'» 73> 74* 1° 1 20 1 Adam de Lawton and
Thomas de Golborne had rendered account
for 2 marks due for the fee of one
knight; Lanes. Pipe R. 133. About the
middle of the I3th century the Golborne
plough-lands appear to have reverted to
the lord of Newton, who granted them
to Thurstan de Holland in socage ; see
the account of Golborne.
18 Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, P- 4S8-
There was a second grant for the demesne
lands of Newton, Golborne, and Lowton
in 1301 ; Chart. R. 29 Edw. I, m. 12.
19 Cal. Pat. 1 340-3, p. 304.
30 Robert lord of Makerfield granted a
part of his land to William Payvant,
Plattclough being part of the boundary j
Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxxviii, 113.
Robert Banastre, lord of Makerfield,
granted to Henry son of William Curtis a
number of pieces of land in the vill ; ' the
outlane to the wood of Burton ' is named}
ibid. 117.
A grant by Robert Banastre to Mat-
thew son of Gilbert de Haydock in 1289
gives the bounds thus : From the old
ditch on the east, by Roger the Carpen-
ter's lands, so to a 'spertgore' in the
south, by the ditches westward to John de
Orrell's land, and then across to the com-
mencement. Matthew was also to be toll
free and hopper free in all the mills of
Newton; ibid. 125. It was perhaps
this grant which occasioned a lawsuit in
1 347, Gilbert de Haydock as son and heir
of Matthew complaining that he had been
disseised of his common of pasture in
300 acres of wood ; Sir Robert de Lang-
ton and others were defendants, including
Hugh dc Laye, 'hermit' ; Assize R.
1435, m. 9.
In 1334 Robert de Langton, lord of
Makerfield, granted Gilbert de Haydock
ten acres, including the Rushy Field on
the west of the highway ; the Gunk by
the Longmarsh ; and a piece next to
Pimcock's Acre ; Raines, loc. cit. 141.
The names and services of many ten-
ants in Newton lordship in 1502 are
given in Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii,
no. 10 1.
21 Richard Banastre gave to Paulinus
son of Richard de Newton land lying be-
tween Rece-riding and Cockshaw Head ;
Raines, loc. cit. 113. Roger son of
Paulinus is named in another deed ; ibid.
In 1334 John de Langton authorized
Richard de Newton, his receiver, to give
seisin of two acres of the waste to Gilbert
de Haydock ; ibid. 143. The seal of
Richard the Receiver is attached to several
deeds ; ibid. 139, 143.
Richard the Receiver of Newton in
133
1347 recovered a messuage, &c., from
Jordan son of Adam de Kenyon ; Assize
R. 1435, m. 33d. William and Cecily,
children of Thomas the Receiver, were
defendants in Lent 1352 ; Duchy of
Lane. Assize R. i, m. 7 d.
22 It is not clear that the office was
hereditary ; there was perhaps more than
one serjeant at a time. The officials in
1 2 1 2 were William de Newton, who held
two oxgangs of land by serjeanty, and had
another oxgang ; Robert the Reeve hold-
ing two oxgangs in virtue of his office, and
Roger the clerk holding the same ; Lanes.
Inq. and Extents, i, 78. The reeve and
clerk frequently appear in later times ;
e.g. ibid. 322.
In 1 292 two sisters, Alice and Almarica,
of whom the former had married Ralph
the Serjeant of Newton, claimed an ox-
gang of land from Robert son of William
son of Roger de Newton ; they were the
granddaughters and heirs of Wylot Dagel ;
Assize R. 408, m. 21 d.
About the same time Hugh, * called the
Serjeant,' granted to Matthew de Hay-
dock part of his land in Newton; Raines,
loc. cit. 115. Hugh and Ralph are men-
tioned in the charter of Robert Banastre
already quoted ; ibid. 117.
The lands of James the Serjeant are
mentioned in a deed of 1315 ; and James
was witness to another deed in 1338 ;
ibid. 133, 139. John the Serjeant attest-
ed grants in 1324, 1337, and 1340 ; ibid.
131, 141, 151. He and Hawise his wife
occur in 1338; 141. Cecily, his daugh-
ter, appears to have married Robert de
Warrington about 1349 ; ibid. 155.
In 1350 John the Serjeant and Alice
his wife claimed lands from Richard son
Thomas de Wallwork and others ; Assize
R. 1444, m. 4. In the following year he
granted to feoffees all his lands in Newton,
with the reversion of what his mother
Hawise held in dower ; Towneley MS.
DD, no. 1279.
In 1479 Jonn Serjeant of Newton
granted to Peter Legh land in the Wood-
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
families were those of Bingley*1 and Pierpoint.14
Neighbouring lords, as those of Haydock," also ac-
quired lands in Newton ; the Leghs, besides inherit-
ing the Haydock estate, went on adding to it, so that
in 1660, when Richard Legh purchased the barony,
he already owned a large part of the township.26
The Blackburnes, afterwards of Orford and Hale,
acquired lands here in the latter part of the 1 6th
century.*7 Their house, known more recently as
Newton Hall, was built by Thomas Blackburne in
1 634." About a century ago John Blackburne, M.P.,
sold it to the Leghs."
Newton le Willows Hall is a small H -shaped house
standing north and south, with hall between living
rooms and kitchen. The front is towards the east,
the entrance being by a two-story timber porch
opening to a lobby between the hall and kitchen.
The hall is also of timber construction, with a line of
windows on the east, and has a large fireplace at the
north end with the royal arms of Elizabeth. The
staircase starts from the middle of the west side of the
hall, and a panel above it. There are rooms over the
hall, it has a flat plaster ceiling, with simply moulded
beams. The north wing, containing the kitchen with
a large fireplace adjoining that of the hall, is of brick,
with low mullioned windows and plain round-headed
lights. The heads and mul-
lions are of brick plastered,
ornamented with raised lo-
zenges and fleurs-de-lys. The
wall surfaces are relieved with
raised patterns in brick-work
of a simple character. The
south wing has similar details,
but is modernized.
The little estate of HET,
sometimes called a manor, ap-
pears to have been held by
a family so surnamed,30 who
were succeeded by the Brether-
tons or Brothertons, the tenants from the i6th cen-
tury to the beginning of the 1 9th.SI A pedigree was
BRETHERTON of the
Hey. Argent a crost
patonce raguled sable.
roffe meadow, lying by the Sankey ;
Raines, loc. cit. 173. The Woodrows or
Woodroffes were known in the I3th cen-
tury.
Henry Serjeant, outlawed for felony in
1528, held eight messuages, 200 acres of
land, &c., in Newton of Thomas Langton;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, no. 61.
William Serjeant next appears ; he con-
tributed to the subsidy in Mary's reign ;
Mascy of Rixton D. At the end of 1556
he confirmed his father John's lease to
Peter Legh, junior, of his capital mes-
suage called Crow-lane Hall, dated 1534 ;
Raines, loc. cit. 173 ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec.
Com.), i, 302, 304. In the will of Gow-
ther Legh of Winwick he directs 'Mine
executors to take yearly the whole profits
of Serjeant's lands to the bringing up and
finding to school of William Serjeant,
now heir apparent to John Serjeant, and
to the relieving of his brethren and sisters ' ;
Raines, Chantries (Chet. Soc.), 73. Wil-
liam Serjeant had also an interest in the
Pembertons* estates in Sutton and Bedford.
Peter Serjeant was in 1592 found to
have held lands in Newton of the queen ;
also in Bedford ; Thomas, his son and
heir, was nine years of age ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. xv, no. 16.
In 1660 a free rent of ^i 131. was due
to the lord of Newton from the free rent
of Peter Serjeant ; abstract of title in
possession of W. Fairer. Margaret,
daughter of Henry Ashhurst of Dalton,
married Peter Serjeant of Newton ; Dug-
dale, Vit.it. (Chet. Soc.), 9. Administra-
tion was in 1673 granted to the estate of
Thomas Serjeant of Newton.
Crow-lane House, perhaps the hall
above mentioned, was in 1673 sold by
William Blackburne, son of Thomas of
Blackley Hurst, to John Stirrup of New-
ton ; and about forty years later was pur-
chased by Peter Legh of Lyme. There
was a rent-charge of £3 upon it for the
benefit of the free school ; abstract of title.
28 Adam son of Hugh de Booth claimed
lands from John de Bingley and Kathe-
rine his wife in 1329 ; De Banco R. 279,
m. 183 d. ; 280, m. 127. Three years
later Adam de Booth released his claim in
favour of Katherme and her son Peter ;
part of the road leading from his house to
Bradley Bridge was included ; Raines
MSS. xxxviii, 143. Katherine de Bing-
ley and Richard her son and heir granted
part of their land to Henry de Haydock
in 1343 ; ibid. 145.
In 1364 John son of John de Bingley
gave seisin of land near the Sankey to
Sibyl his sister and Cecily de Haydock,
her daughter ; ibid. 147. Five years later
Richard de Bingley, senior, granted the
reversion of certain lands to John, the son
of Henry de Haydock by Sibyl his wife,
the sister of Richard ; ibid. 148 ; also 159.
34 Some account is given of this family
under Golborne. The seal of ( John son
of) Richard le Pierpoint in 1350 showed
barry of six ; ibid. 153.
25 Some acquisitions of the family have
been recorded in previous notes.
The Orrells also had lands in Newton.
Robert de Holland granted to John de
Orrell and his heirs land which Robert
Banastre had given to his father Thurstan
de Holland ; the bounds began at Eyolfs
Brook by the Heuese in the north, went
south to Trastans dough, thence by a
ditch to Haydock boundary, along this to
Eyolfs Brook, and so back to the starting
point ; half a pound of cummin was to
be rendered to the chief lord ; Raines, loc.
cit. 115. John son of Adam de Orrell of
Hardshaw in 1 318 granted to Henry de
Orrell land in Newton which Richard the
Baker had held ; and two years later
Henry son of John de Orrell made a grant
to Richard ; Add. MS. 32106, no. 1185,
1634.
Richard Bradshagh was in 1528 found
to have held lands in Newton of Thomas
Langton by a rent of 5*. qd. ; Charles
Bradshagh was his heir ; Duchy of Lane.
Inq. p.m. vi, no. 54.
The Southworths also had lands in
Newton ; ibid, vii, no. 23 ; Ducatus Lane.
(Rec. Com.), i, 201, 281.
26 The abstract of title already quoted
shows that in 1 660 the Leghs' free rents,
payable to the lord of Makerfield, amount-
ed to £6 1 31. 4</. The other free rents,
payable by Peter Serjeant and John Bre-
therton, amounted to no more than
£z 9*
In 1687 Peter Legh purchased from
John Derbyshire two closes called the
'Ring Wines,' formerly the holding of Mat-
thew Eden (1647) and William Baxter
(1682). By an early deed Hugh Wait
and Cecily his wife made a grant of lands,
part of which lay in ' Ring Winit ' ; Raines,
loc. cit 117.
>34
In 1703 Peter Legh acquired lands
from Richard Ball, which had in 1657
been purchased by Thomas Stirrup the
younger from Robert Slynehead ; the
last-named had in 1624 leased to Edward
Parr the tenement, with its buildings,
lands, landoles, meadows, fields, leasowes,
&c.
37 Richard Blackburne acquired a mes-
suage, &c., from John Fairclough and
Anne his wife in 1586 ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 48, m. 212.
28 Trans. Hist. Soc. xxix, 41 ; Rimmer,
Old Hails of Lanes.
29 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 647.
80 Richard del Hey and William del
Hey attested charters about 1 300 ; e.g.
Raines, loc. cit. 1 25. John son of Richard
del Hey was joined with his father in
1311 ; ibid. 127. The father soon after-
wards disappears, and from 1315 or 1316
John appears alone; 129, 133.
William del Hey was in 1292 defen-
dant respecting common of pasture in
Newton, but the plaintiff was nonsuited ;
Assize R. 408, m. 32 d. A similar matter
was contested by Richard and William
del Hey in 1301, but the former did not
proceed ; Assize R. 419, m. 13 d.; R. 418,
m. 2. William and Richard, sons of Wil-
liam del Hey, occur in 1324-5; Assize R.
426, m. 2, 9. John son of Richard del
Hey was defendant at the same time ;
ibid. m. 2. William son of William del
Hey was a plaintiff in 1342 ; Assize R.
1435, m. 47.
81 Henry de Bretherton occurs in the
district in 1374 ; Coram Rege R. 454,
m. 13 ; but the known history of the
Hey family begins with a William Bre-
therton in 1523 ; Ducatut (Rec. Com.), i,
201. The same or a later William Bre-
therton, described as gentleman, who died
in 1566, was found to have held five mes-
suages, with gardens, lands, &c., in New-
ton of Sir Thomas Langton in socage, by
fealty and suit of court and a rent of i6j.;
John Bretherton, his son and heir, was
twenty-three years of age ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, no. 30. The estate
is called the ' manor of Hey ' in a fine of
1573, John Bretherton being in posses-
sion ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 35,
m. 112.
The same estate is shown in the inqui-
sition taken after the death (1590) of
John Bretherton the son ; his heir was
NEWTON IN MAKERFIELD : NEWTON-LE-WILLOWS HALL
NEWTON IN MAKERFIELD : VILLAGE STREET, LOOKING TOWARDS CHURCH
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WINWICK
recorded in 1664."* The landowners contributing
to the subsidy about 1556 were William Bretherton,
John Maddock, William Serjeant, and Richard Wood."
In 1600 the resident freeholders were given as Wil-
liam Green, John Maddock, Philip Mainwaring,
George Sorocold, John Tunstall, and Roger Wood."
The landowning contributors to the subsidy of 1628
were John Bretherton, the wife of James Eden, Wil-
liam Morris, James Maddock, and Thomas Serjeant.14
To the land tax in 1787 the chief contributors were
Peter Legh, — Brotherton, William Bankes, and —
Blackburne.
Some of the inhabitants had their estates sequestered
by the Commonwealth authorities.35
Among various place-names occurring in the charters
may be recorded Apshaw, Heald, Kirkacre, and
Pipersfield.
At an early date a borough was
BOROUGH created, but the charter does not seem
to have been preserved. The typical
burgage consisted of a house with its toft, and an acre of
land; a small rent was payable.36 From 1559 to 1832
it returned two members of Parliament ; the electors,
according to a decision in 1797, were the freemen or
burgesses, that is any persons 'seised of a corporeal estate
of freehold in any house, building or lands within the
borough of the value of 40*. a year and upwards ' ;
in the case of a joint tenancy only one person could
vote.37 In practice Newton was a close borough, the
members being nominees of the lord of the manor.
A market and two fairs were in 1301 granted by
Edward I to John de Langton ; the market was to be
held every Saturday, and the fairs on the eve, day,
and morrow of St. John ante Portam Latinam (6 May)
and of St. Germain (31 July).88
Although in 1 066 * the church of the
CHURCH manor ' was at Wigan, about 6 miles to the
north, there may have been also a domes-
tic chapel at the royal manor house. In the early
part of the reign of Edward I, Robert Banastre, lord
his son William, twenty-five years of age ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvi, no. 27.
This William is said to have died about
1640 ; Visit.
His son John succeeded. He was over
t evenly years of age in 1664., and married
in 1620 Isabel daughter of Roger Nowell
of Read and widow of John Byrom ;
Grappenhall Reg. Their son John was
baptized at Winwick 30 Jan. 1622-3.
At the beginning of the Civil War, John
Bretherton, 'to free himself from the as-
saults and troubles put upon him by the
Earl of Derby and his agents, left Lan-
cashire and retired into Wales — then the
king's quarters ; for which his estate was
sequestrated.' He wished to go to Lon-
don to protest against this, but was ad-
vised to compound, and this he did in
1646 at a rental of ,£50. Afterwards the
Commonwealth authorities were told that
he had greatly undervalued his estate for
the composition, and a new sequestration
was ordered. He had taken the negative
oath and the National covenant ; Royalist
Comp. Papers, i, 237-9. He made a
settlement of the manor of Hey, and lands
in Newton, Westhoughton, and Hindley,
in 1654; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
156, m. 142. He was buried 7 Sept.
1671, at Winwick, and his eldest son
having died in the previous May, the heir
•was the grandson John, aged eleven in
1664. John the grandfather had a som
Edward, who resided in Newton, and was
buried in 1711 ; the baptisms of several
children were recorded in the Winwick
registers.
John Bretherton, the heir, died in 1679
and was buried at Winwick, the estate
passing to his brother Thomas, aged seven
in 1664. Thomas, who seems to have
changed the spelling of the surname to
Brotherton, was a barrister of Gray's Inn;
and in 1693 at Gray's Inn Chapel he
married Margaret Gunter of Aldbourne,
Wilts. ; Mgt. Alleg. Abp. Cant. (Harl.
Soc.), 259. In a fine concerning Hey in
Aug. 1693, Thomas Brotherton, esq. was
deforciant, and Thomas Gunter, esq. was
plaintiff ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
231, m. 62. Thomas Brotherton was
one of the Tory members for Newton,
from 1695 till 1701. He died in Lon-
don ii Jan. 1701-2, and was buried at
Winwick ; Pink and Beaven, Part. Repre.
of Lanes. 285 ; Winwick Reg. There is
a monument to him in the church.
His successor was Thomas Brotherton,
no doubt his son, who died in London,
aged sixty, and was buried at Winwick
I Sept. 1757. He was vouchee in a
recovery of the manor of Hey in 1722 ;
Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 514, m. 4. He
seems to have had a son Thomas, de-
scribed as ' of the island of Antigua,'
whose son William Browne Brotherton
entered Christ Church, Oxford, in 1772,
at the age of seventeen ; Foster, Alumni.
W. B. Brotherton succeeded to the manor
of Hey, but was dead in 1828, when the
Charity inquiry was held. Thomas Wil-
liam Brotherton, perhaps the father, was
in possession in 1803 ; and W. B. Bro-
therton and his wife and Thomas William
Browne Brotherton were vouchees in
i Si 2 5 Pal. of Lane. Lent Assizes 1803,
R. 19; Lent Assizes 1812, R. n. The
estate was sold about 1820 to the Leghs.
One of the Brothertons gave £50 to
the poor.
81a Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 56.
88 Mascy of Rixton D.
The Chorley family also held some
property about this time. They had it
before 1371 ; Final Cone, ii, 182. Two
charters of 1389 and 1412 may be seen in
Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 44, 50. The estate
was described as a messuage and an acre
of land, held of the lord of Newton by the
rent of a peppercorn ; Duchy of Lane.
Inq. p.m. vi, no. 17 ; xiv, no. 58.
Ralph Eccleston of Eccleston, who died
in 1 5 22, held ' the manors of Lowton and
Newton ' of Thomas Langton in socage by
the rent of 351. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. T, no. 46. The Eccleston lands were
sold to Sir Peter Legh and others about
forty years later ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 27, m. 118, 133.
88 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i,
240-3. Roger Wood, 'yeoman,' died 10
Aug. 1608, holding house and land of
the king as Duke of Lancaster, by knight's
service ; Richard Wood, gentleman, his
son and heir, was forty years of age ;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 131.
8< Norris D. (B.M.).
James Eden died 26 Oct. 1625 (?),
leaving a son and heir Gilbert, aged seven-
teen years ; his land was held of the king
as of the manor of East Greenwich ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxx, no. 80.
Ralph Morris purchased land in New-
ton of Geoffrey Osbaldeston in 1594;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 56, m. 151.
He died 10 Mar. 1607-8, holding his
135
lands of Richard Fleetwood in socage by
Jj. %d. rent ; William Morris, his son and
heir, was aged thirty-seven and more ;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 1 19.
James Maddock had a messuage in
Newton in 1588 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 50, m. 42. John Maddock, who
died in 1617, held two messuages, &c., of
Sir Richard Fleetwood ; James the son
and heir was forty-seven years of age ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxx, no. 75.
85 Besides John Bretherton, Charles
Baxter and James Collier had their pro-
perty sequestrated for participation in ' the
former war," the latter pleading his ' sub-
servience ' to the Earl of Derby ; Royalist
Comp. Papers, i, 55 ; ii, 72. Henry Ge-
rard, an infant of three years, was penalized
for the recusancy of his mother ; it was
explained that he was 'being brought up
in the Protestant religion ' ; ibid, iii, 1 9,
20. For his further history see the ac-
count of Bamfurlong in Abram.
86 John son of William de Abram
granted to William son of Richard de
Blackburne a burgage and an acre of land
appertaining to the said burgage, rendering
zd. to the lord of Newton ; Raines,
loc. cit. 115. Matthew de Hay dock
granted to Amery daughter of Thurstan
de Walton and to Margaret his wife two
burgages, with the acres, tofts, and mes-
suages belonging to them, which he had
had from Robert the reeve at a rent of 31.,
to the grantor; ibid. 117. Felicia de
Newton, daughter of Robert de Kenyon,
granted Matthew de Haydock a burgage
with i acre belonging to it; ibid. 119.
There are numerous other grants to the
same effect, but the services due to the
chief lord are not described.
The borough has no arms, but uses a
seal bearing the crest of Leigh.
87 Pink and Beaven,Par/. Repre. of Lanes.
273, 274. The lord of the manor or one
of his family was usually a member. All
were Tories.
William Shippen, one of the members
from 171$ till his death in 1743, was the
recognized leader of the Jacobite party in
the House, and 'was esteemed a great
patriot.' He was sent to the Tower in
1717. It appears, however, that Walpole
found means to utilize him ; Pink and
Beaven, op. cit. 287 ; Gregson, Fragments
(ed. Harland), 286 ; Raines, Lanes. Dir.
1825, »i, 433-
88 Chart. R. 94, 29 Edw. I, m. 1 2, 45 n.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
of Makerfield, granted a rent of I zd. a year for the
maintenance of the lamp of St. Mary in Winwick
Church, as an acknowledgement of the permission he
had received to endow a chantry in his chapel of
Rokeden. This permission was granted by the prior
and canons of Nostell, as patrons of Winwick, in 1285;
the usual stipulation was made — that nothing should
be done to the injury of the parish church.39 Licence
was granted or renewed by the Bishop of Lichfield in
1405 for service in the chapel at Rokeden.48 In 1534
John Dunster was chaplain.41 He was in 1548
celebrating for the souls of his founders.4*
After the suppression of the chantry Dunster was
allowed a pension and continued to reside. He
appears to have conformed in 1562, but next year was
absent from the visitation ; " he was buried at Win-
wick in 1571. Ten years later there was a curate at
Newton of scandalous character;44 in 1590 the
curate was « no preacher,' 4S and two years afterwards
there was no surplice for the minister.46 About 1610
it was stated that there was seldom a curate, the stipend
being but small.4' It is probable that here, as in
other chapelries, the legal services were more or less
regularly conducted by a * reading minister.' 4S
An improvement took place in the iyth century.
A regular curate seems to have been appointed ; the
Commonwealth Surveyors in 1650 found that Richard
Blackburne had given £20 a year for a ' preaching
minister,' and recommended that Newton should be
made a separate parish ; the tithes of the township,
worth £60 a year, had been appropriated to the minis-
ter's use.4' This arrangement would cease at the
Restoration, but Bishop Gastrell in 1718 found the
curate's income to be over £38.** The chapel, now
called St. Peter's, was rebuilt in 1684, consecrated in
1735, and enlarged in 1819 and 1835. The town-
ship became a separate rectory in 1841, the Earl of
Derby being patron ; but Emmanuel Church, War-
grave, built in that year, was made the parish church
instead of the old chapel.51 The latter had a district
assigned to it in 1845 ;" Lord Newton is patron.
ST. PETER'S CHURCH stands at the east end of
the long and wide village street, and is a modern
building with chancel, north and south chapels and
north vestry, nave and aisles with porches at the west
ends of the aisles, and a west tower. A few mural
tablets from the old church are preserved, and the
wrought-iron altar-rails are of 18th-century style, but
otherwise, all the fittings, oak screens and seats and
alabaster pulpit, &c., are modern.
The following is a list of curates and vicars : —
oc. 1622 — Gee53
? 1635 William Thompson M
oc. 1645 Thomas Norman M
oc. 1650 Thomas Blackburne66
oc. 1684 Samuel Needham, B.A.*7 (St. John's Coll.
Camb.)
1 686 Edward Allanson, M.A.58 (Magdalene Coll.
Camb.)
1735 Philip Naylor, B.A.69 (Trinity Coll. Camb.)
— Ashburnham Legh, M.A.60 (Brasenose Coll.
and All Souls, Oxf.)
1775 John Garton, M.A. (Brasenose Coll. Oxf.)
oc. 1806-13 Francis Bryan61
— Robert Barlow
1823 Peter Legh, B.A.61 (Trinity Coll. Camb.)
1864 Thomas Whitley, M.A. (Emman. Coll.
Camb.)
1871 Herbert Monk, M.A. (Trin. Coll. Camb.)
1898 James Ryder
The church of St. John the Baptist at Earlestown
was built in 1878, and had a district assigned to it in
I879.63 The rector of Newton is patron.
A school, called Dean School, was built in 1646
by John Stirrup.64
89 Reg. St. Oswald of Nostell (B.M.).
Thomas Gentle was 'chaplain' in 1312 ;
Raines, loc. cit. 127.
40 Raines, Lanes. Chant. (Chet. Soc.), i,
75 n. Licence for an oratory at Newton
had been granted to Ralph de Langton in
1374; Lich. Epis. Reg. Stretton, v, fol.
30.
41 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 220.
43 Land. Chant, i, 74 ; the foundation
it erroneously ascribed to 'Sir Thomas
Langton, knight.' The clear income was
681. 3</. derived chiefly from Walton-le-
Dale and Preston. A chalice and two sets
of vestments belonged to it.
4S Visit. Lists at Chester.
44 Articles vrere exhibited in 1581
against Robert Bradshaw, clerk, curate of
Newton, to the effect that he had become
' infamous ' among his parishioners and a
' slander to the ministry,' being a ' com-
mon drunkard and a common gamner or
player at tables and other unlawful games' ;
further he had solemnized ' divers unlawful
marriages,' in one of which a sister of the
squire of Risley was a party ; Ches. Con-
sistory Ct. P.
44 Lydlate Hall, 248 ; quoting S.P. Dom.
Eliz. ccxxxv, 4.
48 Trans. Hist. Soc. (new sen), x, 190.
4? Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 13.
48 Richard Pickering was ' reader ' in
1609; Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxii,
298.
49 Commonwealth Ch. Surv, (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 47.
60 Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 271.
A pension out of the duchy had been set-
tled by Edward VI, viz. £3 is. jd., the
old chantry rent, less the tenth retained
by the Crown ; £z$ came from an inclo-
sure of common, and £20 was allowed by
the rector of Winwick.
51 Notitia Cestr. ii, 273 n.
M Land. Gaz. n Feb. 1845.
88 Visit. List at Chester. Bishop Gas-
trell says that a curate or 'perpetual
preacher* was licensed in 1620; Notitia
Cestr. ii, 272.
54 In 1635 the ship-money collectors
conceived his stipend to be insufficient to
maintain him and his wife and children,
and therefore forbore to lay any tax upon
him ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, no.
45 Plundered Mint. Accts. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 6. He signed the
' Harmonious Consent.' His will was
proved in 1649.
58 He ' came into the place ' by the
general consent of the chapelry, and was a
'godly preaching minister, supplying the
cure diligently upon the Lord's day,' but
he had not observed the recent day of
humiliation appointed by Parliament ;
Common-wealth Ch. Surv. 48. Roger Low
heard him preach at Newton in 1664 ; he
heard Mr. Taylor there in the following
year. It is possible that these were Non-
conformists ; Local Glean. Lanes, and Cbet.
i, 178, 180.
*7 Mentioned in the Winwick registers
in 1684 and 1685. Also rector of
Claughton for a time. He was master of
136
Stockport School 1674 to 1683 ; after-
wards he had a school at West Braden-
ham, Norfolk ; Earwaker, East Ches. i,
4'7-
68 Stratford's Visitation List at Chester.
He was buried at Winwick in 1731 ; will
proved 1733. He was also rector of Grap-
penhall as a 'warming-pan' from 1708 to
1722 ; Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Notes, ii,
60.
59 The church papers at Chester begin
at this time, when the sentence of conse-
cration was given.
60 Also rector of Davenham, 1745-75.
61 The following was his story : ' Par-
son Brien [Bryon], an apostate Jesuit,
was [Dec. 1806] curate of Newton.
Went at college by the name of Francis
Plowden out of gratitude to Lady Goring,
whose coachman his father was, and who
sent him to college. Came over to mis-
sion in Lancashire in 1751 ; 'Ghented,'
1755; taught ' little figures ' for some time
and at petition of Squire Dicconson allowed
to come over to be his chaplain 1758.
Company of Colonel Legh, &c., completed
his ruin. He read his recantation 1761
and obtained curacy of Newton ' ; Misc.
(Cath. Rec. Soc.), iv, 258 ; Foley, Rec.
S.J. vii, 100. He was buried at Win-
wick in 1813 aged eighty-eight.
62 He was one of the illegitimate sons
of Thomas Peter Legh of Lyme ; Ormerod,
Cbes. (ed. Helsby), iii, 678.
68 Lond. Gaz. 17 May 1879.
64 Notitia Cestr. ii, 273 ; End. Char.
Rep.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WINWICK
The Wesleyan Methodists have a church, Brunswick,
at Earlestown ; and the Primitive Methodists also
have one there. The Welsh Calvinistic Methodists
have a place of worship at Earlestown ; as also have
the Welsh Baptists. The English Baptists have a
chapel in Newton, where there is also a Free Gospel
mission room.
Occasional preaching by Congregational ministers
began in 1806, the steps of the town cross being the
pulpit till the constable interfered, but there was no
chapel till 1842. A new church was built in 1878,
largely through the benefactions of the family of
Richard Evans, the great colliery proprietors.65 In
the churchyard is a fine monument of Mr. Evans
erected by his workpeople.
The Roman Catholic church of St. Mary and
St. John, built in 1864, originated about three years
earlier.66
HAYDOCK
Hedoc, 1169; Heddoch, 1170; Haidoc, 1212.
The local pronunciation is Haddock.
This township has an area of 2,409 acres.1 From
its situation between Newton and Ashton it seems to
have been cut off from the former township. Clips-
ley Brook separates it from Garswood in Ashton, and
Sankey Brook forms the south-west boundary. The
population in 1901 numbered 8,575.
Haydock is varied in its natural features, some-
times undulating, sometimes flat. On the west the
surroundings are unpicturesque but typical of a
colliery country, scattered over with pit-banks and
shafts of mines. On the east the country is pleasanter,
with fields and plantations, and in this part is the
locally celebrated race-course of Haydock Park.
Crops of oats, wheat, potatoes, and cabbages seem to
be the principal produce of the clayey soil. The
geological formation consists largely of the Coal
Measures, but the old Haydock Park and a small area
to the west of the main road leading from Newton to
Ashton in Makerfield lie upon the Bunter series of
the New Red Sandstone.
The principal road, all along lined with dwellings,
is that from St. Helens, passing east and north-east
through Blackbrook and Haydock village to meet the
great north and south road from Wigan to Warring-
ton. The Liverpool, St. Helens and South Lanca-
shire Railway, worked by the Great Central Company,
passes through the township, and has a station at
Haydock ; and two others, called Ashton in Makerfield
and Haydock Park, on the boundary of Ashton. An
electric tramway service connects it with St. Helens.
The St. Helens Canal goes by the side of Sankey Brook.
Coal-mining is the great industry of the place.
A local board was formed in 1872,* and in 1894
became an urban district council of twelve members.
Haydock Lodge is now a lunatic asylum. A cot-
tage hospital was opened in 1886. A stone celt was
found here.3
The manor of HAYDQCK was a
MANORS dependency or member of the fee of
Newton.4 The first distinct notice of
it is in 1168, when Orm de Haydock had paid two
out of the 10 marks due from him to the aid for
marrying the king's daughter.5
He granted land called Cayley
to the Hospitallers.6 His son
Alfred took a surname from
Ince, in which his demesne
lay ; and Haydock was divided
between Hugh and William
de Haydock, who were in
possession in I2I2.7
The manor was held in
moieties from an early time.
The later Haydock family73
descended from Hugh. Wil-
liam's descendants8 died or
sold their interest in the middle of the I3th century*
to Thurstan de Holland, whose son Robert held also,
as it seems, a mesne lordship over the whole of Hay-
dock.10 This manor descended to the male heirs of
HAYDOCK of Hay-
dock. Argent a cross
ivith a Jleur-dt-lis sable
in the Jirst quarter.
65 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. iv, 144.
Richard Evans of Haydock died in 1864 ;
his sons Josiah and Joseph in 1873 and
1889. One of the daughters married
Richard Pilkington of Windle ; the other,
Ruth, built the memorial churches at
Rainhill and Haydock.
66 The ancient religion appears to have
died out very quickly in this township.
Thomas Langton, Baron of Newton, was
in 1590 'in general note of evil affection
in religion,' though ' in some degree of
conformity' ; his wife was a ' recusant and
indicted thereof.' Peter Legh of Lyme,
who had just succeeded his grandfather,
had married a daughter of Sir Gilbert
Gerard, Master of the Rolls, a decided
Protestant, and was ' of great good hope ; '
Lydiate Hall, 243, 244, 247 ; for the
Langton family see further, pp. 258, 260.
The recusant roll of 1641 gives only one
name in Newton ; Trans. Hist. Soc. (new
«er.), xiv, 244.
Roger Ashton of Newton in 1653
petitioned to be allowed to contract for
his estate, two-thirds having been seques-
tered for recusancy ; Royalist Comp. Paperty
i, 112.
1 2,411, including 30 of inland water;
Census of 1901.
3 Lond. Gax. 1 6 July 1872.
8 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. v, 329.
4 V.C.H. Lanes, i, 366 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Chet. Soc.), i, 138; ibid. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 105.
6 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 1 2. The arrears
in 1171 were pardoned, because he was
poor ; ibid. 23.
8 Lanes. Inq. and Extent! (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i. 74.
7 Ibid. loc. cit. Haydock appears to
have been rated as two plough-lands, one
each being held by Hugh and William de
Haydock. The services required of them
are not stated, but Alfred de Ince held his
three plough-lands (including Haydock) by
301. and providing two judges. The grants
are described as ' of ancient feoffment,*
i.e., originating before the death of
Henry I.
'a See below. Numerous deeds of the
family are in possession of the Leghs of
Lyme ; these were transcribed by the late
Canon Raines, and may be seen in vol.
xxxviii of his collections, now in the Chet.
Lib. Manchester.
8 The Andrew de Haydock who had a
son Geoffrey, to whom he gave half of
Longshawhead ; and a son-in-law Hugh
son of Hugh de Haydock, who had married
his daughter Cecily, may have been one
of William's descendants ; Raines MSS.
137
xxxviii, 37, 150. To him there was a
release by William son of William de
Haydock ; ibid. 219. Andrew de Hay-
dock was a juror in 1246 ; Assize R.
404, m. 1 6.
* Thurstan de Holland made grants to
William his son ; Raines, loc. cit. 225,
229. Joan wife of William de Multon
claimed land in Haydock in 1325-6 as
her dower after the death of William de
Holland, her previous husband ; Inq. p.m.
19 Edw. II, no. 96.
10 Robert son of Thurstan de Holland
described himself as ' lord of Haydock ' in
1282 on making a grant to John son of
John de Orrell of land by Eynlues Clough;
Raines MSS. xxxviii, 231. Sir Robert de
Holland, at his forfeiture in 1322, held half
the manor of Haydock of John de Lang-
ton and Alice his wife for 6;. 8</. ; Inq.
p.m. 1 8 Edw. II, no. 68. That the lord-
ship extended also over the moiety held
by the Haydock family is shown by the
inquiry into an alienation to the priory
of Burscough in 1346, when it was found
that there remained to Gilbert de Hay-
dock the manor of Haydock, held of Sir
Robert de Holland by the service of ioj.
yearly, Sir Robert holding it of Sir
Robert de Langton by the same service ;
Inq. p.m. 20 Edw. Ill (2nd nos.), no. 59.
18
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Thurstan and his son Sir Robert, and lapsed to the
Crown by the forfeiture of Henry, Duke of Exeter,
in 1461."
It is unlikely that the Hugh de Haydock of 1 2 1 2
was the Hugh acting on inquests of 1242 and 1265 ; "
more probably the latter was a son. Hugh de Hay-
dock had a son Gilbert, who married Alice daughter
of Matthew de Bold, and received lands in Bold with
her.11 Their son and heir was named Matthew, and
in 1286 ten messuages, eight oxgangs and 4 acres of
land in Haydock and Bold were settled on Matthew
by his father,14 and the moiety of the manor of
Haydock was granted in 1292." Some other acts
of Gilbert's are known ; 16 he seems to have died
about 1 300."
Matthew de Haydock lived till about 1322;"
a number of his charters are extant,19 showing that
he acquired fresh properties ; one of these, in Walton
le Dale, he gave to his son Hugh.40 His son Gilbert
succeeded. He had a grant of free warren in Hay-
dock and Bradley in 1344 ; also leave to make a park
in Haydock.*1 By his wife Emma" there was a
numerous offspring, but elder sons, named Matthew
and Gilbert, seem to have died young," and the
u Maud, widow of Robert de Holland,
died seised of the manor of Haydock,
held of Robert de Langton in socage by a
service of 6s. %d. and suit to Newton ;
Inq. p.m. 23 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), no. 58.
See also Lanct. Inq, p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 3.
In September, 1458, Henry Duke of
Exeter, and Anne his wife (sister of
Edw. IV), leased their manors of Hay-
dock, Newton, Breightmet, Harwood, and
Over Darwen to John Dutton and Hugh
Dawne for thirty-nine years at the rent
of £19 6s. %d~, of which £15 was allowed
to John and Hugh ; Raines, loc. cit. 65.
In 1465 Edw. IV granted to his sister
Anne and her heirs by her husband
Henry late Duke of Exeter the manors
of Newton and Haydock ; and three (?)
years later, the duchess having died and
the remainder to Anne daughter of the
said duchess having failed through her
death childless, Edw. IV granted these
manors to his consort Elizabeth, the
queen ; Add. MS. 32107, fol. 171, refer-
ring to Pat. 5 Edw. IV, pt. ii, m. 3, and
8 Edw. IV, pt. iii, m. 3. There is some
error in the latter reference, as Anne,
Duchess of Exeter, did not die until
1476 ; G.E.C. Complete Peerage, iii, 298.
At an inquiry made in 1506 at the
instance of Peter Legh it was found that
half the manor was his, as heir of the
Haydock family, and the other half was
the Crown's, by the forfeiture of Henry,
Duke of Exeter, and the failure of issue ;
Raines, loc. cit. 499-503 ; Duchy of
Lane. Misc. Bks. xxi, 7, ja. The Hol-
land mesne lordship over the whole of
Haydock was ignored, and in 1541 Peter
Legh was stated to have held his half of
the manor by a rent of 6s. %d. directly of
the lord of Newton ; Duchy of Lane.
Inq. p.m. viii, no. 10.
la Land. Inq. and Extents, i, 74, 146, 232.
The Hugh of 1212 had married a daughter
of Adam de Lawton ; ibid. 73.
Hugh de Haydock granted to William
de Coldcotes, in free marriage with Amice
his daughter, land in Haydock which
Henry Roebuck formerly held in Father-
croft; Raines, loc. cit. 221. The grantee
afterwards restored it to Gilbert son of
Hugh, for ' looj. given in his great need *j
ibid.
18 Ibid. 277 ; Cronshaw, Timberhead,
and Blacklache are named among the
bounds. Hugh and Robert, rectors of
Standish and Winwick, were among the
witnesses.
Gilbert de Haydock, with the consent
of Alice his wife, made a grant of land in
Bold to Alan de Penketh ; Dods. MSS.
cxlii, fol. 217/1, no. 168.
14 Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 164.
i* Ibid, i, 174. Richard de Ince and
Alice his wife put in their claim. This
seems to be the latest notice of the Ince
family's claim on the manor.
Matthew was probably not the eldest
son, for in 1260 Gilbert de Southworth
granted all his lands in Warrington to
Hugh son of Gilbert de Haydock in
marriage with his daughter Agnes ; Raines,
loc. cit. 75.
16 In 1299 he gave Matthew his son
lands in Haydock and Bold, the natives
with their sequel, &c. ; Raines, loc. cit.
235. At another time he gave his son
four oxgangs of land — three once held by
Ralph, Orme, and Moses, and one called
' Walftheuronys oxegeng,' with Dicherys
croft, and other lands ; the son to perform
the services due to the chief lord of the
fee, 'my lord Robert de Holland,' and
his heirs, and suit of a judge of the court
of Newton for the mediety of the manor
of Haydock ; ibid. 223 ; also 229. Prob-
ably in connexion with one of these
grants Gilbert wrote in 1285 to 'his
beloved and faithful man ' William son
of Richard le Roter of Cayley, telling
him that he had granted his service to his
son Matthew, to whom in future the
accustomed homage and service must be
rendered ; ibid. 227.
From William son of Richard de
Orrell he purchased in 1273 an acre in
Lady marsh, in a field called the Halgh ;
ibid. 123.
V In 1304 William son of Richard de
Haydock released to his 'chief lord*
Matthew de Haydock all claim on lands
which should have descended to him on
the death of Hugh his brother 5 appar-
ently this was two oxgangs ; ibid. 237.
w His son Gilbert appears to have
been in full possession in 1323 ; among
other acts he granted Richard de Ince a
rent of 13*. ^d. from his lands in Hay-
dock, Bold, and Golborne ; ibid. 33.
In 1329 are named the executors of the
will of Matthew de Haydock, viz. Gil-
bert de Haydock, Peter de Winwick,
chaplain, and Hugh de Hulme ; De Banco
R. 279, m. 300 d.
19 The earliest which has a date
(1284-5) is by Robert Banastre, lord of
Makerfield, to Matthew son of Gilbert de
Haydock, granting land in Newton called
Galpesch — Waterfall Clough and Kulne
Clough are named in the boundaries ;
also in Bentfurlong ; the rent was us. ;
Raines, loc. cit. 123.
In 1304 William son of Richard de
Haydock released to his chief lord, Mat-
thew son of Gilbert de Haydock, all his
claim in two oxgangs in Haydock, and all
he had by hereditary right after the death
of Hugh his brother ; ibid. 237.
Eleanor, the daughter of Matthew de
Haydock, married Simon son of William
de Walton, and in 1340 had sons Henry
and Gilbert ; ibid. 253. Gilbert de Hay-
dock had grants of lands in Spellow and
Newsham from his brother-in-law ; ibid.
80 Ibid. 245 ; dated at Haydock, 6 Aug.
1321.
21 Chart. R. 18 Edw. Ill, m. 5, no. 24 ;
Raines, loc. cit. 505.
138
w Gilbert de Haydock and Emma his
wife had a grant in Burtonwood in 1332 ;
ibid. 531.
Sir Gilbert de Haydock was knight of
the shire in 1320, 1321, and 1324; Pink
and Beaven, Parl. Rcpre. of Lanes. 19, 20.
He is not described as knight in later
deeds. In the return of 1324 the name of
Thomas de Lathom was substituted for his.
88 In 1336 William le Boteler of War-
rington granted to Gilbert de Haydock
and Matthew his son land in Burton-
wood ; Raines, loc. cit. 293. It is pos-
sible that he was the Matthew de Hay-
dock who accompanied Lord Stafford to
Guienne in 1345 ; Rymer, Foedera (ed.
Cayley), iii, 36. In 1347 Sir Matthew
de Haydock was concerned in the abduc-
tion of Margery de la Beche ; Col. Pat.
1 345-8, p. 3 1 o. Gilbert de Haydock was
also charged, but pardoned soon after-
wards on the king being assured that he
was ' wholly guiltless;' ibid. 319,345, &c.
Gilbert was described as ' son and heir '
in 1325 in a grant by William son of
Richard de Orrell of land in Newton ;
Raines, loc. cit. 3 5. Possibly he died, as
he is not further mentioned as son and
heir ; but a Gilbert son of Gilbert de
Haydock was living in 1343, when he
had a grant in Newton from John son of
Richard le Perpoint ; ibid. 145.
A settlement of the moiety of the
manor of Haydock and lands in Haydock,
Bold, Newton, and other townships was
made in 1332; the children of Gilbert
are thus named : Matthew, John, Richard,
Peter, Leonard, Nicholas, Anabel, Eleanor,
and Katherine ; Final Cone, ii, 82 ;
Raines, loc. cit. 39.
In another deed of the same year the
remainders to the children of Gilbert son
of Matthew de Haydock are thus given :
Matthew, Peter, Richard, John, Anabel,
and Eleanor; ibid. 236. The two
daughters are named as late as 1368 ;
ibid. 165. In the remainders in a pro-
vision for the younger children made in
1335 the order is John, Richard, Kath-
erine, Anabel, and Eleanor ; with final
remainder to Matthew ; ibid. 43.
Gilbert de Haydock was living in 1354,
when he received a grant of lands in
Newton from Sir Robert de Langton ;
ibid. 157.
At Christmas 1361, Gilbert le Norreys,
administrator of the goods of Gilbert t'e
Haydock, arranged for certain payments
to be made according to the will of the
deceased : £4 to Geoffrey de Worsley,
331. 4^. each to the churches of Win-
wick and Warrington, and £5 71. 6d. to
certain chaplains singing divine service for
his soul ; ibid. 53.
A contemporary, Henry de Haydock,
was knight of the shire from 1328 to
1337; Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 22.
One of the name, brother of Gilbert de
Haydock, is named in 1 347 ; Raines, loc.
cit. 421.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
heir to the manor was John de Haydock, who was
in possession by 1358."
He married Joan, daughter of Sir Thomas de
Dmton,85 and died 12 December 1387, holding the
moiety of the manor of Haydock and lands there of
Sir John de Holland of Thorpe Watervill in socage
by a rent of ijs. ; holding also various lands in
Newton, Golborne, and Bold. His son and heir
Gilbert was thirty years of age.** Of Sir Gilbert's
children the heir was his daughter Joan, who carried
this and other manors to the family of her first
husband, Peter de Legh of Lyme in Cheshire.27
She afterwards married Sir Richard de Molyneux of
Sefton, and her tomb is in Sefton Church." The
manor has since remained a part of the Legh inheri-
WINWICK
tance,*9 Lord Newton being the present lord as well
as chief landowner.80
Numerous other branches of the Haydock family sl
and minor holders existed in the I3th and I4th cen-
turies.31 No resident freeholders are named in the
lists of 1556, 1600, and 1628.
The Ven. Edmund Arrowsmith, S.J., executed for
his priesthood at Lancaster in 1628, was born in
Haydock.13 Katherine Arrowsmith, a leaseholder
under Sir Peter Legh, had two-thirds of her tene-
ment sequestered by the Commonwealth authorities
for her recusancy ; Thurstan her son, ' a Protestant and
conformable,' claimed it in 1652, and it was allowed
him on his taking the oath of abjuration.34 Thurstan
Callan and Mary his mother, widow of William
M He had a grant from Sir Robert de
Langton in that year ; Raines, loc. cit.
157. He had earlier, in 1350, purchased
lands in Newton from William ton of
John son of John the Piper, Emma,
widow of the younger John, assenting ;
ibid. 155. Piperfield in Newton was the
subject of a grant by him in 1373 ; ibid.
146.
24 John son of Gilbert de Haydock
and Joan his wife occur in 1353 ; Assize
R. 435, m. 32 ; she was the widow of
Richard le Boteler, with whom she had a
third of the Boteler lands ; these she took
to her second husband, whose heirs re-
tained them, an act which led to disputes
between the families not settled till the
i6th century 5 see Raines, loc. cit. 73,
79,80.
In 1368 a number of family arrange-
ments were made. William de Wigan,
chaplain, regranted to John de Haydock
and Joan his wife, daughter of Sir Thomas
de Dutton, various lands in Newton, with
remainders to the children of John and
Joan, and then to Sir Lawrence de Dut-
ton, and Anabel and Eleanor, sisters of
John de Haydock ; Raines, loc. cit. 165.
A grant by John son of Sir Robert de
Langton names the children of John and
Joan thus : Gilbert, Matthew, and Ni-
cholas, Ellen, Emma, Agnes, and Philippa;
ibid. 167. Four years later Talpeshaw in
Newton was granted with remainders
(after the children) to Sir Lawrence de
Dutton (brother of Joan), Sir Geoffrey de
Worsley, and Sir John Mascy of Tatton
and his wife Alice daughter of Geoffrey
de Worsley ; ibid. 238. The reason for
the Worsley remainder is that Geoffrey,
the father of Sir Geoffrey and Alice, had
married Anabel daughter of Gilbert de
Haydock ; ibid. 421.
In 1352 John and Richard sons of
Gilbert de Haydock were acquitted of the
murder of Adam son of William del
Moore ; Assize R. 434, m. 2. Provision
for Richard was made in 1348; Final
Ccnc. ii, 127. Richard died before July
1361, when his lands reverted to his
brother John ; Raines, loc. cit. 53.
84 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 31.
John de Haydock had been summoned to
the Scrope-Grosvenor trial in 1386, being
then sixty-four years of age ; Roll (ed.
Nicolas), 290.
V In Sept. 1394, Gilbert son and heir
of John de Haydock enfeoffed Richard
de Carleton, rector of Warrington, and
others of his manors of Haydock and
Bradley, and various lands in Haydock,
Newton, Golborne, and Bold ; Raines,
loc. cit. 57. A year later Henry de Hay-
dock released to the trustees all his claim
in the manors ; ibid. 59 ; and shortly
afterwards Sir John de Holland of Thorpe
Watervill leased to Sir Gilbert de Hay-
dock the park in Haydock ; ibid.
In 1420 Sir Gilbert de Haydock, Sir
Peter de Legh and Joan his wife received
from the trustee, Reginald del Downes,
mayor of Macclesficld, who had married
Sir Gilbert's daughter Alice, a release of
his interest in their manors in Lancashire;
ibid. 63. The marriage covenant is given
on p. 525 ; Gilbert de Haydock, kt., and
Sibyl his wife, and Peter de Legh, esq.,
were parties ; the date is illegible, but
that it was in or before 1414 is shown
by another deed; ibid. 393. The son
and heir, Peter de Legh, was born in
June 1415.
The Bishop of Lichfield granted Gil-
bert de Haydock licence for his oratories
at Haydock and Bradley in Dec. 1387;
Lich. Epis. Reg. Scrope, v, fol. 123^.
Sir Gilbert de Haydock had from Ric. II
a protection from serving as escheator, &c.,
and this was confirmed by Hen. IV in
1403; Pal. of Lane. Ch. Misc. 1-9,01. 15.
He is last named in 1425 ; Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 12.
28 See the account of Sefton. She
died in Jan. 1439-40.
39 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, no.
63 ; viii, no. 10 ; xxviii, no. 32 ; xxix,
no. 1 6. Accounts of the Legh family
are in Earwaker, East Ches. ii, 293-306,
and Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), iii,
673-8.
10 In 1787 Peter Legh contributed £42
out of the ^43 levied as land tax.
81 Some of these have been noticed in
the account of the parent family, to
which most of the minor properties
appear to have returned by purchase or
inheritance.
William son of Hugh son of Hugh de
Haydock granted to Matthew son of Gil-
bert de Haydock land by Matthew's
orchard in Oldfield, to be held of his
chief lord, Sir Robert de Holland ; Raines,
loc. cit. 229. Henry son of William de
Haydock granted land in Oldfield (or
Heldfield), abutting on Taylor's Marsh,
to his chief lord, Matthew de Haydock ;
ibid. 227. William son of Richard son
of Hugh de Haydock gave to the same
Matthew four selions in Aldenather,
Crooked Beancroft, and Hengrave ; ibid.
235. The seal shows a lion rampant
reguardant.
w Hawise daughter of Henry de Har-
grave in 1335 made a grant to Gilbert
son of Matthew de Haydock ; ibid. 41.
Richard son of Stephen del Edge con-
firmed this charter ; ibid. 43. The same
or another Hawise was in 1327 the wife
of Thomas son of Agnes del Shaw ; ibid.
37. Robert son of Laysig sold for IOCM.
'39
to Gilbert de Haydock a messuage and
land formerly held by Gilbert's uncle
William ; ibid. 221.
83 For a full biography see Foley,
Records S.J. ii, 24-74 ; Challoner, Miss.
Priests, ii, no. 160 ; Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of
Engl. Cath. i, 62.
Thurstan Arrowsmith, the grandfather,
died in Salford gaol in 1583 as a recusant;
Foley, op. cit. iii, 80 1. Robert, the
father, who married Margery daughter of
Nicholas Gerard, was also imprisoned on
suspicion of harbouring a priest ; he and
his brother Peter afterwards served in the
Low Countries — discharging their muskets
in the air for fear of hurting any Catho-
lics— and then joined the Spaniards.
Peter died abroad, and Robert, after visit-
ing his brother Edmund, a professor at
Douay, returned to England, where he died.
His widow Margery was fined for recusancy
in 1599. The Edmund Arrowsmith just
named entered the English College, Rome,
in 1583, aged 19 ; Foley, op. cit. vi,
155-
Bryan Arrowsmith was born in 1585
and educated at a local school. In 1605
he went to Douay ; taking his uncle's
name Edmund at his confirmation, he
was afterwards known by it. He was
ordained priest and sent to England in
1613, labouring in Lancashire. Arrested
in 1622 (it is supposed) he was brought
before Bishop Bridgeman, but after a
short imprisonment released. In 1624
he entered the Society of Jesus. Four
years afterwards he was arrested in con-
sequence of a denunciation by one Holden.
He was tried at Lancaster by Sir Henry
Yelverton, and condemned and executed on
28 Aug. ; by a special consideration he
was allowed to hang till he was dead, be-
fore the rest of the sentence was carried
out. His hand is preserved at St. Os-
wald's, Ashton in Makerfield, and many
miracles are attributed to it. The first
stage in the process of canonization was
passed in 1887.
84 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, iv,
3004 ; or more fully in the Royalist Comp.
Papert (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i,
86-90. The lease was made to peti-
tioner's grandmother, Katherine Arrow-
smith, who died about 1640, and descended
to her son Robert and his wife Katherine,
the recusant ; the husband died about
1646, and his widow had retained pos-
session of the third portion. The ' aver-
age ' consisted of two days' ploughing, two
days' loading of corn, four days' reaping,
and four days' haymaking, or a payment
of zs. 9</. The house and land are
described ; among the fields were the
Rounds, Kirkfield, Oak Hey, Cayley
Green, Ridding, and Hempyard.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Callan, in 1717 as * papists ' registered their estate in
the house called Blackbrook.*5
The Hospitallers' estate at C4TLET was held by
Guy Holland about 1540." The Holland family
had other estates in the same part of Haydock.37
In connexion with the Established Church St.
James's was built in i866;38 there is a mission
chapel called St. Mark's. The rector of Ashton in
Makerfield is the patron.
A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built in 1 846 ;
and a Primitive Methodist one in 1875. The Bap-
tists have a place of worship, erected in 1876. A
Congregational church was built in 1892 by Miss
Ruth Evans, in memory of her brother Joseph, one
of the colliery owners of the district.39
The Roman Catholic school-chapel of the English
Martyrs was opened in 1879 ; it was at first served
from Blackbrook, St. Helens, but a resident priest was
appointed in 1887.*°
WINWICK WITH HULME
Winequic, 1170; Winewich, 1204 ; Wynewyc,
Wynequic, 1212; Wynequick, 1277. The suffix
-quick or -whick long survived.
Hulm, 1276 ; Holum, xiii cent. ; Holm, 1279.
Winwick consists of open country, and is chiefly
celebrated for the beautiful parish church in the vil-
lage, which stands slightly elevated above the surround-
ing country. There are many picturesque old houses,
some with thatched roofs. Some little distance north
of the town is St. Oswald's Well, a shallow depression
in a field, and easily overlooked on account of its in-
significant appearance. There are still some fine
beech trees around the village, which are particularly
noticeable in a country where timber has dwindled to
apologies for trees. The outlying land is composed
of arable and pasture land. Crops of potatoes, oats,
and wheat flourish in the loamy soil, with clay in
places, over a solid sandstone rock. There is some
marshy mossland, bare of trees, on the south-west.
The geological formation consists wholly of the
Bunter series of the New Red Sandstone ; to the
south-west of Winwick and south of Hulme of the
Upper Mottled Sandstone of that series, elsewhere of
the Pebble Beds.
This township, which has an area of 1,440 acres,1
lies on the east side of the Sankey ; Newton Brook
bounds it on the north, while another small brook on
the south cuts it off from Orford and Warrington.
The southern end is called Hulme ; there is no
defined boundary between it and Winwick proper.
The township was enlarged in 1894 by the addition
of Orford from Warrington ; la and it has been
divided into three wards — Winwick, Hulme, and
Orford — for the election of its parish council.
The principal road leads north from Warrington
to Wigan ; it is to the east of the old Roman road.
At the church it divides ; one branch goes by Newton
and Ashton, and the other by Golborne and Ince, to
Wigan.
The London and North- Western Company's main
line to the north passes through the township, with a
junction for Earlestown near the northern boundary.
The Sankey Canal passes along the western boundary.
A great lunatic asylum has been erected by the
County Council on the lands of the former rectory.
Two encounters took place here in the Civil War ;
in 1643 Colonel Assheton routed the Cavaliers * and in
1648 Cromwell overtook and defeated the Duke of
Hamilton and his Scottish force.3 This battle took
88 Engl. Cath. Non-juror •*, 114.
M Kuerden MSS. v, fol. 84 ; the rent
was I2</. In 1546 Sir Peter Legh ac-
quired Guy Holland's lands in Haydock ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 12, m. 196.
W Sir Thurstan de Holland granted to
William his son all his part of Cayley in
Haydock, the bounds beginning where
Kemesley Clough fell into the Sankey
and going across outside the hedge of
Cayley to Clippesley Brook and Black-
brook, then up Sankey to the starting
point. He further gave him three ox-
gangs in the Butterscrofts under the wood
of Haydock, with the usual easements
and common rights. A rent of a mark
was to be paid yearly to Sir Thurstan
during his life, and nothing afterwards ;
but the rent of I2</. due to the Hospital-
lers was to be paid by William de Holland
and his heirs ; Raines, loc. cit. 229. He
also granted Barley Metes to William; ibid.
225. Matthew son of Gilbert de Hay-
dock granted William son of Thurstan de
Holland land in Cayley in the Blackrid-
ding (or in Warrington Cliff), in exchange
for another piece on Ewittinges Hedge,
abutting upon Hengrave ; ibid. 231, 233.
In 1307 William son of Sir Thurstan
demised to his lord William son of Sir
Robert de Holland two oxgangs in Hay-
dock for a term of sixteen years at a rent
of us. Seven years later Sir William de
Holland gave land near the Blackridding to
Richard son of William de Holland of
Cayley, in exchange for the two oxgangs
Sir William had on lease ; ibid. 31, 33.
William son of Richard de Holland of
Cayley is mentioned in 1339 ; ibid. 45.
Margaret widow of William de Holland
of Cayley in 1347 leased to Gilbert de
Haydock and John his son for six years
lands in Cayley, which she held by reason
of the minority of her son Richard, at a
rent of 401. ; ibid. 47. The son may be
the Richard de Cayley to whom in the
following year John son of Gilbert de
Haydock gave all his lands and buildings
in Haydock ; ibid. 49.
Another William de Holland of Cayley
occurs in 1383 ; ibid. 57.
88 A district was assigned Jn 1864;
Land. Gaz. 30 Aug.
89 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. iv, 166;
preaching had begun a few years earlier.
40 Liverpool Catb. Ann. 1901.
1 Including 1,091 in Winwick and 349
in Hulme. The census of 1901 gives
2,081, but this includes Orford. The
population, 1,253, a'so includes Orford.
la Local Govt. Bd. Order 31665.
2 23 May 1643. 'Whilst the duty (of
prayer and fasting) was in performing
tidings came of the taking of Winwick
Church and steeple, they on the steeple
standing on terms till God sent a deadly
messenger out of a fowling piece to one
of them ; also a strong hall [the rectory]
possessed by professed Roman Catholics
and stored with provision, as if it had been
purposely laid in both for our supply and
ease'; Civil War Tracts (Chet. Soc.),
138.
For a counter attack on the parsonage
in 1650, and its tragic results, see the ac-
count of Rixton.
8 Cromwell wrote : 'We could not en-
gage the enemy until we came within
I4O
three miles of Warrington, and then the
enemy made a stand at a pass near Win-
wick. We held them in some dispute
till our army came up,they maintaining the
pass with great resolution for many hours,
ours and theirs coming to push of pike
and very close charges, and forced us to
give ground ; but our men, by the bless-
ing of God, quickly recovered it, and
charging very home upon them, beat them
from their standing, where we killed about
a thousand of them and took (as we be-
lieve) about two thousand prisoners, and
prosecuted them home to Warrington
town ' ; Civil ffar Tracti, 264. It is
stated that the ' foot threw down their
arms and ran into Winwick Church,'
where they were kept under guard ; ibid.
This fight took place 19 Aug. 1648.
Another account states : ' The greatest
stand they (the Scots) made was between
Newton and Winwick, in a strait passage
in that lane that they made very strong
and forcible, so that Cromwell's men
could not fight them. But by the in-
formation of the people thereabouts and
by their direction they were so guided into
the fields that they came about so that
they drove them up to that little green
place of ground short of Winwick church
and there they made a great slaughter of
them, and then pursued them to Warring-
ton' ; Lanes. War (Chet. Soc.), 66. In
the notes (p. 145) is an extract from
Heath's Chron. (323): ' The Scots at
Red Bank fight were commanded by a
little spark in a blue bonnet who per-
formed the part of an excellent comman-
der and was killed on the spot.'
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WINWICK
place at Red Bank, near the border of Newton; and
Gallows Croft, on the Newton side, is said to mark
the place where many of the prisoners captured were
hanged.
Winwick Wake ceased in 1828.*
The rector of W1WVICK having
M4NOR been from before the Conquest lord of the
manor and owner of almost all the land,
the story of the place is the story of the rectors above
related. The lords of Makerfield enumerated Win-
wick as a member of their fee,* but the only lay
owners appear to have been the Southworth family,
holding a little land directly of the lord of Makerfield.6
Under an Act of Parliament passed in 1884 the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners became lords of the
manor in 1890, and the hall was sold to the County
Council.
In 1086 the church of St. Oswald held two plough-
lands exempt from all taxation,7 and was given by
Roger of Poitou to the canons of St. Oswald,
Nostell. Under them in 1212 Richard, the rector of
Winwick, held two-thirds of the land, and Robert de
Walton the remainder.8 Robert had granted out his
portion — three oxgangs — to Alfred de Ince and three
to Hugh de Haydock.9 If Robert's interest were
merely temporary his grants would probably expire at
his death ; but similar grants were made by the
rectors, and a few particulars of them have been pre-
served. All the land seems to have been recovered by
the rectors by the beginning of the 1 4th century.10
But few incidents are recorded of the township.
The lease of the rectory from time to time by
absentee parsons resulted in the hall being occupied
by the lessee or steward. One of these, Gowther
Legh, founded the grammar school. A later one, Sir
Thomas Stanley, son of Edward, Earl of Derby, made
the rectory his residence. His son, Sir Edward Stanley,
was in 1590 in 'some degree of conformity' to the
established religion, but ' in general note of evil affec-
tion ' towards it.11 From the beginning of the iyth
century the rectors seem to have been usually resident,
and as they had complete authority it is not to be
supposed that expressions of nonconformity were
numerous.12 Their rule appears to have been mild
and readily acquiesced in by the people.1*
John Launder paid to the subsidy of 1628 as hold-
ing lands.14 Under the Commonwealth, Thomas
Goulden, member of a recusant family of long con-
tinuance in the district, petitioned to be admitted as
tenant of the sequestered two-thirds of his estate.15
* Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 647.
* Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 99,
&c.
Winwick seems to have been at one
time appropriated to the church and
rectory, Hulme having been the township
name.
8 This seems to have begun in a grant
by William de Sankey about 1260 of
land in Hulme held by a charter of Henry
de Ince ; Towneley MS. HH, no. 1654.
In the inquisition after the death of
Thomas Southworth, taken in 1 547, the
tenement in Hulme is grouped with the
others 'held of Sir Thomas Langton in
tocage ' ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vii,
no. 23.
Thurstan Southworth, as a landowner,
paid to a subsidy in Queen Mary's time ;
Mascy of Rixton D.
^ V.C.H. Lanes, i, 286*.
8 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 72.
9 Ibid.
10 Two charters relating to the town-
ship are contained among the Legh of
Lyme deeds in Raines' MSS. (Chet. Lib.),
xxxviii, 393 : (i) Robert de Winwick re-
leased to Gilbert de Haydock all his claim
to four oxgangs in Hulme, being a fourth
part of the vill, which Hugh de Haydock
had formerly purchased from him, the
said Gilbert having given Robert 40*. * in
his great need." (2) John the clerk of
Hulme granted to Hugh son of John
de Haydock, in free marriage with
Margery his daughter, two messuages in
Hulme and a croft called Flaxhalgh.
Henry de Hulme granted a house for a
rent of 4^. payable at Halton Fair ;
Towneley MS. GG, no. 997. William
son of John de Hulme granted to Robert,
' called Robin,' land between that of
Robert de Holland and Hugh de Hulme.
In 1276 Simon the Messer, of War-
rington, claimed four oxgangs of land in
Hulme against Richard de Haydock, and
other messuages, &c. against Robert the
Smith, Austin vicar of Winwick, Richard
de Houghton, Hugh son of John de Hay-
dock, and others; De Banco R. 15, m.
15 d. ; 17, m. 84 d.
At the same time the vicar (rector) of
Winwick had leave to withdraw his plea
against Thurstan de Holland and other
tenants in Hulme ; Assize R. 40$. He
proceeded against William son of John
and others respecting three oxgangs of land
of which he alleged his predecessor Robert
was seised in the time of Henry III,
Henry de Sefton having taken possession
after Robert's death on the allegation that
they were a lay fee ; De Banco R. 1 8, m.
15 ; 19, m. 54 d. William son of John
called the Prior of Nostell to warrant
him.
Margery, widow of Robert de Kinknall,
who claimed dower in two oxgangs in
Golborne against Robert Banastre, also
claimed lands in Hulme against Peter the
chaplain and others — including Austin the
vicar — in respect of four oxgangs of land ;
De Banco R. 20, m. 15 d, 26 d.
Austin the vicar prosecuted his claim
against Robert de Holland respecting
three oxgangs in Hulme, and William de
Aintree, on being called to warrant,
averred that his father Henry died seised,
the charter to Thurstan, father of Robert
de Holland, never having been executed ;
De Banco R. 23, m. 21 ; 28, m. 41 ; 30,
m. 33.
In 1292 John son of Hugh de Hulme
claimed an oxgang in Hulme from John
the vicar of Winwick, but did not prose-
cute it ; Assize R. 408, m. 21. In 1313
John de Hamburgh, then rector, claimed
six messuages and three oxgangs in Win-
wick from John son of Hugh de Hulme,
who called John, Prior of Nostell, to war-
rant him, alleging that he held by charter
of Henry de Aberford, a former prior ;
De Banco R. 199, m. 37d. ; 207, m.
108 ; 212, m. 431 d.
It should be remembered that Henry
de Sefton represented the Alfred de Ince
of 121 2, and that William de Aintree was
a Haydock. John de Chisenhale, rector
of Winwick, asserted in 1334 that William
le Boteler of Warrington and others had
disseised him of a mill and certain lands
in Winwick. In reply it was urged that
John was 'vicar,' not 'parson,' of Win-
wick, but in general the jury sustained his
141
claim. William le Boteler, grandfather
of the defendant, had purchased from
Richard son of Hugh de Hulme an acre
of land in Winwick, from olden time
arable ; Coram Rege R. 297, m. 6 d.
11 Lydiate Hall, 244 ; quoting S.P. Dom.
Eliz. ccxxxv, 4. He was 'of great living.'
His wife, Lady Lucy, was an indicted
recusant. Sir John Fortescue, who mar-
ried Sir Edward Stanley's daughter and
enjoyed the rectory, was also a recusant ;
Cal. of Com. for Compounding, iv, 2539.
la In Beam on t, IVimvick, 41, 42, may
be seen presentments made at the visita-
tions of the chancellor and archdeacon of
Chester in 1632 and 1634. 'Roger Bur-
chall was presented as a depraver of re-
ligion as established in the Church of
England and a negligent comer to church,
and as having reported that my lord
suffered seminary priests to walk hand in
hand and did not so much as point at
them.' ' My lord ' was perhaps the Bishop
of Chester, or the Earl of Derby. Another
was presented for having a candle on the
bier, and others had ' sent for the blesser
to bless cattle that were sick at Winwick.'
John Norman was presented in 1669
for saying that ' this Church of England is
not a true church, and that the worship
therein is odious to God and hateful to
man ' ; Visit, books at Chester.
18 See Baines, Lanes. Directory of 1825,
for the methods used by Rector Hornby
to promote good conduct ; ii, 717.
14 Norris D. (B.M.) ; Elizabeth Lunt
(or Williamson) and Thomas Goulden, as
convicted recusants, paid double on goods ;
for these see Trans. Hist. Soe. (new ser.),
xiv, 244. The Launder family acquired
an estate in Ashton in Makerfield.
15 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, iv,
3160. Thomas and John Goulden, in
Elizabeth's time, had fallen under sus-
picion because they were recusants and had
been known to resort to the seminary
priest at Samlesbury ; Baines, Lanes, (ed.
1870), i, 180 (from Harl. MS. 360, fol.
32/1). The family occurs in Southworth,
Pendleton, and St. Helens ; See J. Gillow,
Bill. Diet, of Engl. Catb. ii, 324.
For Fortescue Goulding, born at Win-
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Among the miscellaneous deeds preserved by Towne-
ley is an agreement made in 1546 concerning Page-
field, lying between Winwick and Southworth.1'
ASHTON
Eston, 1 2 1 2 ; Ayston, 1 246 ; Ashton, 1254;
Assheton, 1292.
Grateswode, 1367 ; Garteswood, xvi cent.
This township, called Ashton in Makerfield or
Ashton-le- Willows for distinction, has an area of
6, 249 J acres.1 The highest ground, 3 50 ft., lies near
the boundary of Billinge ; the lowest, about 90 ft.,
is at the eastern corner, where Glazebrook forms part
of the boundary. San key Brook is the south-west
boundary, and two of its tributaries separate Ashton
from Billinge and Haydock. Millingford Brook runs
through the centre of the township from north-west to
south-cast. Ashton village lies on its northern bank ;
on the same side are Stubshaw Cross, Heybridge,
Brynn, Whitley Green, and Brocksteads. The southern
side of the brook contains Garswood, with Seneley
Green, Leyland Green, and Downall Green. The
population in 1901 was 18,687.
The place-names Soughers lane, Skitter farm, and
Cramberley occur in 1825.
The surface is sometimes undulating, mostly flat,
the soil being clay, sand, and stone. There are occa-
sional patches of old moss-land, but the greater part
of the country is cultivated, where possible, and good
crops of potatoes, turnips, wheat, and oats are pro-
duced. In the south there are fine plantations, in-
cluding the grounds of Garswood Park, which make
a refreshing clump of greenery. But in the northern
parts the majority of the trees are reduced to blackened
stumps, standing leafless and gaunt, until they fall from
sheer decay. As in other mining districts collections
of water lie in many places, indicating the subsidence
of the ground, as the result of mining.
A narrow strip of the Permian rocks extends from
Abram tp Edge Green, separating the Coal Measures
from the New Red Sandstone, and the latter formation
covers the former in the immediate vicinity of the
town of Ashton. Elsewhere the Coal Measures alone
are in evidence.
The principal road, that from Wigan to Warring-
ton, roughly agreeing with the old Roman road, passes
north and south through the township and village ;
at this point it is crossed by the road from St. Helens
to Hindley. The road from Ashton to Billinge is
crossed at Leyland Green by one from St. Helens to
Winstanley. The Lancashire Union line of the
London and North Western Railway from St. Helens
to Wigan has stations at Garswood and Brynn. The
Liverpool, St. Helens, and South Lancashire Railway of
the Great Central system touches the southern border.
Traces of the Roman road have been discovered,
and a coin of Trajan was found.
In 1825 Ashton was a Marge and populous vil-
lage,' ' the centre of a brisk manufacturing district
where the poor are industrious and their employers
prosperous." It had in 1 840 cotton-spinning establish-
ments and fustian manufactures, and was noted for
hinges and locks. The making of tools, screws, and
locks continues ; large collieries are also worked.
Stubshaw Cross, Ashton Cross, and Four-footed
Cross, once marked on the map, have quite disappeared,1
but the first has given a name to a hamlet.
A lazaretto for those suffering from an epidemic of
the sweating sickness in the time of Elizabeth is said
to have been built on Ashton Common.4
A fair of two days' duration was held on 22 and
23 September, principally for toys and amusements.4
A local board was established in 1872,® but has
become an urban district council of fifteen members
with five wards under the Local Government Act of
1 894. The council owns the water and gas works.
Before the Conquest 4SHTON was
MANORS no doubt one of the fifteen berewicks or
dependent manors of the royal manor of
Newton.7 Later it was a member of the fee of
Makerfield, which had Newton for its head.8 At the
survey of 1 2 1 2 it was found to be held by Thomas
de Burnhull or Brindle, being three plough-lands of
the three and a half held by him in thegnage for 3 5/.,
and providing a judge and a half at the court of
Newton.9 Two plough-lands he had in his own
hands, embracing, it would appear, Ashton proper,
or Brynn, north of the Millingford Brook ; the third
plough-land, probably Garswood, was held of him by
Henry de Ashton, ' of ancient feoffrnent,' 10 and under
this Henry appears to have been held by Henry son
of Roger, * of ancient marriage.' Henry de Ashton
had also granted 20 acres to the Hospitallers.11
Thomas de Burnhull was followed by a son Peter,"
who married Avice, the heiress of Windle and other
manors.11 In 1254 he obtained the right to erect a
mill in Ashton.14 The son of Peter and Avice was
Peter, who dying about 1295 16 was succeeded by his
brother Alan. Alan, who was living in 1315, 16 left
wick Hall,' and educated at St. Omers and
Valladolid, see Pal. Note-book, iii, 103.
The will of John Goulden of South-
worth, dated 1701 and proved 1715, in
the Ches. Reg. mentions his wife Kathe-
rine, his son Thomas, and his nephew
Richard Hitchmough. The testator had
property in Southworth, Croft, Poulton,
Woolston, Fearnhead, and Moscroft.
"Towneley MS. GG, no. 1069.
1 6,251, including 63 of inland water,
according to the census of 1901.
3 Baines, Lanes. Dir. ii, 717.
8 Lanes, and Cbes. Antiq. Soc. xix, 235,
236.
4 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 628;
no reference is given.
• Ibid. 639.
' Land. Gats. 14 June, 1872.
7 V.CJ1. Lanes, i, 286.
8 Ibid. 366n. It is regularly entered
among the members of Newton fee in the
inquisitions ; see Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet.
Soc.), ii, 99.
9 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 74, 75.
10 i.e. reaching back to the time of
Henry I.
11 Ibid. The grant to the Hospitallers
does not appear again.
™Wballty Coucber (Chet. Soc.), iii,
852 ; Thomas de Burnhull and his son
Peter attested a charter. Peter de Burn-
hull was in possession of Ashton by 1246;
Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 98.
18 See the account of Windle ; her
manors were Windle, Skelmersdale, and
half of Rainhill.
14 Final Cone, i, 1 1 6. By this Robert
Banastre also released to Peter de Burn-
hull all right to any suit of mill from
Peter and his heirs and the men of his
fee in Ashton ; for the grant and quit-
142
claim Peter gave 35 marks, and promised
to render at Newton 2s. a year for
ever.
15 Thomas Moody, of Ashton, in 1292
complained that Gilbert de Clifton
(guardian), and Peter son of Peter de
Burnhull had disseised him of certain
land, but they showed that it had never
been arable land in plaintiff's time, only
moor and marsh ; Assize R. 408, m. 60 d.
Thomas Moody had another charge to
make against Gilbert de Clifton — that he
had been seized at Ashton and taken to
the church of Wigan, where he was im-
prisoned ; ibid. m. 53 d.
16 Alan son of Peter de Burnhull was
lord of Ashton in 1302 and 1305, as
appears by pleas of those years ; Assize
R. 418, m. 4 ; 420, m. 3. He was lord
of Skelmersdale in 1 300 ; Final Cone, i,
189; ii, 143 n. He is also called Alan de
Windle.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WINWICK
a son Peter, and two daughters, Joan and Agnes. The
son died before 1330, and his sisters became heirs of
the property.17
Joan married William Gerard, son of William
Gerard, lord of a moiety of the manor of Kingsley,
near Frodsham ; u and Agnes married David Egerton
of Egerton, near Malpas, but probably died without
issue, as nothing is known of any claim to the Burn-
hull manors by her descendants.19 The heiresses and
their husbands were children at the time of their
marriage, William Gerard being but thirty years of
age in 1352, when his father died.*0 Two years
later he made a settlement of the manor of Ashton,
the remainders being to his son Peter, and then to
the heirs of Joan daughter of Alan de Burnhull.*1
Little is known of the son, except that he became
a knight." Sir Peter Gerard died in 1380, and was
succeeded by his son Sir Thomas Gerard, who like
others of the family is traditionally said to have been
engaged in the wars of the time.13 At his death in
1416 he was found to have held the two-thirds of
the manor of Ashton of Henry de Langton, baron of
Newton, in socage by the service of zos. a year,
besides many other manors and lands in Lanca-
shire.14 His son and heir John, aged thirty at his
father's death, succeeded. He died 6 November
1431, leaving a son and heir Peter, then twenty-
four years of age.*4 This son, afterwards Sir Peter
Gerard, had a comparatively short life, dying on
26 March 1447, when the manors devolved on
a minor, his son Thomas being but sixteen years
of age."
Sir Thomas Gerard, who came of age in 1452,"
was married in childhood to Douce daughter of Sir
Thomas Ashton ; afterwards he married Cecily,
daughter of Sir Robert Foulshurst, by whom he had
a son and heir Peter, and other children.*8 He died
on 27 March 1490 ;w his widow Cecily afterwards
made a vow of chastity.50 The son Peter, aged
thirty at his father's death, married Margery
daughter of Sir Thomas Stanley of Hooton, and
granddaughter and coheir of Sir John Bromley, by
BROMLEY. Quarterly
per fesse indented gules
and or.
GERARD of Brynn.
Azure a lion rampant
ermine crowned or.
whom the estate of Gerard's Bromley came to this
family. Peter Gerard died four years after his father,31
leaving as heir his son Thomas, only six years of age.
He was made a knight, but showed himself a turbu-
J' Assize R. 424, m. 2 ; De Banco R.
284, m. 119.
18 It will be seen from the account of
Kirkby that William Gerard, the father,
had a share of the manors of Kirkby and
Melling in right of his wife.
An account of the Gerards of Kings-
ley is given in Ormerod, Chet. (ed.
Helsby), ii, 96, and 131, 132. Abstracts
of inquisitions and family deeds are there
printed.
19 Ibid, ii, 628. In 1346 inquiry was
made as to why William Gerard, jun.,
and David de Egerton had not been made
knights : a list of their possessions was
made ; Q.T. Mem. R. 122, m. 123 d.
20 Ormerod, op. cit. ii, 96. William
and Joan were in possession of Ashton in
1338, when they made a sale of land ;
Final Cone, ii, 108.
21 Ibid, ii, 143, 144.
22 The Bishop of Lichficld granted to
Sir Peter Gerard a licence for his oratory
at Brynn for two years from 7 Oct. 1379;
Lich. Epis. Reg. Scrope, v, fol. 33. The
writ of Diem cl. extr. after his death was
issued 20 Feb. 1380-1 ; Dep. Keeper' t
Rep. xxxii, App. 353.
23 Ormerod, ii, 96. Thomas Gerard
was knight of the shire in 1384, 1388,
and 1394 ; Pink and Beaven,P«r/. Repre.
of Lana. 40, 43, 44. In 1393 Thomas
Gerard received the royal pardon for
having entered into certain estates during
his minority and for having married,
when he should have been in ward to the
king; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvi, App. 195.
In 1402 he made provision for the mar-
riage of his son John with Alice daughter
of Sir John Boteler ; ibid. 196.
24 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 123;
the clear value was 100 marks. His
name does not occur in Sir Harris
Nicolas's account of the Agincourt
campaign.
25 Ormerod, loc. cit. The writ of
Diem cl. extr. was issued 10 Dec. 1431,
and writ of livery 14 Mar. 1431-2 ; Dep.
Keeper' t Rep. xxxvi i, App. 301. The
writ of Diem cl. extr. on the death of
Alice, widow of John Gerard, was issued
27 Feb. 1441-2 ; ibid.
26 Ormerod, loc. cit. The Lancashire
inquisition taken after his death is pre-
served in Towneley MS. DD, no. 1465.
This recites among other deeds, that
John Gerard, the father, had in 1428
granted lands in Rainhill, with Smalley,
Lawneld, and other parcels in Ashton to
his son Peter and Isabel his wife. It
also appears that Peter was ' esquire ' in
1440, when various lands were settled on
Douce, daughter of Sir Thomas Ashton,
in view of her marriage with Thomas
Gerard, son of Peter. The said Peter
died seised of 'the manor of Ashton,
otherwise called the manor or capital
messuage of the Brynn,' but the jury did
not know by what rent it was held of the
chief lord, Henry Langton. The custody
of the lands of the heir was granted to
Thomas Danyell, and afterwards to John
Ashton } Isabel, widow of Sir Peter, had
dower ; Dep. Keeper' t Rep. xxxvii, App.
302.
V Proof of age was given at St. Mary's
Church, Chester, on 2 Aug. 1452. John
Leicester said that Thomas was of age on
15 July ; he remembered being at Win-
wick Church on pilgrimage to St. Rhade-
gund on the day of the baptism. John
Abram remembered Sir Peter Gerard
asking Sir Thomas Stanley to be god-
father to his son ; Richard Clive re-
membered the same, and held a lighted
candle at the baptism. Others were at
Winwick Church attending a funeral,
when they heard of Thomas's birth, and
others heard of it while staying at Ashton
for a ' love day ' between Sir William
Atherton and Henry Kighley ; Ormerod,
loc. cit.
A pension of £20 to Sir Thomas
Gerard granted by Edward IV was ex-
cepted from the Act of Resumption in
1464 ; Part. R. v, 546.
28 This appears from the later inquisi-
tions, in which Peter is called the son of
Cecily. Other sons were Robert, men-
tioned in the will of Thomas Gerard, and
John, a clerk, to whom the Cheshire
manors were granted for life by his father;
Ormerod, loc. cit. ; Dep. Keeper' t Rep.
xxxix, App. 132.
29 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, no.
21 : the inquisition was not taken until
1508.
80 Lich. Epis. Reg. Hales, xiii, fol.
I2ii; commission to receive the vo\v
and give the widow's veil, ring and
mantle, dated 22 May 1491. She died
24 May 1502, having a life interest in
the Gerard lands which had been assigned
to her as dower by her son Peter ; Duchy
of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, no. 95.
81 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. ii, no. 21,
where the date is given as 20 June 1494.
This does not agree with that on the
memorial brass in Winwick Church,
which sets forth the lineage of his wife.
In 1502, after the death of Dame Cecily,
the manors were granted to Margary,
widow of Peter, during the minority of
the heir ; Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. xxi,
320. Cecily Gerard's Inq. p.m. states
that the Bromley lands were in Bromley,
Whittington, Beddill, Chadkilne, Ridges,
Podmore, Kaunton, Milwich, Woolsall,
and Selfort, with a moiety of the manor
of Hextell, in Staffordshire.
Margery, the widow of Peter Gerard,
requested that as various lands had been
assigned to feoffees on the marriage of Sir
Thomas Gerard with Cecily daughter of
Sir Robert Foulshurst, which Cecily was
still living, she should have the rule of
Thomas her son during his minority ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. ii, no. 112.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
lent and lawless man,38 and died at Berwick in 1523,
during an expedition against the Scots.33 His son,
another Sir Thomas, was only eleven years of age at
his father's death ; but little is known of him. He
died between 1550 and I56o.34
His son Sir Thomas Gerard sold his interest in
the Kingsley estates of the family,85 and purchased
the other third part of the manor of Ashton from
John Atherton, thus becoming sole lord.36 His
wife was the heiress of Sir John Port of Etwall
in Derbyshire, and this manor-house became a
favourite residence of the family.37 After a
brief period of compliance he became conspicuous for
his resistance to the religion established by Elizabeth,
and suffered accordingly. He was sent to the Tower
in 1571, perhaps being suspected of a share in the
rising of the previous year or for sympathy with
Mary Queen of Scots ; his release is said to have been
purchased by the surrender of Bromley to Sir Gilbert
Gerard, Master of the Rolls.38 He was again com-
mitted to the Tower in 1586, but liberated about
three years later, having been induced to give evidence
against Philip Earl of Arundel, then in the Tower
also, to the effect that he had prayed for the success
of the Spaniards.39 In 1590 he was reported as
having * made show of conformity ' while in Lanca-
shire, but was ' in general note of evil affection ' in
religion.40 His younger son John became a Jesuit,
and laboured in England until the storm aroused by
the Gunpowder Plot, when he escaped to Belgium,
and became the chief agent in the foundation of the
English College at Liege.41
Sir Thomas Gerard is said to have died in Septem-
ber 1 60 1.4* His son Thomas, made a knight in
1603, and a baronet in 1611, succeeded him.43 Like
his father, he was in 1590 reported as * of evil affec-
M In Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 61-7, is an account
(wrongly dated) of a cock fight at Win-
wick in 14 Apr. 1515, attended by
Thomas Boteler of Bewsey, son of Sir
Thomas, and others of the neighbouring
gentry ; James Stanley, Bishop of Ely,
though he had arranged to come, does not
seem to have been present. The meeting
was disturbed by the appearance of Sir
Thomas Gerard and a number of re-
tainers, all fully armed, and determined
to wreak vengeance on some obnoxious
members of the party. His quarrel with
Thomas Gerard of Ince occurred a little
earlier ; ibid. 3-7. Roger Platt of Ince
complained that Sir Thomas Gerard of
Ashton, ' of his own rigorous and malici-
ous mind,' had seized his cattle and
carried them off to the Brynn, where he
detained them, and out of ' further ran-
cour ' set in the stocks one Lawrence
Charnock, who had taken fodder for the
cattle ; ibid. 75.
A settlement of various manors was
made in 1511, Thomas Gerard and Mar-
gery his wife being in possession ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. u, m. 246.
88 Duchy Plead, ii, 234. He died
7 Nov. 1523 seised of the manors of
Brynn, Windle, and Brindle, and wide
lands in the district. In his will, dated
a year before his death, he recited the
provision made for his wife Margery
daughter of Sir Edmund Traffbrd ; his
son and heir Thomas and his wife Joan ;
Peter and other younger sons; Katherine,
Elizabeth, and Anne, his daughters. The
last appears to have been already mar-
ried to Richard Ashton of Middleton.
The remainders were to Robert Gerard,
his uncle, and to the issue of his grand-
father, Sir Thomas Gerard ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. viii, no. 13.
Margery, the widow, afterwards mar-
ried Sir John Port, and died 10 May
1 540, when the son, Thomas Gerard,
was thirty-eight years of age ; ibid.
84 In 1533 he 'would not be spoken
with ' by the herald ; Visit. (Chet. Soc.),
182. He was made a knight in 1544
during the invasion of Scotland ; Met-
calfe, Bk. of Knights, 78. In 1536
Thomas Gerard of Brynn was expected
to bring a contingent of 450 men to
serve against the Pilgrimage of Grace ;
L.andP. Hen. VIII, xi, 511. He was
sheriff of the county in 1548 and 1553 ;
P.R.O. List, 73. In 1552 he was claim-
ing exemptions for the suppressed chantry
of Windle ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), i,
254. He appears to have had several
illegitimate children, of whom one,
Thomas, was employed as trustee.
Another Thomas Gerard, contemporary
with these, was the natural son of William
Gerard.
Sir Thomas married Jane, a daughter
of Sir Peter Legh of Lyme, from whom
he was separated ; Raines MSS. (Chet.
Lib.), xxii, 170 ; Ormerod, Ches. (ed.
Helsby), iii, 677. Her will, in which
she is described as Dame Jane Gerard of
Bromley, is printed from the Lyme deeds
in Wills (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 78;
she makes bequests to her son, Sir
Thomas Gerard and his wife Elizabeth,
and to her brother Sir P. Legh.
85 Ormerod, op. cit. ii, 96.
86 See below.
*7 With this Sir Thomas and his wife
the pedigree recorded in 1665 begins ;
Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 116. His
sons on matriculating at Oxford in
1575 were said to be 'of Derbyshire' ;
and ten years later Sir Thomas was de-
scribed as 'lurking' in his house at
Etwall ; Morris, Life of John Gerard, 6
(quoting Clifford, S.P. of Sir R. Sadler, ii,
525).
Sir Thomas Gerard was sheriff in 1557
(P.R.O. List, 73), and knight of the shire
in 1562 ; Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 5.
88 Morris, op. cit. 5, quoting Murdin,
Coll. of S.P. 771, 35. Those committed
to the Tower with him were Sir Thomas
Stanley, probably of Winwick Rectory,
and Francis Rolleston ; ' they were recon-
ciled to the pope according to the late
bull.' The story as to Bromley is quoted
in Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland), 237,
from Wotton, Baronetage, 55. John
Gerard says simply that his father
' obtained his release by the payment of a
large sum' ; Morris, loc. cit.
89 The story that he abandoned his
religion and adopted a licentious course
of life is discredited by Gillow, Bibl. Diet.
ofEngl. Catholics, ii, 426.
40 Lydiate Hall, 244 ; quoting S.P.
Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, 4. Another Thomas
Gerard, perhaps the bastard, was ' soundly
affected in religion ' ; ibid. 246.
41 His adventurous life is told, mainly
from his autobiography, in the work of
Fr. Morris already cited ; see also Diet.
Nat. Biog. and Gillow. The confusion
created by the mistakes he made as to his
age at entering Oxford, &c. is cleared by
the record in Foster, Alumni Oxon. show-
ing that he and his elder brother Thomas
entered Exeter College, Oxford, in Dec.
144
1575, at the ages of thirteen and fifteen.
When admitted to the English College at
Rome in 1587 as a scholar — he had
already lived there seven months — his
age was recorded as ' in his twenty-third
year'; Foley, Rec. S.J.vi, 173. He is
said to have been born 4 Oct. 1564. His
country upbringing stood him in good
stead in his later life, suspicion on one
occasion being averted ' as he spoke of
hunting and falconry with all the details
that none but a practised person could
command ' ; Morris, op. cit. 43.
43 A number of settlements were made
during the reign of Elizabeth, of which
the fines give evidence. In 1573 Sir
Thomas claimed from Thomas Gerard,
base son of Sir Thomas Gerard deceased,
the manors of Ashton in Makerfield,
Brindle, Windle, and Skelmersdale, with
messuages and wide lands, twelve water-
mills, twelve windmills, two fulling-mills,
two horse-mills, six dovecotes, &c. ; Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 35, m. 3. This
would be just after Sir Thomas's release
from the Tower. A settlement apparently
on behalf of his wife Elizabeth was made
in the following spring ; ibid. bdle. 36,
m. 230. Shortly afterwards he purchased
Lord Mounteagle's lands in Ashton ; ibid,
bdle. 36, m. 1 02. '
In 1582 a settlement or mortgage was
made by Sir Thomas Gerard, Elizabeth his
wife, and Thomas his son and heir ap-
parent ; ibid. bdle. 44, m. 226.
Four years later a large number of set-
tlements were made, separate properties
being dealt with. In some the remainders
after the death of Sir Thomas and Eliza-
beth were to Thomas the son and heir
and Cecily his wife, and then to John
Gerard, second son of Sir Thomas. In
many others the further remainder was to
Sir Gilbert Gerard, Master of the Rolls,
and then to the male issue of William
Gerard, late of Harrow, Henry Gerard of
Rainhill, and William Gerard, late of
Ince; ibid. bdle. 48, m. 118-198, 262,
305. A number of similar feoffments
were made in 1598; ibid. bdle. 60, m.
4-22» 43» 47-
48 Feoffments were made by Thomas
Gerard in 1587, his father being then in
the Tower ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 49, m. 271-9. He had gone up to
Oxford in 1575, as above stated ; but he
and his brother John soon left, finding
that ' at Easter the heretics sought to
force them to attend their worship, and
to partake of their counterfeit sacrament'
— so John Gerard in Morris, op. cit. 14.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WINWICK
tion in religion ' ; his wife Cecily was then a ' recusant
and indicted thereof.' " He died at the beginning of
1621, holding the manors of Ashton and Windle in
Lancashire, and Etwall and Hardwick in Derbyshire ;
the tenure of Ashton was stated to be ' in free socage,
by fealty only.' His heir was his son Thomas, aged
thirty-six and more.45 This Sir Thomas, second
baronet, was succeeded in i6$oi6 by his son Sir
William Gerard, who warmly espoused the king's cause
at the outbreak of the Civil War,47 and was appointed
governor of Denbigh Castle ; he sold the Derbyshire
estates to provide money for the campaign.48
Charles II lodged at Brynn 15 August 1651, on
his way from Scotland to Worcester.49 Sir William's
estate was of course sequestered by the Parliament,
and being a convicted recusant he was not at first
allowed to compound even for the third part retained
by recusants who were not * delinquents ' also. The
estates were sold under the confiscation Act of 1652,
the purchaser being John Wildman.50 All or most
was recovered in some way, probably by composition
with the new owner, and Sir William Gerard of the
Brynn recorded a pedigree at the Visitation of 1665."
He was buried at Winwick in 1681.
His son Sir William, aged twenty-seven in 1665,
succeeded. The family had been greatly impoverished
by their fidelity to their religion and to the cause of
Charles I, and it is said that even the stipends of the
priests serving the domestic chapels at Ashton could
not be paid.5* Sir William's son, another William,
married about 1696 the heiress of the Cansfield
family, and this probably helped to restore the fortunes
of the Gerards.53 Sir William died in 1702 ; his
son as ' a papist ' registered his estate in 1 7 1 7, and
died four years later.54 For the succeeding century
there is but little to record of the family. They
were shut out of public employments by the legal
proscription of the ancient religion, and do not seem
to have produced any distinguished ecclesiastics.
The development of the coal mines in Ashton
during the igih century brought great wealth to the
family.
The Sir William Gerard last mentioned was suc-
ceeded by his son and grandson, each named William.56
Their tutor, Edward Lewknor, followed
them, ' being resolved to live as a Catho-
lic in very deed, and not merely in desire."
For the knighthood see Metcalfe, op.
cit. 140 ; and for the baronetcy G.E.C.
Complete Baronetage, i, 21. The fee of
£1,000 is said to have been remitted in
consideration of the father's services to
the king's mother. He represented
Liverpool in the Parliament of 1597, and
Wigan in that of 1 62 1 ; Pink and Beaven,
op. cit. 184, 224.
In 1612 a settlement was made by Sir
Thomas Gerard of the manors of Ashton,
Garswood, and Windle — the other Lanca-
shire manors having been disposed of —
and lands in Ashton and neighbouring
townships ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
8 1, no. 26.
** Lydiate Hall, loc. cit. In 1592
Thomas Gerard of High Carr was re-
ported to have had a 'notorious recusant'
as his schoolmaster for some years ; ibid.
258 (quoting S.P. Dnm. Eliz. ccxv, 19).
His sister Dorothy and her husband Ralph
Layton of the Brynn were in like case.
Dame Anne Gerard, widow of Sir
Gilbert Gerard, was in 1590 living at
Highley Carr, indicted of recusancy ; ibid.
45 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), iii, 297-301. The fine above
cited is given, as also another relating to
the Derbyshire manors. The remainders
were to Thomas, eldest son of Sir Thomas,
and his sons by Frances his wife ; in de-
fault to John, the second son, &c.
46 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvi, no.
57 ; funeral certificate (with coat of
twenty quarters) in Lanes, and Ches. Fun.
Cert. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 203.
Sir Thomas had been made a knight in
1615 ; Metcalfe, op. cit. 165. He was
member for Liverpool in 1624 ; Pink
and Beavan, op. cit. 186. Asa convicted
recusant he paid double to the subsidy of
1628; Norris D. (B.M.). Gilbert, one
of his sons, became a Jesuit priest, and
died of a disease contracted while acting
as chaplain to some English troops in
Belgium in 1645 > Foley, Rec. S.y vi,
337;vii, 294.
Richard, another son, cup-bearer to
Queen Henrietta Maria, acquired the
manor of Ince in Makerfield.
V Sir William Gerard, Sir Cecil Traf-
ford, and four other convicted recusants,
joined in a petition to Charles I that their
arms might be restored to them ' in this
time of actual war,' for the security of
the king's person as well as of their own
district and families, ' who are not only in
danger of the common disturbance, but
menaced by unruly people to be robbed.'
The king writing from Chester, 27 Sept.
1642, very readily granted the permission;
War In Lanes. (Chet. Soc.), 12-14.
48 Etwall is said to have been sold to
secure the barony of Newton, but the
money was spent in providing funds for
the campaign of 1651 ; see Visit* of 1533
(Chet. Soc.), 184.
49 ' The last night this king lodged at
Brynn, six miles from Warrington, being
Sir William Gerard's house, who is a
subtle jesuited Papist' ; letter dated
Stockton Heath, 16 Aug. in Civil ffar
Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 288.
50 G.E.C. op. cit. and Royalist Comp.
Papers (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii,
51-71, where details are given of a settle-
ment made in 1632 ; see also Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 122, no. 5. It
appeared that in 1632 Sir William had
compounded with the king for a lease of
two-thirds of his Lancashire lands seques-
tered for recusancy, he having been in
ward to the king until April of that year;
Royalist Comp. Papers, iii, 62. ' Getting
coals ' is named among the disbursements ;
66. A survey of the lands in Ashton,
taken in 1652, is printed on p. 68 ; it
gives the names, areas, and values of the
fields. Tootell, Leachfield, Tunstall
Heads, Coalpit Banks, Mill Hill and
Pingotts appear among the field names.
For the sale see ibid. 70 ; Index of
Royalists (Index Soc.), 42.
51 Dugdale, Visit* 116. Sir William
Gerard and William his son were recusants
in 1678 ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App.
iv, 109. Two of the younger sons went
to the English College in Rome — Thomas
who entered in 1660, and became a
Jesuit, and died in Yorkshire in 1682,
while attending victims of an epidemic ;
and Cuthbert who entered in 1662, and
left for England two years later ; Foley,
op. cit. vi, 401, 404 ; vii, 296. Thomas,
on entering, gave details of his parentage,
stating that ' his parents and himself had
suffered much for the Catholic religion' ;
he had been baptized by Fr. Howard in
1641.
52 Foley, op. cit. v, 361 ; the time re-
145
ferred to seems to be early in the iSth
century.
An anecdote of Sir William Gerard is
given in Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App.
iv, 142. He remained loyal to James II,
and was carried off to Preston a prisoner
in 1689, and accused of a part in the
'Lancashire Plot' of 1694; ibid. 294,
3^9, &c.; inquiry was also made as to
whether Garswood Hall was not devoted
to 'superstitious uses'; Exch. Dep. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 84. His son
William was also among the accused. A
number of the baptisms of Sir William's
children are recorded in the Winwick
registers.
53 See the account of Cansfield of
Robert Hall.
54 Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath. Non-
jurors, 1 14. The estate was the ' manor
of Ashton, &c., entailed with remainders
successively to sons by Mary his wife, to
John his brother, to Thomas Gerard of
Ince, and to Richard Gerard of Wigan ;
subject to ,£100 per annum to Dame
Mary Gerard of Birchley. Also the rec-
tory of Childwall, for lives of his wife
Mary, the granddaughter of James Ander-
ton, and of his daughters Anne and Eliza-
beth— £i, 272 in. 8</.'
The brother, John Gerard of Garswood,
registered an annuity of £80 ; and the
father's widow, Dame Mary of Birchley,
also registered ; ibid. 99, 97.
65 The brief summary of the descent
here given is quoted from G.E.C. Complete
Baronetage, loc. cit. The following refer-
ences to Pal. of Lane. Plea R. may be
useful : Lent 1693 — Recovery of the
manors of Ashton and Windle, &c., Sir
William Gerard and William Gerard
vouchees ; R. 457, m. 9. Aug. 1703 —
King's Silver, manor of Windle, &c., Sir
William Gerard and Mary his wife, John,
Thomas, and Richard Gerard ; R. 478,
m. 8. Lent 1721 — Recovery of manor
of Ashton, Sir William Gerard and Wil-
liam Gerard vouchees ; R. 512, m. 6.
Aug. 1745 — Recovery of manors of Ash-
ton and Windle and a fourth part of
Billinge, Sir Thomas Gerard vouchee ;
R. 563, m. 4. Lent 1796 — Recovery of
manors of Ashton, Windle, and Aspull,
and parcels in Aspull, Billinge, Ince, Gol-
borne, Parr, Winstanley, Prescot, Wigan,
Hindley, Hale, Halewood, and Halebank;
Lent Assizes 1796, R. 12.
19
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The last was followed by his brothers Thomas and
Robert Cansfield ; the latter, who died in 1784, had
sons, Robert Clifton,56 and William who succeeded ;
a younger son John, drowned at Southport in 1822,"
was father of Sir John Gerard, who succeeded his
uncle William in 1826, and held the manors of
Ashton and Windle for nearly twenty-eight years.
His heir was his brother, Robert Tolver, created
Baron Gerard of Brynn in 1876. He has been fol-
lowed by his son William Cansfield and his grandson
Frederick John, second and third lords. The latter,
who succeeded to the title and estates in 1902, on
the death of his father, came of age in 1904.
In 1836 courts leet and baron were held twice a
year ; M but they seem to have been discontinued.
A description of Brynn Hall, as it existed near the
end of the 1 8th century, is given in Baines's Lanca-
shire*
The third part of the manor held in 1212 by
Henry son of Roger cannot be traced for some time.
It became the possession of the
Athertons of Atherton,60 who
held it down to the middle of
the 1 6th century, when it was
sold to the Gerards of Brynn 61
as above stated.
The only landowner con-
tributing to the subsidy in
Mary's reign was Sir Thomas
Gerard ; 6* but the following
freeholders were recorded in
1600 : Sir Thomas Gerard
of Brynn, Thomas Gerard
of Garswood, James Ashton,
Edward Knowles, James Richardson, William Slyne-
head, and William Stanley; & some other names occur.64
ATHERTON of Ather-
ton. Gules three spar-
row-hawks argent.
M A short notice of him is printed in
Pal. Note Bk. iv, 57.
V He was described as of Windle Hall.
For an account of the accident see Bland,
Ann. ofSoutbport, 79.
68 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 639.
*• Ibid, iii, 637 ; it is by Barritt, the
Manchester antiquary.
60 The earliest record is in 1302, when
Hugh de Atherton claimed reasonable
estovers in Ashton, with heybote, house-
bote, &c., against Alan son of Peter de
Burnhull, William de Atherton, and Jor-
dan the Woodward. Thus William de
Atherton appears to have been then the
lord of a third ; Assize R. 418, m. 4.
Alan de Burnhull in 1313 claimed William
and Hugh de Atherton, Hugh Spark,
Henry Tootell and others as suitors at
his mill ; De Banco R. 199, m. i.Hd.
Hugh de Atherton was a brother of
William's; Culcheth D. nos. 35, 44 (in
Lanes, and Chu. Hist, and Gen. Notes,
i). Hugh had a son Henry who may be
the Henry de Atherton of Aintree in
1332 ; his daughter Joan married Robert
de Nevill of Hornby, who in 1 346 claimed
Hugh de Atherton's lands in Ashton and
elsewhere ; De Banco R. 345, m. 393 d.;
346, m. 349. The claim was no doubt
successful as lands were held here by Lord
Mounteagle in the time of Henry VIII
as of the inheritance of James Harring-
ton ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, no. 64,
xi, no. i. They were sold, as already
stated, to Sir Thomas Gerard in 1574.
The Molyneux lands in Ashton may have
been part of the inheritance ; ibid, xiii,
no. 35.
Various suits are on record involving
the principal Atherton family. In 1332
Hugh de Atherton claimed common of
pasture in Ashton against Henry son of
William de Atherton and others ; Hugh
de Atherton the younger and Henry his
brother were sureties; Assize R. 1411,
m. I2d. At the same time Hugh de
Atherton charged Alexander de Atherton
with carrying off his goods ; De Banco R.
292, m. 231 d. In 1346 Henry son of
William de Atherton made a claim for
waste against Alexander de Atherton ;
Agnes de Atherton was the lessee ; De
Banco R. 348, m. 427 d. She may be
the Agnes, widow of Henry de Atherton,
who contributed to the subsidy of 1332 ;
Excb. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), 1 8. Hugh de Atherton in 1347
•ucceeded in a claim against Adam son
of William de Atherton; Assize R. 1435,
m. 41 d. This Adam de Atherton who
was a chaplain, was in 1352 and 1353 a
plaintiff; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 2,
m. 4 d. ; R. 43$, m. 28 d. (where a long
list of tenants is given).
In 1367 Ralph de Langton claimed
from Sir William de Atherton a certain
rent in Ashton in Makerfield due to the
lord of Newton, from a third part of the
wood and pasture called Garswood within
the demesne of the manor of Newton.
This rent had been granted in 1331 by
Henry son of William de Atherton, and
father of the defendant. The latter said
that William his grandfather had held the
third part, and so settled it that Henry,
when the charter was made, had nothing
except fee tail only ; De Banco R. 438,
m. 337-
A later Sir William de Atherton died
in 1414 seised, among other estates, of a
third part of the manor of Ashton, held
of Henry de Langton by fealty and the
service of 2 marks a year ; its clear
value was 40 marks ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Chet. Soc.), i, 107. The increase of the
rent from los. to 261. %d. may be ac-
counted for by the statements in the pre-
ceding case.
The manor is named in 1443 in a set-
tlement by William son of Sir William
Atherton on marrying Isabel daughter of
Richard Balderston ; Towneley MS. C. 8,
5 (Chet. Lib.), Hen. VI, no. 43. Isabel
was a widow in 1479 5 'D'^- Edw. IV,
no. 14.
John Atherton of Atherton, who died
in 1488, made various provisions for his
illegitimate children from his manor of
Garswood and lands in Ashton ; at the
inquisition taken in 1507 it was stated
that the manor was held by fealty only,
and the lands by a rent of 26s. 8</.; Duchy
of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, no. 39. For the
settlements alluded to see also Dods. MSS.
Iviii, fol. 1 64^, no. 9 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea
R. 33, m. 7, 7 d., where it is stated that
Thomas Harrington of Hornby, Thomas
Totehill, and John Standish had paid
rents to Sir William Atherton. A similar
statement as to the tenure of the manor
of Garswood and the lands in Ashton is
made in the inquisition taken in 1518
after the death of George Atherton, son
of John ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v,
no. 12.
Thomas Hesketh of Rufford, who died
in 1523, held lands of John Atherton,
son of George, by fealty and a rent of
2O</. ; ibid, v, no. 1 6. Peter Gerard of
Aughton, who died in 1528, held lands
in Ashton of the same John Atherton
in socagc by the rent of 1 3*. ; ibid, vi,
no. 58.
146
81 In 1562 Sir John Atherton and
Margaret his wife sold the manor of Gars-
wood and messuages, lands, windmill, and
rents in Ashton to Sir Thomas Gerard ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 24, m. 89 ;
also Plea R. 211, m. 5, reciting a feoff-
ment and recovery.
In 1554 Sir John Gerard — an error for
Sir John Atherton or Sir Thomas Gerard
— declared that he was the owner of ' the
manor or chief mease place called Gars-
wood in Ashton in Makerficld, and cer-
tain lands, meadows, and tenements, with
the windmill in the town of Ashton.'
This was in reply to a complaint by Jane
Taylor, widow of Thomas Taylor, who
had in 1539 obtained a lease from John
Atherton, then lord of Garswood, of cer-
tain tenements there, from which she had
been in part ejected by John Gerard and
his sons John and Thomas ; Duchy Plead.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 165 ;
compare Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), i,
249, 272, 282, 289. This John Gerard
and his wife Anne, and his son John and
wife Ellen, occur in a Gerard fine of 1599;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 53, m. 304.
62 Mascy of Rixton D.
48 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 239, 240, 243.
John Ashton in 1561 purchased the
lands of Lionel Gerard of Aughton and
Miles his son and heir ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle 23, m. 104. James
Ashton purchased a messuage and lands
from Thomas Gerard in 1594; ibid,
bdle. 56, m. 126. In the same year a
child of « Mr. John Ashton of Ashton '
was baptized at Winwick.
William Slynehead purchased a mes-
suage, &c., from Henry Lathom in 1579 ;
ibid. bdle. 41, m. 38.
In a settlement of land in Ashton
made by Sir Thomas Gerard in 1586, is
a lease of it to Richard Stanley for the
life of his brother William's second son
Thomas Stanley, at a rent of 301. ; ibid,
bdle. 48, m. 262.
James Downall of Ashton occurs in
1549 ; Ducatus (Rec. Com.), ii, 99.
64 Ralph Hasleden died in 1636 hold-
ing a messuage, &c., of Sir Richard Fleet-
wood as of his manor of Makerfield, and
leaving a son and heir Thomas, fifty years
of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxviii,
no. 67.
David son of Lawrence Pendlebury
died in 1640 holding a messuage, See.,
of Sir William Gerard as of his manor of
Ashton by suit of court and a rent of 14^.;
Robert, his son and heir, was twenty-
three- years of age ; ibid, xxix, no. 72.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WINWICK
LANDER of New Hall.
Sable three mullets in
bend argent between Pwo
bendlets indented or.
Under the Commonwealth the Gerard estates, as
above related, were confiscated ; the properties
of Hugh Orrell ** and Elizabeth Rogerson, widow,66
were also sequestered for recusancy. In 1717 John
Darbyshire, Thomas Naylor, Elizabeth Aray of
Chorley, John Taylor of Lydiate, Edward Unsworth,
John Boardman, and Andrew
Moore registered estates as
' papists.' 67
The family of Lander of
New Hall appears during the
1 7th century.68 This estate
was acquired by the Gerards
about 1796, and became their
principal residence.69
The Sorocold family were
seated at Eyebridge in the
1 7th century.70
A troop of yeomanry cavalry,
commanded by Sir William
Gerard, existed in 1 804, when
two companies of infantry volunteers were raised for
the protection of the country from invasion.71
There i? no record of the origin of
CHURCH St. Thomas's Chapel at Ashton, which
is first named in the pleadings in 1515
respecting the dispute about Turnshea Moss between
Sir Thomas Gerard and his namesake of Ince ; it
was then deposed that the priest at Ashton Chapel
had given public notice that Sir Thomas intended to
make a straight ditch through the moss that his turf-
rooms might be the drier." Little is known of it
for a century after this ; n but the new services were
certainly used there, Sir Thomas Gerard about 1562
forcibly carrying to it his relation Nicholas Gerard as a
too obstinate adherent of the old.74 The ministra-
tions were probably irregular; in 1590 there was
* no preacher ' there,75 and more than twenty years
later 'seldom a curate,' there being, it would seem,
no income except what the rector allowed.76 The
Commonwealth Surveyors of 1650 found everything
in order, and recommended it to be made a parish
church ; to the minister had been assigned the seques-
tered tithes of the township, worth j£izo a year.77
At the Restoration the curate, proving a Noncon-
formist, was ejected.78 In 1718 Bishop Gastrell found
the certified stipend only £i izs. ; the rector, how-
ever, gave £50, 'being obliged to provide for it;'
and other inhabitants subscribed £j a year on con-
dition that the curate resided and read prayers on
Wednesdays, Fridays, and holy-days.79 The chapel
was rebuilt in 1 706 on Sir William Gerard's ground,
and he leased out the chapel yard.80 It was enlarged
in 1784 and 1815 ; and in 1845, on the division of
the rectory of Winwick, was made a parish church,
being endowed with the tithes of Haydock.81 There
is a licensed mission of St. Luke's.
The incumbent has the title of vicar, and is
appointed by the rector of Ashton. The following
have been in charge : — M
oc. 1609 John Janion 8J
1645-62 James Woods M
oc. 1663 — Maddock
oc. 1668 — Atkinson **
1 690 Thomas Wareing **
oc. 1 7 1 o — Smith w
oc. 1736 — Pierce88
— Shuttleworth
1742 Richard Bevan ^
1779 Edward Edwards, B.A.
1 796 Giles Chippindall
1 804 John Woodrow
1809 Edmund Sibson90
1 848 Edward Pigot, M.A. (Brasenose Coll.)
1857 Frederick Kenney, M.A. (Christ
Church, Oxford)
1870 William Page Oldham, M.A. (Christ's
Coll., Camb.)
1871 Henry Siddall, B.A. (Clare Coll.,
Camb.)
65 Royalist Comp. Papers, iv, 236.
66 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, v, 3 186;
her husband Richard was living in 1641.
Roger Lowe'i Diary (published in Local
Glean. Lanci. and Chei. i) contains many
particulars of local interest about the
Restoration period, the writer having been
a resident.
67 Engl. Cath. Nonjurors, 97, 98, 99,
no, 124, 127, 153. For John Darby-
shire see Payne, Engl. Cath. Rec. 25.
68 Thomas son of Mr. John Gerard
of New Hall was baptized at Winwick,
10 Dec. 1608.
The Launder or Lander family after-
wards acquired the properly, and were
described as 'of New hall' in 1687. An
account of them is given in Local Glean.
Lanes, and Ches. i, 216; ii, 95, from
G. S. Master, Family of Master. John
Launder of New Hall was a benefactor
to the poor of Ashton ; he died in 1692
and was succeeded by his son Thomas,
who died in 1695, and whose daughter
Margaret carried the New Hall estate to
the Master family. See also pedigree in
Burke, Landed Gentry (Master of Barrow
Green House).
69 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 639.
7° George Sorocold of Ashton is men-
tioned in 1651 ; Cal. of Com. for Com-
pounding, iv, 2787. See further in the
account of Leigh.
71 Local Glean. Lanes, and Cbes, ii, 205,
206.
1* Duchy Plead, i, 5.
78 Humphrey Winstanley and Alice
Worsley were married in 1559 'in a
chapel within the house of Sir Thomas
Gerard, by one Oswald Key, chaplain
singing at Ashton Chapel ; ' Furni vail,
Child Marriages (Early Engl. Text Soc.),
3. The domestic and public chapels were
thus quite distinct.
Oswald Key appeared at the first visita-
tion in Queen Elizabeth's reign.
7* Foley, Rec. S. J. ii, 26. Nicholas,
who was gouty and unable to move, sang
psalms in Latin as loud as he could, and
was taken out again.
7* Lydiate Hall, 248.
7« Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 1 3.
77 Common-wealth Ch. Surv. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 48. The order as to
the tithes was made in 1645 upon the
petition of the inhabitants ; Plund. Mint.
Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 6.
78 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconformity^
iv, 44.
7» Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 267.
Even the £1 izs. was not ancient, con-
sisting of ^i for an anniversary sermon
and 1 2s. interest on sums left at various
times. To have a resident curate was
obviously a recent innovation.
80 The site was conveyed in 1745,
and the chapel was consecrated in 1746 ;
Church Papers at Ches. Dioc. Reg. An
article on the church appeared in the
Liver fool Dioc. Gaz. Nov. 1 904.
H7
81 Notitia, 268 ; note by Canon Raines.
See also Land. Gaz. 8 Aug. 1873.
82 From information in part supplied
by the present vicar, the Rev. H. Siddall.
88 Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxii, 298.
84 He ' came in by free election of the
whole town ; ' he was ' a very godly
preacher, a man of good life and con-
versation,' but had not kept the fast day
appointed by Parliament ; Commonwealth
Ch. Sur-v. 48. He was in charge as early
as Aug. 1645 ; Plund. Mins. Accts. i, 6.
From the Winwick registers it seems that
Thomas Potter, afterwards of Culcheth,
was assisting in 1656.
Woods continued to preach for about a
year after his ejection, and then removed
into Cheshire ; Roger Lowe's Diary in
Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. i, 170, 173.
85 Ibid. 1 86 ; Roger Lowe, being re-
buked by Mr. Atkinson for not standing
up at the reading of the gospel, 'told him
his mind to the full.'
86 Stratford, Visitation Bk. at Ches.
Dioc. Reg. He seems to have lived at
Newton. Vicar of Garstang, 1712.
87 This name occurs in the Winwick
registers. s8 See preceding note.
89 The church papers at Chester begin
here.
90 He contributed an account of the
Roman roads to Baines' Lanes, (ed. 1836),
iii, 573. There is a eulogy of him in
Beamont, ffarrington in 1465 (Chet.
Soc.), p. Ixxviii.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
By the same Act of 1845 Holy Trinity Church,
Downall Green, built in 1837, was made the prin-
cipal church, its incumbent having the title of rector
of Ashton, and being endowed with the tithes of the
township, from which £50 a year was to be paid to
the vicar of St. Thomas's." The rector is presented
by the Earl of Derby. At Stubshaw Cross is St.
Luke's Mission Church.
A school was founded in 1588.'*
A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built here as
early as 1821. There are now also places of worship
of the Primitive Methodists, the Independent Metho-
dists, and the Welsh Wesleyans.
The Congregational church at Ashton appears to
have originated in the occasional preaching visits of
the Rev. W. Alexander of Prescot, in 1802 and later.
A church was formed in 1824 and a chapel built in
1829. It did not prosper, and from 1846 to 1866
the condition of affairs was ' very low.' The present
church was built in 1867 by Richard Evans and his
family ; the old building is used as a school.93
The Society of Friends had a small meeting here
from about 1717 to 1835. The place was on the
north-west boundary of the township.94
On the restoration of the Prayer Book services in
1662 the objectors under the ministry of the ejected
curate, James Woods, worshipped in a farm-house.94
A chapel was built at Park Lane in 1697, which still
exists, having been altered in 1871. The congrega-
tion, as in other cases, gradually became Unitarian.
Some of the ministers were of note in their time.96
The dominant family and a large number of the
inhabitants adhered to the ancient religion 97 at the
Reformation, but nothing is positively known as to the
secret provision for worship until the middle of the
1 7th century, when the Jesuits had charge of the
Brynn mission.98 Later there was another chapel in
Garswood ; and in 1822 the church of St. Oswald
was built in the village ; it is in charge of secular priests.
Here is preserved the 'Holy Hand* of the Ven.
Edmund Arrowsmith, of which many miraculous
stories are related.99 Thomas Penswick, Bishop of
Europum and vicar apostolic of the northern district
from 1831 till his death in 1836, was born at Ashton
manor-house, where also he died.100
GOLBORNE
Goldeburn, 1187; Goldburc, 1201 j Goseburn
(FGoleburn), 1202; Goldburn, 1212; Golburne,
1242. The d seems to have dropped out finally in
the 1 5th century ; Golborne, Gowborne, xvi cent.
This township stretches northwards for about
z\ miles from the boundary of Newton to the
Glazebrook. Millingford Brook, coming from Ashton,
crosses the township and afterwards forms part of the
eastern and southern boundaries. The area is 1,679
acres.1 The surface is highest near the centre, reach-
ing about 150 ft. The population in 1901 num-
bered 6,789.
There is land sufficiently fertile to produce potato
and wheat crops, whilst in the south there are clumps
of woodland about Golborne Park, continuing all
along the western boundary, so that from these quarters
Golborne appears to be bowered in foliage. In the
north, however, the country presents the characteristic
bareness of the other coal-mining districts of the hun-
dred. The Pebble Beds of the Bunter series of the
New Red Sandstone cover the entire surface of the
township.
The village of Golborne is near the centre of the
township, on the north side of the brook. A road
from Warrington to Wigan passes through it, and is
there joined by another from Newton ; there are also
cross-roads between Ashton and Lowton. The London
and North Western Company's main line from London
to the north passes through the township, and has a
station at Golborne ; at the southern end is a junction
with the loop-line connecting with the Liverpool and
Manchester Railway. The St. Helens and South
Lancashire Railway (Great Central) crosses the northern
part of the township, and has a station called Gol-
borne.
Lightshaw is at the northern extremity ; Edge
Green on the Ashton boundary, and Golborne Park,
a seat of the Legh family, at the southern end.
Cotton-spinning and fustian-making were carried on
early last century. There are now cotton-mills, a
paper-staining factory and a colliery. A ' glass man '
named Hugh Wright appears on the Recusant Roll of
1626.'
Some interesting field -names occur in a suit of
*553> e-g- Pillocroft, Bromburhey, Pennybutts, and
Parpount hey.s
Golborne is now governed by an urban district
council of twelve members.
At the inquest of 1 2 1 2 it appears that
MANORS GOLBORNE was held of the baron of
Makerfield in moieties ; one half was
held by the lord of Lowton, the other by a family
using the local surname.4 As in the case of Lowton
itself the former moiety reverted to the lords of Maker-
field, and no one else claimed any manor there.4 In
the latter moiety there may have been a failure of
91 Gastrell, Notitia, loc. cit.
w Ibid.
98 Nightingale, op cit. iv, 52-60.
94 Information of Mr. J. Spence Hodg-
son.
95 John Hasleden's house and his barn
in Park Lane were licensed in 1689 ;
Hist. MSS, Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 232.
98 Nightingale, op. cit. iv, 44-52.
•7 See the Recusant Roll of 1641 in
Tram. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xiv, 245.
"Foley, Rec. S.J. v, 360-1. Fr.
Thomas Tootell was resident at Garswood
in 1 663. At Brynn Fr. Waldegrave was
serving in 1680. In 1701 both Garswood
and Brynn are named ; ibid. 321. In
1784 ninety-three persons were confirmed
at Bryan, where the Easter communicants
numbered 180; the corresponding num-
bers at Garswood were 39 and too ; ibid.
324.
Fr. Cuthbert Clifton probably served
Brynn and Garswood as early as 1642 ;
he died there in 1675, being regarded by
his brethren as 'a pious man, who laboured
with fruit for many years in the Lord's
vineyard,' and by Roger Lowe, the Puritan
undertaker, as 'the great and profane
monster of Jesuitical impiety ' ; Foley, vii,
139 ; Local Glean. Lanes, and Cbes. i, 196.
Some further particulars as to the priests
here may be gathered from Lowe's Diary.
99 Liverpool Cath. Ann. 1901. For
E. Arrowsmith see the account of Hay-
dock. The Holy Hand was preserved at
Brynn and Garswood till the erection of
St. Oswald's } Harland and Wilkinson,
Lanes. Legends, 41.
148
100 Gillow, Bill. Diet. 9f Engl. Cath. v,
259. His father was steward to the
Gerards.
1 Including 10 of inland water.
8 Lay Subs. Lanes, bdle. 131, no. 318.
3 Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 117.
4 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 73-4 ; two plough-
lands were held with Lowton and two by
Thomas de Golborne.
* It thus descended, like Newton, from
the Langtons to the Fleetwoods and the
Leghs of Lyme ; see Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Chet. Soc.), i, 138 ; ii, 96-9 ; ibid.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 105.
According to an extent made 1324-7 one
half of Golborne was held by knight's ser-
vice, and the other in socage ; Dods. MSS.
cxxxi, foL 33.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WINWICK
heirs, and a new grant in socage to the Hollands ; but
one heiress of the Golbornes 6 appears to have sold her
right to Thurstan de Holland,7 whose descendants
continued to be regarded as its lords.8
Thurstan, however, granted all or most of his moiety
to his son Simon,9 whose descendant Amice carried
the manor of LIGHTSHAW in marriage to Nicholas
de Tyldesley.10 From this family by another heiress,
it passed to the Kighleys of Inskip,11 and from these
again at the end of the i6th century, to William
Cavendish, first Earl of Devonshire, and Thomas
Worsley, in right of their wives, the Kighley co-
heirs.11 The former of these secured it, and it de-
scended in the Cavendish family for over a century,13
but there is no further mention of Lightshaw as a
manor. The estate was purchased by Peter Legh of
Lyme in 1738 from the Duke of Devonshire, and is
now the property of Lord Newton.1*
The Hospitallers had lands here.15 Cockersand
Abbey had a tenement called Medewall,16 for which
the free tenants, a family named Langton, paid a rent
of 2/. 6<t.11
The Hoghtons of Hoghton were landowners in
Golborne from an early date,18 and the Haydocks
KIGHLEY of Inskip-
Argent a fesse sable.
CAVENDISH, Duke of
Devonshire. Sable three
bucks' heads cabosted
argent.
In 1599 Thomas Langton, baron of
Newton, took action against certain ten-
ants of Golborne for encroachments on
the waste and withholding suit and ser-
vice at the courts ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec.
Com.), iii, 402.
6 The Golborne family held the third
part of a knight's fee of the lords of Maker-
field. This consisted of the three plough-
lands necessary to make up the nine and a
half in the knight's fee ; two of these ap-
pear to have been in Golborne (Lightshaw),
and one in Lowton (Byrom), probably that
held by Richard de Winwick in 1212.
The earliest member of the family recorded
is Augustine de Golborne, who gave three
oxgangs to William son of Hamon in the
time of Henry II ; Inq. and Extents, i, 74.
His son Thomas paid 33*. ^d. as relief in
1 1 86 on succeeding, and contributed to the
scutage in 1 206 ; Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R.
64, 2 1 6. As already stated, he was in
possession in 1212. His son may have
been the Ralph de Golborne whose
daughter Levota sold her right to Thurs-
tan de Holland. That there was a new
grant by the lord of Newton to Thurstan
de Holland seems proved by the change of
tenure ; see note below.
Though the principal family thus early
disappeared, others bearing the local sur-
name appear from time to time. Adam
de Golborne had a messuage and an ox-
gang and a half of land in 1374, but being
outlawed for felony the king took posses-
sion ; Inq. a.q.d. 48 Edw. Ill, no. 19.
7 In 1292 Hugh son of Richard de
Woolston, and Quenilda his wife, sought
against Simon son of Thurstan de Hol-
land certain lands in Golborne asserted to
be the right of Quenilda, to whom they
should have descended from her grand-
mother Levota, the daughter of Ralph de
Golborne. Levota had a son and heir
Richard, whose son Henry dying without
issue, Quenilda his sister succeeded. It
•was, however, proved that Levota had re-
leased all her right to Thurstan, father of
Sir Robert de Holland, and that Thurstan
had granted the disputed land to Simon de
Holland the defendant; Assize R. 408,
m. 38 5 see also m. 25.
8 There is but little to show the con-
nexion of the Holland family with Gol-
borne.
In 1278 Juliana daughter of John Gilli-
brand, mother of the Simon de Holland of
the last note, complained that Robert de
Holland and others had disseised her of a
messuage, croft, seven oxgangs of land, and
half the site of the mill; Assize R. 1238,
m. 31 ; 1239, m. 39 ; also R. 408, m.
70 d. 77 d.
After the death of Simon de Holland an
inquisition was taken in 1325, when it
was found that he had held nothing of the
Crown, but had held a certain tenement in
Golborne as of the manor of Holland (in
the king's hands) by the service of a pound
of cummin. There were a messuage worth
1 2d. a year ; 20 acres of arable land worth
91., &c. He had also held an alder-grove
in Abram, of Richard de Abram, by the
service of is. $d. and a wood called Brook-
hurst in Pennington. His son Simon,
then twenty-four years of age, was the
heir; Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. II, no. 33.
Twelve oxgangs were in dispute in 1345 ;
De Banco R. 342, m. 89 d. In the inqui-
sition taken after the death of Maud widow
of Sir Robert de Holland it was described
as half the manor of Golborne, held of
Robert de Langton in socage by a service
of 6d.; Inq. p.m. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. i, no. 58.
Thus the moiety of the manor was held by
the Hollands of Upholland by a service
of 6d. ; and of them was held by Simon de
Holland and his heirs by the service of a
pound of cummin.
9 See the previous notes. The descent
of Simon de Holland's manors has not
been clearly ascertained ; see the account
of Byrom in Lowton.
10 At Pentecost 1352 Alice widow of
Simon de Holland claimed dower in twelve
messuages, windmill, water-mill, &c., in
Golborne, from Nicholas de Tyldesley and
Amice his wife, the latter being the heiress;
Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 2, m. 3 d. ; also
(July) m. i d. She claimed dower in the
manor of Lightshaw from Joan widow of
Hugh de Tyldesley ; m. 2 d. This Simon
•was probably the Simon son and heir of
Simon, 1325.
Amice appears to have married, secondly,
William son of Roger de Bradshagh ; her
sister and co-heir Joan married Henry de
Bradshagh, and in 1367 they claimed from
Thurstan son of Sir William de Holland,
and Richard son of William de Holland,
six messuages, mill, and land in Golborne
by virtue of the grant of Thurstan de
Holland to Juliana Gillibrand ; De Banco
R. 429, m. 99.
11 See the account of Tyldesley and In-
skip.
An agreement was made in 1396 be-
tween Richard son of Henry de Kighley
and Nicholas Blundell of Little Crosby,
who married a daughter of Nicholas de
149
Tyldesley, as to the manor of Lightshaw,
the latter resigning his claim ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. (Proton. Rec.), bdle. 8,
no. i.
In 1416 the Kighley tenements in Gol-
borne were said to be held of Sir John
de Holland of Begworth in socage by the
rent of id. a year ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chct.
Soc.), i, 1 1 6.
In a settlement on the marriage of Henry
Kighley and Elizabeth daughter of Alex-
ander Osbaldeston in 1532 it is stated that
William Kighley was the tenant of Light-
shaw. In the will of Elizabeth's sister,
Anne widow of Edward Langton, proved
in 1566, the testatrix is described as of
Lightshaw ; she left 401. to the repair of
the church at Winwick, and a chain of
gold and 10 marks to her god-daughter
Anne Kighley ; Add. MS. 32106, nos.
1065, 1058.
Lightshaw was in 1555 said to be held
of ' the heirs of Thurstan de Holland by
the service of a pound of cummin' ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. x, no. 40.
13 The manor of Lightshaw seems in
1589 to have been allotted to Anne wife
of William Cavendish ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 51, m. 174.
18 In 17383 private Act was passed ' for
vesting the manor of Golborne, part of
the settled estate of William, Duke of
Devonshire, in the county of Lancaster in
the said duke and his heirs ' ; 1 1 Geo. II,
cap. 2.
14 Information of Mr. Arthur C. Leslie.
15 The holding is not mentioned in
1292 among the Hospitallers' lands. About
1540 their rental shows izJ. from a mes-
suage held by the heirs of Sir Thomas
Gerard, and \2iL from one held by Richard
Pierpoint ; Kuerden MSS. v, fol. 84.
16 Land in Golborne called Medewall
was, in 1 347, in dispute between Banastre
and Byrom ; Assize R. 1435, m. 19.
V Cockersand Chartul. iv, 1242, 1251.
18 Their estate perhaps came from
three oxgangs granted as above to William
son of Hamon, the latter being identified
as the Hamon le Boteler who was an-
cestor of the Hoghton family. In 1 500
the service was unknown ; Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 127 ; also Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, no. 66.
Another origin, however, is suggested
by the grant of a rent of 40*. in Gol-
borne, given by Robert Banastre to
William de Lea and Clemency his wife,
daughter of Robert; Add. MS. 32106,
no. 543.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
also,1* with other of the neighbouring families.*0
Elizabeth Kighley and Ralph Haselhurst were the
landowners contributing to the subsidy in Mary's
reign ; " Edward Bankes was the only freeholder re-
corded in i6oo.M The Pierpoint family occur in
Golborne and the neighbourhood from an early
time." Henry Pierpoint died in or before 1642
holding land here ; " and another of the same name
in 1654 petitioned the Parliamentary Commissioners
for the discharge of the two-thirds of his inheritance
sequestered in 1643 for the recusancy of his father
Richard, deceased ; he himself was « conformable.' K
The Inclosure Award for Golborne Heath, with
plan, is preserved at the County Council Offices,
Preston.
For the Established Church St. Thomas's was built
in 1850 ; the benefice is a rectory, in the patronage
of the Earl of Derby.
The Primitive Methodists have a chapel. The
Baptists began a meeting in 1894.
The Congregationalists have a church originating
in occasional visits from preachers in 1821 onwards ;
a chapel, still existing in part, was built in 1830, re-
placed by the present one in i86o.26 The Welsh
Congregationalists also had a place of worship.
For Roman Catholic worship *7 the church of All
Saints was erected in
LOWTON
Laitton (?Lauton), 1201 ; Lauton, 1202.
Lowton is situated in flat uninteresting country,
covered for the most part with bricks and mortar, for
the very scattered town of Lowton spreads itself in
every direction, leaving spaces only for pastures be-
tween the streets or groups of dwellings. Lowton is
a residential suburban retreat, easily reached by elec-
tric car from the industrial town of Leigh. Such a
description is enough to indicate that what natural
features once existed have long ago been superseded.
In the extreme south a little patch of unreclaimed
ground, known as Highfield Moss, represents the last
relic of undisturbed nature. The Pebble Beds of the
19 Robert Banattre, lord of Makerfield,
in the latter part of the I3th century
granted to Richard de Halghton or
Houghton and Robert hit ion land, the
boundi of which began in the north by
Meurickyt Ford and passed by Herniys
Croft to the brook ; also another plat by
the land of Elias ton of Robert, the rent
to be 31. t&d. \ Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.),
xxxviii, 395.
Robert de Halghton afterwards gave
them to his brother Elias, who was to
pay a rent of izd. for one portion and
of 260". for the other to the lord of New-
ton ; ibid. The latter of these was given
by Elcock son of Richard de Halghton
to his son Roger, and this Roger in 1333
sold the whole to Gilbert de Haydock ;
ibid. 395, 397. Roger afterwards claimed
land from William son of Cecily de
Haydock, and Robert son of William ;
De Banco R. 292, m. 28 d. This may
have been a continuation of Roger's suit
in 1315 against Maud and Cecily, daugh-
ters of his brother Richard ; De Banco R.
212, m. 342.
Richard de Halghton and Hawise his
wife did not prosecute the suit they
brought against Thurstan de Holland in
1276 ; Assize R. 405, m. I.
Matthew de Haydock, father of Gil-
bert, had in 1296 purchased land in Gol-
borne from Elias son of Thurstan de
Holland and others ; Raines, loc. cit. 395,
397. Elias son of Thurstan had been
enfeoffed by Thomas Clynkard, whose
•on John afterwards tried to recover, but
failed ; Assize R. 408, m. 23d. and
Raines, loc. cit. 395, where are given the
grants by Thomas Clinkard and the re-
lease by his widow Mabel. William son
of William Clinkard of Golborne occurs
in 1356; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 5,
m. 4 d.
The Feodary in Dods. MSS. cxxxi, fol.
34&, has some entries partly explained by
the foregoing : Roger son of Robert holds
[in Lightshaw] a messuage and land by
the service of 1 6d. ; Roger de Snythull a
messuage and land by 6d. ; Elias son of
Richard a messuage and land by vjd.
(22d.).
Another son of Richard de Halghton,
named William, had land in Golborne —
an oxgang and a half. Being very ill, and
wishing to benefit his nephew Roger son
of William son of Hugh de Haydock, he
granted him the tenement, putting him in
seisin by delivering to Roger the door of
the house by the hasp. William died
next day, and his niece Eva, daughter of
his brother Henry, claimed in 1294, but
was defeated ; Assize R. 1299, m. i6d.
30 Margery widow of Robert de Kink-
nail claimed dower in Lowton and Gol-
borne in 1277 against Elias de Golborne
and various others ; the estate was two
oxgangs, &c. ; De Banco R. 20, m. I 5 d.,
26, 26 d. Later she claimed against
Robert de Holland and others, the estate
being now called three oxgangs and five
oxgangs; ibid. R. 21, m. 44 d. 51 d.
Robert de Holland called Henry de Sefton
to warrant him, probably as bailiff of
Makerfield; ibid. R. 23, m. 51.
In 1350 a dispute between members of
the Clayton family shows that John de
Clayton and his wife Agnes held a mes-
suage and lands in Golborne. He gave
them to his son John, and on the latter's
death without issue his three sisters be-
came tenants — Agnes wife of John son
of Simon Alotson ; Alice widow of Robert
Wilkeson, and Ellen. The elder John
married a second wife Cecily and had a
son Richard, who made a successful claim
to the estate ; Assize R. 1444, m. 6 d.
Anthony Green, who had lands also in
Turton, purchased cottages and land in
1562 from Thomas Houghton; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 24, m. 57 ; also
bdle. 31, m. 91. This was no doubt the
origin of the estate of Ralph Green of
Turton, held of the heirs of Richard
Fleetwood in 1611 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 193.
The Crosses of Liverpool held lands of
the lord of Newton by a rent of 31. $J. ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, no. 18 ; see
also Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 57, m.
120.
Nicholas Huyton of Blackrod died in
1527 holding a tenement in Golborne of
Thomas Langton by a rent of 6s. 3f</. ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, no. 53.
21 Mascy of Rixton D. Ralph Hasel-
hurst was one of the free tenants of
Richard Langton in 1502, paying a rent
of 2s. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, no.
101.
M Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 241.
150
Henry Bankes and James his son had
lands in Golborne and Charnock Richard
in 1 548 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
13, m. 130. Other fines relate to the
estate of Henry Bankes and Katherine
his wife between 1562 and 1570 ; ibid,
bdle. 24, m. 37, &c.
28 See e.g. the account of Ince in
Makerfield. In the Legh deeds in Raines
MSS. xxxviii the family is often men-
tioned, chiefly in Newton, where Richard
le Perpont had a grant of land about the
end of the 1 3th century; loc. cit. 117. He
occurs as witness in 1316; ibid. 129. Con-
temporary with him was William son of
Robert le Perpount of Newton ; Add.
MS. 32106, no. 1550.
John son of Richard le Pierpoint fol-
lows in the time of Edward III ; Raines,
loc. cit. 145 ; and Simon le Pierpoint in
that of Henry VI ; ibid. 167, 169, 401.
In Jan. 1430-1 Clemency daughter of
Simon le Pierpoint was contracted to
marry Thomas son and heir of William
de Houghton in Winwick ; Towneley
MS. HH, no. 1565.
An account of the family in Lanes, and
Cbes. Hist, and Gen. Notes, iii, 15, 20, 36,
gives the succession of the Golborne Pier-
points from 1550 to 1700, when their
estate was sold to John Johnson of West-
houghton, whose son John in 1710 sold
it to Peter Legh of Lyme. The descent
seems to have been — Richard, Hemy
the elder, Henry the younger, Richard,
Henry, Richard.
84 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxix, no.
47. This would be the « Henry the
younger ' of the last note ; Richard his son
and heir was of full age. Richard Pier-
point, Elizabeth his wife, Henry Pierpoint
and Anne his wife, were among the re-
cusants in 1641 ; Trans. Hist. Soc. (new
ser.), xiv, 245.
35 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, v,
3201.
36 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconformity, iv,
61-7.
a? The Ven. James Bell, priest, was
early in 1584 'condemned according to
the statute for saying mass in Golborne
upon St. John's Day in Christmas last ' ;
Foley, Rec. S.J. ii, 136, quoting S.P.
Dom. Eliz. clxvii, 40. He suffered at
Lancaster in April.
88 Liverpool Catb. Ann. 1901.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WINWICK
New Red Sandstone (Bunter Series) cover the entire
township. The area is i, 830 l acres. The popula-
tion in 1901 was 2,964.
The principal road is that from Newton to Leigh ;
entering at the south-west corner, and keeping near to
the eastern boundary, it passes through the hamlets
known as the town of Lowton, Lane Head, Lowton
St. Mary's, and Lowton Common. Another road to
Leigh branches off from it, keeping near the western
boundary, and passing through Lowton village, Byrom,
and Mossley. A cross road, lined with dwellings,
passes through Lowton village and Lane Head. The
London and North- Western Company's Liverpool and
Manchester line crosses the southern end of the town-
ship, where it is joined by a loop line connecting
with the same company's main line to the north ;
there is a station called Lowton. The Great Central
Company's line from Manchester to Wigan passes
through the northern half of the township, and at
Lowton Common is joined by the line from St.
Helens (Liverpool, St. Helens, and South Lancashire
Railway) ; a station at this point is called Lowton
St. Mary's.
Cotton-spinning and fustian-making were formerly
carried on here.* Some silk-weaving is done as a
cottage industry. Glue is made.
On 27 November 1642 Lord Derby's levies were
routed on Lowton Common by the people of the
district.8
A stone cross formerly stood at Four Lane Ends,
near the present parish church.4
There is a parish council.
Before the Conquest LOWTON, which
MANOR then no doubt included Kenyon, was
one of the berewicks of the royal manor
of Newton ; and in later times it formed one of the
members of the fee or barony of Makerfield.5 In
1 2 1 2 William de Lawton held a manor assessed at
6£ plough-lands, and comprising not only two-thirds
of Lowton and the whole of Kenyon, but half of
Golborne and the small manor of Arbury.6 His
father Adam, who was living in l2OO,7had made
a number of infeudations,8 and William himself granted
Kenyon to a younger son.9 Robert de Lawton suc-
ceeded him about I26o.10 From this time, however,
though the local surname frequently appears,11 it does
not seem that anyone claimed the lordship of the
manor except the barons of Makerfield." It is prob-
able, therefore, that direct heirs failed, the manor
reverting to the chief lord. It has since descended in
the same way as Newton.18
The manor of BTROM in the northern portion of
Lowton may reasonably be identified as the whole or
chief part of the plough-land held in 1 2 1 2 by Richard
de Winwick of Thomas de Golborne.14
About 1270 Robert Banastre, lord of Newton,
granted the Golborne lands to Thurstan de Holland.15
The descent is not clear, but Byrom came by inheri-
1 Including 9 of inland water.
8 Baines, Dir. 1825, ii, 718.
8 Report quoted in Baines's Lanes, (ed.
1836), ii, 17.
4 Lanes, and Chtt. Hist, and Gen.
Notes, i, 203—5.
8 V.C.H. Lanes, i, 366n. The total
assessment of Lowton seems to have been
three plough-lands.
9 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 73. The manor
was held by knight's service, 'where
9^ plough-lands make the fee of one
knight.'
1 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 133. He was
the son of Pain de Lawton ; Kuerden, fol.
MS. 363, R.
8 Inq. and Extents, loc. cit. They were :
4 oxgangs (in Golborne) to Hugh de Hay-
dock ; 2 oxgangs to Robert son of Si ward;
half a plough-land (in Arbury) to Geoffrey
Gernet ; 2 oxgangs to Orm de Middle-
ton, and the same to Robert de Kenyon ;
also Flitcroft to the Knights Hospitallers.
The three grants of two oxgangs each may
be those subsequently held by Robert de
Winwick, Ellen daughter of Aldusa, and
William de Sankey.
' See the account of Kenyon. William
gave Witherscroft, lying by Byrom Brook,
to Alan de Rixton at farm for izd. ; Inq.
and Extents, loc. cit. William de Lawton
was still in possession in 1242; ibid.
148. Alice his widow, daughter of Hugh
de Winwick, released to Jordan de Ken-
yon all her dower in Kenyon ; Kuerden,
loc. cit.
Alan de Rixton gave his lands in By-
rom to Henry son of Richard de Glaze-
brook. In 1303 a marriage was agreed
upon between Henry son of Henry de
Glazebrook and Isabel daughter of Alan
de Rixton; Kuerden, fol. MS. 364; see also
Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), iv, 159 (W.
14). Alan son of Alande Rixton claimed
common of pasture in Lowton in 1292 ;
Assize R. 408, m. 63 d. The lands de-
scended to the Byrom family ; Mascy of
Rixton Deeds, R. 63.
10 As ' lord of Lowton ' he confirmed
William's grant to Jordan de Kenyon ;
Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 147-83. He was
defendant in several actions touching
lands in Lowton in 1258 and 1263 ; Cur.
Reg. R. 160, m. 4d. ; 172, 01.17. He
may be the Robert son of Richard de
Hindley to whom his father gave 'all the
vill of Lowton, viz. twelve oxgangs in
demesne and four in service," as the fee
of one knight ; Towneley MS. OO, no.
1266.
11 William son of William de Lawton
claimed from Henry de Pcnmark com-
mon of pasture in Lowton in 1292 ;
Assize R. 408, m. 13.
In 1368 and later William son of Wil-
liam son of Felicia de Lawton was en-
gaged in a number of pleas ; his grand-
mother was Agnes daughter of Robert de
Mossley ; De Banco R. 430, m. 297 d.
&c. Among the defendants were Hugh
son of William de Lawton, and William
son of Adam de Lawton. Mossley in
Lowton occurs again in the i6th cen-
tury ; Ducatui Lane. (Rec. Com.), iii,
386, 460.
Ellen daughter of Aldusa (whose hus-
band was Gilbert) daughter of William
de Lawton granted two oxgangs of land
to Jordan de Kenyon ; Harl. MS. 2112,
fol. 1 5 4/7190/1.
Stephen son of Thomas de Lawton in
1317-18 granted to Hugh son of Hugh
de Lawton, who had married his daughter
Hawise, all his lands ; Raines MSS.
(Chet. Lib.), xxxviii, 511.
Gilbert (a minor) son of Robert son
of Richard de Lawton was plaintiff in
1352, the defendants being Richard de
Lawton (apparently his grandfather),
Mary his wife, Jordan de Kenyon, and
Amery his wife ; Duchy of Lane. Assize
R. 2, m. 8 d. ; Assize R. 435, m. 18 d.
23. Cecily widow of Robert de Lawton
was concerned in some of these suits ;
Duchy of Lane. Assize R. i, m. i d.
At Easter 1356 the above-mentioned
Gilbert claimed an acre of land from
Adam son of Matthew de Kenyon, who
replied that he held it jointly with Agnes
his wife and Ellen his daughter, by grant
of Richard son of Robert de Lawton.
Another acre Gilbert demanded from
John, a priest, Jordan and Hugh sons of
Adam de Kenyon ; but it appeared that
Jordan was dead. Duchy of Lane. Assize
R. 5, m. 24. The cases occur again, e.g.
Assize R. 438, m. 17 d.
12 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 137,
138 ; ii, 96, 99 ; ibid. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 105.
The exception is that the Hollands of
Denton claimed the manor of Lowton
and Kenyon in the time of Elizabeth and
later ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiii,
no. 20. This may mean only that their
Kenyon estate included lands in Lowton.
Sir Thomas Fleetwood sold lands and quit-
rents in Lowton to various persons in
1773 ; Plac. de Banco (Deeds enrolled),
R. 199, m. 87 ; 201, m. 87 d. ; 202.
18 Apart from the manor the Leghs long
held lands in Lowton, partly by purchase,
but partly by inheritance from the Hay-
dock family.
Robert de Winwick, otherwise Robert
son of Robert rector of Winwick, granted
two oxgangs of land in Lowton to Gilbert
de Hay dock, who had given Robert zos.
'in his great need' ; Raines MSS. xxxviii,
510. This was no doubt one of the es-
tates of two oxgangs granted by Adam de
Lawton.
A lease granted by Sir Peter Legh in
1615 required the tenant (or his deputy)
' to serve in the wars of the king's majesty,
as used to be done ' ; W. Farrer's Deeds.
14 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 74. Nothing
more is known of Richard de Winwick.
15 See the account of Golborne and the
suits quoted below.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
tance to Alice, who married Henry son of Henry son
of Richard de Glazebrook, whereupon he obtained
the surname of Byrom.16 The family improved its
position by later marriages, and about 1420 Henry
de Byrom married Lucy a daughter and co-heir of
Henry son of John de Parr.17 His grandson Henry
married Constance daughter and co-heir of Gilbert
Abram, and one of the heirs of the Boydells of Grap-
penhall ; by this considerable lands in Cheshire were
acquired, together with the advowson of Grappen-
hall.18
The family continued to prosper. Henry Byrom,
living in 1553," married successively daughters of
Ralph Langton and Sir Richard Bold, and his eldest
son Thomas*0 married a daughter of Sir Thomas
Langton, but dying without issue the manor of Byrom
passed to his younger brother John, who about 1559
married Margaret widow of Thomas Parr.11 He
acquired much of the Parr inheritance, and Parr
Hall became the chief seat of the Byroms.
John Byrom was in 1590
among the ' more usual comers
to church,' but not a com-
municant ; " Mary the wife
of his son and heir Henry
was at the same time a
'recusant and indicted there-
of.' n
John Byrom died in 1592
or 1593, holding the manor
of Byrom and various lands,
windmills, &c., in Lowton,
Golborne, and Abram, of
Thomas Langton, in socage,
by a rent of 4/. 7\d. ; he also held the manor
of Parr, and lands there and in other town-
BYROM of Byrom.
Argent a che-veron be-
tween three hedgehogt
sable.
le An account of the Byrom families
by Canon Raines will be found in the
Chetham Society'* edition of John By-
rom's Correspondence (old ser. xliv) ; and
supplementary matter in Lanes, and Ches.
dntiq. Notes, ii, 26, 91, 154.
The descendants of Thurstan de Hol-
land are not clearly ascertained. He ap-
pears to have had three sons by Juliana
daughter of John Gillibrand — Thurstan,
Adam, and Simon. He is not usually
called their father, but made grants to
them; Assize R. 408, m. i6d. In a
suit of 1292 Simon is called son of Thur-
ttan ; ibid. m. 25. In a claim of the
same date made by Alan son of Alan de
Rixton against Simon son of Thurstan de
Holland, Byrom was said to be ' neither
town, borough, nor hamlet ' ; ibid.
Simon the youngest son succeeded ;
in 1303 he claimed land from Henry de
Glazebrook, but the jury found that it
was really in Newton and not in Lowton
or Golborne ; Assize R. 420, m. 2 d.
Alice the wife of Henry de Byrom was
perhaps Simon's granddaughter by an elder
son, for a son Simon is afterwards de-
scribed as ' son and heir,' Alice's parent-
age not being recorded, though she claimed
in her own right. Henry's parentage is
shown by the Mascy of Rixton Deeds
already quoted ; R. 63, W. 14. It ap-
pears that Alan de Rixton's grant of lands
in Lowton to Henry son of Richard de
Glazebrook was absolute, and that the
marriage of Henry's son with Isabel de
Rixton did not take place, this son Henry,
whose wardship was claimed in 1306 by
Alan de Rixton, being the Henry de By-
rom of 1335.
Henry de Byrom first occurs in 1325
as witness to a local charter ; Raines
MSS. xxxviii, 397. Three years later, by
fine, Thurstan son of Simon de Holland
settled lands in Byrom, Newton, Lowton,
and Golborne upon Henrjr de Byrom and
Alice his wife ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 70. The remainder
was to the right heirs of Henry.
In 1344-5 Henry de Byrom and Alice
his wife recovered certain lands in Lowton
from Robert son of Sir Robert de Lang-
ton and others; Assize R. 1435, m. 34,
36 d.
In the next years Simon son of Simon
son and heir of Simon de Holland, who
had a grant from Thurstan de Holland,
who in turn had received from Robert
Banastre, claimed and recovered common
of pasture in Lowton against Henry de
Byrom and Adam his brother, Alice wife
of Henry (claiming in her own right), and
John, Simon, and William, sons of Henry.
The recognitors found that an agreement
had been made between Henry and Simon
de Holland, the grandfather, as to an in-
closure and division of the wood, but this
was not carried out ; Assize R. 1435, m.
9d.
At the same time other claims were
made against the Byroms respecting land
called Medewale in Lowton. Adam son
of Adam son of Robert de Medewale
claimed by grant of William, lord of
Lowton, to one Roger de Pennington,
father of Robert de Medewale ; and Roger
de Flitcroft, as cousin and heir of Roger
son of Richard de Wirral, to whom
Robert de Lawton had made a grant,
claimed another portion of the same land;
ibid. m. 1 6, 17. William son of Adam
son and heir of William de Hesketh was
another claimant ; ibid. m. 19.
Simon de Byrom, possibly the younger
son of Henry already mentioned, occurs
in various ways down to 1400 ; Raines,
Byrom Pedigrees (Chet. Soc.), 5. He was
defendant in a suit in 1356; Duchy of
Lane. Assize R. 5, m. 17. In a Subsidy
Roll of about 1380 he is described as a
' franklin ' ; Lay Subs. Lane. bdle. 1 30,
no. 24.
Simon was perhaps the father of Thur-
stan de Byrom, who before 1398 had
married Cecily daughten and co-heir of
Richard de Lawton. Alice the other
daughter married Thurstan son of Richard
de Tyldesley ; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 1517
187. In 1391-2 Richard de Tyldesley of
Lowton had become bound to Simon de
Byrom ; Kuerden MSS. vi, fol. 86, no.
236. Cecily does not seem to have had
any children, but Alice had several daugh-
ters, and Agnes daughter of George Hart-
leys was her representative in 1547 ;
Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 1524/188*, 159;
195. Thomas de Byrom is named in
1411 (Towneley MS. RR. no. 1533) and
was witness to charters in 1414 and 1423;
Raines, loc. cit. 6.
x? See the account of Parr. The mar-
riage took place in or before 1422 ; Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 5, m. 10.
John Byrom, apparently the son of
Henry, who received £20 on the mar-
riage, espoused Margaret daughter of
William de Lever of Great Lever in
1437; Add. MS. 32103; Lever D. no.
126, 127. Margaret is called the widow of
John Byrom in 1473 (Kuerden MSS. vi,
fol. 84, no. 207), but John seems to have
been living in 1476 ; Culcheth D. no.
257, 259.
18 The marriage probably took place in
152
or before 1466, when Henry Byrom,
senior, John Byrom, and Thomas Byrom,
priest, no doubt as trustees for the younger
Henry and his wife, presented to the
rectory of Grappenhall ; Ormerod, Ches.
(ed. Helsby), i, 600.
Among the deeds at West Hall, High
Legh, Cheshire, is one dated 1486, refer-
ring to the appointment of arbitrators to
decide the disputes between Henry Byrom
of Lowton and Constance his daughter,
and Thomas Legh of High Legh.
In 1487-8 Henry Byrom and Constance
his wife and James Holt and Isabel his
wife received from the trustees the manor
of Handley near Chester, and lands there
and in Latchford, Ringey (Hale), Stock-
port, and Stoke ; ibid, ii, 723. For an
interesting claim to tolls on the passage
across the Mersey see Duchy Plead.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 39—41.
For other notices see Dep. Keeper's
Rep. xxxvii, App. in. In 1502 Henry
Byrom paid 41. j\d. annual rent to the
lord of Makerfield ; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. iii, no. 101. He died before his
wife.
John son and heir of Henry Byrom
occurs with his four sisters in a grant by
the father dated 1 506 ; Raines, loc. cit.
7. He was forty years of age in 1512
when the inquisition after his mother's
death was taken ; Dep. Keeper's Rep.
xxxix, App. 45.
Thomas Byrom, dead in 1526, is sup-
posed to have been the son of John and
father of Henry Byrom ; Raines, loc. cit.;
Piccope, Wills (Chet. Soc.), i, 20 ; Dep.
Keeper's Rep. ut sup.
19 In this year he made a settlement of
the manor of Byrom, lands in Lowton,
.fee. ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 14,
m. 7.
80 In a Subsidy Roll of Mary's reign he
and Elizabeth Byrom (widow of Henry)
were the only landowners contributing in
Lowton and Kenyon ; Mascy of Rixton
D. By his will, dated 1559, Thomas
Byrom gave his soul to St. Mary and
all the saints, and his body to be buried
in the churchyard at Winwick, ' near to
the place where my father lieth buried,
whose soul God pardon ' ; he left 51. to
the repair of the church ; Raines, loc.
cit. 8.
Mary his widow was in 1560 a plaintiff
against John Byrom and others ; Ducatus
Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 221.
21 Ibid. See also the account of Parr.
22 Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 245 ; quoting
S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, 4.
23 Ibid. 247.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
ships.14 Henry Byrom of Parr, his son and heir, who
was then thirty years of age, died in 1613, holding
Byrom by a rent of 3/. 7\d. His son John had died
in 1611, and the heir was John's eldest son Henry
Byrom, born in i6o8.25 He espoused the royal side
in the Civil War, and is said to have been killed at the
battle of Edgehill in 164.2.™ He had seven chil-
dren, the eventual heir being the fifth son, Samuel,
born in l634-*7 His son John succeeded him in in-
fancy, and died in i696,28 the heir (his son Samuel)
being once again a minor. In 1 706, having attained
his majority, he came to an agreement with his
sisters, mother, and grandmother, and obtained posses-
sion of the manors and lands.29 He was, however, a
spendthrift, and four years later was negotiating the
sale of ' the royalty, manor, and demesne of Byrom.' so
The purchaser was Joseph Byrom, a wealthy Man-
chester mercer.31 His daughter Elizabeth carried it
by marriage to her cousin, the celebrated John
Byrom of Kersal, and it descended to their great-
WINWICK
granddaughter Eleonora Atherton of Byrom and
Kersal, who died in 1870, having bequeathed this
and most of her estate to Mr. Edward Fox, her god-
son. He took the name and arms of Byrom.32
The Hospitallers had land here by the grant of
Pain and Adam de Kenyon.33
The Mathers of Lowton are said to have been the
parent stock of a celebrated Puritan family.34
In 1600 James Lowe was a freeholder.35 The
heirs of John Byrom, John Lowe, and the heirs of
John Baxter contributed as landowners to the subsidy
of i6z8.36 John Widdows of Lowton compounded
for his ' delinquency ' in 1 649 ; as he had not
' engaged in the latter war ' he had possibly joined
the king's forces at the opening of the conflict.37
Richard Holcroft, as a recusant, asked leave to com-
pound for the sequestered two-thirds of his estate
in I653.38
An Inclosure Award was made in 1765."
The Commonwealth surveyors in 1650 recom-
34 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvi, no.
37. The pedigree recorded at the visita-
tion of 1664 begins with him ; Dugdale,
Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 66. His will is
printed in Piccope's Wills, ii, 1 1 6. It
names his wife Mildred, his son Henry,
and grandson John ; 65. 8</. or 5*. each
was granted to serving men, maids, &c.,
and twenty windles of barley were to be
distributed among his poor neighbours ;
the sum total of the inventory was
^259 181. <)d. The will of his brother,
Richard Byrom of Middleton, is also given
(p. 117).
25 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 271, 274 ; ii, 1 1.
Henry Byrom in 1594 acquired a con-
siderable property in Lowton from Tho-
mas Langton and Thomas Fleetwood ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 59, m. 371.
His will is among the Mascy of Rixton
Deeds ; Trans. Hitt. Soc. (new ser.), iv,
175. Lands in Lowton were to be sold
to pay debts ; there were no religious or
charitable bequests.
The inquisitions show that John Byrom
was twice married — to Ellen Lister of
Thornton in 1604, and in 160710 Isabel
Nowell of Read, who survived her hus-
band. The heir was clearly the issue of
the later marriage.
24 Dugdale, Visit, loc. cit. He was a
major in the regiment of foot raised by
Lord Molyneux.
Immediately after his grandfather's
death he had been betrothed to Margaret,
the nine-year-old daughter of Sir Thomas
Ireland of Bewsey, but the contract was
afterwards annulled ; Raines, loc. cit. 10.
*7 Two of the elder sons were lunatics,
and two died young. Samuel had a
younger brother Edward, who recorded the
family pedigree at the visitation of 1664.
The heirs being minors and the family
Protestant, the estates were not interfered
with by the Commonwealth authorities.
Three of the sons — Adam, Samuel, and
Edward — were admitted to Gonville and
Caius College, Cambridge, in 1646 and
1650 ; Venn, Admissions, 221, 231.
Samuel Byrom of Byrom was buried
at Winwick 26 Jan. 1665-6. Allega-
tions concerning his will, dated 1668,
are preserved in the Diocesan Registry
at Chester ; see Index (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), ii, 20 ; also Lanes, and Cbes.
Antiq. Notes, ii, 154. Entries in the
Wilmslow registers are printed in Local
Glean. Lanes, and Cbes. i, 1 2.
28 John Byrom was born 24 June
1659, as appears by an entry in the Rog-
therne registers. He was admitted to
Gray's Inn, 1676, and about 1683 mar-
ried Elizabeth daughter of Sir John Ot-
way ; she afterwards married Robert
Hedges and — Hamilton ; Raines, loc.
cit. 10. At the beginning of 1 694 he was
chosen at a bye-election to represent
Wigan in Parliament ; Pink and Heaven,
Part. Refre. of Lanes. 230; Hist, MSS. Com.
Rep. xiv, App. iv, 282, 283. He was
buried at Winwick 3 Mar. 1695-6, the
register describing him as 'of Parr.' The
monumental inscription describes him as
'a hearty champion of the Church of
England, vigorously resisting the sacri-
legious usurpations of the schismatics at
his own charges ' ; as for instance in his
recovery of St. Helen's Chapel for the Es-
tablished Church ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep.
xiv, App. iv, 246.
M Raines, loc. cit. 12.
Early in 1707 in a fine concerning the
manors of Byrom and Parr, and various
houses, mills, and lands in Lowton, Parr,
Westleigh, Abram, Hindley, Sutton,
Windlc, and Golborne, the deforciants
were Samuel Byrom, John Robinson,
Lady Elizabeth Otway, widow, Robert
Hedges and Elizabeth his wife, and Eliza-
beth Byrom, spinster (Samuel's sister) ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 258, m. 33.
80 He was known as ' the Beau.' An
account of his pamphlet, written in the
Fleet Prison in 1729, will be found in
Canon Raines's book, 13, 14. He states
in it that ' he had a competent estate in
Lancashire, but by being ill-introduced to
the world, and soon falling into the hands
of sharpers and gamesters (the very bane
and ruin of many young gentlemen when
they first come from the University), his
estate was diminished, and, what was
more valuable, his reputation was lost.'
He was still living in destitution in Lon-
don in 1739.
81 An account of this family is given in
Canon Raines's work already cited. See
further under Kersal.
82 Baines, Lanes, (ed. Croston), iv, 372.
88 Pain de Lawton gave Flitcroft to
the Hospital and Adam his son regranted
or confirmed it. Afterwards the Hos-
pitallers granted part to Jordan de Ken-
yon ; the land appears to have been in
two places, one in Lowton and the
other in Kenyon ; Kuerden, fol. MS.
363» R-
53
About 1 540 the lands were held by the
heirs of William Flitcroft, at a rent of
lid. (? lid.), and by Richard Holland at
i zd.; Kuerden MSS. v, fol. 84. Sir Wil-
liam Leyland of Morleys was found in
1547 to have held lands in Lowton and
Kenyon of the king as of the late priory
of St. John by a rent of izd. ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. ix, no. 43. The Earl of
Derby afterwards acquired this land; Lanes.
Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and dies.), ii,
268.
84 Five members of it have notices in
Diet. Nat. Biog. See Local Glean. Lanes,
and Ckes. ii, 217. Richard and Samuel
Mather are said to have been born at
Lowton. Simon Mather was constable
of Lowton in 1507 ; Beamont, Lords of
Warrington (Chet. Soc.), ii, 375.
86 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 242. In 1631 James Lowe paid ,£10
as a composition on refusing knighthood ;
ibid, i, 213.
Hamlet Lowe acquired a messuage and
lands in Lowton and Newton from Hugh
Thornton in 1555 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 1 6, m. no. They seem to have
been transferred to James Lowe by Ham-
let and his wife Maud in 1564; ibid,
bdle. 28, m. 230.
Another freeholder was James Sorocold,
who at his death in 1622 held lands in
Lowton and Kenyon recently purchased
of John Ashton and Nicholas Lythgoe ;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), ii, 406. Richard Lythgoe and Sir
Piers Legh had in 1564 and 1565 pur-
chased the Eccleston lands in the town-
ships named ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdles. 26, m. 171 ; 27, m. 133.
Thomas Arrowsmith, rector of En-
borne, in 1597 claimed certain lands in
Lowton against Geoffrey Hope, Alice
widow of Henry Arrowsmith, and others 5
Ducatus (Rec. Com.), iii, 361 ; also 267.
86 Norris D. (B.M.).
87 Cat. of Com. for Compounding, iii,
2076.
John Thomason alias Widdows in 1601
claimed land under a lease to his father,
Thomas Johnson ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec.
Com.), iii, 476.
88 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, iv,
3176.
89 Lanes, and Ches. Rec. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 56 ; for a map of the
same time see ibid, i, 55. The Act was
passed in 1762. There is a copy of the
award (without plan) at Preston.
20
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
mended that a church should be built in the town-
ship, but nothing was done.40
St. Luke's Church was erected for the worship of
the Established Church in 1732. By the Winwick
Rectory Act of 1845 it became a parish church, the
incumbent being rector ; the Earl of Derby is patron.41
St. Mary's Church was built in 1861 ; the benefice
is a perpetual curacy in the gift of Mrs. Leach.4*
A Methodist chapel is said to have been erected in
1788;" there are now Primitive and Independent
Methodist chapels.
KENYON
Kenien, 1212 ; Kenian, 1258 ; Keynan, 1259.
Kenylow is at the border of Kenyon and Croft.
This township has an area of 1,685 1 acres and
stretches north-west from the boundary of Newton to
the Carr Brook, a distance of z\ miles. The geologi-
cal formation consists mainly of the Bunter series of
the New Red Sandstone. To the north-east of Twist
Green the Pebble Beds give place to the Upper
Mottled Sandstone of this series. The surface of the
country is level, with an upper soil of clay, beneath
which a stiffer red clay lies. Meadow lands alternate
with fields of potatoes and corn, and a fair number of
trees are sprinkled about the country. Hedges appear
well-grown and trimly kept. The district is deficient
in water-courses. The population numbered 329 in
1901.
The principal road is that from Lowton to Cul-
cheth, a branch of it passing south through Kenyon
village. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway of
the London and North Western Company crosses the
township and has a station at Kenyon Junction, whence
a branch goes off to Leigh. The Great Central
Company's Manchester and Wigan line also passes
through the township.
Pocket Nook, Diggle Green, and Broseley occupy
the north-east corner, Sandy Brow the south-west.
Bricks are manufactured.
The bronze tongue of a Roman fibula was found
here.1 There is a Bronze-age barrow.1
KENTON was originally part of
M4NOR Lowton, but about the end of the reign
of Henry III William de Lawton granted
to his son Jordan * the whole vill of Kenyon,' at the
rent of id. a year or a pair of white gloves.4 This
was confirmed shortly afterwards by Robert, lord of
Lowton, son of William.5 Jordan de Kenyon lived
on until about I3OO,6 when he was succeeded by his
son /*dam.7 This Adam, who was living in 1330,
was followed regularly by a son8 and grandson of
the same name. The third Adam de Kenyon came
into his inheritance about 1346, when a number of
settlements were made.9 Three years later his son
John was contracted in marriage to Joan daughter
of Gilbert de Southworth,10 but probably died soon
afterwards, as the manor descended with Adam's
daughter Amery, who in 1358 was married to
Richard son of Thurstan de Holland of Denton.11
Subsequently it descended," like Denton, Heaton, and
40 Commonwealth Cb. Surv. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 49.
41 Raines in Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.),
ii, 262.
43 A district was assigned in 1862 ;
Land. Gaz. 7 Jan. 1862.
48 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 635.
1 1,686, including 4 of inland water ;
Census Rep. 1901.
3 Lanes, and Ches. Ant'tq. Soc. x, 250.
* Ibid, xxi, 1 20.
4 Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 145/181, &c.,
contains a collection of the Holland of
Denton family deeds. The charter re-
ferred to is on fol. 146^/1 82^ ; « R. rector
of Winwick ' was one of the witnesses.
s Ibid. fol. 147/183.
•In 1256 Jordan de Kenyon gave half a
mark for an assize taken before P. de
Percy; Orig. 42 Hen. Ill, m. n. He
was therefore in possession of Kenyon by
that time. Two years later he and
Robert de Lawton and Hugh de Hindley
were defendants in a suit by Roger de
Twiss, who complained that they had de-
stroyed his chattels in Kenyon and Cul-
cheth ; Cur. Reg. R. 160, m. 6 ; 162,
m. 6 d.
In 1276 Agnes widow of Henry de
Hindley claimed common of pasture in
Kenyon from Jordan de Kenyon and from
William de Sankey and Robert his son, an
approvement from the waste having been
made ; but the jury found she had suffi-
cient ; Assize R. 405, m. i d.
In 1287 Jordan de Kenyon came to an
agreement with Gilbert de Southworth
respecting the bounds of the waste between
Kenyon and Croft; Harl. MS. 2112,
fol. 158^/194*. In 1292 he was plaintiff
in several cases (Assize R. 408, m. 42,
26 d. 36), and defendant in 1295 > Assize
R. 1306, m. 15.
To Richard his son and his heirs he
granted a piece of land in Kenyon,
together with another piece formerly held
by another son, Hugh, and the rent of
Robert de Woodhouse ; Harl. MS. 2112,
fol. 1 58^/1 94^ and fol. 160/196. John
de Mosley, rector of Winwick, was
one of the witnesses, so that the grant
was before 1306. This Richard, men-
tioned with his father in the plea of 1295,
was probably the father of the Jordan son
of Richard de Kenyon of later deeds —
1324 and 1347; ibid. fol. 157^/193^,
155/191 ; also Assize R. 425, m. 4.
Hugh and Roger sons of Jordan de
Kenyon occur among witnesses to
charters about 1300 ;Towneley MS. GG,
no. 998, 1119.
~> Adam de Kenyon received a grant of
land in Lowton in the time of his father
Jordan; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 151/187.
He married Godith daughter of Richard
son of Stephen de Lawton ; Culcheth D.
(Lanes, and Cbes. Hist, and Gen. Notes, i),
no. 3, 1 5. Her father had a grant of lands
in Lowton from Robert Banastre ; Harl.
MS. 21 12, fol. 147/183. Adam occurs in
various ways down to 1330, when as lord
of Kenyon he granted a rent-charge of
£40 sterling to Adam the son of his son
Adam and heirs by Maud daughter of
Robert de Hesketh ; ibid. fol. 155/191.
Jordan his son is named in the deed and
in Assize R. 1435, m. 47. His daughter
Godith married Richard de Abram in
1324; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 159/195;
151/187.
8 In 1 344 Gilbert de Culcheth senior
received from Adam de Kenyon senior,
Adam son and heir of Adam de Kenyon
senior, Jordan de Kenyon, and others,
£10 in part payment of £100 ; ibid. fol.
153/189. A similar receipt in 1346 names
only one Adam de Kenyon ; ibid. fol.
151^/187*.
9 Margery widow of Adam de Kenyon
in 1 346 gave to Adam her son two-thirds
of the manor of Kenyon ; ibid. fol.
151/187. In the following year Adam de
154
Kenyon granted to trustees the manor of
Kenyon with wards, reliefs, and escheats ;
also the reversion of the lands held by his
mother Margaret in dower, and by Jordan
de Kenyon for life ; ibid. fol. 155/191.
Margaret widow of Adam de Kenyon
was in 1356 summoned to answer the
younger Adam concerning waste he
alleged she had caused or allowed in her
dower lands in Kenyon and Lowton. She
had pulled down a hall and sold the
timber to the value of iooj., two chambers
each worth 401., &c.; had made pits and
taken marl and clay, and sold it to the
value of 6oi. ; had cut down eight oaks in
the wood, each worth half a mark, and
apple trees and pear trees in the gardens
worth 2s. each. Margaret denied the
accusation, and said that a grange and ox-
house had fallen down through old age,
and she had taken an oak for repairs ;
Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 5, m. 7 d.
In 1347 also John, Jordan, and Hugh,
sons of Adam de Kenyon senior, recovered
their annuities from Adam de Kenyon,
Maud his wife, and their son John ;
Assize R. 1435, m. 14, i4d, 16. The
first of these claimants, John, was a
priest, and in the pleas just cited is called
«son and heir' of the elder Adam (m.
14) ; he was afterwards trustee for his
brother ; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 150^/186*.
Jordan de Kenyon and his wife Amery,
Hugh de Kenyon and his wife Alice, are
mentioned in 1353 ; Assize R. 435, m.
i8d; 20.
10 Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 155/191.
11 Ibid. fol. 147^/183*, 151/187.
13 Richard de Holland died in 1402
•eised of the manor of Kenyon as of the
right of Amery his wife ; it was held of
the lord of Makerfield by knight's service
and a rent of 41.; Thurstan his son and
heir was over thirty years of age ; Towne-
ley MS. DD, no. 1461. In later inquisi
tions the tenure is described as socage,
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WINWICK
the other estates of the family, to the Earl of Wilton.
Lord Grey de Wilton in 1787 contributed £23 to
the land tax of £zg.
William son of Henry de Sankey had a grant of
KENYON. Sable «
theveron engrailed be-
tween three crosses patonce
EGERTON, Earl of
Wilton. Argent a lion
rampant gules between
three f Aeons sable.
Windycroft and Snapecroft in Kenyon from William
de Lawton ; u he had sons William and Robert. The
former died before his father, leaving a daughter
Margery, who married successively Robert de Risley
and William Gillibrand.14 The Risleys appear to
have secured most or all of the inheritance, but
William de Sankey endowed his younger son Robert
with a portion.15
In the 1 4th and 1 5th centuries a minor Kenyon
family had lands in this and the neighbouring parishes.
Katherine daughter of Adam son of Matthew de
Kenyon was in 1366 the wife of John Amoryson of
Wigan." A Matthew de Kenyon left three children,
William, who died early ; Agnes, who married John
Eccleston ; and Ellen, who married Oliver Anderton.
The two daughters divided the inheritance.17
The Hospitallers had lands in Kenyon.18
A family named Woodhouse was seated here in the
1 4th century.1' TheMorleys of Billington long held
lands here.10
Richard Thompson petitioned in 1653 to be
allowed to compound for the two-thirds of his
estate sequestered for recusancy." Robert son of
Richard Speakman in 1717 registered an estate as
a ' papist.' **
without rent ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
iv, no. 36, 58. Richard Holland died in
1619 holding the manors of Kenyon and
Lowton of the lord of Newton in socage,
by a yearly rent of 18*. ; Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 145.
13 Hale D. ; William de Sankey also
acquired lands in Kenyon from Jordan de
Kenyon and in Lowton from Robert
Banastre, in Croft from Gilbert de
Southworth, in Culcheth from Robert de
Kinknall, and in Dallam and Penketh
from Roger son of Jordan, whose right
seems to have been derived from Jordan
son of Roger, grantee of Robert Banastre
and William de Penketh ; ibid. Henry
de Sankey, father of William, had had a
burgage in Warrington from William le
Boteler.
14 Assize R. 1306, m. 15 ; a suit in
1295 as to whether Jordan de Kenyon,
Adam and Richard his sons, and others
had disseised Robert de Risley and Mar-
gery his wife of their common of pasture
in 13 acres of wood and 60 acres of moor
in Kenyon ; also of mast for their pigs in
50 acres of wood, and wood for housebote,
heybote, and burning. It was alleged,
among other things, that Robert, the
younger son, when his father was lying
on his deathbed, went to Jordan, chief
lord of the town of Kenyon, and promised
him that if he would help him to procure
seisin of his father's tenements he would
let him have a writing sealed with his
father's seal ; and that Jordan accordingly
drew up a charter, then proffered in court,
which Robert sealed with his brother
William's seal. The jury did not pro-
nounce on this point, but their decision
•was generally in favour of the claimants.
Margery had been a plaintiff in 1284,
when her guardianship had been un-
successfully claimed by Jordan de Ken-
yon ; Robert de Hindley (or Risley) was
her guardian ; Assize R. 1265, m. 5.
See also Abbre-v. Plac. (Rec. Com.),
2376 ; the service was that of two ox-
gangs of land where 9 £ plough-lands made
a knight's fee. From this it appears prob-
able that the Sankey estate was two ox-
gangs, which Adam de Lawton gave to
Robert de Kenyon to acquit himself of the
office of judge; Lanes. Inq. and Extents
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 73. There
was, however, another estate of two ox-
gangs, which Ellen daughter of Aldusa
daughter of William de Lawton granted
to Jordan de Kenyon ; Kuerden fol. MS.
363, R. Ellen's father was named Gil-
bert.
ls See Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), ii, 44. The Risleys' chief
holding in Kenyon was Broseley on the
border of Culcheth.
William de Sankey, after his elder son's
death, seems to have regarded his younger
son Robert as his heir, and this may have
occasioned the lawsuits which followed.
He granted to Robert his son, ' as his
heir,' part of his land in Kenyon, and
enfeoffed Jordan de Kenyon of certain of
his lands which were afterwards given to
Robert ; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 150^/186^,
and Lord Wilton's D.
" Crosse D., Trans. Hist. Soc. (new
ser. v, <fcc.), no. 56 ; Katherine was a
widow in 1369; ibid. no. 66. See the
account of Crosse under Wigan.
In 1347 Adam son of Matthew de
Kenyon released to Adam, lord of Ken-
yon, all his right, &c., in certain lands in
Kenyon ; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 152/188.
Agnes widow of Adam de Kenyon, and
John de Liverpool and Joan his wife,were
in 1 374 the executors of the will of Adam
de Kenyon ; De Banco R. 456, m. 598 d.
Joan de Kenyon widow of John de Liver-
pool gave a quitclaim to Richard del
Crosse in 1432 ; Crosse D. no. 134.
W Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), ii, 99. Matthew de Kenyon was
the royal receiver in Lancashire in 1403
(or 1416) ; Towneley MS. GG, no.
2307.
In 1419 Richard del Crosse, son of the
last-named Katherine and one of the
executors of Matthew de Kenyon, de-
livered to William son of Matthew the
father's armour ; Crosse D. no. 132 ; a
detailed list is given. ' A pair of beads of
white amber ' was added.
Ralph Eccleston's lands in Kenyon
were in 1522 held of Thurstan Holland
of Denton by a rent of $d. ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. v, no. 46. The Eccles-
tons' lands seem to have been sold in
1564 and 1565 to Sir Peter Legh and
others ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
26, m. 171 ; bdle. 27, m. 133. For a later
yeoman family see Gillow, Bibl. Diet,
of Engl. Cath. iv, 15.
155
James Anderton was in 1552 found to
have held lands in Kenyon of Edward
Holland in socage, by a rent of zs. 4 J</. ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. ix, no. 14.
His son Hugh Anderton and Alice his
wife sold them to John Urmston in 1556 ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 17, m.
100.
18 Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 375.
In 1332 the prior of St. John claimed a
messuage and land in Kenyon from
Peter de Risley ; De Banco R. 292, m.
354 d.
19 John son of Adam del Woodhouse
(or Woodhouses) was defendant in 1292
respecting land in Kenyon, and lost the
case by default ; Assize R. 408, m. i8d.
Robert del Woodhouse was a defendant
in 1295; ibid. 1306, m. 15. Henry
son of Robert del Woodhouses in 1^09
had a release of their claim on lands in
the Woodhouses granted by John son of
Adam son of Henry to his sister Ellen,
wife of Henry Nightegale ; Lord Wil-
ton's D. ; Final Cone, ii, 6. A grant to
John son of Adam del Woodhouses is in
Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 147^/183*. Henry
del Woodhouses, Agnes his mother, and
Richard his son occur in deeds up to
1347; ibid. fol. 147/183 ; 156/192. In
1421 Nicholas son of Ivo del Woodhouses
was contracted to marry Katherine
daughter of John son of Robert de Wors-
ley ; ibid. fol. 147/183. William Ley-
land in 1467 seems to have bought the
lands from Otwell Woodhouse and
Margaret his wife j Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 6, m. 2.
20 Final Cone, ii, 176. Richard and
Nicholas, sons of Richard Morley, had
lands in Billington, Dinkley, and Ken-
yon in 1448-9 ; Towneley MS. DD, no.
1923. In 1528 it was found that
Ughtred Morley had held a messuage
and lands in Kenyon of the lord of
Newton by the rent of a grain of corn ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, no. 67.
His son Robert Morley held them in
1586 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 48,
m. 58.
21 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, iv,
2176. He and his wife appear on the
Recusant Roll of 1641 ; Tram. Hist. Soc.
(new ser.), xiv, 245.
22 Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath. Non-
jurors, 117,
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
CULCHETH
Culchet, 1 20 1 ; Kulchit, 1242 ; Culchith, Kil-
chiche, Kylchiz, 1292. The usual spelling is Cul-
cheth or Culchith ; the local pronunciation is shown
by the surnames Culshaw and Kilshaw, derived
from it.
Peasfurlong, Holcroft, and Risley : there has been
no material change in the spellings.
This large township, with an area of 5,369 * acres,
has long been divided into four quarters, though
the boundaries are not always clearly defined, viz. :
Culcheth proper in the north ; Holcroft and Peas-
furlong, the eastern and western parts of the centre ;
and Risley in the south. The eastern and northern
boundaries are formed by the Glazebrook and its
tributary the Carr Brook ; another brook on the
west divides Peasfurlong from Croft. The southern
boundary appears to be drawn chiefly through moss-
land.
The surface of the country is flat, the highest
elevation at Twiss Green being but 107 ft. above sea
level. In the north is agricultural country, fairly well
timbered. In the south the land is but sparsely
inhabited, and consists of reclaimed moss-land ; some
patches still exist where peat is cut for fuel and moss
litter.
The characteristic vegetation of the moss-land is
still in evidence here and there, where birch and
bracken and nodding cotton sedges flourish. Potatoes
and corn, more particularly oats, thrive in a clayey
soil, where the land has been cleared of the bulk of
the peat. The geological formation is represented by
the Bunter series of the New Red Sandstone, and
consists mainly of the Upper Mottled Sandstone of
that series. Between Risley and Holcroft Mosses the
pebble beds extending from the north-west almost
touch an area of the Lower Keuper Basement Beds,
which juts into this county from south of the
Mersey.
The population in 1901 numbered 2,294.
Cotton is manufactured, and bricks and tiles are
made. In the 1 7th and 1 8th centuries many of the
inhabitants followed the occupation of linen weaving.
Culcheth proper has Carr, Hurst, Fowley and
Twiss Green in the north-west, north-east, south-
east, and south-west corners ; the village of Glaze-
bury * has sprung up in the last thirty years by Hurst,
on the banks of the Glazebrook. The hall is to
the east of Twiss Green. The area measures 1,3 10^
acres.
Holcroft Hall is near the Glazebrook ; to the
north is Eshot Lane, and a mile to the south Schole-
field. The chapel was built in this division, at the
corner where the boundaries of Holcroft, Peasfurlong,
and Culcheth meet. The area of this quarter is
1,206^ acres.
Peasfurlong, which measures 1,296 acres, has
Kingnall, or Kinknall, and Wigshaw in the north-
west corner and Flitcroft near the centre.
Risley Old Hall is near the northern boundary of
the quarter ; the area is 1,556 acres. In Risley Moss
pre-Roman and Roman remains have been dis-
covered.
The principal road is that leading north and
north-east from Warrington to Leigh. It is joined
near the church by the road from Winwick through
Croft. TheWigan Junction Railway of the Great
Central system crosses the township, having a station
(Culcheth) near Kinknall.
Culcheth Wake ceased in 1822.*
The township is governed by a parish council, and
has been divided into three wards : Newchurch,
Glazebury, and Risley.
The first notice by name of the manor
MANORS of CULCHETH is that in the survey of
1 2 1 2, when it was within the fee or
barony of Warrington.4 It so continued with some
modification of tenure* until 1601, when Thomas
Ireland of Bewsey, in consideration of 100 marks,
released all his rights in the tenures, suits and services,
ward, homage and reliefs in Culcheth held of the
barony of Warrington.6
In 1 2 1 2 Hugh son of Gilbert held the manor, by
knight's service, of William le Boteler, as four plough-
lands paying 4 marks a year. A certain Reynold had
held it of Pain de Vilers, and as nothing is said as to
the origin of his tenure, he may have been in posses-
sion when the Warrington fee was granted to Pain.7
Gilbert de Culcheth, probably a son or grandson
of Hugh son of Gilbert, held the manor in I242.8
He was killed in 1 246 by unknown malefactors, and
the township was fined because it made no pursuit.9
He left four infant daughters as co-heirs, Margery,
Elizabeth, Ellen, and Joan, who became wards of the
lord of Warrington ; and in course of time William
le Boteler granted their marriage to Hugh de Hindley.10
Hugh married them to his own four sons, and Cul-
cheth was divided among them,11 its four quarters
becoming the manors of Richard de Hindley, who
took the name of Culcheth ; Adam, called de Peas-
furlong, and later de Hindley ; Robert, called de
Risley ; and Thomas, called de Holcroft.
I. — Margery, the wife of Richard de Culcheth, was
dead in 1276 when Richard son of John de Haydock
complained that he had been disseised of his common
of pasture in CULCHETH. Richard de Culcheth
replied that the land had been divided, and that the
1 5,373 according to the census of
1901, including 9 acres of inland water.
a The old name was Bury Lane ; see
Lanes, and Ches. Antiq, Notes, i, 2.
8 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 647.
4 Lanes. Inq, and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 9.
6 In 1548 four rents each of 21. 2j</.
were payable to Sir Thomas Boteler from
Culcheth, Peasfurlong, Holcroft, and Ris-
ley, the tenants being Gilbert Culcheth,
Sir John Holcroft (two), and John Risley ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 13, m. 142.
The total rent of 8*. io</. shows a great
reduction from the 4 marks of 1212,
being one-sixth only.
6 Culcheth D. no. 253 ; these abstracts
are printed in Lanes, and Ches. Hist, and
Gen. Notes, i, and to them are added a
large number of abstracts of wills, &c.,
compiled by Mr. J. P. Rylands.
7 Inq. and Extents, loc. cit. 8 Ibid. 147.
9 Assize R. 404, m. i8£. As he is
named as defendant in the same roll
(m. i d.) he must have been killed in or
just before 1246. His widow, Dame
Cecily de Layton, in 1275 at Thornton
in the Fylde demised to Richard de Cul-
cheth, her son-in-law, her dower in the
mill at Culcheth, and granted that her
tenants should grind there as in Gilbert
de Culcheth's life ; Culcheth D. no. 23.
I56
10 Culcheth D. no. 20 ; it would appear
from no. 2 that 40 marks was paid by
Hugh.
This Hugh was lord of the manor of
Hindley, or a moiety of it, which de-
scended with Culcheth. There were
others of the name.
11 This appears from various suits re-
ferred to, and from the deeds preserved
by Dodsworth, cxlii, fol. 113 ; by one,
Richard's approvements in die Little
Twiss, Blind Hurst, Kinknall, and the
mill houses were allowed. Richard and
Margery's acknowledgement of the justice
of the partition it no. 22 of the Cul-
cheth D.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
tenement for which common rights were claimed was
in his late wife's portion, and Thomas, their son,
should have been joined as defendant.12 Thomas
probably died soon after, for he is not mentioned
again, later suits involving either Richard or Gilbert,
sons of Richard and Margery.1* Gilbert seems to
have been the elder, and in 1291, that is, no doubt,
as soon as he came of age, he brought a suit against
his father respecting houses and land in Culcheth,
which had been exchanged by his mother Margery
with her mother Cecily.14 In the following year he
had entered into possession of his share of the dower
of his grandmother Cecily, who was then dead.14
Richard his father was still living in 1292, he and his
WINWICK
son Richard being involved in several suits with the
other parceners, as also with tenants and others.16 The
father, however, died in or before 1298," and Gilbert
seems to have been lord of Culcheth until about 1 342.'*
He was succeeded by his son Gilbert,19 who, by his
first wife, had a son and heir Gilbert, married in 1 345
to Joan daughter of Adam de Kenyon,20 their son
Gilbert being born about a year afterwards.21 There
were thus four Gilberts in succession, lords of Culcheth.2*
The last of them, who died between 1393 and
1402, had several children. His eldest son Thurstan
dying about 1430 without male issue,*3 a younger
son, Thomas, succeeded,84 and had four sons, Gilbert,24
Nicholas, Oliver, and George. Gilbert's two sons,
13 Assize R. 405, m. 2. The defen-
dants were Richard de Culcheth, Thomas
de Holcroft, and Joan his wife, Robert de
Hindley and Ellen his wife, Adam de
Hindley and Isabel his wife, also Roger
del Twiss, this last being a tenant of
Richard's. In the following year Richard
and his son Richard, together with Adam
and Elizabeth, Thomas and Joan, were
summoned to answer Hugh de Hulme,
who charged them with taking his goods ;
De Banco R. 21, m. 53 d.
In 1278 John de Haydock continued
his suit against Richard del Twiss, Adam
and Thomas and their wives being joined,
also Roger del Twiss and Henry son of
Robert de Paris ; but Richard, 'chief lord
of Culcheth,' was not named ; Assize R.
1238, m. 34 d. ; 1239, m. 39 d.; also
1268, m. II.
18 Richard son of Richard has been
mentioned in the preceding note. Gilbert
occurs in a plea by Cecily de Layton in
1284 ; Assize R. 1265, m. 22 ; he must
at this time have been regarded as the
heir.
14 Assize R. 1294, m. 8.
18 Ibid. 408, m. 50 d. Gilbert de
Culcheth and Robert de Risley and Ellen
his wife and others were at the same
time plaintiffs against the Abbot of Cocker-
sand, regarding a tenement in Hutton in
Leyland, probably Dame Cecily's ; ibid,
m. 58 d.
16 Ibid. m. 27, 57, ice. ; Richard the
son; m. 32. In Aug. 1294 William
le Boteler, lord of Warrington, agreed
with Richard de Culcheth not to distrain
the demesne of Culcheth for services
during the life of Richard, the latter
being allowed to distrain hit men for
them as if he were their immediate lord ;
Culcheth D. no. 27. In 1300 William
le Boteler agreed that in future Gilbert
de Culcheth should find only one bedell
for the court of Warrington ; Hale D.
V In this year Gilbert son of Richard
de Culcheth granted to Hugh de Hindley
all his manor of Culcheth for life, with
remainder as to one half to his wife
Beatrice for life should she survive him ;
Culcheth D. no. 28. This was regranted
in 1307 ; ibid. no. 33. See also no. 29,
31'
18 The name of Gilbert de Culcheth
occurs constantly in the charters of the
time. In 1330 he 'put in his claim' in
a settlement of the Risley portion of the
manor ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), ii, 74.
The most probable date for his death
is that named in the text. In 1338
Gilbert de Culcheth granted to Gilbert
his son his mills in Hindley and all his
part in the water of Glazebrook and
Ballisdene in Hindley ; Culcheth D. no.
48. In later deeds Gilbert 'the elder'
is named ; no. 49, 50 ; and in 1341
Gilbert de Culcheth and Gilbert his son
were the first witnesses to a local deed ;
no. 51. Two years later Gilbert de
Culcheth, no longer called 'elder,' and
therefore probably the ' son ' of the fore-
going deeds, agreed with Sir Geoffrey de
Warburton as to the marriage of his
son and heir Gilbert ; the latter was
to marry by Sir Geoffrey's advice ; ibid,
no. 52.
19 Mentioned in the preceding note.
His first wife is said to have been the
daughter of Sir Geoffrey de Warburton ;
his second was Cecily daughter of Rich-
ard de Bradshagh ; she afterwards married
Hugh de Worseley or Wirley ; no. 53,
57, 63, Sec. See also Assize R. 438,
m. 3 d. ; 441, m. 5 ; Duchy of Lane.
Assize R. 7, m. 2 d.
80 Culcheth D. no. 53; a grant by Gil-
bert the father to his son Gilbert and Joan
of the manor of Hindley, with remainders
to the father's children by Cecily, John
and William, and then to William son of
Gilbert de Urmston. Immediately after-
wards the son released the manor to his
father, 'on condition that he maintained
himself and his wife Joan with reasonable
food and clothes ' ; no. 54. Eight years
later (1353) a similar surrender of the
manor of Hindley was made by the son,
and Gilbert the father agreed to find his
son in a house, horse, attendant, &c., fit-
ting his rank ; no. 57.
Gilbert de Culcheth the elder and
Cecily his wife made grants in 1356;
no. 59-61 ; but early in the following year
Gilbert son and heir of Gilbert de Cul-
cheth granted an inspeximus of a charter
made to his father and Cecily his wife in
13515 no. 62.
81 The date appears from his acknow-
ledgement in the parish church of Man-
chester in Feb. 1365-6, when he was
' nineteen years of age and upwards,' of his
marriage with Katherine the daughter of
Thomas del Booth ; ibid. no. 67. Gilbert
de Culcheth, son of Gilbert who married
Joan, son of Gilbert whose widow was
Cecily, was plaintiff in 1362 and 1364 ;
De Banco R. 41 1, m. 217 d. ; 418, m. 227.
Gilbert the father, husband of Joan, must
have died therefore before 1362 ; he had
arranged his son's marriage in 1358 ;
Culcheth D. no. 64, 65.
Other charters in the collection concern
the younger Gilbert. One of these is
curious ; by it Sir William de Legh,
Katherine, ' late wife ' of Gilbert de Cul-
chetli, John de Worsley, and William de
Hulme, delivered to John de Holcroft 113
charters relating to the inheritance of the
said Gilbert, and he agreed to deliver them
to Gilbert, * if alive,' or to his heir if dead 5
157
no. 79. This was in 1374. It appears
from later deeds that Gilbert was not dead ;
in 1393 he established his title to a
water-mill and land in Hindley ; no. 82.
Katherine was a widow in 1402, in which
year she assigned her dower lands in Cul-
cheth and Hindley to trustees, and was
still living in 1431 ; no. 83, 87-90, 95 ;
see Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 337 ;
xxxii i, App. 9 ; Final Cone, ii, 67.
88 This appears clearly from a release in
1373 by the trustee to Gilbert de Cul-
cheth of all the lands in Culcheth which
he had by the gift of Gilbert de Culcheth,
great-grandfather of the said Gilbert ; Cul-
cheth D. no. 73. This ancestor cannot be
the original Gilbert de Culcheth who was
killed in 1 246, and must therefore refer to
the Gilbert son of Richard who died prob-
ably about 1340.
83 Thurstan' s name occurs in 1373,
when his father Gilbert settled lands upon
him and his issue, probably on the occa-
sion of his betrothal ; no. 76, 77. Nine
years later the marriage seems to have
taken place, Thurstan's wife being Eliza-
beth daughter of John de Holcroft ; no.
80, 8 1 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 2,
m. 35 ; see also m. 34.
Thurstan was in possession of the
manor in 1400 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet.
Soc.), i, 159. He had three brothers,
Thomas, Nicholas, and Henry, on whom
lands were settled in 1420 ; Culcheth D.
no. 91-4.
84 Thomas appears to have come into
possession of the manors by 1430, when
the arbitrators decided that Katherine his
mother was entitled to dower out of Cul-
cheth Carrs ; no. 95.
Thomas Culcheth, as son and heir of
Gilbert and Katherine, was claimant of
lands in Culcheth in 1443 and later years,
the defendants being John Eccleston and
Agnes his wife and Oliver Anderton
and Ellen his wife. The defendants
were warranted by Thurstan Anderton,
who called John son and heir of Richard
del Crosse, who called William son and
heir of Henry Perpoint ; Pal. of Lane.
Plea R. 5, m. 136; 6, m. 156; ii,
m. 9.
In 1444 Thomas Culcheth and Alice
his wife were in possession of the manor
house of Hindley ; Culcheth D. no. 98.
They leased to their son George this
manor in 1458 at a rent of £4 131. 4</.,
allowing sufficient timber to repair the
house and the mill ; no. ill.
85 Hugh Culcheth, chaplain, in 1444
granted lands in Hindley to Gilbert son
of Thomas Culcheth and Agnes his wife ;
no. 99. In 1456 Gilbert confirmed his
father's grant of a moiety of Culcheth
Carrs to Oliver Anderton and Ellen his
wife ; no. 109.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
John M and Randle,87 successively held the manor,
which, on failure of male issue, reverted about 1495 to
their uncle Nicholas, rector of East Bridgeford,*8
whose youngest brother Oliver thus became heir. In
the year named he married Douce daughter of Gilbert
Langton of Hindley,*9 but died in or before 1512,
leaving Gilbert his heir, born in 1496, a minor.30
Gilbert died in 1559" leaving several children by
his wife Margaret daughter of John Holcroft.3'
John, the eldest of these, married Cecily daughter
of Thomas South worth, and died in I593-33 He
adhered in heart to the ancient faith, and in 1590 was
reckoned among the ' more usual comers to church,'
though not a communicant.34 His son John suc-
ceeded him,34 and was followed by another son also
named John in 1626. The latter died in 1640, just
before the outbreak of the Civil War.36 His eldest
son, John, a ' papist delinquent,' had his estates se-
questered by the Parliamentary authorities,'7 and died
without issue in 1 647, soon after attaining his majority,
of wounds received in fighting for the king.38 His
brother Thomas,39 admitting recusancy, petitioned the
Commonwealth authorities to be allowed a third of
his estate ; he was also admitted as lessee of the se-
questered two-thirds, agreeing to pay £8 6 a year for it.*0
His two brothers became Jesuit priests.41 He married
96 John son and heir of Gilbert Cul-
cheth wai in 1462 contracted to marry
Parnell daughter of Hamlet Mascy of
Rixton, deceased, and Joan his wife ;
Gilbert was dead, his widow Agnes
being the wife of Ralph Langton ; Alice,
the widow of Thomas Culcheth, was still
living ; Culcheth D. no. 1 1 2.
John Culcheth occurs again ten years
later ; no. 1 1 3. He left two daughters,
Agnes and Isabel, living in 1500; no.
121-3.
"7 In 1483 Thurstan Anderton released
to Randle Culcheth his right in Culcheth
Carrs, inherited from his grandfather Oliver
Anderton and Ellen his wife, to whom it
had been given by Thomas Culcheth in
1448; no. 114, 1 06. Three years later
arbitrators were appointed in a dispute
between Robert Rixton and his wife Par-
nell, formerly wife of John Culcheth, and
Randle Culcheth, brother and heir of John;
no. 1 1 6.
In July 1491 Randle did homage for
Culcheth to Thomas Boteler of Warring-
ton, and paid los. lod. relief; Misc.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 13, 14.
28 Culcheth D. no. 124, dated 1502.
89 Ibid. no. 1 20. Master Nicholas made
an estate to her of lands in Hindley of the
value of 8 marks a year for her life. At
the same time he declared he had not en-
cumbered the lands of Thomas his father,
or Gilbert his brother, or of John and
Randle Culcheth his 'cousins,' except
certain lands granted for life to Agnes,
late the wife of Gilbert but then of Ralph
Langton, and to Parnell, later the wife of
John. Nicholas was living in 1499 ;
B.M. Add. Chart. 17700.
Oliver Culcheth did homage in 1503-4,
paying lot. iod. relief; Mite. (Rec. Soc.),
i, 1 6, 22. In 1 505 he made a feofFment of
his manor of Culcheth and his lands there
and in Hindley ; Culcheth D. no. 126.
80 Ibid. no. 128 ; an assignment of
dower to Douce widow of Oliver Cul-
cheth, with a proviso that when Oliver's
son Gilbert came of age it should not pre-
judice her claim to a reasonable part of
the lands in Hindley held for the use of
George Culcheth, brother of Gilbert.
In 1515 Sir Thomas Boteler sold the
wardship and marriage of Gilbert Cul-
cheth to Thomas Langley, rector of Prest-
wich, and others, for 80 marks ; ibid. no.
1 30. In the same year bond was given to
perform the covenants of marriage in an in-
denture between Gilbert Culcheth and Sir
William Leyland ; ibid. no. 131. This
marriage appears to have been with Jane,
daughter and heir of Guy Green of Na-
burn, Yorkshire, for in 1533 Gilbert was
holding her lands as tenant by courtesy ;
ibid. no. 147.
Gilbert was of full age in 1 5 1 7, when he
covenanted to pay his mother Douce, then
wife of James Strange-ways, an annuity of
£6 ioj. as her dower, in the chapel at
Lowe in Hindley ; no. 132, 133. George
Culcheth also had an annuity ; no. 141.
By 1526 he had married Margaret
daughter of John Holcroft ; and in the
following year his father's trustees released
to him the manor of Culcheth; no. 138,
140.
81 Mancb. Ct. Lett Rec. (ed. Earwaker),
i, 51.
83 A pedigree was recorded in 1567;
Vult. (Chet. Soc.), 82. It begins with
Oliver Culcheth.
88 Culcheth D. no. 160-9. By one of
these (no. 165) John Culcheth in 1566
covenanted with Sir John Southworth to
levy a fine of his lands to the use of him-
self for life, with remainders to his sons
John, Thomas, and Gilbert ; in another
deed (no. 269) his wife Cecily it named,
and his daughter Mary. Cecily was living
in 159; ; no. 182.
For his death see Mancb. Ct. Lett. Rec.
ii, 76.
84 Gibson, Lydiate Hall, quoting S.P.
Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, 4.
85 John the son was married in 1576
to Maud daughter of John Poole of
Wirral ; her portion was 500 marks ;
Culcheth D. no. 171. The marriage
licence was granted 23 Aug. ; Henry
Pennant's Acct. Bk. (Ches. Dioc. Reg.).
For fines relating to his lands in 1594 and
1597 see Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 56,
m. 78 ; 58, m. 30. In 1598 he settled
his lands and manors in Culcheth, Hind-
ley, Ince, and Manchester, with remain-
ders to his son John and the father's
brothers, Thomas and Gilbert ; Culcheth
D. no. 186. In 1601, as stated in the
text, he purchased the enfranchisement of
the manor of Culcheth; no. 190. He
was deforciant in 1603 in a fine regarding
the manors of Culcheth and Hindley, and
messuages, water-mill, windmill, dovecotes,
lands, &c., there and in Ince and Man-
chester ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 63,
no. 367.
He died 24 Sept. 1625 ; Culcheth D.
no. 211. The inquisition taken after
his death is given in Towneley MS. C. 8.
13 (Chet. Lib.), p. 267 ; the manor of
Culcheth with water-mill, houses, and
lands, was held of John Southworth (as
trustee) : the son and heir John was said
to be twenty-six years of age ; see Manch.
Ct. Leet Rec. iii, 1 22.
86 John Culcheth was baptized at New-
church 10 Dec. 1599, as appears by the
registers. Before he was five years of
age he was contracted in marriage to
Christian, daughter of John Hawarden of
Appletonin Widnes, 'if the young persons
agree when they are of age ' ; Culcheth D.
no. 193.
In the Vult. of 1613 (Chet. Soc. p. 88)
Christian is entered as 'wife of — Cul-
cheth' ; but she probably died soon after-
I58
wards, and John Culcheth married her
half-sister Jane, as appears by his will
and the Vult. of 1664 (Chet. Soc. p. 91).
He paid a fine of £15 in 1631 on
refusing knighthood ; Misc. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 212.
In 1626 he purchased the tithes of
Culcheth from Sir Edward Fitton for
j£i,ooo ; Culcheth D. no. 208-10, 213.
He died 17 July 1640. The manor of
Culcheth and the lands there were found
to be held of John Minshull of Minshull
in Cheshire, by the tenth part of a knight's
fee and a rent of 8*. iod. ; the manor of
Hindley was held of Sir Richard Fleet-
wood in socage ; a tenement in Man-
chester was held of Sir Edward Mosley
as lord of Manchester ; and the tithes in
Culcheth of the Earl of Derby, being
worth per annum clear 201. John Cul-
cheth was his son and heir, and fifteen
years of age on 8 Feb. 1 640—1 ; Jane, the
widow, was in possession ; Duchy of Lane.
Inq. p.m. xxix, no. 67 (printed in Lanes,
and Ches. Hist, and Gen. Notes, i, 307).
In his will (ibid. 374) he desired to be
buried in his ancestors' burial place in hit
chapel called the Chapel of the Blessed
Virgin Mary in Winwick Church. The
inventory showed a total of £908 zs. %d.
The premises in Manchester were called
Oldgrave Hall, or Culcheth or Langley
Hall.
8? From reports of the Committee of
Lords and Commons for Sequestrations in
1 648, preserved among the Culcheth family
papers. These recite a settlement of 1 60 1
made by John Culcheth the grandfather,
and other deeds. Jane Culcheth, the
widow, was living, and a recusant, and it
was submitted to the judgement of the
committee whether the £60 a year pay-
able to her during the minority of her
tons Charles and William should not be
paid instead to ' some well-affected Pro-
testant,' who should educate them in the
Protestant religion, the said committee to
take care that they and also the daughters
Mary and Katherine be so educated.
See also Plund. Mint. Accts. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 73.
88 So stMed in Dugdale, Visit, loc. cit. ;
and in Castlemain, Apology, quoted in
Gillow, Bill. Diet, of Engl. Cath. i, 608.
8S Baptized at Newchurch 5 May 1628,
and therefore still under age at the time
of his petition. His brother Charles was
baptized II Apr. 1631, and his sister
Mary 23 Apr. 1633 ; Lanes, and Ches
Hist, and Gen. Notes, i, 310.
40 Culcheth family papers as above.
See also Royalist Camp. Papers (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 108.
41 Foley, Rec. S.J. vii, 1 88, 1 89. Charles
Culcheth died at Ghent, 1667, in attending
the victims of the plague. William Cul-
cheth served on the mission in Durham
and Lincolnshire, and died in 1684.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WINWICK
Anne daughter of James Bradshaw of Haigh, and by
her had a numerous offspring ; 43 two of his three sons
CULCHETH Of Cul-
cheth. Urgent an eagle
sable preying on an infant
twaddled gules banded or.
TRAFFORD. Argent
a griffon segreant gules.
became Jesuits, one being a priest, and four of his six
daughters were nuns.43 The descendants of the other
daughters, Anne and Catherine, ultimately inherited
the manor. He died in i683,44 and was succeeded
by his grandson Thomas, whose father had died a
year or two previously.45
Thomas Culcheth, the last of the male line, died
childless in 1 747,46 and in accordance with his dispo-
sitions the manor passed to his cousin Thomas Stanley
of Eccleston in the Fylde, son of Richard Stanley by his
wife Anne Culcheth.47 Thomas Stanley enjoyed the
estate only two years ; 48 his son Richard was declared
a lunatic, and on the death of the daughter Meliora,
wife of William Dicconson,49 the manor went in 1794.
to John Trafford of TrafFord, grandson of John Traf-
ford of Croston, who had married Catherine Cul-
cheth.40 The new possessor died in 1815, and about
ten years later the manor
and lands were sold, Peter
Withington being the pur-
chaser ; from him the estate
has descended to his grandson,
the present owner, Mr. Tho-
mas Ellames Withington.51
II.— To Elizabeth, the se-
cond daughter of Gilbert de
Culcheth, was assigned PEAS-
FURLONG?* By her hus-
band, Adam de Peasfurlong,
she had two daughters, Mar-
gery 5I and Beatrice,54 the for-
mer of whom carried this quarter of Culcheth to her
husband, William son of Richard de Radcliffe of
RadclifFe.55 It descended regularly in this family until
RADCLIFFE of Rad-
cliffe. Argent a tend
engrailed sable.
42 In 1677 a settlement was made of
the manors and lands by Thomas Cul-
cheth and Anne his wife 5 Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 198, m. 65.
48 From a pedigree in Foley, op. cit, vi,
690, said to be taken from one com-
piled in 1692. Thomas Culcheth alias
Parker mostly resided at Liege, where he
died in 1730, aged 76; he served the
London mission for a short time. James
Culcheth died at Liege during his period
of study, in 1692, aged 27 ; ibid, vii,
ill.
44 He was buried in linen at Winwick
20 Dec. 1683.
45 John, the son of Thomas Culcheth,
was buried at Winwick, 4 Feb. 1681-2.
46 He was buried at Winwick 8 Oct.
174.7 ; his wife Anne had been buried
1 6 July previously.
Thomas Culcheth was vouchee in a
recovery of the manor in 1710 ; Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. 492, m. 4.
As a 'papist ' he in 1717 registered his
entailed estate, with remainder to sons by
Anne his wife, charged with annuities to
his mother Mary and his brother John,
who also registered their estates. It in-
cluded the capital messuage called Cul-
cheth Hall, with 170 acres of land ; the
tithes of Culcheth, out of which £10 was
payable to the rector of Winwick, &c. ;
there was a mortgage of £1,000 ; Engl.
Cath. Nonjurors, 1 1 5—1 6 ; Lanes, and
Cbes. Hist, and Gen. Notes, i, 274. In
the latter place are printed some other
deeds of the period. The brother John
is said to have been a lawyer of Gray's
Inn.
4? Ibid, i, 276. The disposition of the
estates is recited in the Cal. of the Exch.
of Pleas, C, 301 ; Culcheth Hall went in
the manner described in the text ; Hind-
ley Hall, otherwise Strangeways Hall,
with the fourth part of the manor, was
granted to John Trafford of Croston.
48 He was buried at Winwick 21 July
1749. His brother Henry, a Jesuit priest,
was buried there four years later.
49 William Dicconson and Meliora his
wife were vouchees in a recovery of the
manor in 1783 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R.
637, m. 7, 10.
50 See the accounts of Stretford and
Croston.
41 Burke, Landed Gentry.
&a The agreement for partition assigned
to Adam de Peasfurlong all the waste be-
tween the Southwood and Westwood, and
between Peasfurlong and Croft, which
could be ploughed and sown ; the remain-
der of the waste to be held in common, a
right of way being allowed to Robert and
the other brothers and their men. Adam
was also to hold all the land and wood
which he had inclosed between his house
and Southwood, with part of Halghus
carr ; and his grant to Robert son of
William de Sankey was ratified ; Dods.
MSS. cxlii, fol. 113.
From the suits already cited it appears
that Isabel or Elizabeth died between
1278 and 1284; Assize R. 1238, m.
34 d. ; 1265, m. 22.
Another family had taken a name from
the place, for John son of Thomas de
Peasfurlong in 1278 released to his lord,
Richard son of Hugh de Hindley, all the
land in Culcheth which he claimed to
hold by right of inheritance; Dods. MSS.
xxxix, fol. 1 23 A.
68 Adam de Hindley and Margery his
daughter were defendants in 1284 and
1285. In the latter year Agnes widow
of John de Haydock claimed common of
pasture in 25 acres of moor in Culcheth.
Adam replied that it was the inheritance
of Elizabeth, formerly his wife, and that
they, with Robert de Risley and Ellen his
wife and Thomas de Hindley and Joan
his wife, were chief lords of the said town ;
Assize R. 1268, m. 11.
Adam son of Hugh de Hindley was
defendant in several Culcheth cases in
1292 ; Assize R. 408, m. 32, &c.
He appears also in the Culcheth Deeds
as witness and as releasing his right in
the water of Glazebrook to Richard de
Hindley ; no. 9. In 1280 he had a grant
from his brother Richard of land at Wig-
shaw head next the land of William de
Sankey, up to an oak tree marked with a
cross ; no. 24. In this he is called Adam
de Peasfurlong, a surname he appears
to have relinquished after his wife's
death.
159
In 1 302, as Adam son of Hugh de
Hindley, he released to Gilbert son of
Richard de Culcheth all his right to mes-
suages, mill, and lands in Hindley, all
which Gilbert had by the gift of his grand-
father, Hugh de Hindley ; no. 31.
*4 Adam de Hindley had a daughter
Beatrice, identified with the Beatrice wife
of Richard de Molyneux of Crosby whose
descendants had a share of the manor of
Hindley ; see no. 31, 32. It is not clear
why she had no share of the manor of
Culcheth ; but in 1314 John de Lancas-
ter and Margery his wife, daughter of
Richard and Beatrix de Molyneux, had
the fourth part of the manor settled
upon them ; Final Cone, ii, 1 8, 19. The
Lancasters of Rainhill do not again ap-
pear in Culcheth. As Adam de Hindley
had sons, who inherited lands in Hindley
and Aspull, there must have been some
special settlement for the daughter Bea-
trice. See account of Aspull.
85 They were married in or before
1303, when they claimed certain lands in
Culcheth from Adam de Hindley ; De
Banco R. 148, m. 71. In the following
year Gilbert de Culcheth, Hugh de Hind-
ley and Beatrice his wife granted to Wil-
liam de Radcliffe and Margery hit wife a
messuage at Wigshaw in Culcheth ; Dods.
MSS. xxxix, fol. 123*. A settlement of
their part of the manor was made in
1311 ; Final Cone, ii, io. Gilbert de
Culcheth and Thomas de Holcroft and
Joan his wife put in their claim.
Thirteen years later, in 1324, William
de Radcliffe and Margery his wife and
Richard their son put in a similar claim
on a settlement by the Risley family ; '
ibid. 59. About the same time William
de Radcliffe and Margery his wife and
Robert de Risley were lords of Culcheth ;
Assize R. 426, m. 7 d. Margery was
living, a widow, in 1333 ; Harl. MS.
21 1 2, fol. 152^/1 88 A.
In 1349 Margery daughter of Gilbert
de Culcheth, a widow, released to Richard
de Radcliffe all her claim to lands which
he had by the gift of her father ; Dods.
MSS. xxxix, foL 1236. She may be the
same as the Margaret daughter of Gilbert
of 1324 ; Culcheth D. no. 44.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
the time of Henry VIII,56 when on a failure of male
issue it passed to a junior branch represented by
Robert Radcliffe, Lord FitzWalter, created Earl of
Sussex in 1 520." This and other Lancashire estates
were sold to provide his daughters' dowries. Sir
John Holcroft purchased it,68 and it descended to a
younger son Hamlet,49 whose son, John Holcroft, sold
it in 1605 to Ralph Calveley.60 It appears afterwards
to have reverted to the Holcroft family 61 and to have
descended with their principal manor, until the
division of their estates, when it was assigned to the
Standishes.
III. — HOLCROFT was the share of Joan, the
daughter of Gilbert de Culcheth who married
Thomas de Hindley." William le Boteler conceded
to them that they should in future provide puture for
one bedell instead of two, when doing the services
pertaining to the court and
fee of Warrington ; he also
acquitted them of ' bode and
witness.' 6S From Thomas the
manor descended to his son
Adam,64 after whom no satis-
factory account can be given
till the beginning of the
1 6th century,64 when Sir John
Holcroft was lord of it.66
He was elder brother of Sir
Thomas Holcroft, who shared
largely in the plunder of
HOLCROFT of Hol-
croft. Argent a cross
and a bordure both en-
grailed sable.
66 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 94 —
James de Radcliffe, 1409, with a son and
heir Richard, who died about 1441 ; ii,
121. John Radcliffe, 1485 ; ii, 148, 152.
In 1483 a dispute about lands in Culcheth
between Sir Christopher Southworth and
John son and heir of James Radcliffe was
decided in the latter's favour by John
Hawarden of Chester ; Towneley MS.
HH, no. 2139. Richard Radcliffe, who
died in 1502, held the fourth part of the
manor of Culcheth of Sir Thomas Boteler
by knight's service and a rent of 31. 6d. ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, no. 98.
His brother and heir John died about
1513, holding the same part of the manor
by a rent of 31. \d. ; ibid, ir, no. 7.
*7 In the will of John Radcliffe, recited
in the inquisition above referred to, it is
said, ' Provided always that inasmuch as
the manor of Culcheth came to my an-
cestors by marriage with a gentlewoman,
therefore according to the entail thereof
I will the said manor shall descend as it
ought to have done before the making of
this my will.' Lord FitzWalter, how-
ever, obtained the manor, and Ralph
Eccleston in 1523 was found to have
held lands in Culcheth of him ; ibid, v,
no. 46.
48 Sir John Holcroft was in possession
by 1 549 ; the rent payable to the lord of
Warrington was 3*. (id. ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 13, m. 77.
*' By a settlement in 1574 it went to
Hamlet, the brother of Sir John Holcroft
the younger, who had no sons ; the estate
included two water-mills, two dovecotes,
and a free fishery in the Glazebrook ; Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 36, m. 13. For
Hamlet Holcroft see also Ducatus (Rec.
Com.), iii, 96, 1 8 8. He and his wife
were returned as recusants in 1575.
«° Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 68,
no. 6 ; the sale (or mortgage) included
the manor of Peasfurlong and lands, &c.,
100 acres being ' covered with water,' in
all four quarters of the township ; there
•was added a clause of warranty against
Hamlet Holcroft, the father of John.
Another fine was made in 1622-3,
John Calveley being plaintiff, and John
Holcroft, junior, son and heir of John
Holcroft, deforciant, with a clause of war-
ranty against Anne mother of the younger
John ; ibid. bdle. 96, no. I.
The sale was alleged to be fraudulent ;
Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. iii, App. 57.
In 1634 Edward Calveley was in pos-
session of Great and Little Woolden in
Barton, Holcroft, Peasfurlong, and Wig-
shaw in Culcheth ; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol.
"3«
61 In Sept. 1642 the deforciants of the
manors of Holcroft and Peasfurlong were
Sampson Erdwick and Anne Erdwick,
widow ; and there was a warranty against
the heirs of Richard Erdwick, father of
the former ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 141, no. 30. Anne Erdwick seems
to have been the widow of John Holcroft
previously mentioned.
62 Their share of the inheritance was
Holcroft and Mill Houses, with the lands
which Orm and Adam his son and Wyon
had formerly held ; the woods of South-
wood, Westwood, and Ings were to be
common to all the coparceners ; Dods.
MSS. cxlii, fol. 1146.
68 Ibid. fol. 115^. An account of the
Holcroft family by Mr. J. Paul Rylands,
originally printed in the Leigh CAron.t has
been utilized ; Local Glean. Lanes, and
Ches. ii.
84 Final Cone, ii, 1 8. Adam's name
occurs in the deeds down to 1347. In
1334 he was commanded to join the king
in Scotland with horse and arms ; and
eight years later he was one of the com-
missioners for assessing the ninths ; Rot.
Scot. (Rec. Com.), i, 307 ; Inq. Non. (Rec.
Com.), 40.
In 1330 Adam de Holcroft arranged
for the succession of his part of the manor
of Culcheth, except three messuages and
certain lands. It was to descend to his
son Hugh and heirs male ; in default
successively to John, Thomas, Richard,
and Robert, his other sons. William the
son of Adam de Holcroft by his second
wife Margery put in his claim ; Final
Cone, ii, 74.
In 1331 John son of John de Woolden
agreed with Adam son of Thomas de
Holcroft concerning the latter's mill and
mill pool upon Glazebrook, the embank-
ment stretching across the stream ; Dods.
MSS. cxlii, fol. 1 1 6.
The male issue of the eldest son Hugh
appears to have failed, but he may have
had a daughter, for in 1353 William son
of Thomas de Sale alleged he was the heii
of Adam son of Thomas de Holcroft, in a
claim for lands in Bedford brought by
William de Holcroft son of Adam and
Margery ; Assize R. 435, m. 30 d.
John de Holcroft, the second son, is
probably the man of that name acquitted
of killing John son of Simon de Holland
at Culcheth in 1343 ; Assize R. 430, m.
32d. ; he was himself killed in 1352;
Assize R. 433. Possibly it was on ac-
count of his character that Adam de Hol-
croft in 1347 settled the estate upon
Thomas son of John de Holcroft ; Dods.
MSS. cxlii, fol. iif>b. The bounds are
thus recorded : Beginning in the centre of
Lynbrook where it falls into Glazebrook,
up the former brook to the boundary of
Kenyon, then by the bounds of Croft,
Woolston, and Flixton to Glazebrook, and
so back to the starting point ; i.e. all his
1 6O
lands within Culcheth, Blacklow ex-
cepted.
65 As there were two families of the same
surname in the township — of Holcroft
and of Hurst — it is difficult to trace the
descent of either, in the absence of docu-
mentary evidence. There is a pedigree
in Harl. MS. 1925, fol. 59, showing the
double line ; also in Piccope, MS. Pedi-
grees (Chet. Lib.), i, 227.
John de Holcroft occurs at various
times from 1373 onwards. He is prob-
ably the heir of Thomas son of John de
Holcroft from whose guardian (Simon son
of Henry de Byrom) Goditha widow of
William de Holcroft claimed dower in
Aug. 1355 ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 4,
m. 1 8 ; 5, m. 24 d. See Culcheth D.
no. 78, 79.
In 1382 his daughter Elizabeth was
engaged to marry Thurstan de Culcheth ;
ibid. no. 80, 81 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 2, m. 35. He was plaintiff in later
fines (from 1386 to 1394) regarding proper-
ties in Culcheth and Kenyon ; ibid, bdles.
2, m. 4, 5 ; 3, m. 19. In 1394 he was es-
cheator } Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i,
49.
Thomas de Holcroft was serving be-
yond the seas in 1417 in the retinue of
Thomas, Duke of Exeter ; Towneley MS.
CC, no. 510. He occurs as witness in
1400 and 1408; Towneley MS. GG, no.
2674, 2415 ; and John de Holcroft in
various ways about forty years later (Cul-
cheth D. no. 107, 108) as arbitrator in a
dispute between Thomas Culcheth and
Oliver Anderton in 1448 ; also no. 112.
He was ' in mercy for defaults' in 1444 ;
Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 6, m. 1 1 ; 7, m. 4.
In 1492 John Holcroft did homage and
service to the lord of Warrington and paid
i CM. lod. for relief; Misc. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 14. It was prob-
ably his son John who in 1505 did homage
and service for lands in Culcheth and
Pennington, paid relief, and three years
later did fealty in the court leet ; ibid.
1 8, 22. Margaret daughter of John Hol-
croft senior was in 1525 married to
Gilbert Culcheth ; her brother, John
Holcroft, afterwards knighted, being the
principal agent ; Culcheth D. no. 137-9.
In a plea regarding land in 1514 the
descent of John Holcroft was thus alleged :
John — s. Thomas — s. John — s. Thomas
— s. John — s. John (plaintiff) j Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. 118, m. 13.
A pedigree was recorded in 1567, giving
a few steps ; Viut. (Chet. Soc.), 117.
M In 1536 John Holcroft had fifty-three
men for service under the Earl of Derby
against the Northern Rising ; L. and P.
Hen. VIII, xi, 511. He was sheriff of
Cheshire in 1541-2 ; ibid, xvi, 644. He
was made a knight at the coronation of
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WINWICK
the religious houses,67 and Sir John himself had
a grant of Upholland Monastery and its lands.68
His son, another Sir John, succeeded him,69 and
left an only daughter Alice as heir, who married
Sir Edward Fitton of Gawsworth.70 Shortly after-
wards Holcroft came into the hands of Ralph Calveley
of Saighton, Cheshire.71 In 1642, as previously
stated, the manors of Holcroft and Peasfurlong were
in the possession of Sampson Erdwick and Anne
Erdwick,71 widow. Ten years later John Holcroft
and Margaret his wife were in possession.73 Of his
son Thomas's children two daughters became co-
heirs ; 74 Eleanor married Thomas Tyldesley of
Myerscough and Morleys, and Margaret married Sir
Richard Standish of Duxbury/J and afterwards Sir
Thomas Stanley of Bickerstaffe. The manors were
divided ; Peasfurlong went to the Standish family
and Holcroft descended with the Tyldesleys until
1761, after which there is
no trace of them in the
records.76
IV.— To Ellen, the re-
maining daughter of Gilbert
de Culcheth, and her husband
was assigned RISLETJ7 and
the family descended from
them retained possession until
the 1 8th century. Robert de
Risley and Ellen his wife TVLDESLEY. Argent
were among the defendants three mole-hills vert.
/"X
Edward VI ; Metcalfe, Book of KnigAts,
90.
From Sir Thomas Butler in 1549 he
procured the enfranchisement of his
manors of Holcroft and Peasfurlong, with
the lands there and in Pennington. The
manor of Holcroft, with messuages, lands,
and two water-mills, had been held by
homage, fealty, uncertain scutage, and a
rent of 35. 6d. with suit to the court of
the manor of Warrington ; thenceforward
it was to be held by fealty only for all
services, customs, exactions, and demands ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 1 3, m. 77. Sir
John died in 1 560 and was buried at New-
church in Culcheth ; Dods. MSS. cliii, fol.
46. His will with the inventory is printed
in Piccope, Wills (Chet. Soc.), i, 148-57.
67 Thomas Holcroft first appears in the
records as a gentleman servitor at the
coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533 ; L.
and P. Hen. VIII, vi, 246. He had a
place at court and was trusted by the king
and Cromwell with various missions, in-
cluding the visitation of the monasteries.
He procured grants of the friaries at War-
rington, Preston, and Lancaster ; a por-
tion of the Whalley lands, and Cartmel
Priory; also Vale Royal Abbey in Cheshire;
see L. and P. Hen. VIII ; also Ormerod,
Cheshire (ed. Helsby), ii, 1 5 3, 1 54. He was
knighted during the Scottish expedition
in 1 544 ; Metcalfe, Knigbtt, 74. His
family very soon died out. His son
Thomas in 1590 was 'professed in reli-
gion, but not so forward in the public
actions for religion as was meet' ; Gibson,
Lydiate Hall, 243.
68 See the account of Upholland. In
1539 he also procured a grant of the
tithes of Culcheth for ever, paying a rent
of £10 to the rector ; Lanes, and Ches.
Recs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 302 ;
Lichneld Epis. Reg.-xiii-xiv, fol. 24.
69 An agreement between John Hol-
croft and Margaret widow of Sir Richard
Bold, on the marriage of the former's son
John with Dorothy Bold, is in Dods. MSS.
xxxix, fol. 107. A fine as to the manor
of Peasfurlong was made in 1553 between
Sir John Holcroft senior and Sir John
Holcroft junior ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 14, m. 4. Sir John Holcroft was
the plaintiff in a right-of-way case in
1565, the disputed road leading from
Hollinfare through Culcheth to Leigh ;
Ducatu! Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 285.
7° In 1589 a settlement of the tithes of
Culcheth was made by Sir Edward Fitton
and Alice his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 51, m. 148. In 1590 it was re-
ported that he resided but little in Lanca-
shire ; he was 'of good conformity' to
the religion established by law, but ' not
much commended for any forwardness in
the cause ' thereof ; Lydiate Hall, 243
(quoting S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, 4). He
was returned in 1600 as a freeholder ; he
was also a justice ; Misc. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 238.
The male line of this branch of the
Fittons quickly died out, and the inheri-
tance passed to female heirs on the death
of the third Sir Edward Fitton in 1643 ;
see Ormerod, Cheshire (ed. Helsby), iii,
553-
71 Ralph Calveley died 23 Dec. 1619
holding Holcroft Hall, with its lands,
mills, free fishery in the Glazebrook, and
messuages and lands in Wigshaw, which
he had purchased of Thomas Southworth
and others, probably trustees of the Fit-
tons ; the hall was leased to Dame Alice
Fitton, who resided there ; Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 258-
61.
John Calveley, aged thirty-six, was
Ralph's son and heir. The manors of
Holcroft and Peasfurlong were claimed
by a John Calveley as late as 1661 ; Exch.
Dep. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 36.
72 See previous note. Sampson Erd-
wick (Erdeswick) was probably the grand-
son of the Staffordshire antiquary of that
name, who died in 1603 leaving a son
and heir Richard, the name of the Hol-
croft Sampson's father ; Staff. Visit. (Wm.
Salt Soc. v, 2), 1 24.
7» Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 152,
m. 77. The son, Thomas Holcroft, was
married this year.
John Holcroft was the John Holcroft
junior, grandson of Hamlet, already men-
tioned in the account of Peasfurlong. He
sided with the Parliament from the com-
mencement of the Civil War, and rose to
be lieutenant-colonel ; in 1643 ^e was 'n
command at Lancaster when Lord Derby
assaulted and took it ; Civil War Tracts
(Chet. Soc.), 30-2, 85.
John's younger son Charles succeeded
his brother Thomas (who died in 1667),
but died without issue in 1672.
7* It was probably on the death of
Charles Holcroft that the notorious
Colonel Thomas Blood endeavoured to
secure the manor of Holcroft as the right
of his wife Mary, eldest daughter of
Colonel John Holcroft. In a petition to
the king he complained that to defeat
him some of the Holcrofts had combined
with one Richard Calveley 'to promote
an old title . . . which title for this forty
years hath been overthrown at law,' and
further, ' about six years ago they hired
several obscure persons out of Wales that
went to the house of a gentleman, one
Hamlet Holcroft, . . . and with a pistol
killed him dead for not giving them pos-
session . . . ; and some weeks since the
161
said Richard Calveley being attacked by
some of the sheriff's bailiffs . . . catched
up a rapier and killed one of the said
bailiffs dead on the place '; printed by
Mr. Rylands, op. cit. 19, 20, from S.P.
Dom. Chas. II, cxlii, 19. Hamlet Hol-
croft senior was buried at Newchurch in
1 663, and another Hamlet on 2 June 1664.
7s A moiety of the manors of Holcroft
and Peasfurlong and of estates in Cul-
cheth and Woolden was settled upon
Thomas Tyldesley and Eleanor his wife
in 1680 ; the other moiety being at the
same time settled on Sir Richard Standish
and Margaret his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet
of F. bdle. 204, m. n, 35.
In August 1700 Sir Thomas Stanley,
Margaret his wife, and Sir Thomas Stan-
dish were deforciants of the manor of
Peasfurlong and land there and in Hol-
croft ; ibid. bdle. 245, m. 85. Two years
later Sir Thomas Standish was plaintiff
and Sir Thomas Stanley and his wife
deforciants of the manor of Heapey, a
moiety of the manors of Holcroft and
Peasfurlong and various lands ; ibid. bdle.
249, m. 32. In the following year Thomas
Tyldesley and Edward his son and heir
were vouchees in a recovery of the same
manors ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 478, m.
4d. In 1709 a further settlement appears
to have been made, the deforciants in the
fine being Sir Thomas Stanley and Mar-
garet his wife, Sir Thomas Standish,
Thomas Tyldesley, Edward Tyldesley,
son and heir of the late Eleanor Tyldes-
ley, wife of Thomas ; and Henry Bunbury
and Eleanor his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet
of F. bdle. 263, m. no. Then in 1761
James Tyldesley and Sarah his wife were
in possession, and sold or mortgaged it to
John Lloyd ; ibid. bdle. 366, m. 114.
A case prepared for counsel's opinion
in 1740 respecting the settlement of 1700
was printed in Preston Guardian local
notes, i Dec. 1877.
7* In 1787 Holcroft appears to have
been owned by Samuel Pool ; Land Tax
Ret.
'7 At the time of the partition of Cul-
cheth Robert de Risley was allowed to
retain all the approvements he had made,
except 12 acres in Rossale, and pasture
on the moss between Risley and Croft,
without hindrance from his brother
Adam ; 20 acres in the Rough Hurst by
Croft Wood were also allowed to him, but
his horse-mill was to be taken down,
being to the prejudice of the other par-
ceners ; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 113^, 114.
The consent of Robert son of Hugh de
Hindley and Ellen his wife has also been
preserved ; ibid. fol. 1 1 8£. Their share
lay ' in the southern part of Culcheth
called Risley,' and included Rossale in
21
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
in pleas already cited of the time of Edward I.78 The
next steps in the descent are not quite certain/9 but
in 1324 Robert de Risley and Isabel his wife made
a settlement of their fourth part of the manor of
Culcheth, three daughters only being mentioned.80
Robert was still living in 1365," and had a son
Henry,8* whose sons were William and Nicholas.
William in 1397 released to his brother and his
heirs all his right to his father's lands in Risley, Cul-
cheth, Kenyon, Croft, Lowton, Warrington, and
Penketh, except a messuage and 20 acres ; and his
daughter Katherine in 1422 gave a similar release.83
Nicholas Risley remained in possession till the year
1454 or later.84 He had a dispute with Richard de
RadclifFe concerning a certain moor and moss which
had been reclaimed and on which a dwelling-house
had been built. The evidence adduced contains one
of the rare allusions to the ' foreign death ' or plague
of I 34S.85 He was succeeded by his son Gilbert,8*
his grandson Richard,87 and his great - grandson
Henry. The last-named did homage for his lands to
the lord of Warrington in I492.88 He had a son
Robert,89 who succeeded about 1509, and died in
1516, leaving a son and heir, Richard, then eighteen
years of age.90 The guardianship was granted to Sir
John Ireland, who married the ward to his daughter
Southwood. The bounds are carefully
recited, Hollinhurst and Stockley Wood
being named. A road for Robert and his
tenants was allowed through Peasfurlong
to the common of Westwood, then fol-
lowing the Halgh Field to Holcroft ; by
the Brook House to the mills at Culcheth
and further to Fastonbrook. In com-
pensation for the ' waste and desert '
character of much of Risley, Robert and
Ellen received Gilbert de Culcheth's lands
in Lowton. This deed may be dated
about 1270.
78 From these it appears that Robert
and Ellen de Risley were living in 1292 ;
Assize R. 408, m. 44 d. Ellen in or
before 1 303 married John Gillibrand, and
was living in 1314, when she and her
husband ' put in their claim ' in a settle-
ment regarding Holcroft ; Final Cone, i,
200 ; ii, 1 8. She had a portion of Long-
ton in Leyland Hundred, which descended
to Peter and Gilbert de Risley, younger
sons •, ibid, i, 200 ; ii, 63 ; Hari. MS.
2042, fol. looi, &c.
79 Robert and Ellen appear to have had
sons, Robert and Richard ; as also the
Peter and Gilbert named in the last
note.
Robert son of Robert de Risley, and
Margery his wife, claimed various lands
in Kenyon, Lowton, Culcheth, Warring-
ton, and Pemberton, from Robert son of
William de Sankey ; Harl. MS. 2112,
fol. 151-87 (undated). Margery was the
daughter and heir of William, elder son
«f William de Sankey, and in 1295
claimed her grandfather's lands in Ken-
yon, &c. Her father had died before the
elder William, and she had been given in
ward to Robert de Risley, who had mar-
ried her to his son Robert ; Assize R.
1306, m. 15. Margery seems to have
married before 1321 William son of
the John Gillibrand named in the pre-
vious note ; Final Cone, ii, 44.
The Robert de Risley who had the
reversion would be the grandson of the
first Robert de Risley, and this settlement
may have been made on his coming of
age or marriage. 'John Gillibrand and
William his son' occur in 1299 ; Towne-
ley MS. OO, no. 1465 ; William had mar-
ried Margery by 1311 ; Harl. MS. 2112,
fol. 151-87 ; Final Cone, ii, 7. In 1347,
in a grant to the next Robert de Risley,
his mother ' Margaret ' is named as then
living ; from the deeds at Hale Hall,
near Liverpool, among which are a large
number relating to Risley.
It would thus appear that the first Robert
de Risley died before 1303, and the second
(his son) before 1311.
Adam son of Hugh de Hindley
granted lands near Westwood in Cul-
cheth, which he had acquired from John
de Haydock, to Giles de Penketh. Giles
was to render the following services to
the chief lords : To John Gillibrand and
Ellen his wife and the heirs of Ellen and
Robert de Risley, 14^ a year ; to Robert
son of Robert de Risley, homage and \d.
at Christmas ; to Gilbert son of Richard
de Culcheth, i Ib. of cummin and 8rf.
rent; Kuerden MSS. v, fol. n8£, no.
48 ; Towneley MS. GG, no. 998.
Richard de Risley, probably another
son of the elder Robert, had a confirma-
tion of his estate from Richard de Rad-
cliffe and Margery his wife ; Dods. MSS.
liii, fol. 27. In 1321 John son of
Richard de Risley released to Adam de
Holcroft all his claim to land in Wigshaw
lache, between Peasfurlong and the
boundary of Croft ; Hale D.
80 Final Cone, ii, 58; daughters Mar-
garet, Margery, and Agnes are named.
Robert must therefore have been born
about 1300. Adam de Holcroft, Joan de
Holcroft his mother, William de Rad-
clifre and Margery his wife, and William
their son, put in their claims.
81 He contributed to the subsidy in
1332; Excb. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), 4, and he attested charters
between 1341 and 1357 ; Culcheth D. no.
51, 62. Henry de Bradshagh and Joan
his wife in 1353 claimed lands in Kenyon
from Robert de Risley and Isabel his wife
and Henry son of Robert. Joan was the
widow of John, another son of Robert ;
Assize R. 435, m. 29 ; De Banco R. 418,
m. 287 d.
8a De Banco R. 419, m. 52 d. He
died in or before 1397, leaving a widow
Margaret, as appears by deeds quoted
below. A daughter Ellen married Thur-
stan de Penketh ; Hale D.
83 Hale D. William son of Henry de
Risley had released his lands to his father
by a deed of 1398-9.
84 Henry de Ditchfield in 1437-8
granted to Nicholas de Risley and Gilbert
his son the marriage of his son and heir
William to Katherine daughter of
Nicholas ; Kuerden MSS. ii, fol. 247^,
no. 43.
Nicholas was still alive in 1454, when
his son Gilbert contracted with John
Byrom for the marriage of his son Richard
with John's daughter Alice ; Gilbert, it
appears, married Elizabeth daughter of
Richard Bold ; Hale D. ; Towneley MS.
GG, no. 1037.
85 Trans. Hist. Soc. iii, 1 06, 107.
Richard Wilkinson the Wright said he
was forty (? fourteen) years old at the
foreign death, and was present when
Richard de Radcliffe and Robert de Risley
(grandfather of Nicholas) made an agree-
ment as to the disputed land, one end
lying to the Readyshaw. Atkin Jackson
was sixteen years old at the foreign death,
and was present when Margery, mother
of Richard de Radcliffe, seized certain
tenant* of Southworth upon the 'mean
l62
moss* in dispute, and sent him to Robert
de Risley ' to bid him come and help to
punish for pasturing on their mean moss ;
and he said there was moor and moss
enough for her and all her kine and him
and all his kine for evermore, and he
would punish no poor folk therefor.'
Adam of Longshaw was four years old at
the foreign death, and soon afterwards
became servant to the wife of Robert de
Risley. This evidence appears to have
been taken early in 1411.
Seven years later an award was made
between Nicholas de Risley and Richard
son of James de Radcliffe, touching
Readyshaw Moss ; ibid. 107. The dis-
putes continued till the end of the cen-
tury.
In 1431 Richard Stanley, Archdeacon
of Chester and rector of Winwick, de-
cided a case of trespass between Nicholas
de Risley and Dykone his son and others:
there had been faults on both sides, but
Nicholas was the more aggrieved and for
compensation was awarded ' a hogshead
of wine at Warrington, as good as the
said Nicholas will choose, of red or white,"
or two marks instead ; ibid. 105.
86 The descent is thus given in 1494-5 :
Nicholas — s. Gilbert — s. Richard — s.
Henry ; Pal. of Lane. Misc. 1-9, m. 14,
1 6 ; but in 1539 the descent was stated
thus : Henry — s. Nicholas — s. Gilbert
— s. Nicholas — s. Henry — s. Robert
— sons, Richard, Henry, and John (plain-
tiff) ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 169, m. 14 d.
The second Nicholas is an error for Richard
( Nic. for Ric.) ; Pal. of Lane. Sess. Papers,
bdle. 5 Hen. VIII.
Gilbert de Risley made feoffments of
his estates in 1457 and 1463 ; Hale D.
He granted to his son John a messuage in
Culcheth with remainder to another son,
Thomas j Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 46,
m. 4_d.
87 Richard's son and heir apparent,
Henry Risley, was in 1463 married to
Margery daughter of Hamlet Mascy of
Rixton ; Hale D.
88 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 14. He is also named in Culcheth D.
no. 126, 260, from which it appears that
he was living in 1505.
89 In 1494 a marriage was agreed upon
between Robert son of Henry Risley, and
Elizabeth daughter of Richard Holland
of Denton ; Henry's mother was then
Alice Southworth ; Hale D.
90 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, no 85.
Besides Risley Hall he held twenty mes-
suages, two burgages, a windmill, land,
meadow, &c. in Culcheth, Warrington,
Penketh, Lowton, Kenyon, and Croft.
The premises in Culcheth and Warrington
were held of Sir Thomas Boteler by the
tenth part of a knight's fee, the yearly
rent of zs. 7^., and suit at the court of
Warrington every three weeks. A dis-
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WINWICK
Alice. The union was not permanent, for in 1536
Alice sought a divorce on the ground that her pre-
vious husband, Thomas Stanley, was still living, and
her plea being successful, her son Thomas Risley was
declared illegitimate, and the manor of Risley and
other estates were in 1543
adjudged to be the right of
John, the younger brother of
Richard."
John Risley and his de-
scendants held the manor from
this time.98 His son John93
had * conformed ' to the estab-
lished religion before 1590,
and was then reported to be
'soundly affected' in the mat-
ter.91 The family do not
appear to have taken any
prominent part in public af-
fairs,95 and Captain John Risley, who died in 1 702,
without issue,96 was succeeded by his uncle Thomas,
and he by his sister Elizabeth, wife of Hamlet
Woods of Risley. She died in 1736 ; the manor
was acquired by the Blackburnes and descended with
Orford and Hale until about 1850, when it was
sold to Richard Watson Marshall Dewhurst, at whose
death it was sold to — Ainscough.
RISLEY of Risley. Ar-
gent three antique drink-
ing-horns "with legs assure.
An agreement for inclosing and dividing the com-
mons and waste grounds in Culcheth was made in
1749 and confirmed next year by a private Act
of Parliament.97 The lords of the manors were
Richard Stanley of Culcheth, Sir Thomas Standish of
Peasfurlong, John Blackburne of Risley, and James
Tyldesley of Holcroft.98
The estate of HURST, sometimes called a manor,
was for a long period held by a branch of the Hol-
croft family.99 Geoffrey Holcroft in 1577 made a
settlement of his * manor ' called Hurst and lands in
Culcheth.100 He died in or before 1591, holding
Hurst and other lands of John Culcheth by a rent of
2f. His son and heir was Geoffrey.101 A settlement
of the ' manor ' was made by Geoffrey Holcroft in
i6i3.10> Thomas Holcroft son of Geoffrey died
31 March 1637, holding the Hurst, a water-mill, and
lands in Culcheth of John Culcheth ; also lands in
Bedford, Pennington, and Kenyon ; Geoffrey his son
and heir was twenty-three years of age.IOS
K1NGN4LL or Kinknall was another quasi-mano-
rial estate, which in the i6th and 1 7th centuries was
the. seat of an Urmston family. William Urmston
died in 1600, holding the capital messuage and lands
of John Culcheth by the hundredth part of a knight's
fee. Richard his son and heir was ten years old.104
Some minor families occur in early times, deriving
pute between him and John Ashton as to
the lands in Penketh had been settled in
1513 by an agreement to pay the free
rent of i ^d., all arrears being released ;
Hale D.
81 Hale D.; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.),
ii, 67. The dispossessed Thomas may be
the Thomas Risley who in 1566 claimed
lands in Culcheth by grant of Richard
Risley ; Ducatvi (Rec. Com.), ii, 331.
w He made a feoffment of his estates
in 1556, expressing a wish that his son
and heir John should marry Magdalen
daughter of John Grimsditch ; Hale D.
93 John, the son and heir of John
Risley, was in possession of the manor in
1567, when he had a dispute with
Richard Byrom and Margaret his wife,
widow of John Risley ; Ducatus (Rec.
Com.), ii, 351; iii, 47. In 1588 he
charged John Culcheth and Gilbert
Unsworth with encroachments on the
waste grounds called Southwood, West-
wood, Twiss Green, Shaw Moss, Riggs
and Fowley ; ibid, iii, 513.
He died 24 April 1616, his son and
heir Richard being then forty years of
age. Besides Risley Hall he had lands
and burgages in Culcheth, Warrington,
Penketh, Lowton, Kenyon, and Croft ;
also an acre in the Twiss or Lockers
meadow in Bruch. In 1593 he had
settled hit lands with remainders to his
eldest son Richard and heirs by Anne his
wife, and to his younger sons Henry and
George, and then to his brother Richard.
From the Inq. p.m. among the Hale D.
94 Lydiate Hall, 245 ; quoting S.P.Dom.
Eliz. ccxxxv, 4.
95 A pedigree was recorded in 1665 at
Dugdale's Visitation (Chet. Soc. p. 246).
There is a full one by Mr. J. P. Rylands,
in Misc. Gen. and Herald, (new sen), ii,
273-
Richard Risley in 1631 paid £10 on
refusing knighthood ; Mite. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 213.
98 His monument (a brass) was formerly
in Winwick Church, and being found
among the Risley deeds wa* restored to
the church by the late Colonel Ireland
Blackburne about 1880 ; see Beamont,
Winivick, 123. The funeral sermon by
Zachary Taylor is extant ; Local Glean.
Lanes, and Ches. i, 130. He was educated
at Christ's College, Cambridge. By his
will he left £200 to build almshouses for
the poor of Risley.
*7 23 Geo. II, cap. 32. Wigshaw was
owned, like Risley, by John Blackburne
of Orford.
The commons were Fowley and Twiss
Green (otherwise Higher and Lower
Twist). Power was reserved to the
owner of Culcheth Hall to turn the
brook on Twiss Green to the moat of the
hall at his pleasure, as had been the
custom.
98 Richard Stanley had been adjudged a
lunatic ; his sister and heir apparent,
Meliora, wife of William Dicconson, had
charge of his estate, and John Chadwick
of his person.
99 For a full account of the family see
Mr. Rylands' work already cited.
John de Holcroft attested a Culcheth
deed in 1355 ; no. 58.
[Catherine widow of John de Holcroft
in 1401 claimed dower in the manor of
Hurst against Ralph de Holcroft ; Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. i, m. z6b.
Ralph de Holcroft occurs in 1443 and
later ; ibid. R. 5, m. zb.
In a plea roll of the time of Edw. IV,
Bartholomew son of Ralph Holcroft, and
John his brother, were charged with hav-
ing damaged the corn of John Sweetlove;
ibid. R. 21, m. 24.
In 1498 Henry Holcroft claimed from
Bartholomew Holcroft a fourth part of
the manor of Culcheth, except three mes-
suages, &c., by inheritance, alleging the
following pedigree : Adam de Holcroft -s.
Hugh -s. Ralph -s. John -s. Henry (plain-
tiff). The defendant called to warrant
him George son and heir of John Ather-
ton, a minor; ibid. R. 85, m. id. If
this descent be correct the Adam de Hol-
croft named cannot be the common
ancestor of the Holcrofts.
163
Bartholomew Holcroft in 1506 ac-
knowledged that he held his lands of the
lord of Warrington by knight's service
and did homage and fealty at Bewsey ;
Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 18.
In 1 509 he paid 1 31. 4^. as relief ; ibid.
22. Ralph Holcroft his son and heir
paid the same relief in 1513 on succeed-
ing ; but, dying before he did homage,
was followed by his brother Richard, who
in Dec. 1514 paid 135. $d. as relief, and
did homage soon afterwards ; ibid. 28, 30.
100 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 39,
m. 10.
101 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xv, no. 1 8.
With this Geoffrey begins the pedigree
recorded in 1664; Dugdale, Visitation
(Chet. Soc.), 145.
1M Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 83,
m. 27.
los Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxix, no.
4 ; the accounts of his executors are
printed in Lanes, and Cbes. Antiq. Notes,
ii, 87.
In 1654-5 Geoffrey Holcroft and
Elizabeth his wife made a settlement of
the manor of Hurst and their other lands;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 155, m.
137. This Elizabeth was daughter of
William Spakeman or Speakman, whose
family held lands in Culcheth and neigh-
bouring townships ; see Lanes, and Ches.
Hist, and Gen. Notes, ii, 33, where two
inquisitions are printed.
Geoffrey Holcroft was succeeded by a
son and grandson, both named Thomas.
Hurst seems afterwards to have become
the property of the Crooks of Abram,
for in 1760 it was the subject of a settle-
ment between the heirs of that family ;
Sir Samuel Duckinfield was plaintiff in
the fine, and Isaac Worthington and Eliza-
beth his wife, James Andrews and Susan
his wife, James Darbishire and Anne his
wife, were deforciants ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 364, m. 130.
104 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xviii, no.
1 8. John Urmston of Kinknall is men-
tioned in 1624 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 433.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
their surnames from the Twiss,105 the Hurst,106 the
Shaw,107 and Kinknall.108
In 1600 the freeholders not already named were
William Lewis and Thomas
Richardson.109 Those who paid
to the subsidy in 1628 were
John Calveley, John Culcheth,
Geoffrey Holcroft, Richard
Risley, Richard Thomasson,
and Richard Urmston ; of these
the last, as a convicted recu-
sant, paid double.'10 Besides
Thomas Culcheth, Robert
Guest of Culcheth in 1653
petitioned to compound for
two-thirds of his estate, se-
questered for recusancy.111 In
addition to the Culcheths, a considerable number
of persons, as 'papists,' registered estates in ijij.ia
A number of extracts from the Culcheth town
books of the I7th and i8th centuries have been
printed.118
The land tax returns of 1787 show the principal
proprietors at that date to have been John Black-
burne, Sir Frank Standish, John Trafford, and Samuel
URMSTON. Sable a
che-veron between three
spear-headi argent.
Pool, these contributing about two-thirds of the total
sum levied.114
Before the Reformation there was at
CHURCH Culcheth a chapel of ease known as
Trinity Church.115 It was perhaps not
then very old, and the name NEWCHURCH has re-
mained attached to it till the present time. After the
changes of the reigns of Edward VI and Mary, the
building probably ceased to be used for a time at
Culcheth on Elizabeth's revival of the Edwardine
services.116 Sir John Holcroft by his will of 1559
left his chain of gold or £10 towards the payment of
a priest and clerk if the other inhabitants of the
township could be induced to subscribe.117 The ser-
vice was probably read occasionally, but in 1592 there
was neither surplice nor 'table cloth.'118 In 1612
this chapel had ' seldom a curate,' 119 but ten years
later there was one who contributed £i to the
subsidy.1110
The Commonwealth Surveyors in 1650 recom-
mended that Newchurch should be made into a
parish ; the endowment was less than £4. a year, but
£10 was added by the rector of Winwick, and £40
out of the sequestered property of Royalists.121 After
the Restoration, with some exceptions, there was no
105 Roger del Twiss complained of
trespasses on his lands at Culcheth by
Hugh de Hindley and others in 1258 ;
Cur. Reg. R. 160, m. 6. Richard and
Roger del Twiss have been mentioned
already as concerned in the suits of
1277-8 ; the former held his land under
Richard de Culcheth; Assize R. 1238,
m. 34 d.
Hugh del Twiss in 1314 secured three
messuages and land from Thomas de Hol-
croft and Joan his wife ; Final Cone, ii,
19.
Gilbert de Culcheth in 1339 leased to
Richard del Twiss and his daughters
Margery and Godith a plat of land near
the boundary of Kenyon ; Harl. MS.
21 12, fol. 1 5 8/1/194 A. Alan son of
Richard del Twiss in 1338 released all
his lands in Tumours carr to Gilbert de
Culcheth the elder ; Culcheth D. no. 49.
These deeds contain many other references
to the family. Matthew son of Gilbert
del Twiss in 1361 claimed certain lands
which had been taken into the Duke of
Lancaster's hands because his father's
widow, Godith, had granted them to
Adam de Tyldesley, who had been out-
lawed for fe'ony ; Gilbert was son of Alan
son of Richard del Twiss, who had
formerly held the lands ; Dtp. Keeper's
Rep. xxxii, App. 347.
John Culcheth, who died in 1640,
bought the Twiss from Thomas Holcroft
of Hurst ; Lanes, and Cbes. Hist, and
Gen. Notes, i, 374.
The Paris family also occurs in the
Culcheth Deeds, no. 15, 16 ; Robert de
Paris and Henry his eldest son. Thomas
son of Robert de Paris was a plaintiff in
1294; Assize R. 1299, m. 16; also R.
408, m. n, which shows that Robert was
still living m 1292.
106 In 1275 Roger son of Richard del
Hurst granted to Robert de Hindley a
rent of 2*. formerly paid by Norman son
of Robert de North Meols ; and at the
same time Gilbert the Tailor, son of
Thurstan del Hurst, granted to Robert
de Hindley the rent of ^d., which Richard
son of Richard de Martinscroft formerly
paid for land of Norman ton of Robert
de North Meols, in the Hurst ; Hale D.
The rent of 2*. named seems to be that
still paid for Hurst in 1591.
Mabel widow of Adam son of Simon del
Hurst sought dower in 1292 ; Assize R.
408, m. 27. Richard son of Norman del
Hurst had a grant of lands in 1310;
Culcheth D. no. 36. Adam son of
Richard del Hurst complained that
Thomas de Holcroft and others had dis-
seised him of his tenement in 1313-14 ;
Assize R. 424, m. 4.
107 Hugh son of John de Haydock
granted land in the Shaw to Robert de
Risley and Ellen his wife ; Hale D. In
1310 John del Shaw released certain rights
to Gilbert de Culcheth ; and in 1326 he
surrendered all his title in the Shaw to
Margaret daughter of Gilbert ; Culcheth
D. no. 35, 44.
Adam son of Hugh del Shaw in 1360
granted lands by Westwood to Thomas
son of Hugh del Hurst ; this was next
year resold to Robert de Southworth ;
Kuerden fol. MS. 387, S ; Towneley MS.
HH, no. 1980; GG, no. 1031, 1049;
also Dods. MSS. liii, fol. iSb.
Giles de Penketh granted to John son
of Robert de Allerton of Selby all his
land in Culcheth, with remainder to
John's sister Alice; Kuerden • fol. MS.
314, no. 351. Agnes widow of Giles de
Penketh released to Robert de Allerton
all her right to dower in the Shaw in
Culcheth in 1335 ; Dods. MSS. liii, fol.
24^. In 1451-2 Gilbert Allerton sold
his landt and rents in Culcheth to Henry
Southworth of Middleton in Winwick ;
Kuerden fol. MS. 37, no. 104 ; 39, no.
701.
108 Robert de Kinknall granted land in
Kinknall to William de Sankey ; Hale D.
In 1311 and 1314 Adam de Kinknall
obtained lands in Culcheth from William
de Radcliffe and Thomas de Holcroft ;
Final Cone, ii, 12, 21.
In 1347 Thomas son of Adam de
Kinknall had a grant from Adam de
Kenyon; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. I54*/
In 1399 John de Kinknall released to
his brother Peter all his right to lands in
164
Culcheth, and next year Emma widow of
Adam de Kinknall gave to a trustee land
called Hannecroft ; Towneley MS. GG,
no. 2674, 2225, &c.
1(» Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i> 238-43.
«° Norris D. (B.M.).
111 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, iv,
3176. The Guest family were of long con-
tinuance in the township ; possibly they
were connected with the Guest House
and mill leased by John Culcheth in
1 60 1 ; Culcheth D. no. 191. About
the same time Thomas Holcroft claimed
Guests House or Farm from Gregory
Holcroft and others ; Ducatus (Rec. Com.),
iii, 440, 482. John Guest of Abram
built the schoolhouse on Twiss Green,
Culcheth.
112 They were Thomas Guest, senr.,
John Guest, senr. and junr. ; Mary Bur-
chall, Jane Gregory, Thomas Hey, Eliza-
beth Litherland, Roger Richardson, Ralph
Sanderson, John Speakman, and Sarah
Yeates ; Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath.
Nonjurors, 1 1 6, 117.
113 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Notes, i, 10,
&c. ; ii, 20, 161. Lists of constables,
churchwardens, &c., are given.
114 Returns at Preston.
115 Three sets of vestments belonged
to it in 1552 and several bells, but
nothing is said of plate ; Ch. Gds. (Chet.
Soc.), 63, with the accompanying note ;
Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 368.
116 See the account of Winwick Church.
"7 Piccope, Wills (Chet. Soc.), i, 153.
He wished the tenants of Culcheth to buy
lands of the annual value of £6 135. ^.d.
for the wages of priest and clerk, the latter
to have £1.
118 Trans. Hist. Soc, (new ser.), x, 190.
There was ' no preacher ' in 1 5 90 ;
Lydiate Hall, 248.
119 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv,
13-
120 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 55. At this time the chapel was in
bad condition ; Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.),
xxii, 1 8 8.
121 Commonwealth Ch. Surv. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 50.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WINWICK
curate 1M specially appointed to Newchurch until
1 749, when a grant was about to be made from
Queen Anne's Bounty. The church was rebuilt in
1743, a plain brick structure. This was burnt down
in April 1903, and has been rebuilt in the Norman
style. A communion cup is believed to be an old
chalice altered.123 The registers 1599-1812 have
been printed by the Lancashire Parish Register
Society, 1905.
In 1 845, under the Winwick Rectory Act, a separate
parish was created for Culcheth and Kenyon, the
incumbent being styled rector of Newchurch and
receiving the tithes.134 The Earl of Derby is patron.
The following is a list of the curates in charge — the
most noteworthy being Thomas Wilson, afterwards
Bishop of Sodor and Man — and the rectors : — u*
oc. 1563 Henry Abram
oc. 1599 William Pennington "*
oc. 1 6 1 1 Richard Mallory
oc. 1617 James Whitworth
oc. 1622 — Hopwood
oc. 1627 John Burtonwood lfr
oc. 1630 H. Atherton
oc. 1635 Thomas Hall, 'incumbent*
oc. 1636 Richard Wilson, 'curate of New-
church '
oc. 1639-40 Robert Gee128
oc. 1645-54 William Leigh1"
oc. 1654 John Bird
Jan. 1657-8 Thomas Potter130
Feb. 1686-7 Thomas Wilson, B.A. (T.C.D.)131
PERPETUAL CURATES
Jan. 1748-9 John Hilton, B.A. (Brasenose Col-
lege, Oxford) 1M
Aug. 1772 Hugh Grimshaw
Apr. 1783 Robert Barker
Feb. 1785 Thomas Heyes, M.A. (Oxford) m
Aug. 1 8 1 6 Joseph Jones, M.A.
June 1841 John Healy
Apr. 1842 Joseph Wilding Twist,
(Queen's College, Oxford)
B.A.
RECTORS
Feb. 1 845 Frederick Augustus BartlettlsSa
Sept. 1855 Wm. Henry Strong, B.A. (T.C.D.)
June 1862 Robert William Burton, M.A.
Mar. 1 864 Wm. Faussett Black, D.D. (T.C.D.)
May 1 897 Eugene Walter Whittenbury Kaye
The church of All Saints, Glazebury, was erected
in 185 I, and had a district assigned to it in 1878. 134
The Earl of Derby is the patron.
There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist
chapels at Glazebury, and an Independent Methodist
one at Twiss Green.
After 1662 those who were attached to the Pres-
byterian worship135 were ministered to by one Thomas
Risley, of the local family. He was fellow of Pem-
broke College, Oxford, and though he was, on the
Restoration, ordained according to the Anglican rite,
he refused to conform further, and was ejected in
1662. A chapel was built by him at Risley in
1 7O7,136 and has continued in use to the present time.
As in most other cases, Unitarian tenets prevailed in
the latter part of the 1 8th century; but in 1836, after
appeal to the Court of Chancery, the Unitarian minis-
ter and congregation were ejected, building a new
chapel for themselves at Croft, and Risley was given to
the Scottish Presbyterians, who still use it.137
After the Elizabethan settlement of religion a large
number of the people remained steadfast to the ancient
faith,138 and with the connivance and assistance of the
Culcheths and Urmstons it is probable that the mis-
sionary priests were able to minister here from time
to time, but no records exist until 1670, when Fr.
John Penketh, S.J., was resident.139 The succession
122 Bishop Gastrell about 1720 found
that nothing belonged to the church but
the interest of £50, given by some one
unknown ; ,£50 a year was allowed by
the rector ; Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), ii,
269.
128 Lana. and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xxi, 172
(with plate).
124 Notitia Cestr. ii, 270 n.
las This list, compiled from the parish
registers and documents at Chester, is
mainly due to Mr. J. Paul Rylands. See
also Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. i, 1 80,
and introduction to printed Registers.
126 Raines MSS. xxii, 64.
127 Previously at St. Helens.
128 For the Gee family see Local Glean.
ii, 301.
129 i A very godly minister, of good life
and conversation,' though he had not ob-
served the day of humiliation appointed by
Parliament in June 1650 ; Common-wealth
Cb. Surv. loc. cit. He seems to have
been in charge in 1645 5 Plund. Mini.
Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 6
('Mr. Lee ') ; and in 1648 he signed the
'Harmonious Consent.' He was trans-
ferred to Gorton in 1657 ; ibid, ii, 183.
180 Ibid, ii, 214. He had been minister
at Ashton. He continued as curate of
Winwick after the Restoration, and was
buried there 12 Nov. 1671.
181 Bishop Stratford's Visitation List,
1691. He was 'conformable' in 1689;
Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 229.
182 He was the first of the perpetual
curates of Newchurch ; but had been
licensed to the curacy of Winwick in
1742. The church papers at Chester
Dioc. Reg. begin at this point ; among
them the following is preserved : (13 Jan.
1748—9) — 'Whereas the curacy of New-
church in the parish of Winwick is shortly
intended to be augmented by the Gover-
nors of the Bounty of Queen Anne, I do
hereby nominate John Hilton, clerk (the
person employed by me in serving the said
cure), to be curate of the said chapel of
Newchurch, and do allow him £50 per
annum. — Thos. Stanley.'
138 In 1 804 he gave the following ac-
count of Newchurch : ' 340 houses, with-
out any village or hamlet or any family
of distinction. About 15$ Papists of the
lower class with a public place of worship
and a resident priest at Culcheth Hall of
the name of Barry. About 70 Presby-
terians of the lower rank of people, having
a licensed meeting-house and a teacher of
the name of Aspinal qualified according to
law, without any school for religious in-
struction, and whose number I believe to
be upon the decline." Heyes was curate of
Westhoughton also, and resided there,
Newchurch having no parsonage house.
There was a resident curate, with service
twice every Sunday and two sermons ;
'sacrament every first Sunday in the
month, communicants about 40.' la
1814 a house was built by subscription,
for the minister's residence. These de-
tails are from the Bishop's Registry at
Chester.
isaa Afterwards of St, Olave's, York.
184 Land. Gaz. 29 Nov. 1878.
185 In 1634 Robert Downing of Risley
had been presented ' for receiving the cup
standing, and refusing the bread unless
out of another man's hands and not the
minister's ' ; Beamont, fFinioick, 42.
William Leigh, the minister under the
Commonwealth, was chosen by the Puritan
rector and the people of Culcheth ; Com-
monwealth Cb. Surv. loc. cit.
186 An account of him is in Local
Glean, Lanes, and Ches. i, 122.
187 Ibid, and Nightingale, Lanes. Non~
conformity, iv, 252-61. The succession
of ministers is given.
188 See the recusant roll in Trans. Hist.
Soe. (new sen), xiv, 245.
189 Foley, Record SJ. v, 346. The
Jesuits were usually in charge. Edward
Scarisbrick was at Culcheth in 1701 with
a stipend of £9; — Smith in 1721, Thomas
Maire about 1750, Thomas Walmesley in
1784, in which year thirty-five were con-
firmed ; and — Carter in 1793 ; ibid, v,
321-5-
In 1767 it was reported to the Bishop
of Chester that two priests were living at
Culcheth — (Roger) Leigh, S.J., and Wil-
liam Dicconson; Trans. Hist. Soc. (new
ser.), xviii, 215 ; Foley, op. cit. vii,
449-
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
can be traced for over a century, when, owing prob-
ably to the failure of the Culcheth line, the hall
ceased to have a chapel, Rixton and Croft sufficing.
A schoolhouse on the common was built before
1720."°
The Salford Guardians' Cottage Homes for children
are built in Culcheth.
HOUGHTON, MTDDLETON, AND
ARBURY
Hoghton, 1420; Houghton, 1608. Midelton,
1212. Herbury, 1242 ; Erthbury, 1246; Erbury,
1420 ; Arbury, xvi cent.
This township has resulted from the combination
of Middleton and Houghton, originally united, with
Arbury. This last is a narrow strip of land along
the eastern boundary of Winwick ; the rest of the
area is divided unequally between Middleton on the
north, and Houghton on the south, there being no
defined boundary between them. The total area
is 853^ acres, made up thus : Houghton, 336 ;
Middleton 244^ ; Arbury, 2J&.1 It is situated on
gently sloping ground, rising from south to north to
about I oo ft. above sea level. The country is open,
portioned out into fields of light sandy loam, with
clay in places, producing good potatoes, wheat, oats,
clover, and turnips. The land is divided by low
hawthorn hedges, and contains a little timber, seldom
extending beyond small clumps. The geological
formation consists of the Bunter series of the New
Red Sandstone, the Pebble Beds in the northern part,
the Upper Mottled Sandstone in the southern. Some
of the roads are little better than cart-tracks, and
badly metalled. Houghton Green is the only vil-
lage ; Middleton has a hall of that name, and Arbury
is only a farm-house. In 1901 the population was
414.
A road from Winwick Church leads through Arbury
to Croft and Culcheth ; it is joined by another from
the south, coming from Warrington and Fearnhead
through Houghton and Middleton.
In the north of Middleton there is a tumulus, near
the Arbury boundary.2 A spa well is also used.
Blackbrook divides Houghton from Fearnhead.
In 1852 a number of Civil War notices were
found concealed in a cavity in an old farm-house at
Houghton Green.3
The manor of MIDDLETON, from
MANORS which HOUGHTON became separate in
later times, was included in the fee of
Makerfield.4 It was assessed as a plough-land and a
half, and in 1212 was held in thegnage by a total rent
of 2Oj. in four equal shares, each of which appears to
have been responsible in turn for providing a judge at
the court of Newton.5 The manor, thus early divided,
was further partitioned later, and as the shares are not
usually recorded in the deeds, nor the services due to
the chief lord, it is impossible to trace the separate
parts.6 The greater part was early acquired by the
140 Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 270.
1 The census report of 1901 gives 855.
8 This appears to be the Highfield
tumulus described by Dr. Robson in
Trans. Hist. Soc. xii, 189.
8 Trans. Hist. Soc. iv, 18. The occu-
pier of the house about 1640 was Thomas
Serjeant, then constable of the township.
4 V.C.H. Lanes, i, 366 n. The manors of
Middleton and Houghton, held in socage,
and Arbury, held by knight's service, con-
tinued to be recognized as parts of New-
ton fee ; see Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Cliet. Soc.),
ii, 99.
0 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 77. The four tenants
were Robert de Middleton, Henry son of
Siward, William de Middleton (who is
not stated to be responsible for a judge),
and Richard son of Henry. Under the
first of these John de Middleton held one
oxgang and discharged the service due to
that quarter, i.e. a rent of 5*. and the
fourth part of a judge. There were thus
already five tenants.
6 In a suit of 1334 John son of Geof-
frey Henne, John son of John son of
Robert de Middleton, Gilbert de South-
worth, and Quenilda and Agnes daughters
of Thomas Wrych, were stated to be lords
of the vill ; Coram Rege R. 297, m. 20.
This throws some light on the following
charters : —
Elias son of Robert de Ainsworth
granted to Gilbert de Southworth and his
heirs his lordship of a whole fourth part
of the vill of Middleton, in return for a
mark of silver ; Towneley MS. HH, no.
1713. It is curious that Ainsworth is a
hamlet of Middleton, near Manchester }
Robert de Ainsworth may have been the
Robert de Middleton of 1212.
Adam son of Richard de Middleton
granted to Adam son of Richard son
of Quenilda de Middleton land in
Houghtongreves, being his part of two
and a half oxgangs, lying between the land
of Andrew son of Richard and that of
Robert son of John ; Rodley Carr is
named among the bounds ; the rent was
a pair of gloves ; ibid. no. 1829. Hugh
de Haydock and William his son were
among the witnesses.
Robert son of Molle or Maud de Mid-
dleton gave to Gilbert de Southworth an
oxgang of land in the vill of Middleton and
Houghton, previously let to Benet de
Hulme and Henry le Waleys, the oxgang
being the twelfth part of the vill. Rents
of a barbed arrow to the grantor and 2O</.
— the due proportion — to the lord of
Makerfield were payable ; ibid. no. 1822.
The same Robert granted to Peter de
Middleton, chaplain, land in the Stall of
Houghton; ibid.no. 1817. This place-
name occurs long afterwards in 1436,
when John Houghton granted to Simon
Pierpomt the Stall in Houghton ad-
joining the Peel; ibid.no. 1801. John
the son of Robert son of Molle granted
land in Blackwell Shaw to Gilbert de
Southworth ; one of the boundaries was
Egatishurst Brook; ibid. no.iSiS. Black-
well Hey is named in a grant by William
son of Richard de Middleton in 1296 to
his chief lord, Gilbert de Southworth ;
no. 1816.
In 1292 William Post of Houghton
complained that he had been disseised of
an acre from the waste assigned to him
as belonging to an oxgang in Middleton
and Houghton ; the defendants, who lost
the case, included Andrew de Middleton
and Ralph the Serjeant of Newton ;
Assize R. 408, m. 5. William Post,
described as son of William de Fairdale,
afterwards granted his landa in the vill to
Gilbert de Southworth ; Towneley MS.
HH, no. 1941. William son of William
Post in 1310 released to Gilbert son of
166
Gilbert de Southworth his claim on land
approved by the latter in Cumberhale
Carr ; ibid. no. 1928. Richard son of
William Post granted land in Houghton
to his brother Robert in 134.5 ; ibid. no.
1630. Emmota daughter of William
Post in 1370 granted to Gilbert son of
John de Houghton lands which descended
to her on the death of Gilbert son of
Richard Post ; ibid. no. 1585.
John son of John de Bultham granted
to John son of William de Middleton, his
uncle and chief lord, half an oxgang in
Middleton, which William son of Richard
de Middleton granted to Alice his daugh-
ter; ibid.no. 1828. The witnesses include
John son of Richard de Middleton, William
son of Richard de Middleton, Andrew de
Middleton, and Peter, vicar of Budworth.
Richard son of Henry de Middleton
granted to Richard son of Austin de Mid-
dleton half an oxgang in the vill which his
mother Margery had held in dower, to be
held as the twenty-fourth part of Middle-
ton, by the service of a pair of gloves or
\d. ; ibid. no. 1841. He reserved two
messuages and the croft in Houghton.
In 1307 William Gillibrand and Mar-
gery his wife recovered against Gilbert de
Southworth 12 acres of land and \ an
acre of meadow; and as this was owing to
th« default of Andrew de Middleton,
when called to warrant, Roger the son of
Andrew granted to Gilbert de Southworth
half an oxgang in Middleton and Hough-
ton as compensation ; Hultley Hurst in
Middleton is named in the charter ; ibid,
no. 1819.
Roger de Ashton and Alice his wife in
1318 claimed an eighth part of the manor
of Middleton, less an oxgang, from Andrew
de Middleton, who granted it to them,
receiving 20 marks ; Final Cone. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 31.
In the same year Thomas ion of
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
WINWICK
Southworth family,7 and their lordship is the only one
appearing in the later records, apart from that of the
barons of Makerfield.
Two junior branches of the dominant family were
seated at Middleton and at HOUGHTON PEEL.
They seem to have descended from Matthew de
Southworth,8 a brother of Gilbert de Southworth,
living in the early part of the reign of Edward III.
Their possessions were ac-
quired by the Southworths
of Samlesbury in the i6th
century.9 Middleton appears
to have been retained with
Southworth, and to have de-
scended like it to the present
time. Houghton 10 was sold
Richard son of Hulcock (or Hugh) de
Houghton leased to Gilbert de South-
worth half an oxgang in the vill of Mid-
dleton and Houghton, together with six
butts of land between Leveng Bridge and
Houghton Riddings ; Towneley MS. HH,
no. 1933, 1788. Six years later he sold it
outright ; ibid. no. 1790.
A suit of July 1354 shows the sub-
divisions. It concerned the partition of 4^
acres approved ; John son of William de
Middleton had received i acre ; John son
of John de Middleton, i acre ; William
son of John de Middleton, ij acres ;
Richard son of John de Middleton, £ acre;
and Richard Post of Middleton, £ acre.
Richard de Fearnhead complained that he
had been deprived of his common of pas-
ture ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 3, m.
4 d. William son of Robert Ormsson
was one of the defendants. An Orm de
Middleton occurs in the izth century;
Inq. and Extents, i, 73. The name seems
to have continued, as Robert son of Orm
made a grant of land in Houghton in
1309, attested by Simon son of Orm;
Towneley MS. HH,no. 1798.
7 Some of the grants have been recited
in the previous note. William de Win-
wick, son of Robert formerly rector of
Winwick, granted to Gilbert de South-
worth, his chief lord, all his land in Mid-
dleton and Houghton; ibid. no. 1699.
Geoffrey son of Adam Henne of Hough-
ton granted to Gilbert de Southworth
Henne Croft in Middleton in 1316 ; ibid,
no. 1796.
8 Robert the Tailor of Winwick and
John his son acquired lands in Middleton
and Houghton in 1315 and 1322; ibid.no.
1783,1794. In August 1329 John son of
Robert granted to Matthew de Southworth
his capital messuage and other houses
and lands, in all a twenty-fourth part of
the vills of Middleton and Houghton,
with remainders, in default of heirs, to a
number of Matthew's children, apparently
illegitimate; ibid. no. 1701, 1709; see
also no. 1659, 1686. Practically the same
remainders are recorded in 1346 ; Final
Cone, ii, 122. In this the estate is called
an oxgang of land, &c.
By an inquiry made in 1330 it was
found that the hamlet of Houghton was
held by Gilbert de Southworth, Matthew
de Southworth, and other co-parceners ;
Towneley MS. HH, no. 1814. In 1332
Matthew was described as ' senior ' in a
grant of lands in Middleton, Houghton,
and Arbury to Robert de Hornby, his
trustee ; no. 1658.
A Matthew de Southworth was in 1343
regarded as 'a common maintainer and
receiver of evil doers' ; .he acquired a
commission in the name of certain good
men of Warrington, by virtue of which he
caused 10 marks to be levied, which he
kept for his own use. He pleaded guilty
and was punished ; Assize R. 430, m. 22.
Robert son of Matthew de Southworth
appears to have succeeded to his father's
estate in Middleton ; he is named last
of his brothers in the fine of 1346.
In 1369 he acquired from Richard son of
John de Middleton land in Middleton
called Impland ; Towneley MS. HH, no.
1842 ; and at the same time made an
exchange with Gilbert del Moss ; no.
1952. !549-
Matthew son of Robert de Southworth
and Matthew son of Gilbert de South-
worth are named in remainders in a deed
of 1392 ; ibid. no. 1548. Three years later
a Matthew de Southworth had a grant of
Crossends in Middleton from Richard son
of John de Soudall senior; no. 1626.
Matthew de Southworth, aged 30, gave
evidence in the Scrope-Grosvenor trial;
Roll, 292.
In 1430 settlements were made by
John de Southworth and Ellen his wife ;
he held the manor of Houghton Peel for
life, the remainders being to Thomas
Southworth his brother, to William son
of Gilbert de Southworth the younger,
Richard, Nicholas, Humphrey, Cecily, and
Joan, brothers and sisters of William ; to
Henry son of Robert de Southworth, to
John de Clegge, son of Gilbert son of
Godith daughter of Matthew de South-
worth, and to Henry and Elizabeth de
Clegge, other children of Gilbert ; and
then to the right heirs of Matthew de
Southworth ; Towneley MS. HH, no. 1687,
1683. ' Peel Croft ' is named in a 13th-
century grant by William son of Robert
de Winwick to Gilbert son of Gilbert de
Southworth; no. 1653. ^n H37 Ellen
widow of John de Southworth leased the
manor of Peel to James de Langton,
rector of Wigan, at a rent of 5 marks ;
in addition zs. 6d. was to be paid to the
chief lord, so that this estate was an eighth
part of the whole vill ; no. 1714.
In 1449 Richard Southworth, lord of
Southworth, was in possession, but
William Southworth, probably the William
named already in the remainders, made
some claim to it, and had goods therein ;
the dispute was referred to Sir Thomas
Stanley, who decided in favour of Richard,
he having a lease for the above-named
Ellen's life ; after her death William was to
have peaceable possession ; ibid. no. 1715.
The dispute came to blows ; within a
year Sir Thomas Stanley was called upon
to award the damages due to Ellen widow
of William Southworth for the death of
her husband, and he ordered Richard
Southworth to pay her £20, she agreeing
not to prosecute ; Dods. MSS. liii, fol. 24,
no. 17.
9 About 1520 Peel was sold to Thomas
Southworth of Southworth by Margaret
widow of James Carr and Thomas her
son ; Towneley MS. HH, no. 1591, 201 1,
2021. Disputes as to the title to Hough-
ton Peel occurred in 1534 between Sir
Thomas Southworth and the daughters
of James Carr son of Margaret Carr ;
Ducat us Lane, ii, 59.
Lynnall in Middleton was in 1428-9
regranted by the feoffee to Henry de South-
worth and his wife Elizabeth daughter of
John de Worsley senior ; HH, no. 1702.
In 1452 Henry de Southworth of Middle-
ton acquired lands in Culcheth ; no. 1640.
Thomas son of Henry Southworth of
Middleton SOUTHWORTH. Argent
occurs in a che-veron between three
1460; no. crosslets sable.
1984. Hum-
phrey son
and heir of Thomas Southworth in
1491 received from the feoffees cer-
tain lands in Warrington and Winwick,
the remainder being to Nicholas son
of Ralph Langton ; no. 1984 (2). The
remainder came into operation, for in
1515 Humphrey son and heir of Nicholas
Langton sold lands in Middleton, &c., to
Sir John Southworth ; no. 1578. In May
1521 Thomas Southworth son and heir of
Sir John Southworth, deceased, granted to
feoffees his capital messuage called Mid-
dleton Hall, with the Ryecroft, Lynnall,
Cumbrall, Branderth, &c., lately of Henry
Southworth, deceased ; no. 1515.
Robert Southworth of Middleton was
witness to a deed of 1488 ; ibid. no. 2037.
He made his will in August 1500, desiring
to be buried in Winwick ; Henry South-
worth his son and Isabel his daughter are
named ; Dods. MSS. liii, fol. 19, no. 35.
In 1502 a free rent of 31. zd. was payable
to the lord of Newton by Robert South-
worth ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii,
no. 10 1. The feoffees of Henry South-
worth the son in 1518 sold his lands to
Thomas son and heir of Sir John South-
worth ; Towneley MS. HH, no. 1539;
see also no. 1682, 1922, 1946. Richard
Southworth son and heir of Henry, de-
scribed as ' late of the parish of Shen-
stone in Staffordshire,' seems to have
concurred in the sale ; Dods. MSS. liii,
fol. 1 8, no. 1 6.
10 This place gave a surname to one or
more families dwelling there.
About the middle of the 1 3th century
Adam son of Richard de Houghton — pos-
sibly the Richard son of Henry of 1212 —
granted to Gilbert de Southworth a mes-
suage in Middleton, with land in the
Peasecroft, acquittance of pannage in the
woods of Middleton and Houghton, and
all his rights within these bounds : Be-
ginning at the head towards the south of
the Causey of Houghton Lache, following
Fulshaw between hard and soft to Hough-
ton Brook, along this brook to Egedes-
hurst Brook, up this brook to the bounds
of Southworth, along them westward to
Arbury Mere, and along this mere south
to the starting point. This description
shows that Middleton and Houghton were
one whole, but that Arbury had clearly de-
fined limits; Towneley MS. HH, no. 1 779.
The bounds of Houghton are similarly
given in another grant : Houghton Lache,
and by the boundaries of Croft, Woolston,
Warrington, and Arbury to the start ; no.
1824. Woolston must then have included
Fearnhead. The boundary between Middle-
ton (not Houghton) and Warrington is
named.
Geoffrey son of Adam de Houghton,
living in 1324, made a grant to Hugh son
of Giles de Penketh ; ibid. no. 1786,
1797. John son of Geoffrey de Houghton
was in 1341 refeoffed of his capital mes-
suage, &c. in Middleton and Houghton,
167
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
in 1605 to James Bankes of Winstanley,11 and de-
scended like Winstanley till the end of the i8th
century, when it was sold ; " Maire, Claughton,
Greenall,13 and Comber being successively owners.14
Henry Brookfield of Longbarrow in Knowsley had
some land here in 1530 and I547-15
The manor of ARBURY was hdd in 1212 by the
lord of Lowton by knight's service, its rating being
half a plough-land. It had been granted by Adam de
Lawton to Geoffrey Gernet, who in turn had enfeoffed
Thurstan Banastre.16 Half of it was given by Thurstan
to Cockersand Abbey in alms.17 Afterwards the manor
came into the possession of the Southworths,18 and has
descended exactly like Southworth, to the Brooks
family. There is practically nothing on record con-
cerning it. John Corless of Arbury as a ' papist '
registered his house in 1 7 1 7."
SOUTHWORTH WITH CROFT
Suthewrthe, 1212; Sotheworth, 1293; Suth-
worth, 1306. Croft, 1212.
Croft, the eastern portion of the township, has the
larger area, 1,3 64 acres, and was frequently placed first;
but the only hall was in Southworth, which contains
519^ acres. There is now no defined boundary be-
tween the two. A brook on the east and south of Croft
affords a natural boundary, except that a portion to
the south of the brook, reclaimed from the moss, has
been added to Croft. The total area is 1,883 J1 acres.
The country is mostly flat, with slight irregularities
of surface in places, traversed by fairly good roads and
covered with open fields, under mixed cultivation,
alternating with pastures. The crops principally grown
are potatoes, oats, and wheat, in a loamy soil. The
Pebble Beds of the Bunter Series of the New Red
Sandstone are everywhere in evidence.
The population in 1901 was 970. There are
many small freeholders.
The principal road is that leading eastward from
Winwick to Culcheth.
There is a tumulus in the north-west corner of
Southworth.
In the Winwick registers 3 February, 1683-4, is a
certificate signed by Dr. Sherlock, rector, for Henry
son of Ralph Bate of Croft, ' who had the evil and
was touched by his majesty.'
There is a parish council.
A school board was formed in 1875.'
The somewhat scattered village of Croft is a favourite
resort of picnic parties.
Of the two manors, SOUTHWORTH
MANORS and CROFT, held by different tenures of
the lords of Makerfield,3 the latter appears
to have been the more important, as it gave its name
to the lord, who in 1212 was Gilbert de Croft. He
held it by the service of falconer, and it was held of
him in unequal portions by Hugh de Croft and the
heir of Randle, the latter of them discharging the ser-
vice.4 Gilbert de Croft also held Southworth by a
rent of 20^., but in 1212 it was, for some reason un-
known, in the king's hands.5
Very soon afterwards, before 1219, Gilbert de
Croft, who also held the manor of Dalton in Kendal,6
granted Southworth to Gilbert son of Hugh de Croft,
who was probably a near kinsman, and this Gilbert,
taking the local surname, was the founder of the
Southworth family, which held the manors of South-
with remainders to his ion Richard and
Alice his wife ; no. 21 56^. This Richard
was living in 1386 ; no. 1804, 1708. The
next to occur are Roger ' Jackson ' de
Houghton in 1382 and 1392 (no. 1506,
1809, 1548) ; and his son John in 1428 ;
no. 1911. In 1432 Richard Johnson de
Houghton granted lands in Houghton and
Middleton to his son John, with remain-
ders to other children — Robert, Margaret,
and Joan ; no. 1505, 1808. A settlement
of lands in Middleton and Houghton was
in 1488 made by John Houghton 'of
Middleton,' the remainder being to his
son and heir Robert ; no. 1810, 2037.
Seth Houghton died 10 March 1621
holding lands in Middleton, Southworth,
and Arbury, his son and heir Henry being
thirty years of age ; Towneley MS. C. 8,
13 (Chet. Lib.), 507. A later Seth
Houghton died in September 1635, leav-
ing a son Richard, aged three years ; ibid.
502.
11 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 67, m.
33 ; Thomas Southworth, Rosamund his.
wife, and John his son and heir apparent
joined in the sale. After the death of
James Bankes in 1617 it was found that
the manor of Houghton and the lands in
Houghton, Arbury, Middleton, and Croft
were held of Richard Fleetwood, lord of
Newton, in socage by 51. rent, i.e. the old
service for a fourth part of the manor of
Middleton ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 99.
12 The manor of Houghton was the
subject of a settlement in 1657 by
William Bankes, Sarah his wife, and
William his son; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 1 60, m. 143. It is named in re-
coveries, Sec., of the Bankes of Winstan-
ley manors down to 1778 ; Pal. of Lane.
Plea R. 628, m. 7.
18 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 630.
14 Ibid. (ed. Croston), iv, 368 ; this
may refer not to the manor, but only
to Peel.
15 Towneley MS. HH, no. 2144,
1582; his daughter Elizabeth married
Richard son and heir of Henry Bellerby of
Prescot.
16 Land. Inq. and Extents, i, 73 ; it is
mentioned again in 1242 as part of the
Lowton fee ; ibid. 148.
V Cockersand Chart. (Chet. Soc.), ii,
674 ; one of these oxgangs Thurstan had
in hand, the other was held by William
the Carpenter.
In 1 246 the abbot of Cockersand granted
his land in Arbury to John de Haydock
and Agnes his wife, in exchange for land in
Hutton ; Final Cone, i, 105.
18 The Southworth deeds do not explain
how the family acquired it. In spite of the
difference of tenure it seems to have be-
come merged in Middleton and Houghton.
By a deed of the first half of the I3th
century, William de Rependun granted to
Robert rector of Winwick one oxgang in
Arbury (held by Henry Lawrence) for
1 2J. given by Robert de Winwick ; a rent
of a pair of white gloves or ^d. was payable;
Towneley MS. GG, no. 1167.
Gilbert de Southworth in 1341 granted
to his brother Thomas all the portion
which had fallen to him by reason of his
coparcenary in Arbury ; Dods. MSS. liii,
fol. 1 8, no. 13. In 1362 it was found
that Robert de Langton had died seised of
the vill of Arbury, held of him by Thomas
168
Southworth by knight's service ; Inq. p.m.
36 Edw. Ill, pt. i, no. 116.
Thomas Southworth of Middleton and
Margery Watson his mother in 1460 granted
to John Serjeant of Newton land in Arbury
belonging to Margery and Joan Doykles ;
Towneley MS. HH, no. 1984. Four
years afterwards Magota Abram, widow of
John Abram of Woolston, and co-heir of
Katherine wife of William Watson, her
mother, granted her part of an oxgang in
Arbury to John Serjeant; Add. MS. 32109,
fol. 87. Magota Abram is clearly the
same as Margery Watson.
In 1509 Sir John Southworth made a
grant of lands in Arbury, &c., to Henry
Southworth of Middleton, for life ; Towne-
ley MS. HH, no. 1527. Thomas South-
worth made a similar grant in 1518; Dods.
MSS. liii, fol. 1 8.
Stockley in Arbury was in the South-
worths' lands.
19 Engl. Catb. Nonjurors, 123.
1 1,887, including an acre of inland
water, according to the census of 1901.
3 Land. Gaz. 28 Sept. 1875.
8 See V.C.H. Lanes, i, 366n. for the
Makerfield lordship ; also Lanes. Inq, p.m.
(Chet. Soc.), i, 138 ; ibid. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 105.
4 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 77. From a subse-
quent note it will be found that the fal-
coner's service due from the heir of Randle
— apparently a daughter — was commuted
into a rent of 15^.
Ulf de Southworth was fined J mark in
1184-5 5 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 55.
6 Inq. and Extents, i, 78.
6 Ibid. 90.
WEST DERBY HUNDRED
worth and Croft until the beginning of the I yth cen-
tury. The service to be rendered was a pound of
pepper annually.7 Thurstan Banastre, lord of Maker-
field, confirmed this charter, and reduced the annual
rent payable to him to 1 p. \d? The remaining part
of Croft was later acquired by the Southworth family ;
I oxgang of land therein was granted to Gilbert
de Southworth by Agnes daughter of Randle de Croft,9
and 2 oxgangs to Gilbert son of Gilbert.10 From this
time Southworth and Croft have descended together.
By the marriage of Gilbert son of Gilbert de South-
worth and Alice daughter of Nicholas de Ewyas in
13253 moiety of the manor of Samlesbury came to
the family,11 which was thenceforward known as South-
worth of Samlesbury, continuing till the latter part of
the ijth century. In addition the manors of Middle-
ton, Houghton, and Arbury, adjoining Southworth,
WINWICK
were acquired, and some junior branches of the family
settled in them.12
As to Southworth itself but little record remains.13
In 1287 and 1292 there was a settlement of the
boundary between Croft and Kenyon by the lords of
the manors.14 An inquisition made in 1325 respect-
ing ' half the manor of Southworth ' shows that Sir
Robert de Holland had obtained a grant of it.1*
There are a few later charters.16
The steadfast adherence of Sir John Southworth to
the ancient faith in the time of Elizabeth, with the
consequent fines and imprisonments, must have made
a serious inroad upon the family resources ; the
manors and lands in the Southworth district were
mortgaged and sold early in the 1 7th century.17
Sir Thomas Ireland of Bewsey purchased South-
worth and Croft in 162 1.18 A century later the
"' Dods. MSS. liii, fol. 23, no. 4 ; in a
collection of Southworth charters. About
five hundred of these deeds are contained
in the Towneley MS. HH ; and a num-
ber of abstracts are in Kuerden's folio
volume (Chet. Lib.).
Gilbert de Croft's charter was made
'with the leave of his heir.' The wit-
nesses included Thurstan Banastre (who
died in 1219) and Robert his brother ;
also Henry and Roger de Croft. The
pound of pepper does not seem to have
been demanded, and Southworth was later
described as held directly of the lords of
Makerfield.
For Gilbert de Croft see Lanes. Pipe R.
77, 152, &c.
8 Dods. MSS. loc. cit. ; Gilbert de Croft
is called son of Roger. It is possible that
in the charter the ' manor ' was South-
worth and the ' land ' Croft.
Later Robert Banastre released to Gil-
bert de Southworth his claim on the land
outside his park of Lee by the boundary of
Southworth, together with all his land out-
side the park at Edricshill on the east ;
Towneley MS. HH, no. 2086.
9 Agnes released to Gilbert all her share
in Aspshaw appertaining to her 3 oxgangs ;
the bounds included Aspshaw Brook as far
RS ' the oak marked with a cross ' ; Kuer-
den fol. MS. 75, no. 313. The name Asp-
shaw occurs also in Newton.
When a widow she granted i oxgang in
the vill of Croft, with two messuages for-
merly held of her by Hugh son of Wion
and William son of Henry ; rents of id.
and <;</. were payable to her and the chief
lord respectively ; ibid. 74, no. 119.
10 Robert ' Sceryswerz ' (? de Erbery or
Deresbery) was the grantor ; he had prob-
ably acquired them from Agnes daughter
of Randle ; Dods. MSS. liii, fol. ijb. The
date of this charter is about 1250 ; 'N.'
rector of Winwick, otherwise unknown,
was a witness.
Robert son of Robert Banastre released
to Gilbert de Southworth all his right in
land called Richard's Croft ; ibid. fol. 21,
no. 49.
11 Towneley MS. HH, no. 1729;
Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
ii, 62.
12 See the account of the township.
13 All the lords of the manor from
1220 to 1380 seem to have been named
Gilbert, so that it is difficult to determine
the succession. In the above-cited grant
of two oxgangs, Gilbert son of Gilbert was
the recipient. Emma wife of Gilbert de
Southworth is mentioned in 1290; Assize
R. 1288, m. n d. Gilbert son of Gilbert
made a grant in 1294 ; Dods. MSS. liii,
fol. 1 9, no. 34 ; and the marriage of
another Gilbert son of Gilbert was agreed
upon, as stated, in 1325.
14 The land in dispute in 1287 had the
following boundaries : Beginning at Strid
Lache, where it fell into Kenylaw Lache,
up Strid Lache to a ditch in the east, along
this southward to Quitslade Lache head,
thence to Kenylaw Lache and the starting
point. The decision was a compromise,
the land to be common to Croft and
Kenyon ; Towneley MS. HH, no. 1650.
In 1292 the dispute was concerning
land between Kenylaw ends and South-
worth Chapel and between Edricshull syke
and Kenylaw Lache ; a division of the
land was made, a ditch 4ft. wide being
ordered to mark the boundary ; ibid. no.
1697.
15 The jury decided that it would not
be to the king's injury to allow Gilbert de
Southworth to enfeoff John de Middleton
of the moiety of the manor of South-
worth, which he held of the king in chief,
in order that the said John might grant it
to Gilbert, with remainder to Gilbert his
son and Alice his wife and their heirs.
The moiety was held in socage of the
king (by the forfeiture of Robert de
Holland) by fealty and the service of
i$d. yearly at Christmas, and was worth
431. 4</. No other lands remained to
Gilbert in the county ; Inq. a.q.d. 19
Edw. II, no. 35 ; see also Final Cone, ii,
62. The service of i$d. indicates that
this 'moiety' of Southworth was the
three oxgangs in Croft held in 1212 by
the heirs of Randle, for $d. to the chief
lord was due from one of the oxgangs.
In 1334 it was declared that South-
worth was not a vill, but a hamlet of the
vill of Croft ; Coram Rege R. 297, m. 3 d.
16 Gilbert de Southworth in 1331 granted
to Gilbert de Rixton and Denise his wife
for life, and their children Richard and
Emmota, lands in Croft ; Towneley MS.
HH, no. 1534.
Thomas son of Gilbert de Southworth
was a plaintiff in 1353 ; Assize R. 435,
m. 4. He is probably the Thomas de
Southworth of later settlements. In the
previous year a feoffee had delivered cer-
tain lands, &c., in Arbury, Middleton,
Houghton, and Woolston to Geoffrey son
of Thomas de Southworth, with remainders
to William and other children of Thomas ;
Dods. MSS. liii, fol. 276. William de
Southworth and Maud his wife appear to
have been in possession in 1404 ; ibid.
Southworth is named among the family
manors in inquisitions and settlements ;
e.g. of Sir John Southworth, who died at
Harfleur in 1416 ; Lanes. Inj. p.m. (Chet.
169
Soc.), i, 117; Thomas, the son of Sir
John, and Joan his wife, in 1428 ; Towne-
ley MS. HH, no. 1975, 1602, 1706.
This Thomas died in 1432 holding lands
in Southworth, Croft, Middleton, Hough-
ton, and Arbury of the lord of Makerfield
in socage by a service of 241. a year ; Lanes.
Inq. ii, 45. The service, if correctly
stated, must have been made up of the
131. \d. due from Southworth, with per-
haps is. 3</. from part of Croft and the
remainder from the parts of Middletoa
which had by that time been acquired.
In a record of previous inquisitions
made in 1511 the service due from the
Southworth group is stated as unknown ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, no. 18 ; see
no. 41, 100, 103, 104. In later ones —
e.g. Sir John Southworth' s in 1597 — the
service is given as 331. nJ., probably
made up chiefly of 131. 4^. for South-
worth (and Croft) and 20*. for Middleton ;
ibid, xvii, no. 3.
V A settlement was made in 1605,
Thomas Southworth and John his son
and heir being deforciants in a fine ; Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 68, m. 5. A
year later John Harrington appears to
have been mortgagee, John Southworth
being in possession ; ibid. bdle. 70, no.
80. In 1612 Thomas Ireland was one
of the plaintiffs ; ibid. bdle. 82, no. 60.
Ten years later the transfer was com-
plete ; ibid. bdle. 100, no. 20.
18 By an inquiry made in 1648 on the
petition of Anne Mort, widow of Thomas
Southworth, who sought dower, it was
found that in Sept. 1621 Sir Thomas
Ireland of Bewsey had acquired from
Thomas Southworth of Samlesbury the
latter's manors, messuages, lands, tene-
ments, rents, and services in Southworth,
Croft, Middleton, Arbury, Houghton, Win-
wick, Hulme, Orford, Warrington, Fearn-
head, Poulton, and Woolston, except a
few parcels already sold to James Bankes
and Thomas Goulden, in accordance with
agreements formerly made by Thomas
and John Southworth, the grandfather and
father of the vendor. The price paid was
£500, Sir Thomas also undertaking to
pay William Southworth his annuity of
£13 6s. %d. ; Ct. of Wards and Liveries,
2IA, no. I, 2.
There was a dispute between Sir Thomas
Ireland and the lord of Newton concern-
ing a warren, and the inclosing of lands in
the manors of Southworth and Middle-
ton ; Lanes, and Cbes. Recs. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 241, 292.
Sir Thomas Ireland died in 1625 hold-
ing these and other manors, and was
succeeded by his son and heir Thomas ;
22
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
manor was held by the Gerards of Ince, and be-
queathed in 1743 by Richard Gerard to his brother
Thomas, a Jesuit priest.19 This was no doubt a gift
to the society to enable it to maintain the local
missions, and thus Southworth came into the posses-
sion of Stonyhurst College. It was sold about 1820
to Thomas Claughton of Haydock ; he failed in 1 823,*°
and it was sold to Edward Greenall of Warrington,*1
whose granddaughter Elizabeth, Lady Shiffher, sold
it to Samuel Brooks, the banker, after whose death
it passed to a younger son Thomas. The latter's
sons, Mr. Joseph Raynor Brooks and Mr. Edward
Brooks, are the present owners.** No manor courts
are held, nor are any manorial rights claimed.
Aspshaw anciently gave a surname to the family
settled there.23
A branch of the Southworths was established in
Croft." About 1556 the heirs of Henry Southworth
and James Hey contributed to the subsidy as land-
owners.25 No freeholders appear in the list of 1 600,
but in 1628 John Hay contributed to the subsidy.*6
James Bankes of Winstanley held some land in Croft
in i6i8.27 Christopher Bate, a recusant, petitioned
in 1654 for leave to contract for the sequestrated
two-thirds of his estate in Croft.*8 In 1717 Eliza-
beth Kay, widow, as a ' papist,' registered a house
and 8 acres in the same place.89
The ' chapel of Southworth ' is mentioned in
I292,30 but nothing further is known of it ; perhaps
it was a domestic chapel.
During the last century several places of worship
have been erected. For the Established religion
Christ Church was built in 1832. The benefice
became a rectory by the Winwick Church Act of
1841 ; the patron is the Earl of Derby.11
An Independent Methodist chapel was built at
Croft in i8iy,3Z but has disappeared.
When the Unitarians were ejected from the old
Risley Chapel in Culcheth they built for themselves a
small chapel in Croft, opened in iS^f).33
After the suppression of the ancient worship by
Elizabeth nothing is known until 1701 of any sur-
vival or continuance ; but Gervase Hamerton, a
Jesuit, was in that year in charge of the mission of
Southworth.34 The private chapel in the hall con-
tinued to be used even after the sale ; but in 1827
the present church of St. Lewis was opened.84 The
mission is now served by the secular clergy.36
Lanes. Funeral Certs. (Chet. Soc.), 49-5 1 ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvi, no. 58.
George Ireland succeeded him in the
Southworth manors and in Pennington ;
there is some uncertainty as to his birth,
so that he was probably illegitimate. In
1626 he received the manors from his
brother Thomas ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 110, no. 3 ; and died 6 May, 1632,
being buried at Winwick the following
day. He left by his wife Helen a daughter
and heir Margaret, nearly six years of
age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxviii,
no. 30. He had settled the manors on
his heirs male, with reversion to the heirs
male of Thomas Ireland of Bewsey and
his brothers ; but, as male issue was
lacking, Margaret his daughter succeeded.
She married in or before 1648 Peni-
•tone Whalley, son of Thomas Whalley
of Kirton, Notts., and by him had a
daughter Elizabeth ; Visit. «f Notts. (Harl.
Soc.), 1 1 8. She was the widow of Cuth-
bert Clifton of Clifton, but had no issue
by him ; Dugdale, Visit. (Chet Soc.), 87.
See Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 144,
m. 17 ; 148, m. 67 (1650) ; in this
Alexander Breres and Anne his wife are
joined with Penistone Whalley and Mar-
garet his wife as deforciants ; also bdle.
156, m. 146 (1654).
19 Piccope, MS. Pedigrees (Chet. Lib.),
i, 119, quoting Roman Catholic deeds in
the Preston House of Correction ; Thomas
Gerard was to divide the profits equally
with his brother Caryll (also a priest),
and his sisters Anne, Mary, Bridget, and
Clare.
There was a recovery of the manor in
1761, Thomas and Caryll Gerard being
vouchees ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 593,
m. 4.
20 See the note on the Winwick chari-
ties. He married in 1806 Maria sister
of Thomas Legh of Lyme, the Eastern
trayeller ; Earwaker, East. Cbes. i, 306.
He sat for the borough of Newton from
1818 till his resignation in 1825 ; Pink
and Beaven, ParL Repre. of Lanes. 293.
He wai the father of Dr. Thomas Legh
Claughton, Bishop of Rochester, 1866-77,
and of St. Albans, 1877-90 ; and of Dr.
Piers Calveley Claughton, Bishop of St.
Helena, 1859-62, and of Colombo,
1862-71.
21 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 631.
Edward Greenall died in 1836 ; his third
son John, who died in 1850, appears to
have received Southworth.
33 Ibid. (ed. Croston), iv, 369 ; and
information of Mr. T. Algernon Earle.
Elizabeth Lady Shiffher was the daughter
and heir of John Greenall of Middleton
in Winwick.
38 In the time of Edward I are grants
from and to Gilbert son of Gilbert de
Southworth his chief lord, to and by
William son of John de Aspshaw ; the
land was in Croft. In one of the charters
Emma widow of Gilbert is mentioned ;
Towneley MS. HH, no. 1985, 1983 ;
Kuerden fol. MS. 37, no. 272.
John son of Richard de Aspshaw was
in 1359 a claimant against John de Asp-
shaw ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 7, m. 6.
In 1411 the feoffees released lands to
Joan widow of Hugh Tailor and daughter
of Richard de Aspshaw ; Towneley MS.
HH, no. 2030.
34 In 1480 there was an arbitration
between Robert Southworth of Croft and
William his son on one side, and James
(son of William) Hay and John his son
on the other, respecting a boundary ;
Kuerden fol. MS. 3888. In 1517 Richard
Southworth of Shenston, son and heir of
Henry Southworth, released his lands in
Croft to Sir Thomas Southworth at a
yearly rent; Dods. MSS. liii, fol. 18,
no. 16 ; Kuerden, loc. cit.
Gilbert Southworth of Croft by will in
1504 bequeathed money for an obit by
the Austin friars of Warrington, with a
gift of 31. to the poor ; Raines, Lanes.
Chant. (Chet. Soc.), i, 65.
25 Mascy of Rixton Deeds.
86 Norris D. (B.M.).
91 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Chcs.), ii, 98.
Among minor inquisitions preserved by
Towneley are those of Henry Birch, who
died in 1635, holding lands in Croft and
Southworth of Sir Richard Fleetwood ;
Henry, aged twenty, being son and heir ;
MS. C 8. 13 (Chet. Lib.), 60 ; of Thomas
Ellam, son and heir of George, 401 ;
and of Thomas Goulden, who died in
1639 leaving a son and heir Thomas,
aged four years ; 459. The Gouldens
are noticed also under Winwick and
Windle.
28 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, v, 3 1 85.
The inquisition after the death of Ralph
Bate is in Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
xxix, no. 75 ; his lands were held of
Sir Richard Fleetwood, and he left a son
and heir Thomas.
In 1727 disputes arose concerning the
estate of Ralph Bate (will made 1705)
and Ralph Bate his son (will made 1727),
in Croft and Fearnhead ; Cal. Exch. of
Pleas B. 68, 66, C. 284.
39 Engl. Catholic Nonjurorst 117. Kays
appear in the recusant roll of 1641 ;
Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xiv, 245.
80 Deed above quoted.
81 Raines in Gastrell, Notitia Cestr. ii,
262 ; the Act is 4 Viet. cap. 9. See also
Lond. Gax, 3 Dec. 1844.
82 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 631.
88 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconformity, iv,
255-65.
84 Foley, Rec. S.J. v, 321 ; his salary
from various sources was ,£18. In 1750
the mission seems to have been confused
or combined with Culcheth, Henry Stanley
being in charge ; 322. In 1767 the Bishop
of Chester recorded the fact that Mr.
Royle and Mr. Home, priests, were at
Croft and Southworth ; Trans. Hist. Soc.
(new sen), xviii, 216. In 1784 thirty-
four persons were confirmed, and there
were seventy communicants at Easter j
Foley, op. cit. v, 364.
85 The priest in charge was a French
refugee, Louis Richebeque, which accounts
for the dedication. For tome interesting
particulars see Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 210,
211.
86 Liverpool Catb. Annual, 1901.
170
THE HUNDRED OF SALFORD
MANCHESTER RADCLIFFE ROCHDALE (PART)
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE PRESTWICH BOLTON
ECCLES BURY (PART) AND THE
DEANE MIDDLETON TOWNSHIP OF ASPULL IN WIGAN
FLIXTON
In 1066 King Edward held Salford, with its 3 hides and 12 plough-
lands, its forest 3 leagues square with many heys and a hawks' eyry, and
a hide in Radcliffe, where a second hide was held as a royal manor. The
churches of the manor of Manchester had a plough-land in Manchester.
The rest of the ' manor or hundred,' including Rochdale, was divided into
twenty-one berewicks, held by as many thegns, assessed as n£ hides and
io£ plough-lands, with extensive woodlands. The whole manor rendered
£37 4-r. for farm of the plough-lands. In 1086 the demesne was worth
looj. ; there were two ploughs and serfs and villeins with one plough; and
by the grant of Roger of Poitou five knights held 3 hides and 7 plough-
lands, in which were thegns, villeins, and others, including a priest, having
thirty-two ploughs ; and the whole was worth £j.1 The area was probably
much the same as that of the existing hundred.2
The lordship of the hundred followed the same descent as the district
anciently known as £ Between Ribble and Mersey,' 8 and with the honour
and Duchy of Lancaster is now vested in the Crown. Nearly a third of the
hundred continued to be held in thegnage, as the survey of 1212 shows,
the parish of Rochdale being so held of the lord of Clitheroe ; the principal
military tenant at that time was the baron of Manchester, other prominent
holders being the lords of Penwortham and Tottington — whose fees were
acquired in the first half of the I3th century by the Lacy family and after-
wards incorporated in the honour of Clitheroe — and the lord of Great
Bolton.4 These feudatories did suit to the hundred court of Salford from
three weeks to three weeks.6
1 f.C.H. Lanes, i, 287.
3 The possible exceptions are the township of Aspull, in Wigan parish ; the northern extremity of Bury
parish, now in Blackburn Hundred ; and Saddleworth in Rochdale, now in Yorkshire.
3 See the grant to Ranulf, Earl of Chester ; Cat. Close, 1227-31, p. 221 ; also the accounts of the honour
of Lancaster and the hundred of West Derby in the present work. In 1257, during the minority of Robert
son and heir of William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, the hundred was in the hands of Prince Edward by the
king's gift; Lanes. Inq. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 205. In 1324 the issues of the hundred or
wapentake amounted to £58 per annum ; ibid, ii, 203.
4 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 52—72.
6 Ibid. 248, 268. Court rolls of the wapentake from 1324 to 1326 are printed in Lanes. Ct. R.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 150-64. TheyW/Vwor doomsmen of Withington, Oldham, Middleton, Barton,
Stretford, and Bolton were fined, as were a number of townships (p. 157). Other court rolls (1510 onward),
surveys, and ministers' accounts are preserved in the Record Office.
171
SALFORD
Af r- ' xPRESTWICtJ[,-C Q v
+ +-r^ '»
/ ASHTON
•
''• »
CC. L E S — ':
..-•'
...5 MANCHESTER .
172
SALFORD HUNDRED
The administration was committed to a Serjeant or bailiff.6 In 1436
the king gave Sir Richard Molyneux of Sefton the office of Steward of
the Wapentake of Salfordshire, to descend by hereditary right ; 7 by virtue
of which grant the Earl of Sefton is the present high steward. The
courts were formerly held at the Town Hall, Salford,8 the ancient juris-
diction having been regulated and extended by an Act passed in 1846 ;9 but
they are now held in Manchester.
In 1237 a subsidy of a thirtieth of movable goods produced £81 js. ft^d.
for the hundred and £493 "9-f. zd. for the whole county.10 In 1332 the ,
levy of a fifteenth of movable goods yielded £39 4.$-. for this hundred and
£287 13-f. 8*/. for the whole county. This became the basis of the 'fifteenth,'
amounting to £41 14^. 4*/. for the hundred and £329 IOJ- 4^ f°r tne
county, which was regularly levied until the imposition of the Land Tax
in 1693. Under the provisions for the levying of that tax at the rate of 41.
in the pound on the profits of land and 6 per cent, on personal estate, the
valuation of this hundred amounted to £5,438 I2s. io*/., that of the whole
county being £21,265 i6s. 8</.n
According to the certificate of a general muster made in 1574 this
hundred supplied of furnished men 60 archers and 294 billmen, and of
unfurnished men 72 archers and 309 billmen ; total 735, out of 4,870
provided by the whole county.
6 Ellis son of Robert [de Pendlebury] was master serjeant in 1199 ; Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 116 ; but \
about 1222 Richard de Hulton held the wapentake at the will of the king ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 133.
Henry son of Wenne was chief bailiff in 1246, and Henry de Lea in 1257 ; Assize R. 404, m. 16 ; Lanes.
Inq. and Extents, i, 205. In 1355 Adam del Hegleghes, bailiff, and his under-bailiffs were indicted for having
ridden where they should have gone on foot ; Assize R. 436, m. I.
7 Croxteth D. W 2. The grant was renewed and confirmed in 1446, and in later times ; ibid. W 3, &c.
8 About 1857 the court leet for the hundred was held twice a year at Salford Town Hall, but has long
since ceased.
9 9 & 10 Viet. cap. 126 ; the court was empowered to try actions up to £50. In 1868 a similar
Court of Record for the city of Manchester (founded in 1838) was amalgamated with the Salford Court, and
the sittings were transferred from Salford Town Hall to Manchester. The Earl of Sefton, as hereditary
steward, used to nominate the registrar, but now the City Council nominates him. The judge is appointed
by the Crown through the chancellor of the duchy, and he appoints the bailiff.
10 Lanes. Lay Sub. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches. xxvii), 50. Manchester township paid £5 and Bury
parish £6.
11 Exch. K.R. Accts. of Land and Assessed Taxes, 1693.
'73
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
MANCHESTER
SALFORD
BROUGHTON
MANCHESTER
CHORLTON-UPON-
MEDLOCK
BLACKLEY
CHEETHAM
CRUMPSALL
MOSTON
HARPURHEY
NEWTON
FAILSWORTH
BRADFORD
GORTON
ARDWICK
BESWICK (EXTRA-PAR.)
DROYLSDEN
OPENSHAW
WITHINGTON
DIDSBURY
CHORLTON-WITH-
HARDY
MOSS SIDE
RUSHOLME
LEVENSHULME
BURNAGE
DENTON
HAUGHTON
HEATON NORRIS
REDDISH
STRETFORD
HULME
The ancient parish of Manchester, with an area of
35,152 acres and a population in 1901 of 878,532,
has from time immemorial been the most important
in the county. The situation of the town from which
it derives its name being at the junction of two im-
portant roads — from the south to the north-west of
the country and from the port of Chester to York —
must have attracted . an urban population from very
early times,1 and the convenience of its position beside
the Irwell and between two of its tributaries, if not
the original reason for a settlement, was a concomitant
attraction. The Romans established a fortified station,
of which various fragments are known,2 and from
which great roads branched off in five directions.3
Their English successors also occupied the place, which
in the loth century was included in Northumbria.
In 923 King Edward sent a force to the town to
repair and man it.4 History is again silent for a
century and a half, and then reveals the existence of
an endowed church at Manchester and of a royal manor
at Salford, to which not only the parish but the hun-
dred owed service.5
By the Norman kings the town of Manchester with
the greater part of the parish was granted to the
Grelley family, who constituted it the head of their
barony ; 6 but Salford, with the adjacent townships of
Broughton, Cheetham, Hulme, and Stretford, and the
more distant one of Reddish was retained by the
king as demesne or bestowed on the great nobleman
to whom he entrusted ' the land between Mersey and
Ribble ' or in later times the honour of Lancaster,
the holders of which received the title of earl
and duke successively.7 The duchy having long
been annexed to the Crown, Salford may still be re-
garded as a royal manor.
A borough grew up at Manchester in the I3th cen-
tury, and a market and fair were granted in 1227,
while four years later Salford also became a borough.9
The inhabitants of the former town were already
probably to a great extent artificers and traders ; a
fulling-mill, a tanner, and a dyer are named about
1300.' Its earliest known charter was granted in
1301. The town appears to have grown and pros-
pered ; non-resident lords, represented by their
stewards, at least did nothing to hinder its progress^
and the foundation of a well-staffed collegiate church
in 1421, when the lord of the manor, at that time
also rector, gave to the new body of clergy his manor-
house as their residence, made the parish church the
most important institution of the place, a position
which it retained until the i8th century.10 It drew
round it numerous benefactions, such as the chantries
and grammar school.
Adam Banastre and his associates displayed the
king's banner at Manchester on I November 1315,
at the outbreak of their insurrection.11 John of Gaunt,
Duke of Lancaster, was at Manchester on 7 Septem-
ber i393-lla
The district was visited by some form of plague about
1350 — perhaps the Black Death itself1* — and many
later visitations are on record, two of the most notable
being in 1605 and i645-13
A bridge over the Irwell, connecting Manchester
and Salford, existed from early times." In 136$
1 For pre-Roman relics see Lanes, and
Ches. Anrii). Soc. iii, 254 ; v, 327 ; x, 250.
a See Thompson Wztkla.' 6 Roman Lanes.
92-124. ; Lanes, and Ches. Antiq.Soc. xvii,
87 ; xxiii, 66, 73, 112 ; and the Roman
section of the present work. The legend
of Sir Tarquin, enemy of King Arthur,
who was attacked and slain by Sir Lance-
lot du Lake, was in the 1 7th century
attached to the old Roman castle. 'Near
to the ford in Medlock about Mab house
(he) hung a bason on a tree,' on which
bason a challenger must strike ; Hollin-
worth, Mancuniensis, 21.
8 To Chester, Stockport, York, Rib-
chester, and Wigan.
4 Angl.-Sax. Chron. /also V.C.H. Lanes.
ii, 178. Hoards of coins have been found
near Alport ; Lanes, and Ches. Antij. Sac.
ii, 269 ; Pal. Note Bk. iv, 152, 203.
* V.C.H. Lanes. \, 287.
• Ibid. 326.
7 Ibid.
8 See the accounts of the townships.
9 The fulling-mill existed in 1282 ;
Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 245.
An undated deed in the possession of
Manchester Corporation relates to land in
[Long] Millgate between the croft of
Hugh the Barker and Henry the Dyer.
Another deed (of 1324) calls the former
Hugh the Tanner.
Robert Olgreyff (Oldgreave) of Man-
chester, goldsmith, in 1524 leased the
Four Acres to Ralph Sorocold ; Lanes, and
Ches. Hist, and Gen. Notes, i, 140. A family
surnamed Goldsmith appears in Manches-
ter and Salford; in 1417 William the Gold-
smith granted a burgage in Millgate to
Henry de Buckley; Hopwood D.(Harland).
A number of ' blade smiths' were sum-
moned in 1467 ; Pal. of Lane. Writs,
Proton.
174
10 See the account of the church.
11 Coram Rege R. 254.
1U Duchy of Lane. Chan. Warrants, ii.
This reference is due to Mr. S. Armitage
Smith.
12 This is gathered from the account of
Didsbury burial ground, opened in a timfr
of great mortality and sanctioned in 1351
and 1362.
13 A contemporary note states that
2,000 died in the 1605 visitation ; Birch
Chapel (Chet. Soc.), 35. See also Manch.
Ct. Leet Rec. ii, Introd. and pp. 197,
210, 280 ; Manch. Constables' Accts. ii,
155. For the plague of 1645 see ibid, iv,
115 ; Civil War Tracts (Chet. Soc.) 232,
233; Manch. Constables1 Accts. ii, 119^
and generally Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc.
xii, 56.
14 It is mentioned in 1226 ; Lanes. Inj.
and Extents, i, 138.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
Thomas del Booth of Barton left money for this
bridge." Another, over the Irk, is named in I38i.16
These rivers were noted for their floods, often very
destructive.17
About 1536 Leland thus described the place:
4 Manchester, on the south side of the Irwell River,
standeth in Salfordshire, and is the fairest, best builded,
quickest, and most populous town of all Lancashire ;
yet is in it [but] one parish church, but is a college,
and almost throughout double-aisled ex quadrato lapide
durissimo, whereof a goodly quarry is hard by the
town. There be divers stone bridges in the town,
but the best, of three arches, is over Irwell. This
bridge divideth Manchester from Salford, the which is
a large suburb to Manchester. On this bridge is a
pretty little chapel. . . . And almost two flight shots
without the town, beneath on the same side of Irwell,
yet be seen the dykes and foundations of Old Man-
castel in a ground now inclosed. The stones of the
ruins of this castle were translated towards making of
bridges for the town.' 18 The quarry named was that
at Collyhurst.19
The privilege of sanctuary which had been allowed
to the town*0 was in 1541 transferred to Chester,
having proved injurious to good order.21
The prosperity of the place was uninterrupted
during the religious changes of the i6th century." The
endowments of the parish church were confiscated by
Edward VI, but restored in great measure by Mary.
No resistance was openly offered to any of the changes.
The two great families of the parish — the Byrons of
Clayton and Radcliffes of Ordsall — though at first
'\ /-••\ R u KHOCMC V../ jfle
^** -••£ '
16 His will is printed in Baines's Lanes.
(1868), i, 283.
16 Hunt D. no. 52 (Dods. MSS. cxlii,
fol. 169) ; see also Mamecestre (Chet.
Soc.), iii, 506.
17 In 1480, in the testimony of the bur-
gesses respecting the highway between
Manchester and Collyhurst occurs the
statement that 'the water of Irk had
worn out ' the said highway ; Hulme D.
no. 22. In 1787 part of Salford Bridge
was carried away by a flood of the Ir-
well.
18 Leland, Itin. v, 94.
11 Mane A. Court Lett Rec. iv, 107.
20 The Act of 32 Hen. VIII, cap. 12
(1540), abolishing the right of sanctuary,
excepted parish and other churches, also
Westminster, Manchester, Lancaster, and
some other places. It is not quite clear
from this that Manchester's privilege of
sanctuary was new, but this is shown by
the subsequent Act. See also Lanes, and
Chet. Antiq. Soc. xvii, 64.
a 33 Hen. VIII, cap. 15. The par-
ticular reason alleged for revoking the
priyilege was that the ' linen yarn must
lie without as well in the night as in the
day continually for the space of one half
year to be whited, before it can be made
175
cloth ; and the woollen cloth there made
must hang upon the tainter to be dried
before it could be dressed up.' Hence
only honest and industrious persons were
welcome.
w The Act last quoted describes Man-
chester as 'a town well inhabited,' with
manufactures of linen and woollen, where-
by the inhabitants had ' come unto riches
and wealthy livings,' and thus kept at
work 'many artificers and poor folk.'
Acts for regulating the size and weight of
'Manchester cottons' were passed in
1552, 1558, and 1566 (the Aulnager*
Act).
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
adverse to Protestantism, declined in fortune in the
time of Elizabeth, and their estates were early in the
I yth century dispersed among the smaller gentry and
prosperous traders ; the great manor of Manchester
itself was about the same time purchased by a wealthy
merchant. The smaller gentry, excepting the Barlows,
appear as a rule to have gone with the times, often
becoming zealous Puritans, while the trading and
artisan classes, ifi Manchester as elsewhere, soon em-
braced the new doctrines.13 Thus by the end of
Elizabeth's reign the population was almost wholly
Protestant, and of the more extreme type. The
change was, of course, chiefly due to the clergy of the
parish church, the more respected and influential of
the ministers serving there and in the dependent
chapelries being of the Puritan school.
William Camden visited the place in 1586, and ap-
pears to have been pleased with it ; he found the notable
things to be the woollen manufacture, the market,
church, and college.14 John Taylor, the 'Water
Poet,' passed through it about thirty years later."
The Marprelate press was set up in 15883! Newton
Lane near Manchester, but discovered and suppressed
soon after starting work.26
The number of recognized townships was formerly
but small. In the Subsidy Roll of 1 541 only seven are
named — Salford, Manchester, Cheetham, Reddish,
Withington, Heaton Norris, and Stretford — but
Moston was taxed with Ashton.27 The contributions
to the ancient tax called the Fifteenth were arranged
on the following basis : — When the hundred paid
£41 I4_f. 4</., Salford paid £i 2s., Manchester with
its members £3, Cheetham ^s. iod., Reddish £i 2s.,
Withington £$ 15*., Heaton Norris i$s. 6d., Chorl-
ton 3/. 4^., and Stretford £l is. 8d.K The county
lay, established in 1624, also recognized eight town-
ships : — Manchester paying £<) $s. n^</., Salford
£3 is. 3f^., Stretford £i 4*. 6\d., Withington
£5 4/. z£</., Heaton Norris £i i6s. Q>\d.y Chorlton
Row izs. 3f^., Reddish £i los. 7f</., and Cheetham
I is. ^\d., or £23 5;. in all, when the hundred con-
tributed j£ioo.29 At this time, however, the 'mem-
bers ' or ' hamlets ' of Manchester had separate con-
stables, and were therefore townships.30
The geology of the parish of Manchester is re-
presented by the New Red Sandstone, the Permian
Beds, and the Carboniferous Rocks. The formation
lying on the west side of a line drawn from Reddish
through the Manchester Waterworks, Fairfield, New-
ton Heath, and Blackley, consists almost entirely of the
New Red Sandstone, the exception being a long and
irregular-shaped patch of the Permian Rocks and, at
the widest part to the north-east of Manchester, of
the Coal Measures, and lying on the west side of, and
brought up by, a fault which extends northward from
Heaton Norris, through Kirkmanshulme and Open-
shaw, trending north-west around Cheetham to Crump-
sail. At the widest part this patch of the Coal
Measures is \\ mile in width, tapering out at Crump-
sail Hall on the north and at Kirkmanshulme on the
south. Further to the east a broad belt of the Per-
mian Rocks, varying in width from f mile to \\
mile, crops out above the Coal Measures. These
occur over the remainder of the parish on the east
side of a line drawn from Hyde Hall in Denton
through Audenshaw to Failsworth, and from Newton
Heath between Blackley and the River Irk to the
limits of the parish near Heaton Park.
The principal features of the town of Manchester
as it was about 1600 still exist, though changed31 —
the church with the college 3* to the north of it, the
bridges over Irk and Irwell adjacent, and the market-
place a little distance to the south — originally on the
edge of the town. In Salford the small triangle
formed by Chapel Street,33 Gravel Lane,34 and Green-
gate 35 was the village or inhabited portion, the dwell-
ings naturally clustering round the bridge over the
Irwell.36 Then, as now, the road through Manches-
ter from this bridge 37 went winding east and north
round the church as Cateaton Street,38 Hanging Ditch,3*
28 Ellis Hall, known as ' Elias, the
Manchester prophet,' was born in 1502.
Probably acted upon by the religious ex-
citement of the period he began to have
visions, and in 1562 went to London to
see the queen. He was condemned to the
pillory and whipped bjr two ministers ; see
W. E. A. Axon's Lanes. Glean. 312 ;
Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. i, 72, 84.
A monstrous birth in 1579 appealed to
the superstitious in another way ; Pa '.
Note Bk. iii, 269.
24 Camden, Brit. (1695), 746, 747.
He mentions the famous quarries of
Collyhurst. Saxton's map of the county
was published in 1577 ; he visited the
town again in 1596 and made a survey
of it, spending several days on the work ;
Dr. Dee's Diary (ed. Bailey), 36-8.
25 Quoted in Procter's Munch. Streets,
218.
26 Actt of P.O. 1589-90, p. 62; also
W. Axon in N. and Q. IV, iii, 97, quoting
Stryfc't Annals (1824), III, ii, 602. Coin-
ing was suspected in the same district in
1577 ; Acts of P.O. 1577-8, p. 63.
2? Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 138, &c.
28 Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland),
1 8.
» Ibid. 22.
80 There were in 1623 constables for
Newton, Droylsden, Ardwick, Bradford,
Blackley, Crumpsall, Failsworth, Open-
shaw, Gorton, and Harpurhey ; and in
some of these places the appointment of
constables can be traced back somewhat
earlier ; Manch. Constables' Accts. i, 92.
81 In appearance one of the greatest
changes has been the concealment of the
steep and rocky banks of the Irwell at
Hunt's Bank. There was a rookery on
the banks of the Irk, near the site of
Ducie Bridge, as late as 1770; Procter,
Manch. Streets, 39.
82 In 1600 this belonged to the Earl of
Derby, from whom it was rented by the
famous warden, Dr. Dee.
88 This name did not come into use
until some time after the chapel was built
in 1634. The old name was Lower Gate,
Lower Lane, or Lower Street ; see Salford
Court Leet (Chet. Soc. new sen). It was
also called Serjeant Street, and in the plan
of 1751 is named Salford Street.
84 As « the Gravel Hole ' it is fre-
quently named in the Salford Port mote
records.
85 This name occurs regularly in the
Salford Port mote records. The street is
called Back Salford in the plan of 1751.
The court house and cross stood there, so
that it was probably the main thorough-
fare.
86 It was for the three streets named
that scavengers were appointed in the i6th
and early 1 7th centuries.
8? There were steps down to the river
near the bridge ; Manch. Court Leet Rec.
ii, 50.
The fishmarket, which had been in
Smithy Door, was in 1618 removed to the
end of Salford Bridge ; ibid, iii, 9. Hunt's-
Bank, where the House of Correction
was, then as now went north to Irk
Bridge, but there were probably houses on
the Irwell side of it.
88 Cateaton Street occurs by name ia
the Hearth Tax return of 1666.
From Cateaton Street Hanging Bridge,
now concealed, led to the church. The
name points out the course of a brook,
which eventually became the ' common
shore ' or sewer, descending from Shude
Hill to the Irwell ; Court Leet Rec. iii, 50,
5 3 ; Ogden, Manch. (ed. W. E. A. Axon), 1 3 .
A description and plans of a bridge built
over it about 1420 are given in Lanes, and
Ches. Antiq. Soc. viii, 97. This bridge
still exists, and is occasionally exposed on
rebuilding adjacent business houses. There
must have been an earlier one, for to-
Ellen daughter of Geoffrey de Hulme
were, in 1343, given a burgage in the
market-place, a half burgage adjoining
Hanging Bridge (Hangand Brigge), and
land north of the Irk called Wrenowe
Yard ; Booth's Coll. liber H, p. 47.
89 A burgage in Hanging Ditch was in
1469 granted to William son of Thomas-
Pendleton of Salford ; De Traffbrd D.
no. 52.
I76
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
Toad or Todd Lane,<0 cfossing the Irk 41 and mount-
ing Red Bank." Half Street,43 at the east end of the
church, was continued as Millgate,44 which wound
along by the Irk, to reach the lord's mills on that
stream. The grammar school, on its original site,
and some old timbered houses 44a still distinguish the
street, though the mills have gone. From the north-
east corner of the church Fennel Street 45 led eastward
past Hyde's Cross,46 at the corner of Todd Lane, to
Withy Grove4' and Shude Hill.48
From the south Deansgate,49 on the line of the old
Roman road from Chester, ran northerly towards the
church, but curving to the east near the bridge was
continued as Cateaton Street or Hanging Ditch ; at
the junction Smithy Door 50 led south to the market-
place, which was probably always an open square,
though the area may have been diminished by encroach-
ments through traders desiring to have their houses and
shops upon it. Smithy Door has gone and Deansgate
has been straightened, but the eastern side of the
market-place remains ; from it Mealgate, now Old
Millgate,51 leads north to Cateaton Street.
In the open space stood the market cross, the toll
booth or town hall in which the courts were held,
and the pillory and stocks.51 The south side of the
market-place was formed by a lane leading east and
west ; the eastern part was called Market-stead Lane,53
and the western St. Mary's Gate.54 The conduit
stood in it.55 Beyond this lane southward was the
field where the fair was held, called Acres Field.56
Other street-names occur.57 In the town the prin-
cipal houses were that of the Radcliffes of the Pool
40 ' Towdlane ' is named in 1552;
Court Leet Rec. i, 6. There was a well in
it ; ibid, ii, 268. In 1609 it is called
' Crooked Lane alias Tode Lane,' and in
1618 'New Street alias Toade Lane';
ibid, ii, 245 ; iii, 6.
41 The name Scotland at this point
occurs in 1762; Procter, Manch. Streets, 45.
42 Red Bank is named in 1557 and
1573 ; Court Leet Rec. i, 40, 159 (a high-
way). In later times there was bull bait-
ing at Red Bank, at the wakes, with other
sports ; Procter, Mane A. Streets, 43.
Knoll Bank, on the east side of the road
from Manchester to Cheetham, is men-
tioned in a deed of 1596 by John Beswick
and Elizabeth his wife, as formerly the
property of Philip Strangeways ; Chetham
Papers, and Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.),
xxvi, 424.
48 This descriptive name of the present
Cathedral Street occurs in 1622 ; Court
Leet Rec. iii, 59.
44 Millgate (Mulnegate) is named in
deeds from about 1300 ; it gave a surname
to resident families ; Manch. Corp. D.
undated, 1324, 1343.
44a These and other remains are de-
scribed below.
45 Fennel Street is named in 1 506 ; De
Traffbrd D. no. 71. It was perhaps the
same as Middlegate mentioned from 1331
to 1498 ; a burgage in Middlegate stood
next to Todd Lane on the west side of it;
ibid. no. 6, 29, 68. Middlegate has some-
times been identified with Half Street. In
Fennel Street was Barley Cross, where in
1 8 1 6 the corn market was held ; Aston,
Manch. 217 ; see also Procter, Manch.
Streets, 38. The continuation of Fennel
Street west to Hunt's Bank was in 1769
used as the apple market and so called ;
Court Leet Rec. viii, 125. Perhaps it was
the Churchyard-side of earlier times.
46 Hyde's Cross is supposed to have
been the place of sanctuary. In 1662 a
place was described as in Todd Lane and
near Hyde Cross. At that time the swine
market was there ; Court Leet Rec. v, 62.
4" The old name was Within-greave ;
Court Leet Rec. i, 3. The Dove-house
Field was in this lane ; ibid, iii, 60. A
house known as Within-greave Hall was
part of the Hulme trust estate ; see Proc-
ter, Bygone Manch. 42.
48 In 1554 James Chetham was ordered
to make 'the highway at the Shude Hill
as [= which] he hath made, sufficient
for carts to come and go ' ; Court Leet Rec.
i, ii.
In later times at least the lord's pinfold
was in Shude Hill, at the end of Withy
Grove. The pinfold is mentioned in
1 5 3 5 as 'in the east eixd ' of the town,
and lying west of land bounded on the
north by the highway and on the south by
the Claypits ; Manch. Corp. D.
49 A burgage in the Deansgate, opposite
the Parsonage, is mentioned in 1395 ; De
Traffbrd D. no. 23. The Parsonage is a
piece of land on the west or Irwell side of
Deansgate ; near it by the river side was
the Lady Lode ; Court Leet Rec. iii, 216.
The southern end of Deansgate was called
Alport Lane ; ibid, i, 34, 177. Sowse-
hill, supposed to be the later Sotshole, was
in 1 564 a close paying a rent of q.d. to the
lord of the manor ; ibid, i, 86. For old
Deansgate see also Lanes, and Ches. Antiq.
Soc. xxii, 1 80.
50 Smithy Door, afterwards a street
name, seems to have been a door or house
in 1560, when 'the highway leading from
the Smithy Door to the Old Market stead '
is named in a deed ; Nugent Charity D.
(Manch. Corp.). About this spot was
Patrick's Stone ; see Court Leet Rec. ii, 64;
iii, 6.
51 Robert son and heir of Roger Marler
in 1501 made a feoffment of his messuage,
burgages, and land called the Melehouses
in the Melegate ; Manch. Guardian N.
and Q. no. 355. The Melehouse is again
mentioned in 1529 and 1546 ; Manch.
Corp. D.
82 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xv, I ; a
new market cross was built in 1752 and
taken down in 1815, the pillory and stocks
being removed with it. See Procter, By-
gone Manch. 124.
The toll booth, otherwise the Booths
or the Town Hall (Court Leet Rec. iv, 262;
vi, 73) was partly in private hands for
shops, &c., for in 1656 Arthur Bulkley,
woollen draper, agreed not to hinder the
inhabitants of the town meeting in ' the
great chamber ' upon all public occasions;
ibid, iv, 321.
The constables were ordered to rebuild
the cross in 1666; ibid, v, 81. For the
various crosses in Manchester, Salford,
and Stretford see Lanes, and Ches. Antiq.
Soc. xxii, 90-102, 108.
68 ' A street called Markethstyd Lawne '
is named in one of the Raines Deeds (Chet.
Lib.) of 1 5 26. The name was corrupted
into Market Street Lane, and then short-
ened to Market Street. A ' Daub Hole '
— perhaps that in the part of the lane
afterwards called Piccadilly — existed in
1555 ; Court Leet Rec. i, 22. There was
a ' Brick croft ' somewhere near ; ibid,
and iv, 18, 30. The 'brick building' in
Deansgate, c. 1650, appears to have been
conspicuous by its contrast to other
houses ; ibid, iv, 67, 230.
54 St. Mary Gate occurs in 1482 ; De
Trafford D. no. 57.
I77
55 In 1493 there was in the Market
stead a ' Waste place ' known as the Corn
Market stead, which in 1556 was more
usually called the Conduit Place ; Hulme
D. no. 29, 49. It was perhaps the ' old
market stead' of 1552 and later years ;
Court Leet Rec. i, 4, 1 5 n . ' Both the
marketsteads' are in 1647 named to-
gether with the shambles ; ibid, iv, 3.
A complaint made in 1676 shows the
difficulties caused by increasing trade in
the narrow streets. On market days, it
was alleged, during the corn market at the
conduit people could not pass or repass
with coach or cart or horses laden or un-
laden from Marketstead Lane to Smithy
Door, which was the best way from Stock-
port and Ashton on one side, to Bolton,
Preston, and Warrington on the other.
Lest therefore the corn market should
suffer, the borough-reeve was requested to
remove the dealers in crockery, wooden
vessels, fruit, &c. to Hanging Ditch, and
to move the butchers, who had stalls at
the south side of the conduit, to the place
thus cleared at its north side ; thereby the
corn dealers would obtain the additional
room they needed ; Court Leet Rec. vi, 1 1 .
The Exchange of 1729 was built on the
site of the conduit ; ibid, vii, 66. The
supply of water came from springs in
Spring Gardens and the present Fountain
Street.
56 For a note on the Acres see ibid, ii,
7. The Nether Acres and Over Acres, kept
open from the time corn had been gotten
until Candlemas, were parts of the field.
A burgage in the Nether Acres is namei
in 1349 ; Lord Wilton's D.
5' Wallgate occurs in 1338, in a settle-
ment respecting the burgage of John
Gowyn, which adjoined it ; the burgage
was to descend to John's son Henry and
his wife Ermeline ; Vawdrey D. It was
off Millgate, for a burgage in the latter
street stood between a burgage called
Peuey and a way called Wallgate ; Hulme
D. no. 14 (1443).
In 1484 land called Holcroft abutted
upon the highway called Newton Lane
and upon Emmot Outlane ; Manch. Corp.
D. The name Newton Lane was changed
to Oldham Road about 1800. Millers
Lane is named in 1564 ; Court Leet Rec.
i, 195; Ashley Lane in 1506; ibid, i, 30.
A field of 6 acres called the Smithfield
was leased to Ralph son of Christophet
Beswick in 1496 ; Manch. Corp. D.
The ' way that leadeth to Ancoats '
(probably Great Ancoats) and Shooters
Brook were two of the boundaries of a
piece of land sold by Thomas Nowell of
Read and Alice his wife to Thomas Wil-
lott in 1562 ; Burgess's D. Macclesfield.
23
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
near the Conduit, and that called Olgreave, Culcheth,
or Langley Hall in Long Millgate ; further out were
Alport Lodge, Garrett, Ancoats, Collyhurst, and one
or two others. To the south of Alport was Knott
in Mill Hulme ; a licence for the mill-dam was given
in I509.58 The cockpit lay to the south-east of Old
Millgate.59 There exists a small town plan, of un-
known origin but apparently trustworthy, which may
be dated about 1650.^
Apart from the streets above mentioned the parish
was mainly agricultural, areas of wood,60 heath,61 and
moss6* being intermixed with arable and pasture lands;
the dwellings were the scattered manor and farm-houses
and small villages. The rural population probably then,
as later, combined tillage with weaving. The chapels
existing in 1650 serve to indicate the chief centres of
population — Blackley, Newton, Gorton, Denton,
Birch, Didsbury, Chorlton, Stretford, and Salford.63
In the Civil War Manchester, as might be expected,
took the Parliamentary side.64 On an outbreak of
hostilities becoming imminent, Lord Strange, who
soon afterwards succeeded his father as Earl of Derby,
fully alive to the disaffection as to the importance of
Manchester, endeavoured to secure it for the king. A
small quantity of powder was for convenience stored
at the College, then Lord Strange's property, and in
June 1642, it being expected that the sheriff would
endeavour to secure it for the king's use, Mr. Asshe-
ton of Middleton managed to obtain possession of it,
and removed it to other places in the town.65 Lord
Strange thereupon demanded its return, and on
I 5 July, after summoning the able men to meet him
at Bury in virtue of a commission of array,66 he came
to Manchester, intending to lodge at Sir Alexander
Radcliffe's house at Ordsall. The people of Man-
chester invited him to dine in their town, and he
accepted the invitation ; the matter of the powder
was discussed and an agreement made.67 But on the
same day the Parliamentary Commissioners had issued
their summons to the militia, and the banquet was
followed by an encounter between the opposing forces,
in which was shed the first blood of the struggle.68
The war did not formally begin until September,69
and Manchester was speedily involved.70 On Satur-
day the 24th and the following day Lord Derby
assembled his troops against it, and the townsmen
summoned assistance from their neighbours.71 Lord
Derby's forces were variously estimated — from 2,600
up to 4,500 — and he had some ordnance, which he
planted at Alport Lodge and Salford Bridge, thus
commanding two of the principal roads into the
town.78 After some skirmishing he proposed terms,
but being refused he continued the siege for a week
without any success ; on Saturday I October he
drew off his troops, having been ordered by the king
to join him. The success of the townsmen was chiefly
due to the skill of a German soldier, Colonel Ros-
worm, who began on the Wednesday before the siege
to set up posts and chains for keeping out horsemen
and to barricade and block up street ends with mud
walls and other defences.73 After the raising of the
siege he continued his fortifications, and led the * Man-
88 Procter, Manch. Streets, 108. The
mill seems to have derived its distinctive
name from the miller.
89 The ' Cockfight Place ' is named in
1587, and in 1598 an encroachment on
the lord's waste at the cockpit was con-
demned ; Court Leet Rec . ii, 8, 135. It is
possible that the cockpit was transferred
from one place to another.
59a This plan is engraved in a corner
of Casson and Berry's plan.
60 Blackley, Collyhurst, Bradford, and
Openshaw were ancient wooded areas, but
had probably been cleared by 1600.
81 Newton Heath, Chorlton Heath, and
Barlow Moor indicate some of the greater
heaths of old time.
63 The Great Moss stretched through
Withington and Rusholme, giving name
\o Moss Side ; but there were a great
aumber of other mosses to the north, east,
md south of Manchester town.
68 The trade of the place in 1641 is
thus described : ' The town of Manches-
ter buys the linen yarn of the Irish in
great quantity, and weaving it returns the
same again to Ireland to sell. Neither
doth her industry rest here, for they buy
cotton wool in London, that comes first
from Cyprus and Smyrna, and work the
same into fustians, vermilions, dimities,
&c., which they return to London, where
they are sold ; and from thence not sel-
dom are sent into such foreign parts
where the first materials may be more
easily had for that manufacture ' ; Lewis
Roberts, Merchant's Map of Commerce,
quoted in Reilly's Manck. 136.
64 Though opinion was divided and
several influential families, like the Mos-
leys and Prestwiches, took the king's
side, the great body of the people appear
to have been zealous for the Parliament.
At the report of the array of militia ordered
to June 1642, the townsmen, it was
stated, ' all stand upon their own guard,
with their shops shut up ; well affected to
the king's majesty and both his houses of
Parliament,' while the people of ' the
country round adjoining" were 'very ob-
servant to any command ... in readi-
ness to attend there or elsewhere for the
defence of their country, lives, liberties,
and estates, and the defence of the true
Protestant religion ' 5 Ormerod, Civil
War Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 14.
65 Sir Alexander Radcliffe of Ordsall
and Thomas Prestwich of Hulme endea-
voured to prevent the seizure, but Ralph
Assheton was supported by Sir Thomas
Stanley and other deputy-lieutenants ; in
their own words they ' thought good to
take it into their hands for the defence of
the king, both houses of Parliament, and
this county of Lancaster.' 'Thus wisdom
and honesty,' remarks the Puritan nar-
rator, ' in a way of manifest authority, got
the leading of subtlety and injustice ' ;
ibid. 1 6, 112.
66 There were two such arrays, the first
on Monday, 4 July ; after it Lord Strange
made a demonstration against Manchester,
which led to circumstantial, but perhaps
fictitious, reports of a 'great and furious
skirmish" ; ibid. 112, 25-28.
V Ibid. 30-34. The agreement was
that the principal inhabitants would buy
powder to supply what had been taken
away ; ibid. 112.
68 Lord Strange's armed escort, consist-
ing of some thirty of his own horsemen
and about a hundred of the inhabitants
who met him, was said to have behaved
in an insolent manner on entering ; ibid.
113. The Parliamentary leaders (Sir
Thomas Stanley of Bickerstaffe, John
Holcroft, and Thomas Birch) took alarm
and assembled armed men at the Market
Cross ; as they refused to disperse at the
sheriff's orders, Lord Strange, being Lord
Lieutenant, came to them and was shot
at. Finally the men were driven off by
force, and one of them, Richard Percival
of Kirkmanshulme, linen weaver, was
killed ; ibid. 32, 33. Lord Strange's host
was Alexander Greene. After this inci-
dent Lord Strange and his friends left the
town for Ordsall. For it he was im-
peached of high treason in Parliament ;
ibid. 35-7. See also War In Lanes. (Chet.
Soc.), 6.
69 The king raised his standard on
22 Aug. ; the first important battle was
that of Edgehill on 23 Oct.
70 The narratives of the siege are printed
in Civil War Tracts, 42—60, 113—22,
220-3 ; also War in Lanes. (Chet. Soc.),
7-9 ; Hist. MSS. Com. Reft, v, App.
142 } Baines, Lanes. (1868), i, 320, 321 ;
see also Mr. E. Broxap in Owens Coll.
Hist. Essays (1902), 377-89.
71 About 2,000 came in, armed with
muskets, pikes, &c. ; also some of the
gentry, as Holland, Egerton, Dukinfield,
Arden, Butterworth, Booth, and Hyde •
Civil War Tracts, 45.
?aThe attack from Salford was that
most dreaded, and Rosworm himself super-
intended the defence at this point ; the
rain swelled the Irwell, so that it could
not be crossed except by the bridge ; ibid.
221, 1 16.
?8 Neither side seems to have been
vigorous. There was fighting on Monday
the 26th, and on Tuesday after further
cannonading there were several parleys.
Lord Strange continually reduced his de-
mands : i. Arms must be surrendered ;
2. He must be allowed to march through
the town ; 3. £1,000 must be paid ; 4.
Two hundred muskets must be given up ;
and 5. Fifty would suffice ; ibid. 48.
Rosworm states that on Wednesday the
28th a hundred muskets were demanded
as the price of withdrawal, and that
I78
"•"
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
Chester men ' in various excursions to places in South
Lancashire, by which the town added to its reputation
and the king's forces were harassed or defeated. The
remuneration promised him having been refused later,
he wrote a bitter complaint of the townsmen ; ' never
let an unthankful man and a promise-breaker have
another name ' than Manchester man.74 A grant of
£1,000 was made for the relief of Manchester out of
the sales of ' delinquents' ' estates by Parliament in
1645."
The Restoration appears to have been welcomed
with hearty loyalty, for the clergy and principal in-
habitants were Presbyterians and had in 1659 shown
their dissatisfaction with the existing government 76 ;
but soon afterwards the religious cleavage between
Conformists and Nonconformists 77 was supplemented
by the political cleavage between Tories and Whigs.
The 'Church and King' riots of 171 5, "which led
to the destruction of Cross Street chapel and other
Dissenting meeting-places, showed that the Tories,
headed by the collegiate clergy, Sir Oswald Mosley,
and others, had a considerable following ; while the
Whigs, headed by Lady Bland, included all the Non-
conformists and many Churchmen. The composition
of the town is shown by the abortive proposal of
1731 that a workhouse should be built, with a board
of twenty-four guardians, of whom a third should be
High Church, a third Low Church, and a third
Nonconformist.79 The town, not being a borough,
had no means of enforcing its political opinions, though
public ' town's meetings ' were called by the borough
reeve and constables on occasion ; the court leet con-
fined itself to local business.
The postmaster is mentioned in 164.8.™ A number
of local tradesmen's tokens were issued about l666.81
An official survey of the town was made in \6jz.st
A * wonderful child ' appeared in 1679, speaking — so
the story went — Latin, Greek, and Hebrew at three
years of age.83
Celia Fiennes about 1 700 rode most of her way
from Rochdale between hedges of quickset cut smooth
and even. She writes : 'Manchester looks exceed-
ingly well at the entrance. Very substantial buildings;
the houses are not very lofty, but mostly of brick and
stone ; the old houses are timber work. There is a
very large church, all stone ; and [it] stands so high
that walking round the churchyard you see the whole
town. There is good carving of wood in the choir.'
After describing the Chetham Hospital and Library,
with its curiosities, she proceeds : ' Out of the Library
there are leads on which one has the sight of the
town, which is large, as also the other town that lies
below it, called Salford, and is divided from this by
the River Irwell, over which is a stone bridge, with
many arches .... The Market place is large ; it
takes up two streets' length when the market is kept
for their linen cloth [and] cotton tickings which is the
manufacture of the town. Here is a very fine school
for young gentlewomen, as good as any in London ;
and music and dancing and things are very plenty
here. This is a thriving place.' 84
A traveller, supposed to be Defoe, about 1730 calls
Colonel Holland of Denton was in favour
of yielding, on the ground that the de-
fenders had neither powder nor match ;
but Rosworm counteracted such counsels
by sending Mr. Bourne, one of the minis-
ters of the church, an ' aged and grave '
man, to encourage the different bodies of
defenders ; ibid. 222. Little was done on
Thursday ; on Friday there was more
cannonading, but the guns were withdrawn
in the evening, and the whole attacking
force left next day. It is said that their
men had been deserting all the time. On
the other hand the town's soldiers 'from
first to last had prayers and singing of
psalms daily at the street ends, most of
our soldiers being religious, honest men.
. . . The townsmen were kind and re-
spective to the soldiers ; all things were
common ; the gentlemen made bullets
night and day ; the soldiers were resolute
and courageous, and feared nothing so
much as a parley ' ; ibid. 54-6. In ad-
dition to those named above, Captains
Robert Bradshaw, Radcliffe, Channel!, and
Barrington did good service ; Chetham of
Nuthurst sent men ; ibid. 4.6, 52. The
thanks of Parliament were at once given
to the town ; ibid. 57.
A little later proposals were made on
behalf of Lord Derby for the neutrality of
the town, but the inhabitants considered
that they were able to defend themselves ;
ibid. 61.
In July 1643 the Earl of Newcastle
called upon the Manchester men to lay
down their arms, but he was unable to
penetrate into Lancashire ; ibid. 145—7.
74 For Rosworm's narrative see Civil
War Tracts, 217-47. He had been pro-
mised an annuity of £60 for the lives of
himself and his wife ; it was paid for
two years only, and he could obtain no
redress by law, not being an English-
man. An account of him, with portrait,
is given in Lanes, and Chet. Antiq. Soc.
viii, 1 88.
'* Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), iv, 113. For lists of
the principal inhabitants of the town in
the middle of the I7th century see Pal.
Note Bk. i, 80, &c. (Protestation of 1 642) ;
Mancb. Constable f Accounts, ii, 1 8 1, &c.
Court Lett Rec. iv, 305 ; v, 246.
7* The Presbyterians and Independents
united under an ' accommodation ' signed
on 13 July 1659. 500 men left the town
at the end of the month to join Sir
George Booth, who had raised the cry of
a ' tree parliament.' A day of humilia-
tion was observed on 5 Aug., the people
being afraid that Lilburne would march
on the town ; and the defeat of a rising
at Northwich on 19 Aug. was followed
by the occupation of Manchester by Birch
and Lilburne, many of the fugitives having
taken refuge there. See Newcome's
Autoblog, (Chet. Soc.), 108-16 ; Adam
Martindale (Chet. Soc.), 128-42; Or-
merod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), i, p. Ixv.
The festivities at the king's coronation are
described in Court Leet Rec. iv, 28 1. After-
wards, in 1663, there was an attempt,
according to an informer, to bring an
accusation against Presbyterians and others
of forming a plot to overthrow the
government ; Local Glean. Lanes, and
Ches. iii, 361, 421.
77 In 1669 it was reported to the Bishop
of Chester that Nonconformists preached
every Lord's day at the chapels of Denton,
Gorton, and Birch, and had great numbers
of hearers ; Visit. P. at Chester.
78 The rioters were led by Thomas
Siddall, a blacksmith. They damaged
many of the Nonconformist chapels in
the neighbourhood. Siddall was sent to
Lancaster Castle, but soon afterwards
released by the Jacobites, whom he joined.
He was captured at Preston, tried for
179
treason, condemned, and sent to Man-
chester to be executed. Four others were
hanged with him in the same cause on
ii Feb. 1715-16 ; Pal. Note Bk. ii, 240 ;
iv, 93. See also Harland's Manch. Coll.
(Chet. Soc.), i, 208-25. General Willis
passed through Manchester on his way to
meet the Jacobites at Preston, and left
some troops in the town to prevent any
danger of a rising.
79 Reilly, Mancb. 232 ; Mosley, Family
Mem. 44 ; Pal. Note Bk. ii, 91. In the
' case for the Petitioners ' against the bill
it was stated that the workhouse project
originated in Oct. 1729, with some few
traders who wished to monopolize the
labour of the poor for their own exclusive
profit, and to preserve 'a perpetual suc-
cession of guardians of the poor in their
own families and friends.' On the other
side it was shown that the proposals had
met with general approval at first.
80 Lanes, and Cbes. Antiq. Soc. xxii, 9.
81 For a list see Lanes, and Ches. Antiq.
Soc. v, 82, xiii, 119. Halfpenny tokens
were issued by several traders in 1793.
Two more recent tokens (1812) are no-
ticed in Pal. Note Bk. i, 84.
82 Court Leet Rec. v, 1 94.
83 The tracts concerning it are printed
in Chet. Soc. (new ser.), Misc. i.
84 Through Engl. on a Side-Saddle, 187,
iff.
Lady Ann Bland was the leader of
fashion in the place. She was the principal
patroness of a weekly dancing assembly,
for which a room in King Street was
built; Aikin, Country round Manch. 183—
8. The same writer gives a sketch of
the social life of the town in the early
part of the i8th century. Its provision-
ing at the end of the century is also de-
scribed ; ibid. 203-5. An account of
the Manchester ladies of 1709 is printed
in Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. ii, ii.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Manchester ' the greatest mere village in England.'
Its trade and population had much increased within
the previous forty or fifty years ; abundance not of
houses only but of streets of houses had been provided.
It boasted of four extraordinary foundations — a
college, a hospital, a free school, and a library, all
very well supported. * I cannot but doubt,' he re-
marks, ' but this increasing town will some time or
other obtain some better face of government and be
incorporated, as it very well deserves to be ....
There is a very firm but ancient stone bridge over the
Irwell, which is built exceeding high, because this
river, though not great, yet coming from the moun-
tainous part of the country swells sometimes so
suddenly that in one night's time they told me the
waters would frequently rise four or five yards, and
the next day fall as hastily as they rose.' Salford he
calls ' the suburb or village on the other side of the
bridge.'84
The Jacobites in 1745 hoped that Manchester
would give them substantial assistance.86 Mr. Clayton,
one of the chaplains of the collegiate church, was an
ardent partisan, and the other clergy were sympa-
thizers.87 One of the nonjuring bishops, Dr. Deacon,
lived in the town, ministering to a small congregation.
On 28 November a daring sergeant of the Pre-
tender's, having hurried forward, appeared in the town
and began to invite recruits.88 His reception was not
cordial, but sufficient supporters were obtained to
secure his safety and freedom until the vanguard of
the army arrived in the evening. The whole force
reached Manchester the following day, the prince
himself riding in during the afternoon, when his
father was proclaimed king as James III. Mr.
Dickinson's house in Market Street was chosen as head
quarters and was afterwards known as * The Palace.'
At night many of the people illuminated their houses,
bonfires were made, and the bells were rung. Some
three hundred recruits had joined the invaders, and
were called ' The Manchester Regiment.' Money due
to the government was seized.89 The army marched
south on Monday I December, and returned to
Manchester in its retreat on the gth. Out of a con-
tribution of £5,000 then demanded, £2,500 was
collected and accepted, and the prince and his forces
left the town next day. The Manchester Regiment
still accompanied him, and was entrusted with the
defence of Carlisle, which surrendered at the end of
the month. The officers were tried for high treason
in July 1 746, and some were executed at Kenning-
ton.90 The heads of two — Thomas Theodorus
Deacon and Thomas Siddall — were sent down to
Manchester, and fixed on the Exchange.91 The men
of the regiment were tried at Carlisle in August and
September, and many of them executed. The
successful party had their celebrations, the news of
the capture of Carlisle and the victory of Culloden
being welcomed by public illuminations and the
distribution of liquor.9* The ill-feeling between the
twH> parties in the town — the Jacobites and the
Whigs — continued for many years afterwards.
At this time begins the series of detailed plans of
the towns of Manchester and Salford.95 That of
Casson and Berry, 1741-51, shows that the town
had expanded considerably, along Deansgate, Market
Street, and Shude Hill ; a number of new streets had
been laid out, but the principal improvement appears
to have been the formation of St. Ann's Square on
the site of Acresfield about I72O.94 This drew with
it other improvements, as a decent approach had to
be formed from Market Street. Several large private
houses are figured on the border of the plan of I75o,9s
Some curious details are given in the
diary of Edmund Harrold, wig-maker,
1712-16, printed in Manch. Collectanea, i,
172, &c.
Bonfires were lighted to celebrate the
king's birthday and accession, as well as
the Gunpowder Plot and Restoration of
Charles II. Cockthrowing on Shrove
Tuesday and ' lifting ' at Easter also afford-
ed diversion to the populace. See Con-
stables' Accounts, iii, i, 2, 7, 8, 66, 68.
85 A Gentleman's Tour of Great Britain
(ed. 1738), iii, 173-9.
In the Gent. Mag. for 1739 (quoted in
the Preston Guardian) is a statement that
2,000 new houses had been built in the
town within twenty years.
86 The Hanoverians were not idle, but
raised a fund for troops ; see Pal. Note
Bk. iii, 235. In the same work will be
found a diary of 1745 (iv, 19), and some
depositions (iv, 70) ; see further in Local
Glean. Lanes, and Ches. i, 89, 153, &c. ;
and Lanes, and Ches. Anti/j. Soc. vii, 142 ;
Byrom's Diary (Chet. Soc. xl); Var. Coll.
(Hist. MSS. Com.), ii, 287, 288.
87 Mr. Clayton openly welcomed the
Pretender ; another clergyman, Thomas
Coppock, a native of Manchester, was
appointed chaplain to the Manchester
Regiment and promoted to the see of
Carlisle, in which city he was executed in
1746 ; Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. i,
153, etc. ; Procter's Manch. Streets, 193.
88 See Ray's Hist, of the Rebellion, 156 5
Manchester was taken 'by a Serjeant, a
drum, and a woman.' Chevalier John-
ston's account is reprinted in Reilly's
Manch. 237, 238.
89 William Fowden, the constable, was
brought to trial at Carlisle in 1747 for
having executed the orders of Prince
Charles Edward ; it was proved that he
acted under compulsion and he was acquit-
ted. A full account of the matter will
be found in Earwaker's edition of the
Manch. Constables' Accts. iii, 20-28, 354,
355-
90 The officers were : *Francis Towne-
ley, the colonel ; *James Dawson (M),
*George Fletcher, John Sanderson, Peter
Moss, *Andrew Blood, David Morgan,
captains; Thomas T. Deacon (M), Robert
Deacon (M), *Thomas Chadwick, *John
Beswick, John Holker (M), Thomas
Furnival, *James Bradshaw, lieutenants ;
Charles Deacon (M), Samuel Maddock,
Charles Gaylor, James Wilding, John
Hunter, William Brettargh (M), ensigns ;
and *Thomas Siddall (M), adjutant.
Those marked with an asterisk were
executed 5 Moss and Holker escaped ;
Maddock turned king's evidence ; others
were transported. Those marked (M)
belonged to the parish of Manchester.
For James Dawson see Shenstone's ballad ;
Scott, Admiss. to St. John's Coll. Camb.
iii, 88, 488 ; Eagle, xxviii, 229 — last
speech (from Raines's MSS. xxv, 370).
The last speech of James Bradshaw is
in Pal. Note Bk. iii, 274. There are
notices of Dawson and Bradshaw in Diet.
Nat. Biog.
91 A story as to the fate of the heads is
told in Procter's Manch. Streets, 267.
92 See Manch. Constables' Accts. iii, 28,
32, and notes.
98 For accounts of the plans of Man-
180
Chester see Harland's Manch. Collectanea,
i, 100, &c.; C. Roeder in Lanes, and Ches.
Antiq. Soc. xxi, 153.
94 One consequence was that the ancient
fair had ultimately to be removed. A
man living in 1787 could remember corn
and potatoes growing on St. Ann's Square ;
they had to be carted away the day before
the fair as the people had a right to come
to hold the fair whether the crops had
been removed or not ; Manch. Collectanea,
ii, 188.
The fair continued to be held on 10 Oct.
in St. Ann's Square until 1821, when it
was removed to Shude Hill. A popular
holiday festival, known as Knott Mill Fair,
had by that time grown up ; it was held
on Easter Monday. Acres Fair was trans-
ferred to Campfield about 1830. All the
fairs were abolished in 1876. See Axon,
Annals ; Baines, Lanes. Dir. (1825), ii, i 54.
95 The views are — Christ Church
(Cathedral), Trinity (Salford), St. Ann's,
the College, the Exchange, the Quay, and
St. Ann's Square ; the houses of Mr.
Floyd near St. Ann's Square, Mr. Marsden
and Mr. Dickenson in Market Street
Lane, Mr. Croxton in King Street, Mr.
Howarth in Millgate, Mr. Touchet in
Deansgate, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Miles Bower
and his son, Mr. Marriott in Brown's
Street, Messrs. Clowes in Hunt's Bank,
and Francis Reynolds, esq. (Strangeways
Hall). An account of these plans (with
a reproduction) will be found in Procter,
Bygone Manch. 349, &c.
Lists of published views of old Man-
chester are given in the Pal. Note Bk. iii,
53. &c.
«•
'- , >
;. / /'/. :-> '
"••^lA.vrilKNTKK ( '
...xsyv^ L£
m<
in l/i. < ././.•'• /•;'/
///'/. .-/ »— ^1
/../.» I .1 * /'/.it
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. ^ vs. :^^^\. . v5^V-5Yv.^ \«
iMiii i
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PLAN OK MANCHESTER AND SALFORD IN 1772
SALFORD : BULL'S HEAD INN, GREENGATE
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
which also gives a bird's-eye view of the town from
the Salford side of the river, with a sporting scene in
the foreground. Apart from churches and schools the
only public building was the Exchange, built in
1729 by Sir O. Mosley, partly for trade and partly
for a court-house.96
The first newspaper had appeared about 1719,"
but was discontinued in 1726; four years later another
appeared, and had an existence of thirty years. Some
others were attempted from time to time, and in
1752 began the Manchester Mercury, published down
to 1830. The first Directory appeared in ijjz?*
The old Subscription Library began in 1757—65 and
was followed by others."
From the middle of the i8th century the growth
of Manchester was very rapid.100 The improvement
of means of communication was inaugurated in 1721
with the Mersey and Irwell Navigation,101 and the
Duke of Bridgewater's canal system followed in 1758,
being imitated by other canals which within fifty
years connected Manchester with the principal towns
in the manufacturing districts.102 A long series of
road Acts began in 1724, resulting in the straight and
good ways leading from the town in every direction.103
Then came the great series of inventions which
created modern industry — the spinning jenny, power
loom, and others, followed by the substitution of steam
power for the older water wheel.104 With this de-
velopment of manufactures the population also in-
creased rapidly, and the town spread out in all
directions. Externally the people of the district at
that time were the reverse of attractive ; an American
visitor about 1780 describes them as 'inhospitable
and boorish . . . remarkable for coarseness of feature;
and the language is unintelligible.' 105 The Sunday
schools, begun about 1781, probably had a good effect
in that respect.
A plan prepared about 1790 shows that the net-
work of modern, regular streets had covered a large
part of the central township of Manchester, and was
spreading over the boundaries into Hulme, Chorlton,
and Salford. These streets, often narrow, lined with
small and poorly-built houses, did not add to the
attractiveness of the town.106 Though little attention
96 There was another Exchange in
King Street ; see Manch. Constables' Accts.
iii, 169.
9< This was called the Weekly Journal;
it was printed by Roger Adams, Parson-
age, who also issued the Mathematical
Lectures of John Jackson, the first known
Manchester-printed work ; Lanes, and
Ches. Antiq. Soc. iv, 13. For Orion Adams,
son of Roger, see Pal. Note Bk. iii, 48 ; and
for notices of the local press, Local Glean.
Lanes, and Ches. i, 54, 67 ; ii, 6, 142, &c.
An account of the early Manchester
booksellers (1600-1700) will be found in
Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. vi, I. For
the Lanes. Journ. 1738-9, see Pal. Note
Bk. ii, 205.
Much information about the news-
papers is collected in Procter's Manch.
Streets, 165, &c. There were printers in
Manchester as early as 1692.
98 An account of the earlier Directories
•will be found in Manch. Collectanea, i,
119-66. The dates are — Raffald, 1772,
1773, 1781 ; Holme, 1788 ; Scholes,
1794, 1797 ; Bancks, 1800 ; Dean, 1804,
1808 ; Pigot, 1811. Those of 1772 and
1773 were reprinted in 1889. There is
a notice of the Pigots in R. W. Procter's
Bygone Manch.
89 See W. E. A. Axon, Public Libs, of
Manch. and Salford (1877). The books
of the Old Subscription Library were sold
in 1867. The New (or Exchange) Circu-
lating Library was founded in 1792;
the Portico in Mosley Street, 1802-6;
the Law Library in 1820; the Medical
in 1834; the Athenaeum in 1835, the
building being opened in 1839 ; while the
Free Public Libraries of Salford and Man-
chester date from 1849-52.
On the Hebrew Roll of the Pentateuch
in the Chetham Library see Lanes, and
Ches. Antiq. Soc. ii, 54 ; on the Black-
letter Ballads in the Free Library, and the
valuable Owen MSS. in the same, see
ibid, ii, 21 ; xvii, 48. A MS. in the
Chetham Library (Civil War) is reported
in Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ii, App. 156.
The Christie and Bishop Lee collec-
tions in the library of the University must
also be mentioned.
100 It is stated in Baines's Lanes, (ed.
1836), ii, 306, that an endeavour was
made in 1763 to have Manchester made
into a borough, but that the same political
and sectarian jealousies which operated in
1731 defeated the scheme. The High
Church party celebrated their triumph by
a procession and dinner at Chorlton,
known as the ' Chorlton Rant.' It had
been discontinued before 1783 ; see
Ogden, Description (ed. Axon), 14, 15.
101 7 Geo. I, cap. 1 5 ; amended 34
Geo. Ill, cap. 37. The quay figured on
the plan of 1751 was perhaps due to this
enterprise ; it gave a name to Quay
Street.
loa The following are the canals (see
W. Axon, Annals] : Worsley to Man-
chester, 1759 ; opened 1761 ; 32 Geo. II,
cap. 2, and 33 Geo. II, cap. 2. Manchester
to Bolton and Bury, 1790 ; 30 Geo. Ill,
cap. 68. Manchester to Ashton-under-
Lyne and Oldham, with a later branch to
Huddersfield ; 32 Geo. Ill, cap. 84.
Rochdale to Halifax and Manchester,
1794-1804 ; extended to the Irwell in
1836; 34 Geo. Ill, cap. 78; 6 & 7
Will. IV, cap. 115.
The Directory of 1772 shows that a
stage-coach ran from Manchester to Lon-
don three times a week, performing the
journey in two days in summer and three
in winter. A stage-coach from Salford to
Liverpool also ran three days a week.
There were a large number of wagons
carrying to the principal towns of the
country. A considerable number of vessels
plied on the Irwell and Bridgewater navi-
gation systems, including a boat between
Knott Mill and Altrincham thrice a week.
103 The following list of Road Acts to
1830 is taken from Axon's Annals and
W. Harrison's essay in Lanes, and Cbes.
Antiq. Soc. x, 237, &c. : —
1724 — n Geo. I, cap. 13 ; Chapel-en-
le-Frith to Manchester.
1732 — 5 Geo. II, cap. 10 ; Manchester,
Ashton, &c.
1735 — 8 Geo. II, cap. 3 ; Manchester,
Oldham, &c.
1751 — 24 Geo. II, cap. 13 ; Crossford
Bridge to Manchester; also 37 Geo. Ill,
cap. 71.
1755 — 28 Geo. II, cap. 58 ; Manches-
ter, Crumpsall, and Rochdale.
1793 — 33 Geo. Ill, cap. 139; Man-
chester to Ashton-under-Lyne, &c.
1793 — 33 Geo. Ill, cap. 170 ; Ardwick
Green to Wilmslow ; also 39 Geo. Ill,
cap. 64.
181
1793 — 33 Geo. Ill, cap. 171 ; Buxton,
through Stockport to Manchester ; also
41 Geo. Ill, cap. 96.
1793 — 33 Geo. Ill, cap. 181 ; Salford
to Wigan, &c.
1798 — 38 Geo. Ill, cap. 49 ; Man-
chester to Bury and Rochdale ; also 54
Geo. Ill, cap. i.
1799 — 39 Geo. Ill, cap. 25 ; Man-
chester to Oldham, &c.; also 46 Geo. Ill,
cap. 63.
1804 — 44 Geo. Ill, cap. 49 ; Rochdale
by Middleton to Manchester.
1806 — 46 Geo. Ill, cap. 2; Great
Bridgewater Street, through Salford to
Eccles.
1817 — 57 Geo. Ill, cap. 47; Man-
chester to Newton Chapel.
1818 — 58 Geo. Ill, cap. 6 ; Manche*-
ter to Hyde Lane Bridge.
1824 — 5 Geo. IV, cap. 143 ; Man-
chester to Bolton.
1825 — 6 Geo. IV, cap. 51 ; Great
Ancoats to Audenshaw.
1826 — 7 Geo. IV, cap. 81 ; Hunt's
Bank to Pilkington.
1830—11 Geo. IV and i Will. IV,
cap. 23 ; Chorlton Row to Wilmslow.
104 What was called the « Manchester
Act' (9 Geo. II, cap. 4), legalizing the
manufacture of stuffs made of linen yarn
and cotton wool, was passed in 1736.
An account of the earlier development
of the trade of the district, with statistics,
will be found in Wheeler's Manch. (1836),
141-244. The first cotton mill in Man-
chester is said to have been built about
1782 in Miller Street ; Local Glean. Lanes,
and Cbes. i, 80.
105 Samuel Curwen, a refugee from the
Revolutionary war, 1775-84 ; printed
in Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. i, 259.
106 In a guide book of 1857, quoting
from the Cotton Metropolis in Chambers'
Repository, is the following : ' The oldest
and the worst working district of Man-
chester is the region known as Ancoats
Here, however, you will find the truest
specimens of the indigenous Lancashire
population and hear the truest version of
the old Anglo-Saxon pronunciation . . .
The type of the true Lancashire spinner
and weaver lingers in its dark alleys and
undrained courts in greater purity than in
any of the more recent, more improved,
and more healthy districts.'
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
was paid to beauty by the busy and prosperous
traders, it became necessary, in the interests of busi-
ness itself, to widen the old streets in the heart of
the town. In 1775, therefore, an Act was sought
for raising money for this purpose,10' and similar Acts
have been obtained frequently since, the result being
a great improvement in the appearance of the grow-
ing town.108
New bridges over the Irwell also became necessary.
Blackfriars Bridge was erected in 1761 in a temporary
manner by a company of comedians playing in the
riding school in Salford, in order to induce Manchester
people to patronize them, and was afterwards kept up
at the public charge. It was at first a wooden bridge,
flagged, for foot passengers only ; the approach from
the Manchester side was down twenty-nine steps, to
gain the level of Water Street in Salford.109 In 1817
the old bridge was taken down and replaced by a stone
one.110 In 1783 was laid the foundation of the New
Bailey Bridge, opened in 1785 ; it was built by sub-
scription, and a toll was charged until 1803, the
capital having by that time been refunded.111 Regent's
Bridge was opened in 1 8o8,m about the same time as
Broughton Bridge leading from Salford to Broughton.113
The Strangeways Iron Bridge was built in i8i7,lu
and others have followed. Aston's Picture of Man-
chester in 1 8 1 6 states that there were also seven bridges
over the Irk, including Ducie Bridge, completed in
1814; nine bridges over the Medlock, and others
over Shooter's Brook and various canals.115
The same guide book notices the following public
buildings in addition to churches and schools : The
Infirmary and Asylum in Piccadilly,116 the Lying-in
Hospital in Salford, close to the old bridge,117 the
House of Recovery for infectious diseases, near the
Infirmary,118 the Poor House u* and House of Correc-
tion lto at Hunt's Bank, the Poor House m and New
Bailey Prison m in Salford, the Exchange, built in
1 806-9, m somewhat behind the old one, also libraries
and theatres.124"9 The compiler could urge little in
favour of the appearance of the town at that time :
' The old part of the town is sprinkled with a
motley assemblage of old and new buildings, and
the streets, except where they were improved by the
Acts of 1775 and 1791, are very narrow. The
new streets contain many capital modern houses, but
they are more distinguished for their internal than
their external elegance.' After noticing Mosley
Street and Piccadilly, he proceeds : * There are few
other streets which can claim credit for their being
pleasantly situated, attention having been too minutely
directed to the value of land to sacrifice much to
public convenience or the conservation of health.
This, perhaps, has occasioned the present prevalent
disposition of so many persons, whose business is
carried on in the town, to reside a little way from
it, that the pure breath of Heaven may freely blow
upon them.' 1S<)
The agricultural land still remaining in the parish
is utilized as follows : — Arable land, 4,835 acres ;.
W 1 6 Geo. Ill, cap. 63. Exchange
Street, leading to St. Ann's Square, was
then formed. A deed referring to the im-
provements of this time is printed in Local
Glean. Lanes, and Cbes. i, 135.
108 A description of the town as it was
in 1783 was reprinted in 1887, with a
memoir of the author, James Ogden
(1718-1802), a native of the town, by
Mr. W. E. A. Axon. It was followed by
numerous guide books.
In 1821 an Act (i & 2 Geo. IV, cap.
126) was obtained for widening Market
Street ; the schedule contains a list of the
owners and occupiers. The work was not
completed till 1834. In 1832 an Act
was passed for the improvement of London
Road ; 2 Will. IV, cap. 36.
109 Joseph Aston, Mancb. (1816), 200.
The author afterwards removed to Roch-
dale and lived at Chadderton Hall, Old-
ham ; he died in 1844 ; Procter, Manch.
Streets, 164-74.
110 57 Geo. Ill, cap. 58. The new
bridge was opened in 1820, a toll of J</.
was levied on each passenger, the result
being that passage by it was avoided. It
was made free in 1848.
111 Aston, Manch. 200. It was rebuilt
in 1844 and called the Albert Bridge.
113 Ibid. 202. A toll was levied until
1848.
1U Ibid. 201. It was built by Samuel
Clowes in 1804-6, as an aid to the develop-
ment of his Broughton estate. His tenants
had a free passage, others paid a toll. It
was rebuilt in 1869 and made free in
1872.
114 56 Geo. Ill, cap. 62. Lord Ducie's
tenants were exempt from the toll.
115 Op. cit. 202-4. Six of the Irk
bridges were low and liable to be over-
flowed in flood time, but the seventh, the
Ducie Bridge (finished in 1816), was
lofty.
116 Ibid. 116-25. The Infirmary was
first established in Garden Street, Shude
Hill, in 1752, and removed to new build-
ings in Piccadilly (then called Lever's Row)
in 1755. In front of it were the old Daub-
holes, afterwards transformed into a piece
of ornamental water, with a fountain ;
this was removed in 1857. A lunatic
asylum was added in 1765, public baths
in 1781, and a dispensary in 1792. The
building was refaced with stone about 1835.
The lunatic asylum was removed to Stock-
port Etchells in 1854.
Lever's Row was so named from the
estate and town house of the Levers of
Alkrington ; see Lanes, and Cbes. Antiq.
Soc. xx, 238.
117 Aston, Picture of Manch. 127—33.
The charity was founded in 1790
and at first housed at the south-west
end of the Old Bridge ; it was removed
in 1796 to Stanley Street, Salford, by
the New Bailey Prison. In 1821 it
was again removed, finding a home
on the Manchester side of the Irwell, near
St. Mary's Church. From this it seems
to have taken the name of St. Mary's
Hospital, by which it is now known. To
commemorate Queen Victoria's visit in
1851 a new building was erected, which
was opened in 1856. This has now been
abandoned, a new St. Mary's being opened
in Oxford Road in 1904. The Southern
Hospital formerly at Chorlton has been
amalgamated with it.
U8 Ibid. 134-7. I* was opened in
1796.
19 Ibid. 161. It is on the north side
of Victoria Station and was opened in
1793; the manufacture of cotton goods was
carried on in the house, and in 1815
produced a profit of £222. The present
workhouse, built in 1855, is in Crump-
sail.
180 Ibid. 192. It is supposed to have
182
represented the New Fleet Prison erected
in the time of Queen Elizabeth for the
punishment of ' Popish recusants.' A new
building was erected in 1774 and removed
in 1790. The prisoners at one time used
to hang out bags for alms. There is a full
account of it in Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc.
iii, 89. A new borough gaol built in Hyde
Road in 1847-9 wa8 demolished about
1885.
m Aston, Picture of Manch. 164, It
was situated in Greengate, and opened
in 1793. It was pulled down in 1856,
the new workhouse in Regent Road hav-
ing been opened.
122 Ibid. 194. The foundation stone
was laid by T. B. Bayley in 1787 ; the
building was a consequence of John
Howard's prison reform.
188 Ibid. 204 ; the old building had
become little more than 'a harbour for
vagrants and dirt.' It was greatly extended
and partly rebuilt in 1845-56, and from
1851 has been named the Royal Ex-
change. In 1866 an Act was obtained
to enable the proprietors to pull it down
and rebuild it. The eastern facade re-
mains.
124.9 por tne libraries, see note 99
(P. 181).
The first theatre was built in Marsden
Street in 1753, but not used till 1760 ^
Manch. Guardian N. and Q. no. 1233. It
was replaced by the Theatre Royal, under
a special Act of Parliament, in 1775. A
new Theatre Royal was opened in 1807,
the old building being used as a circus ;
Aston, Manch. 181-6. The Theatre
Royal was burnt down in 1 844, and rebuilt
in the following year.
The Assembly Rooms in Mosley Street
were opened in 1792; ibid. 187. They
were sold in 1850, new ones being built in
Cheetham.
180 Ibid. 219-20.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
permanent grass, 9,460 ; woods and plantations,
56.131
In addition to the older charities mentioned many
have since been founded, providing for most of the ills
of humanity.1" A number of scientific and literary
societies, beginning with the Literary and Philoso-
phical Society in 1781, have also been established.133
There are many musical societies and a vast number
of religious organizations.
While the development of Greater Manchester in
these respects was proceeding steadily the religious and
political progress of the people was comparatively
peaceful. The Methodist Revival soon affected Man-
chester, and John Wesley paid the town many visits
between 1747 and 1790 ; but perhaps the most
singular religious movement was Swedenborgianism.
The American Shakers owe their foundation to Ann
Lee, a Manchester woman born in Todd Lane in
1736. She joined herself to an obscure sect, believed
to be the ' prophets,' mentioned as having meetings in
1712, and being accepted as 'Ann the Word' emi-
grated to America, where she died in I784.1" Many
churches and chapels for different denominations were
built, but some have disappeared, the congregations
having migrated or become extinct. The Manchester
Socinian Controversy of 1825 was brought about by
speeches made at the departure of one of the ministers
of Cross Street Chapel for Liverpool. The * Ortho-
dox ' Nonconformists resented the assumption that the
Unitarians represented the Presbyterians and Indepen-
dents ejected from their cures in i662.13S
After the retreat of the Pretender the internal
conflicts were those resulting from scarcity of food and
work — one of which, in 1757, was known as the Shude
Hill fight — and the later ones due to party politics.136
A body of volunteers, known as the 72nd or Man-
181 The details are given thus : —
< O £
ac. ac. ac.
Blackley . .... 167 1,040 —
Broughton .... 126 185 —
Burnage 401 351 —
Cheetham .... — 85 —
Clayton — 167 —
Crumpsall .... 43 258 —
Denton and Haughton 291 1,477 4°
Didsbury 311 548 5
Droylsden .... 3 692 —
Failsworth .... — 512 —
Gorton 39 354 —
Levenshulme ... 2 253 —
Manchester (part) . . 462 452 —
Moston no 702 —
Newton 19 172 —
Openshaw .... — 6 —
Rusholme .... 10 420 —
Stockport (part) . . 262 658 3
Stretford and Chorl-
ton-with-Hardy . .1,663 771 —
Withington .... 926 357 8
188 The following is a list of the exist-
ing medical and philanthropic charities of
the Manchester district, in addition to the
endowed chanties to be recorded later :
Ancoats Hospital and Ardwick and
Ancoats Dispensary, 1841.
Ancoats Dispensary for Women and
Children.
Chorlton-upoti-Medlock, Rusholme and
Moss Side Dispensary, 1831.
Christie Hospital (Cancer Pavilion),
Oxford Street.
Ear Hospital, Byrom Street.
Homoeopathic Institution.
Consumption Hospital, near Deansgate
with houses at Bowdon and Dela-
mere, 1875.
Hospital for Skin Diseases, Quay
Street, 1835.
Hulme Dispensary, 1831.
Lock Hospital, Duke Street, 1819.
Children's Dispensary, Gartside Street.
Jewish Hospital, Cheetham.
Medical Mission Dispensary, Red Bank.
Northern Hospital for Women and
Children at Cheetham.
Royal Eye Hospital, founded in 1815,
in King Street ; removed to Faulk-
ner Street, 1822; to St. John's
Street, 1874; and to Oxford Road,
1886.
Royal Infirmary, 1752.
St. Mary's Hospital, founded in Salford,
1790.
Salford Royal Hospital and Dispensary,
1827.
Victoria Dental Hospital, Chorlton-
upon-Medlock.
Deaf and Dumb Institute, Chorlton-
upon-Medlock ; first opened in 1825
in Salford.
Homes for Children, Cheetham Hill.
All-night Shelter for Children, Picca-
dilly.
Workshops for the Blind, Deansgate.
Home for Aged Jews, Cheetham.
Home for Fallen Women, Broughton.
St. Mary's Home for Fallen Women,
Rusholme.
Penitentiary, 1822; new building at
Greenheys, 1837.
Mrs. MacAlpine's Homes for Women,
Greenheys.
Day Nursery, Salford.
Whalley Range Orphanage.
District Provident Society.
Boys' and Girls' Refuge.
Catholic Protection and Rescue So-
ciety.
Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society.
Blind Aid Society.
Night Asylum.
Distressed Foreigners' Society.
Home for Lost Dogs, Harpurhey.
Shelter for Lost Cats, Cheetham.
188 Agricultural Society, 1767.
Literary and Philosophical Society,
1781.
Philological Society, 1803, and Biblio-
graphical Society, flourished but a
short time.
Natural History Society, 1821-68 ; the
museum, founded in 1835, was given
to Owens College.
Royal Manchester Institution, 1823.
Botanical and Horticultural Society,
1824 and 1827, with gardens at Old
Trafford.
Mechanics' Institute, 1825; New
Mechanics' Institute, 1829.
Lancashire Antiquarian Society, 1829,
a failure.
Banksian Society of Botanists, chiefly
artisans, 1829-36.
Architectural Society, 1837, now de-
funct. It has been replaced by an
influential Society of Architects.
School of Design, afterwards School of
Art, 1838; now controlled by the
Corporation.
Geological Society, 1839; one of its
founders was Edward William Binney,
a distinguished geologist, who died in
1881.
Chetham Society, 1 843 ; the Old Series
of its publications numbered 1 14
I83
volumes ; the New Series (1883
onwards) has reached over 60.
Manchester Numismatic Society, 1864—
73. It issued Transactions.
Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian
Society, 1883 ; a volume of Transac-
tions is issued yearly.
Statistical Society. 1834 ; a volume is
issued yearly.
Conchological Society.
Academy of Fine Arts.
Astronomical Society.
Entomological Society. ,"
Field Naturalists' Society.
Geographical Society. It publishes a
Journal.
Literary Club, 1862. It issues the
Manchester Quarterly.
Microscopical Society.
Philatelic Society.
184 See W. Axon, Lanes. Glean. 79 ;
also Mancb. Constables' Accts. (1772), iii,
227, 229, 256.
185 The speeches and letters were re-
printed in a small volume, which is valu-
able as giving the history of many of the
old Nonconformist chapels in Lancashire,
all or most of which were at the time in
the hands of Unitarians.
181 The Shude Hill fight was a food
riot ; a corn mill at Clayton was destroyed.
Four of the rioters were killed. See the
account in Manch. Constables' Accts. iii,
Axon, Manch. Annals, records the
following later riots :
1762, Riots due to the high price of
corn in July ; see Manch. Constables'
Accts. iii, 370-2.
1779-80, Serious riots due to the intro-
duction of spinning machinery.
1780, Riot owing to the indignation
aroused by some military floggings.
1793, Effigy of Tom Paine burnt by
the populace.
1795, Food riot in July.
1797, Food riots in November.
1798, Food riots in December.
1 807, Riot between the Orangemen and
the Irish, 13 July.
1808, Riot owing to a wages dispute in
May ; one weaver killed.
1812, Food riots in April.
1818, Attack on a factory ; one man
killed.
1819, Riot in the theatre over politics.
1824, Labour riots in April.
1826, Riots in May, due to commercial
distress.
1829, Similar riots in May ; several
factories destroyed
1842, Strikers' riot.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Chester Regiment, was raised in 1777 to serve in the
war of American Independence. It took part with
distinction in the defence of Gibraltar in 1781-2, and
was disbanded in I783-137 In 1789 the Dissenters
petitioned Parliament for the repeal of the Test and
Corporation Acts, and this led to a revival of dissen-
sions. The advocates of reform were stigmatized as
Jacobins, and refused admission to public houses.138
The Government was suspicious, and in 1 794 indicted
Thomas Walker and others for conspiring to over-
throw the constitution and aid the French in case
they should invade the kingdom. The charges
rested on perjured evidence and were dismissed.139 The
fear of invasion at the same time led to the raising of
two regiments of ' Volunteers ' in 1 794, and others
were raised later.140
The misgovernment of the town, the disagreements
between employers and employed, and occasional
periods of famine or bad trade all contributed to
quicken the desire for reform both in the town and
in the country at large.141 In 1812 Radical meetings
were held, at one of which, in Ancoats, thirty-eight
workmen were arrested on charges of sedition ; they
were acquitted on trial.142 The agitation began again
in 1816, when meetings were held in St. Peter's
Field, on the south side of Peter Street ; they excited
alarm and were stopped for a time ; but were resumed
in iSig.143 This resulted in what was denominated
the * Peterloo massacre.' A meeting on 9 August
having been prohibited, another was summoned for
the 1 6th, which the magistrates resolved to disperse
by arresting Henry Hunt, the leader of the agitation,
in the face of the meeting, supposed to number 60,000.
There were regular troops at hand, but the duty was
assigned to the Manchester Yeomanry, described as
* hot-headed young men who had volunteered into
that service from their intense hatred of Radicalism.' 144
These drew their swords and dashed into the crowd,
while Hunt was speaking, but were unable to effect
their purpose, and were themselves in danger from
overwhelming numbers ; whereupon the hussars
charged and dispersed the assembly. Some were killed,
and about 600 wounded. The magistrates considered
they themselves had done well, and received a letter
of thanks from the Prince Regent ; but a fierce storm
was aroused in Manchester and the whole district.145
Henry Hunt and four others were brought to trial
and condemned for unlawful assembly. For a time
the agitation in this form ceased, but Manchester
showed itself clearly on the side of reform in i832,14S
and was the birth-place of the Anti-Corn Law League
of i838.147 The Chartist movement of 1848 had
adherents in Manchester, and many arrests were made
by the police.148 The rescue of Fenian prisoners in
1867 was a startling incident.149
The first royal visit to the district was that of
Henry VII in I495.150 The next, after a long
interval, was that of Queen Victoria in 1851 ; she
stayed at Worsley Hall and came through Salford to
Manchester.151 She visited the Art Treasures Exhibi-
tion at Old Trafford in 1857, and in 1894 formally
opened the Ship Canal. More recently, on 1 3 July
1905, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra
opened a new dock of the Ship Canal.
The government of the district was greatly altered
by the formation of the municipal boroughs of
Manchester in 1838 and of Salford in 1844. After
several extensions of the former the ancient townships
then within its bounds were in 1896 reduced to three
— Manchester, North Manchester, and South Man-
chester ; more recently the borough has been enlarged
again. The township of Reddish has been added to
the borough of Stockport.
While Manchester has taken a prominent part in
English commerce and politics, it has not neglected
learning. Its University is a typical modern one.15*
It traces its origin to the bequest of some £97,000
by a local merchant, John Owens, who died in
1846. He desired to found a college for higher
studies which should be free from all religious tests,
and in 1851 his wish took effect, the Owens College
being opened in Quay Street, with a staff of five pro-
fessors and two other teachers. Its first principal
was A. J. Scott, the friend of Edward Irving. After
a struggling existence it seemed about to fail, but in
1857, under Dr. J. G. Greenwood as principal, and
with (Sir) Henry Roscoe as professor of chemistry, it
began to grow. In 1870-1 it was reorganized,153 and
the management was transferred from the founder's
trustees to a court of governors, and in 1873 the old
site was left for the present one in Oxford Street.
Not long afterwards came proposals to raise the college
to the position of a degree-giving university. After
opposition from other colleges it was agreed with the
Yorkshire College at Leeds that the new university
should have its seat at Manchester but should not bear
187 Manch. Guard, N. and Q. no. 303,
720.
138 Prentice, Mane A. 7-9, 419, &c.
189 Ibid. 10-14.
140 For the volunteers of 1783, 1798,
and 1804, see Local Glean. Lanes, and
Ches. i, 73 ; ii, 44 ; i, 25, 14, &c.
141 The story of the political agitation
of the time is told in Archibald Prentice's
Recollections of Manch. (1851), referred to
above. The author was the son of a Scotch
farmer and settled in the town in 1815,
starting the Manch. Times, afterwards the
Examiner and Times, in the interest of re-
form. He died at Plymouth Grove,
Chorlton-upon-Medlock, in 1857.
148 Prentice, op. cit. 76-82, and 'Trial
at full length of the 38 men,' 1812.
MS see Prentice, op. cit. 159-71. The
attendants at these meetings came from
all the factory districts around Manches-
ter, as Oldham, Rochdale, and Middleton.
144 Prentice, op. cit. 160.
146 The magistrates considered to be
chiefly responsible were William Hulton
of Hulton Park and the Rev. W. R. Hay.
In their defence they could urge the
turbulence of the population, which had
often manifested itself, and the seditious
and even revolutionary character of many
of the speeches made at such gatherings.
' Protestant ascendancy ' was one of the
watchwords on the anti-reform side.
146 Prentice, op. cit. 394-418.
"7 Reilly, Manch. 361, &c.
148 Ibid. 446.
149 Two Fenian head centres, Kelly and
Deasey, were rescued from the prison van
in Hyde Road by a band of armed Fenians
on 1 8 Sept. ; the policeman in charge,
Sergeant Brett, was shot. For this crime
three men, Allen, Gould, and Larkin, were
executed at the New Bailey, Salford, on
23 Nov. ls« On 5 Aug.
151 An account of the visit will be
found in Procter, Manch. Streets, 85-98.
184
153 This account has been compiled
from Joseph Thompson's elaborate ac-
count of the first thirty-five years' history,
The Owens College, 1886 ; P. J. Hartog's
The Owens College, Manch. 1900, which
gives a detailed account of the build-
ings and work at that date ; Manch. of
To-day (ed. C. W. Sutton), 1907.
Mr. Thompson gives the petition of the
people of Manchester addressed to Parlia-
ment in 1641, praying that a university
might be founded in the town ; op. cit.
512-16.
iss BV Acts of Parliament in 1870 and
1871, rendered necessary by a movement
begun some years earlier for the extension,
of the college.
A grant of arms was obtained in 1871.
The Royal School of Medicine at Man-
chester, founded in 1836, was incorporated
with the college in 1872. The Museum
of the Natural History Society was taken
over at the same time.
c
SALFORD HUNDRED
a local name.154 Thus Victoria University came to
be founded by royal charter in 1880, the Owens
College being the first college in it. From the out-
set attendance at courses of lectures was required from
candidates for degrees, the university being a teaching
body.155 University College, Liverpool, was admitted
in 1884, and Yorkshire College, Leeds, in 1887.
This federal constitution was dissolved in 1903, when
Liverpool and Manchester became seats of separate
universities, the Owens College being then incor-
porated with the latter under the name of the Victoria
University of Manchester.156
The charter defines the constitution. The govern-
ing body is the court, consisting of the chancellor,
vice-chancellor, and other members, in part repre-
sentative of local bodies ; it appoints the council
which acts as an executive committee. The studies
are controlled by the senate, which consists of the
professors ; under it are the boards of the eight
separate faculties in which degrees are given : Arts,
Science, Law, Music, Commerce, Theology, Tech-
nology, and Medicine. The staff comprises forty-
four professors and a large body of lecturers. Women
are admitted to all degrees. Liberal endowments have
been given by Manchester men and others,157 and the
university receives annual grants from the national
treasury, the county councils of Lancashire and
Cheshire, and Manchester and other local corpora-
tions.158
The corporations of Manchester and Sal ford provide
great technical and art schools. There is a training
school for candidates for the Church of England
ministry, and important colleges of several of the
chief Nonconformist churches — Wesleyan, Primitive
and Free Methodist, Congregational, Baptist, and
Unitarian — have long been established on the south
side of Manchester for the education of ministers.159
Secondary and elementary education is well pro-
vided for by the Grammar School, the High School
for girls, and a multitude of others.
Of the various social movements of the last century
there may be mentioned as originating in Manches-
ter : the Rechabite Society, founded in 1835 ; the
MANCHESTER
Vegetarian Society, 1847; the United Kingdom
Alliance, 1853 ; and the Manchester Unity of Odd-
fellows.160 Co-operative societies were organized in
1859.
Out of the multitude of useful and distinguished
men who have been associated with Manchester either
by their birth or labours, notices of some will be
found in the accounts of their families, or of the
townships to which they belonged ; for example,
Hugh Oldham, Humphrey Chetham, and Thomas de
Quincey. Among those whose office or work brought
them to the district, may be named Dr. Dee and
others of the wardens of the Collegiate Church ;
Bishop Fraser ; 161 John Dalton, enunciator of the
atomic theory and one of the greatest chemists, who
lived in Manchester from 1793 until his death in
l844;16> Thomas Henry, also a chemist of dis-
tinction, who died in 1 8 l 6 ; 163 four distinguished
engineers : Eaton Hodgkinson, who died in i86i,164
Richard Roberts, who died in i864,164a Sir Joseph
Whitworth, 1803-87, founder of the Whitworth
scholarships,165 and Sir William Fairbairn, 1789-
l874;166 Sir Charles Halle, the musician, who
founded the celebrated Hall6 concerts in 1 8 5 8 ; 167
Richard Cobden, the free-trade leader ; l68 William
Robert Whatton, who, born at Loughborough, 1790,
settled in Manchester and wrote a history of the
school ; 169 John Harland, journalist, a diligent explorer
of the antiquities of the city and county in which he
had settled ;170 Thomas Jones, 1810-75, librarian of
the Chetham Library for many years ; m John Ferriar,
M.D., who became physician to the Infirmary in
1785 and died in 1815 ;172 Thomas Cogan, some-
time master of the Grammar School, who died in
1607 ; 17S James Crossley, born in 1800 at Halifax,
but resident in Manchester from 1 8 1 6 till his death
in 1883, distinguished as an essayist, antiquary, and
book collector;174 Richard Copley Christie, 1830-
1901, another bibliophile, who was chancellor of the
diocese of Manchester, professor at Owens College,
and one of the Whitworth Trustees.174* Andrea
Crestadoro, born at Genoa in 1808, librarian of the
Free Library in 1864 until his death in i879.17i
144 Thompson, op. cit. 530-41.
155 A supplemental charter for medical
degrees was obtained in 1883.
156 The charter of 1903 and the Act of
1904 incorporating Owens College with
Manchester University will be found in
full in the annual Calendar. This volume
of over 800 pages gives full information
as to courses of study, &c. and an appen-
dix of 500 pages contains the examination
papers.
157 Large sums have been raised by
subscription. The principal individual
benefactors have been Charles Frederick
Beyer, Richard Copley Christie, Charles
Clifton of Jersey, U. S. A., and the legatees
of Sir Joseph Whitworth. The capital
amounts to about £1,000,000.
133 The Hulme Trustees give £1,000
a year.
159 There is also a Moravian college at
Fairfield to the east.
160 This was a union of the lodges in
the Manchester district, effected in 1810 ;
it has extended over a great part of the
kingdom, and become one of the greatest
of the friendly societies.
161 James Fraser, second Bishop of
Manchester, 1870-85 ; see Diet. Nat.
Biog. and memoir by Thomas Hughes
(1887). James Prince Lee, first bishop,
1847-69, is also noticed in Diet. Nat. Biog.;
he left his library to Owens College.
162 Ibid. ; and Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1868),
1,413-15. He was from 1817 till his
death president of the Manchester Literary
and Philosophical Society, and many of
his dissertations are printed in its Transac-
tions.
168 Diet. Nat. Biog. ; he preceded Dalton
as president of the Literary and Philoso-
phical Society.
164 Ibid. ; Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1868), i,
415-18. He was an authority on the
strength of materials.
I64a D;C tf pfati slog.
165 He discovered a method of producing
a true plane surface, elaborated a system
of standard measures and gauges, experi-
mented on rifles and cannon. His great
works were amalgamated with those of
the Armstrongs at Elswick in 1897 ; see
notice in Diet. Nat. Biog.
166 Ibid. ; there is a biography by Wil-
liam Pole.
167 Ibid. He was born in Westphalia,
but settled in Manchester in 1848 ; he
was knighted in 1888 and died in 1895.
168 Life, by John Morley, and Diet. Nat.
Biog. He settled in Manchester in 1832 ;
I85
soon afterwards began to advocate free
trade, and in 1838 became a leader of the
Anti-Corn Law League ; sat in Parlia-
ment for various constituencies from 1 841 ;
died in 1865.
169 Diet. Nat. Biog. He wrote the
biographies in the first edition of Baines'
Lanes.
170 There are notices of him in his and
Wilkinson's Legends and Traditions of
Lanes. ; in the Reliq. 1868 (by James
Croston), and Diet. Nat. Biog. He edited
Mamecestre and other works for the
Chetham Society, republished Gregson's
Fragments and Baines' Hist. &c. He was
editor of the Manch. Guard., retiring in
1860. He died at Cheetham Hill, 23 Apr.
1868.
171 Diet. Nat. Biog. ; N. and Q. (5th
Ser.), iv, 479.
172 See Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Pal. Note Bk. i,
178 ; ii, 45, &c. ; and for his sons ; ibid,
ii, 192.
178 Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Pal. Note Bk. iii, 77.
A later head master, also fellow of the
Collegiate Church, Henry Brooke, who
died in 1757, is noticed in Diet. Nat. Biog.
174 Diet. Nat. Biog. There is a portrait
in the Chetham Library.
174» Ibid. 17* Ibid.
24
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Benefactors of the town were Oliver Heywood,
i8z5-92,176 and Herbert Philips, I834-I9O5.177
The list of noteworthy natives of the parish is a
long one, and, as might be expected, many of the
more famous have found their opportunities outside
its bounds. The names 178 include Thomas Sorocold,
1591-1617, author of Supplications of Saints ; 178a John
Booker, 1601-67, a notorious astrologer;179 Samuel
Bolton, D.D., 1607-54, a Puritan divine, born in
Manchester ; 18° John Worthington, D.D., 1618-71,
master of Jesus College, Cambridge, during the Com-
monwealth period ; 181 John Chorlton, Presbyterian
divine, 1666-1705 ; 18> Henry Gore, who died in
1733, a mathematician; James Heywood, author,
1687-1722 ;188 Thomas Falkner, S.J., 1706-84,
author of an account of Patagonia ; m Robert Thyer,
born in 1709, was Chetham Librarian from 1732
till his death in 1781 ; 1S5 Thomas Patten, a divine,
1714-90 ; 186 Samuel Ogden, D.D., 1716-78, Wood-
wardian professor at Cambridge ; 187 Charles White,
M.D., 1728-1813, an eminent surgeon;188 John
Whitaker, 1735-1808, a fanciful antiquary, who
published two volumes of a History of Manchester ; 18S
Thomas Barritt, 1 743-1 820, saddler and antiquary ; 19°
George Hibbert, merchant and collector, 1757—
*837 ; m John Hampson, miscellaneous writer,
1760-1817 ;19* William Green, 1760-1823, the
Lake artist ; 193 John Hadden Hindley, oriental
scholar, 1765-1827; IM Daniel Orme, portrait painter,
c. 1766-1832 ; 196 Joseph Entwisle, the 'boy
preacher,' 1767-1841 ; 196 James Crowther, botanist,
1 768-1 847 ;197 John Allen, D.D., 1770-1845,
Bishop of Ely ; 198 William Ford, bookseller and biblio-
grapher, 1771-1832 ; m James Townley, a Wesleyan
divine, 1774-1833 ; *°° Charles Hulbert, miscellane-
ous writer, 1778-1857 ;M1 Jabez Bunting, D.D.,
1779—1858, another celebrated Wesleyan minister;*01
Samuel Clegg, gas engineer, 1781-1861 ; m Samuel
Hibbert, M.D., 1782-1848, who wrote a history of
the Manchester Foundations ; in 1837 he assumed the
additional surname of Ware ; 2M Edward Hobson,
botanist, 1782-1830 ;205 George Ormerod, 1785-
1873, the historian of Cheshire ; I06 Benjamin Raw-
linson Faulkner, portrait painter, 1787-1849 ; 207
Francis Russell Hall, D.D., theological writer, 1788-
1866 ;208 John Briggs, b. 1778, Bishop of Trachis,
Vicar Apostolic of the northern district, 1836, and
Bishop of Beverley 1850-60, died 1861 ;109 James
Heywood Markland, 1788-1864, antiquary;110
Thomas Wright, philanthropist, 1789-1875 ;211 John
Blackwall, zoologist, 1790-1881 ;m John Owens,
1790-1846, founder of Owens College;213 James
Daniel Burton, Methodist preacher, 1791-1817 ;*M
David William Paynter, author of tragedies, 1791—
1823; "5 William Pearman, vocalist, 1 792-1 824 (?) ;"'
Sir Thomas Phillipps, baronet, 1792—1872, a great
collector of books and manuscripts ; 817 Edward Bury,
engineer, 1794-1858;™ Charles H. Timperley,
printer and author, 1794-1846 ;sl9 Samuel Robinson,
Persian scholar, 1794-1884 ;SJO Nathaniel George
Philips, artist, 1795-1831 ;*" Thomas Heywood,
1797—1866, who edited several volumes for the
Chetham Society, &c. ; «" Alfred Ollivant, D.D.,
1798-1882, who was appointed to the bishopric of
Llandaffin 1847 ;123 Elijah Hoole, orientalist, 1798-
1872 ;S24 Richard Potter, scientific writer, 1799-
i886;W5 John Stanley Gregson, 1 800-37 ;M6 Sir
Edwin Chadwick, Poor Law Commissioner and mis-
cellaneous writer, was born at Longsight in 1800,
he died in iSgo;217 Frank Stone, painter, 1800-
59 ;218 Henry Liverseege, 1803-29, an artist;"'
Mary Amelia Warner, actress, 1804—54 >K° William
i'6 He was a native of Pendleton. A
statue of him has been erected in Albert
Square.
177 He was born at Heybridge, in Staf-
fordshire.
1<a These were nearly all natives of the
township as well as of the parish.
I78a Dict. Nat. Biog.
17* He was son of a John Booker or
Bowker ; Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Baines, Lanes.
(ed. 1836), ii, 367.
180 Diet. Nat. Biog.) Lanes, and Ches.
Antiq. Soc. vi, 67. He was master of
Christ's College, Cambridge, 1651-54.
181 Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Pal. Note Bk. i,
128 ; Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. i, 199,
208 ; ii, 5. His Diary, &c. have been
printed by the Chetham Society. Though
deposed from the mastership in 1660, he
conformed to the restored ecclesiastical
establishment, and was beneficed in Lin-
colnshire.
182 Diet. Nat. Biog. ™ Ibid.
""Ibid. 5 Gillow, Eibl. Diet. Engl.
Catb. ii, 224. He was a convert, and
laboured in the famous Jesuit settlements
in Paraguay, being expelled in 1768 by
the Spanish government. He joined the
English province and died at Plowden in
Shropshire.
185 Diet. Nat. Biog. "6 Ibid.
W See Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Baines, Lanes.
i, 408.
188 Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Baines, op. cit. i,
409. He was one of the founders of the
Manchester Lying-in Hospital, and effected
a revolution in the practice of midwifery.
The Town Hall (now the Reference
Library) was built on the site of his house.
189 See Dict. £fat. Biog. ; Baines, Lanes.
i, 410 ; bibliography in Pal. Note Bk. i, 77.
190 Diet. Nat. Biog. His collections
may be seen in the Chetham Library.
"i Ibid. "2 Ibid.
198 Diet. Nat. Biog. } Lanes, and Ches.
Antiq. Soc. xiv, 101.
«« Diet. Nat. Biog. »s Ibid.
196 Ibid. "7 Ibid.
198 Manck. Sck. Reg. (Chet. Soc.), ii,
43-7-
199 Ibid. ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
200 Ibid. 201 Ibid.
202 Ibid. 2<» Ibid.
*>4 Ibid. Pal. Note Bk. i, 37; Procter,
Maneh. Streets, 189. His Correspondence
was published in 1882, and contains much
information about old Manchester. John
Palmer, architect, who died at Chorlton
in 1846, also took part in the composition
of Manch. Foundations ; Gillow, op. cit.
V, 238.
206 Diet. Nat. Biog.
806 Ibid. ; Manch. Guard. N. and Q.
no. 1024 ; and the biography prefixed to
T. Helsby's edition of his Cheshire. He
edited Civil War Tracts for the Chetham
Society, and printed a volume of pedigrees
called Parentalia.
207 Diet. Nat. Biog.
208 Ibid.
209 Ibid. ; Gillow, op. cit. i, 295. An
earlier vicar apostolic (1775-80), William
Walton, is said to have been a native of
Manchester.
210 Diet. Nat. Biog.
211 Ibid. He was interested in reforma-
tories and the reclamation of discharged
prisoners. »» Ibid.
1 86
2W Diet. Nat. Biog. ; notice in Owens
Coll. Mag. 1878. The original seat of
the college was in Quay Street. The
idea of it is said to be due to another
native of the town, George Faulkner,
1790-1862 ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
2" Diet. Nat. Biog.
2« Ibid. 216 H,id<
217 Ibid. He was created a baronet in
1821. He established a printing press at
his residence, Middle Hill, Worcester-
shire, issuing pedigrees, &c. ; afterwards
he removed to Cheltenham.
318 Diet. Nat. Biog. »» Ibid.
220 Ibid. He was a cotton manufac-
turer. He bequeathed his library to
Owens College. 221 j^
222 Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Manch. Set. Reg.
(Chet. Soc.), iii, 74. In Diet. Nat. Biog.
is also a notice of his elder brother the
banker, Sir Benjamin Heywood, first
baronet, 1793-1865.
228 Diet. Nat. Biog. He was Regius
Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, 1 843—
9. At Llandaffhe restored the cathedral.
He was one of the Old Testament re-
visers.
234 Die t. Nat. Biog. ; he was at one time
a Wesleyan missionary in India.
225 Ibid.
22* Author of Gimcrackiana } Mancb.
Guard. N. and Q. no. 41, 689. •>
227 Diet. Nat. Biog.
228 Ibid. He was father of Marcus
Stone, R.A.
229 See Diet. Nat. Biog.', Procter, Manch.
Streets, 150-62.
230 Diet. Nat. Biog. ; her maiden name
was Huddart.
U
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
Harrison Ainsworth, 1805-82, novelist;2'1 Thomas
Bellot, surgeon, 1 806-5 7 ; Kt William Harper, minor
poet, 1806-57 i*33 William Knight Keeling, painter,
1807-86 ;134 James Stephenson, engraver,! 808-86 ;m
William Rathbone Greg, 1809-81 ;*36 John Bolton
Rogerson, poet, 1809-59 ; sw Charles Christian
Hennell, author, 1809-50 ;n3 Fred Lingard, musi-
cian, 1811— 47 ;239 George Aspull, musician, 1813—
32 ; I4° Joseph Baxendell, astronomer and meteorolo-
gist, 1815-87 ; *" Thomas Bayley Potter, politician,
1817-9 8 ;24J J°hn Cassell, 1817-65, temperance
lecturer and publisher ; 243 George John Piccope,
1818—72, an antiquary, whose collections are in the
Chetham Library ; Charles Brierley Garside, divine,
1 81 8-76 ;f" William Hepworth Dixon, 1821-79;"*
Isabella Banks, author of The Manchester Man, and
other works, 1821— 97; 246 Lydia Ernestine Becker,
advocate of women's suffrage, 18 27-90;*^ Charles
Beard, Unitarian minister, 1827-88 ;M8 Shakspere
Wood, sculptor, 1827-86 ;*49 James William Whit-
taker, painter, 1828-76 ; J5° James Croston, editor of
Baines' History of Lancashire, 1830-93 ;2S1 Constantine
Alexander lonides, connoisseur, 1833—1900 ; IM
Henry James Byron, 1834-84, author of 'Our
Boys ' and other plays ; MS Walter Bentley Woodbury,
1834-85, inventor of the Woodbury-type process ;W4
Alfred Barrett, philosophical writer, 1844-81 ;rs
John Parsons Earwaker, 1847-95, author of a history
of East Cheshire and other antiquarian works;256 John
Hopkinson, optician and engineer, 1849-98.187
Of minor matters to be noted there occur the
institution of an omnibus in 1825, to run between
Market Street and Pendleton ; and the appearance of
the cab in 1839. The British Association held its
meetings in Manchester in 1842, 1861, and 1887.
Manchester does not seem to have had any rush-
bearing of its own, but the rush carts from neighbour-
ing towns and villages were brought to it.IM
At Hulme Barracks are stationed a battery of the
Royal Horse Artillery and an Army Service Corps.
There are numerous volunteer corps — the 7th L.V.
Artillery, Hyde Road ; 3rd L.R. Engineers ; 2nd,
4th, and 5th V.B. Manchester Regiment, at Stretford
Road, Chorlton-upon-Medlock, and Ardwick respec-
tively ; and a cadet battalion ; also a Royal Army
Medical Corps (Vol.).
The press has long been active in Manchester.
The following are the principal newspapers now
issued : K9 Daily — the Manchester Guardian, Liberal,
started in 1821 ; Courier, Conservative, 1825 ; Even-
ing News, Liberal, 1868 ; Evening Chronicle, and
Daily Dispatch ; Weekly — City News, 1864 ; also the
Sunday Chronicle, 1885 ; Umpire, 1884; and Weekly
Times, 1857. A large number of magazines is
published. Tit Bits first appeared in Manchester in
1 88 1.160
The cathedral church of OUR
CATHEDRAL LADT, ST. GEORGE, AND ST.
DENFS™ while not challenging a
comparison with the great cathedrals of the country,
is a fine and dignified building, preserving far more
evidence of its architectural history than in the face of
the sweeping restorations and rebuildings it has under-
gone in modern times would seem possible. A project
for building an entirely new cathedral church was
mooted, but abandoned, about 1881. The present
church is 220 ft. long from the east face of the Lady
chapel to the west face of the tower, and 1 1 6 ft.
wide across the nave. It has a nave 85 ft. long,
with double aisles and north and south porches, an
eastern arm 82 ft. long, with north and south aisle*
and chapels, an eastern Lady chapel, a chapter-house on
the south, and a large west tower with a west porch.
From the time of its becoming a collegiate church in
1 42 1 its history can be set forth with some com-
pleteness, and of work older than this date enough
remains, or can be shown to have existed, to establish
the fact that before the middle of the 1 4th century
the church was practically as long as it is to-day,
the western porch always excepted, and had north
and south aisles to nave and chancel, together with
a Lady chapel and a west tower. The oldest work
still standing is to be found in the west arch
and lower parts of the walls of the Lady chapel
and in the eastern responds of the quire arcades.
It dates from c. 1330, and implies a lengthening,
or rebuilding, of the chancel of the old parish
church at this date, with the addition of an eastern
231 See Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Pal. Note Bk.
ii, 38 ; Procter, Manch. Streets, 269.
There is a presentation portrait of him in
the Manchester Free Library.
a»2 Diet. Nat. Biog. *» Ibid.
284 Ibid.
385 Ibid.
288 Diet. Nat. Biog. His elder brothers,
.Robert Hyde Greg, 1795-1875, econo-
mist and antiquary, M.P. for Manchester,
1839 ; and Samuel Greg, 1804-76, phil-
anthropist, are also noticed in Diet. Nat.
Biog.
*»7 Diet. Nat. Biog. «« Ibid.
*»9 Ibid. "o Ibid.
241 Ibid. **2 Ibid.
™ Ibid. ; Pal Note Bk. iii, 213.
244 Gillow, op. cit. ii, 397 ; Diet. Nat.
Biog.
244 Diet. Nat. Biog. He was editor of
the Athenaeum from 1853 to 1869, and
published many historical and geographi-
cal works.
246 Diet. Nat. Biog. ; her maiden name
was Varley.
M7 Ibid. *8 Ibid.
«» Ibid. «° Ibid.
841 The notice in the Evening Newt
stated that he was educated at Manchester
Grammar School, and traded as a ging-
ham manufacturer. He took part in the
public life of the district in various ways —
as a worker in Cotton Famine relief of
1862-3, the City Council (conservative
member), and Anglican Church defence ;
he also wrote a number of popular works
on the history of the district, and in 1873
was elected F.S.A. He added accounts
of the parochial clergy in his edition of
Baines. He died i Sept. 1893, while
travelling from Manchester to his home
at Prestbury.
252 Diet. Nat. Biog. *» Ibid.
2s-« Ibid. 265 Ibid.
286 Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Lanes, and Ches.
Antiq. Soc. xiii, 143. He edited the Ct.
Leet Rec. and Constables' Accts. for the
Manchester Corporation.
2S? Diet. Nat. Biog.
258 Alfred Burton, Rushbearing, and the
illustration in Procter's Manch. Streets.
259 A full list is given in the Official
Red Book.
880 The publishing office was transferred
to London in 1884.
261 For a description written about
1650 see Richard Hollinworth, Mancu-
niensis, 46, 47, 119. In Hibbert-Warc't
Mancb. Foundations (1830) will be found
plans of the church before and after the
changes made in 1815, as well as many
views of the building. A supplementary
volume was issued in 1848, relating to
the collegiation. See also Glynne, Lanes.
Churches (Chet. Soc.), 115-122 ; Lanes.
and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xi, 21 ; xiv, 62. A
detailed architectural description by Mr.
T. Locke Worthington was issued in
1884, but the most authoritative work is
the Architectural History by J. S. Crowther,
In 1649 in consequence of the increase
of the congregations, seats were placed
' where the organs lately stood ; ' and
eight years later through a benefaction
by Richard Hollinworth, who was morning
lecturer, a second gallery was built j
Manch. Corp. D.
Bishop Nicholson in 1704 thought the
church ' a neat and noble fabric.'
The ' evidences ' of the town were in
1648 ordered to be kept in the room over
the church porch ; Manch. Ct. Leet Rec.
iv, 26.
I87
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Lady chapel, the lower parts of the walls of which
still remain. The old west tower, pulled down
1864, is said to have been in part of 14th-century
date, though the recorded evidence is by no means
decisive on the point, but during the pulling down of
the nave arcades enough re-used material of the
former nave was recovered to show that it had aisles
and arcades of considerable scale in the ijth century.
The oldest worked stone yet found on the site is the
relief of an angel holding a scroll with an inscrip-
tion, perhaps loth-century work ; but with this
exception no details earlier than the 1 3th century
have come to light. The traditions of the occupation
of this or a neighbouring site in Saxon times by a
wooden building, though embellished by a good deal
of circumstantial evidence, seem to have no more solid
foundation than the similar stories told of so many
ancient sites in England. There may well have been
a wooden building here as elsewhere in early times,
but the attempts of various local historians to identify
its remains with beams at Ordsall, Trafford, Stand, &c.
need not be taken seriously. A fine 13th-century
church certainly existed here, and was perhaps not
the first stone building on the site. It had aisles
to its nave, and perhaps to its chancel also,
but its plan must remain uncertain. In a build-
ing of such a scale the possibility of a cruciform
plan with a central tower must always be taken into
account, and it is tempting to see in the positions of
the west walls of the Derby chapel, and what was once
the Jesus chapel, evidences of former north and south
transepts. It would be also quite in the normal course
of development if it could be shown that the building
of a west tower in the i4th century marked the
destruction of an older central tower about that time,
and the conversion of the church from a cruciform to a
continuously aisled plan. Unfortunately five cen-
turies of rebuilding and alteration have reduced any
such speculations to the level of an academic exercise,
and in any case there is ample interest in the archi-
tectural history of the building from the I5th century
onwards.
John Huntington, first warden of the college,
1422-58, 'built the choir of Manchester Church
with the aisles on both sides, being in length thirty
yards, and in breadth twenty yards, from the two
great pinacles, where the organs stood betwixt, to the
east end of the church.' This work seems to have
followed the lines of the older building, but very
little of it remains in its original position, both
arcades of the quire and the north wall of its north
aisle having been rebuilt late in the 1 5th century ;
so that it is only in the east walls of quire and aisles,
and the south wall of the south aisle, that any of
Huntington's work can now exist as he left it. The
spacing of the two eastern bays of the south wall of
the south aisle, 1 2 ft. 9 in. from centre to centre, is
practically that of four of the six bays of the Derby
chapel, and if it be assumed that the width of the
third bay of the south aisle, containing the entrance
to the chapter-house, preserves that of the bay which
opened to a chapter-house built at this place by
Huntington, there is space between it and the west
end of the aisle for three more bays of about 1 2 ft.
9 in. each. This dimension, then, probably repre-
sents the normal width of the bays of Huntington's
aisles, and makes it possible that some of the bays of
this width in the outer walls of the chapels after-
wards added to the aisles may be in part Hunting-
ton's work moved outwards and reset.
The main arcades are of six bays, with an average
width of 1 3 ft. 5 in. from centre to centre. At the
east end, where they abut on the responds of the
14th-century work, there is a width of 22 ft. across
the main span, but at the west of the quire the width
is 25 ft. 3 in. This irregularity is evidently due to a
desire to get as great a width as possible for the
stalls of the collegiate quire, and is, as it seems, the
work of James Stanley, the second warden of that
name, after 1485. The details of the arcades, how-
ever, are of earlier character than would have been
the case if they had been built anew at this time, and it
must be concluded that the arcades are Huntington's
work reset, and adapted to the later arrangements.
Huntington died in 1458, and Ralph Langley, who
became warden in 1465, carried on the general scheme
of rebuilding. Till his time the nave seems to have
been of I 3th-century date, and in order to bring it into
harmony with the new quire he rebuilt it from the
ground, using up a good deal of the old materials.
His work has been even more unfortunate than that
of his predecessor, the outer walls of his nave-aisles
having been entirely removed in later alterations, while
the north and south arcades of his nave are now repre-
sented by faithful but entirely modern copies, and
only the south arcade occupies its original position.
The details of the work are evidently inspired by
those of Huntington's quire, and are of the same
excellent and refined style. When in 1883 both
arcades of the nave were taken down, it became
evident that the north arcade had been previously
taken down and rebuilt, its jointing being much
inferior to that of the south arcade. The nave is
not on the same axis as the tower, but it is clear
from the position of the south arcade that it was
so at first, and it was doubtless at the rebuilding of
the north arcade that the irregularity came into
being, the arcade being set up a little to the north
of its former line. The object of this widening
was to make the nave symmetrical with the quire
after its rearrangement by Stanley, and the rebuilding
is no doubt due to him. The panelling on the
east wall of the tower must also be part of his work,
and it is probable, in spite of a tradition that the
tower was in the main the work of George West,
warden, about 1518, that Stanley completed this part
of the church also.
The general development of the church, up to this
point, followed without material difference the scheme
common to so many Lancashire churches, which con-
sists of a long clearstoried chancel and nave with
north and south aisles, a west tower, and a pair of
stair turrets at the junction of chancel and nave.
The north stair turret must have been rebuilt when
the nave was widened northward, and the chancel-
arch must also be of Stanley's work, but the south
turret may be of Langley's time. It is to be noted
that the diameter of the stair it contains is 4 ft. 6 in.,
as compared with 5 ft. in the north turret.
In the 1 5th century the church began to be en-
larged by the addition of chantry chapels. The
first to be built was that of St. Nicholas, or the
Trafford chantry, on the south of the two east
bays of the south aisle of the nave ; its date seems
doubtful, but the original of the present building
was probably set up in 1486. Next came the
188
PLAN OF MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL.
[ I'WCCTf
LJ-M22-58
Ln-tw-ao
^•-i«5-l520
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
Trinity chapel, built by William Radcliffe of Ordsall,
about 1498, at the west of the former north porch of
the nave, whose site is now included in the outer north
aisle. In 1506 the Jesus chapel, or Byrom chantry,
filling the space between the Trafford chapel and the
chapter-house, was built by Richard Bexwicke. The
small Hulme chapel adjoined it on the south-east. In
1507 St. James's chapel, afterwards called the Strange-
ways chapel, was built at the north-east of the nave, by
one of the Hulmes of Halton, or by one of the Chetham
family. In 1508 St. George's chapel was built by
William Galey to the west of St. Nicholas's chapel.
There appears to be no precise record of the building
of the north chapel of the nave, between St. James's
chapel and the old north porch. In 1513 the large
Derby chapel was finished and dedicated in honour
of St. John the Baptist by James Stanley, fifth
warden, on the north side of the north aisle of the
quire, equal in length to it, and 24 ft. wide. The
Ely chapel, opening northward from the second bay
of this chapel, was finished in 1515 by Sir John
Stanley, son of the warden, who became Bishop of
Ely in 1506. The Lady chapel, built early in
the 1 4th century, is said to have been rebuilt in
1518 by George West, warden 1516-28, but this
seems doubtful from the slender architectural evidence
which remains. The chapel seems to have been
again rebuilt in the 1 8th century, with tracery which
was a curious copy of 14th-century work, and all the
external stonework has since been renewed.
The college was dissolved in 1 547, but re-established
in 1553 ; the fabric of the church probably did not
suffer any serious damage at this date. Again dissolved
in 1646, it was again re-established under Charles II,
and through the 1 7th and 1 8th centuries underwent
a good deal of repair in its external stonework. In 1815
a barbarous work of mutilation, in the name of repair,
was begun, all the internal stonework of the nave and
clearstory, with the north aisle, chancel-arch, and tower-
arch, being hacked over with picks and then covered
with a coat of cement, completely destroying the old
face of the stonework and seriously weakening the
arches. The screens in the nave chapels were also
destroyed and the roofs of the aisles hacked about and
covered with plaster. Galleries were set up in the
nave, and the irregular line of arches separating the
southern chapels from the south aisle of the nave
was destroyed and replaced by a uniform arcade which
when finished was coated like the older work with
cement.
A series of repairs undertaken in a very different
spirit, but even more far-reaching in the matter of
destroying the old work, began in 1863 with a re-
building of the west tower, nothing of the former
tower beyond part of its east wall being preserved.
In 1870 the external masonry of the clearstory, which
had been entirely renewed as lately as 1855, was
again renewed, and the design altered in several par-
ticulars, and in 1872 the main arcades of the nave
were taken down and rebuilt in new stone, accurately
copying the old. The south porch, which had been
rebuilt late in the 1 7th century by a Manchester
merchant named Bibby, was partly reconstructed in
1871, and entirely rebuilt in 1891, while the present
north porch dates from 1888, and a baptistery was
added at the west end of the south range of nave
chapels in i 892.
The arcade between these chapels and the south
aisle, built in 1815, was rebuilt in 1885 ; the corre-
sponding arcade on the north side of the north aisle
was also taken down and rebuilt about the same time,
and the east walls of the chapels of St. James and
St. Nicholas were removed in 1882-4, an(^ arches
put in their place. The north wall of the former
chapel was also destroyed, and rebuilt in a line with
that of the Trinity chapel. The Fraser chapel,
opening on the south of the east bay of the south aisle
of the chancel, was built in 1887, and the latest
addition to the plan is the large porch built in front
of the west face of the west tower in 1900. With
such a history it is not to be wondered at that there
is not an inch of old stonework on the outside of
Manchester Cathedral ; but, new as it is, the whole
surface is toned down to a uniform blackness by the
smoke-laden air of the city.26Ia
DETAILED DESCRIPTION.— The Lady chapel
is only 1 5 ft. deep, and is lighted on three sides by
pairs of two-light windows, with tracery which appears
to be a clumsy copy of 1 4th-century work. The bases
of its east, north, and south walls may well be of this
date, and its west arch of three moulded orders with
engaged filleted shafts in the jambs is good work of
c. 1330. On the west face of the wall above it is a
panelled four-centred arch, which seems to be marked
as the work of Warden Huntington by his rebus of a
hunting scene and a tun, and the chapel is separated
from the * retroquire ' by a wooden screen much re-
stored by Sir Gilbert Scott, but preserving some old
work, including a St. George over the door. It prob-
ably dates from the recorded founding of a chantry
here by Warden West in 1518.
The present arrangement of the eastern arm of the
church is that the two western bays are taken up by
the quire stalls, and the altar stands between the
eastern pair of columns of the main arcades, against a
modern stone reredos, while screens inclose tlie quire
and presbytery on both sides. The back of the
reredos is covered by a piece of tapestry made in
1 66 1, and representing the deaths of Ananias and
Sapphira. The lower parts of the screens, and the
altar rails, are in wrought ironwork of the 1 8th cen-
tury, of very good detail, while the upper parts are of
late Gothic woodwork. The stalls are very fine
examples of the same period, having been finished
about 1508. There are twelve on each side, and
three returned stalls at the west on either side of the
quire entrance, making thirty in all. The arms of
de la Warr occur on a bench-end, in reference to the
founder of the college, and on two others are a quar-
terly coat of Stanley, Man, Lathom, and a cheeky coat
which seems to refer to Joan Goushill wife of Sir
Thomas Stanley, ob. 1458. An eagle's claw on one
of the misericordes is a Stanley badge, and the legend
of the eagle and child is on one of the bench-ends
which bears the Stanley arms. Another shield has a
cheveron between seven nails and in chief the letters
I B, for John Bexwicke, impaling the arms of the
Mercers' Company.
The stalls have tall and rich canopies in two stages,
and a coved cresting with hanging open tracery, the
aeia A complete list of the repairs between 1638 and 1884 will be found in T. L. Worthington'i Historical Account of tht
Cathedral Church of Manchester (pp. 49-51).
189
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
details being different on the two sides, and there are
carved foliate bosses on the carved arms of the seats,
and a very fine series of carved misericordes. Some
of these have allusions to the Stanley family, but the
majority belong to the type of secular and often
humorous subjects common on these carvings. They
are of very great merit in some instances, though,
unfortunately, a good deal broken. The hare cooking
the hunter and his dog, the pilgrim robbed by
monkeys, the man who has broken his wife's cooking-
pot, two men playing backgammon, &c., are among
the best of them.
The quire arcades, which have been already referred
to as perhaps being Huntington's work, have panelled
spandrels and a line of cresting over the arches.
Slender shafts run up from the piers to clustered
capitals at the springing of the clearstory windows,
which are of five cinquefoiled lights with tracery.
From the capitals, on which stand eagles bearing
shields, spring the cusped braces of the low-pitched
roof, with its rich traceried panels and carved bosses
at the intersections of the heavy moulded timbers.
Huntington's rebus occurs on the roof, and at the
repairs carried out by Mr. Crowther evidence was
found that some of the timbers were parts of a differ-
ently-arranged roof, re-used by Stanley, and probably
belonging to Huntington's quire, which must have
had a clearstory of much the same height as at present.
It seems to have had in each bay a pair of two-light
windows instead of the present arrangement. Two
dates, 1638 and 1742, are cut on the roof, marking
repairs done in those years.
At the west of the quire is the screen, a fine piece
of woodwork which has been a good deal restored, the
coved canopy and front of the loft having been added
by Scott in 1872. On the loft stands the organ,
given in that year, and replacing one made in 1684
by Father Smith, and renewed in 1742.
The Derby chapel, or Chapel of St. John the
Baptist, is separated from the north aisle of the quire
by an arcade of five bays with four-centred arches, and
details which are much plainer than those of the main
arcades of the quire. Its north elevation does not
correspond to the arcade, being of six unequal bays,
each set in a wall arcade of excellent detail, perhaps
Huntington's work reused. The first, third, fourth,
and fifth bays contain four-light windows flanked on the
inside by blank tracery and canopied niches, filling up
the remaining spaces within the wall arcades, whose
arches also form the heads of the windows. On the
outside the blank tracery does not occur, and the
windows in consequence have segmental heads. At
the west the chapel opens by a wide arch and a flight
of four steps to the north chapel of the nave, the site
of the former chapel of St. James. The chapel is
closed in by contemporary wooden screens, the
entrance being from the south-west, where, over the
door, are the arms of Sir John Stanley, son of Warden
Stanley, impaling the quartered coat of Handforth,
with a modern inscription on brass giving the date of
its completion as 1513. The Ely chapel, opening
from the north-east of the Derby chapel, is entered
through a screen of early 1 6th-century date, moved
here from St. James's chapel, and was completed after
Warden Stanley's death by Sir John Stanley, being
intended to contain his tomb. The tomb now in the
chapel is a copy made in 1859 of l^e original altar-
tomb, and on it is fixed the mutilated brass figure of
Stanley in his episcopal dress as Bishop of Ely. The
design of the chapel harmonizes with the Derby
chapel, but being wider from east to west than the
other bays, it has a north window of five lights instead
of four. The eastern bay of the south aisle of the
quire opens southward to the chapel, built in 1890
in memory of Bishop Fraser and containing his tomb j
while the second bay, with its four-light south window,
resembles the north side of the Derby chapel, and
probably preserves the old design of Huntington's aisle,
though the masonry is for the most part renewed.
The third bay contains the entrance to the chapter-
house, probably the work of Stanley, and consisting
of two deeply- recessed four-centred doorways set in a
wide panelled recess. The chapter-house itself is
octagonal, with a modern wooden vault, and is lighted
by four-light windows in its four outer faces ; its
present design is probably due to Stanley, though
Huntington seems to have built a chapter-house
here, which, according to some evidence quoted in
Mr. Worthington's book on the cathedral, was
octagonal as at present. The foundations, however,
of part of a square building are said to have been
found here, and are claimed as Huntington's chapter-
house, and it can only be said that, no further in-
vestigation being at present possible, the question
must be left as a contested point. The remainder of
the aisle is taken up by a library, vestry, and passage,
occupying the area of the old Jesus chapel. Its use
as a library dates from the end of the 1 6th century,
when its then owners, the Pendletons, sold it to the
city of Manchester. The small Hulme chapel which
opened southward from its east bay, after being rebuilt
in 1 8 1 o, has been pulled down, and no trace of it now
exists. A door opens from the library to the chapter-
house, which is panelled in oak with seats round the
walls, and a chair for the bishop on the south side.
From the crown of the vault hangs a fine chandelier.
The nave arcades, the history of which has already
been given, are of six bays, and faithfully reproduce
Langley's work, which they succeed. In general design
they closely resemble the arcades of the quire, having
the same traceried spandrels and line of cresting over
the arches ; but the detail is simpler, though still very
effective. The clearstory windows are of five lights,
and before restoration were entirely without cusps ;
these have, however, been added in the new work.
Externally their effect is richer than that of the clear-
story of the eastern arm, as there is tracery in the
spandrels over the windows and pairs of angels
holding shields at the bases of the pinnacles which
mark each bay, neither of which features occurs to the
east of the chancel arch. The turrets flanking this
arch break the long line of windows very satisfactorily,
rising above the parapets and ending in crocketed
spirelets, while internally they make a very effective
feature, masking the junction between the nave and
quire arcades, and by their size and solidity atoning
for the rather insignificant chancel-arch. The nave
clearstory seems to have had much the same his-
tory as that of the quire, and as built by Langley
probably had two windows in each bay, an arrange-
ment altered to that which now obtains at Stanley's
rebuilding of the north arcade. This was deduced by
Mr. Crowther from the evidence of re-used timbers
found by him in the nave roof, which had been
adapted to the wider span caused by the setting back
of the north arcade.
190
MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL : THE QUIRE
MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL : STALLS IN THE QUIRE
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
There are practically no remains of old work in
the aisles and chapels of the nave. St. James's chapel,
at the east end of the outer north aisle, has entirely
disappeared. It was built about 1507, before the
present Derby chapel,and originally had a five-light east
window, and the plinth of its east wall is said to remain
beneath the present floor-level. It was afterwards
called the Strangeways chapel, and Hollinworth S61b
tells us that there was in it a picture of the Resurrec-
tion, and beneath it an inscription reciting a pardon
of 26,026 days for all who there said five paters, five
aves, and a credo. A piscina was found at the south-
east angle of the chapel when it was taken down, and
has been replaced near its old position. The chapel
was narrower than the outer north aisle, but its north
wall has now been carried out to the same line as the
rest. The Trinity chapel, at the west end of the aisle,
has also left no traces of its arrangements. The north
porch, built in 1888 in memory of Mr. James Craven,
is a very good piece of modern work, with a stone
vault in two bays and an upper story used as a muni-
ment room, and built entirely of stone ; to the east of
the porch is a registry office.
On the south side of the nave the south wall of the
chapel of St. Nicholas, at the south-east, stands on its
original line, but has been entirely renewed, and the
south porch and south-west baptistery are modern
additions. The old south porch stood opposite the
fifth bay of the modern arcade. It was of a single
story, built in 1685 by one Bibby, and afterwards
rebuilt by the parish ; it seems, however, to have
retained some 13th-century detail, and the springers
of a vault of that date. The present south porch
follows in general design the north porch, being
vaulted in two bays with a parvise over.
In St. George's chapel, west of St. Nicholas's
chapel, hung an image of St. George, and in Hollin-
worth's time the chapel was called the Radcliffe chapel ;
the arcade on the south side, carrying on the line
of the south wall of the chapel of St. Nicholas, is a
modern insertion.
The west tower retains nothing of its old masonry
except its east arch and the wall in which it is set,
ornamented with shallow cinquefoiled stone panelling,
which is hacked over to make a key for the cement
coat put on it in 1 8 1 5 and since removed. The old
tower stood till 1863, and was of four stages, 124 ft.
high, with a panelled parapet and groups of three
pinnacles at each angle, and a smaller pinnacle in the
middle of each face. The belfry windows were pairs
of two-light openings with transoms and tracery, the
wall over them being panelled in continuation of the
tracery, with recesses for images on either side. The
west doorway was two-centred with continuous
mouldings, and over it was a fine five-light window
with a transom and tracery, the buttresses on either
side of the window having canopied niches at this
level. The present tower is some 1 5 ft. higher than
its predecessor, 1396. as against 1 24 ft., but is other-
wise not unlike it, except in the presence of elaborate
clock-faces below the belfry stage. Its outline is good,
and forms a welcome contrast to its rather prosaic
surroundings, the westward fall of the ground adding
largely to its effect of height. In late years a large
porch has been built on to its west face, coming up to
the street frontage. The general exterior of the
church at the present time is so much disfigured by
its blackness that it is difficult to appreciate its good
points. The same building set in a clean country
town would command a great deal of admiration, but
here it has to pay the penalty of its position in a great
manufacturing city. With the interior, however,
the case is different, and the dull light often adds
immensely to the dignity of the nave, with its four
ranges of columns and richly carved roofs. Some of
the modern glass in the nave clearstory is of very fine
colour, and the magnificent quire stalls and screen
would be imposing in any church. The nave was
formerly full of galleries, the oldest being on the south
side, set up in 1617 by Humphrey Booth. The
Strangeways gallery on the north, and the Chetham
gallery on the west, were both made in 1660, and in
1698 another at the north-west was added. The
last of the galleries was removed in 1884, to the great
benefit of the general effect.
A little old glass in the east window of the chapter-
house is all that is left of what must once have been a
very rich adornment. There are figures of our Lady,
St. Paul, St. Peter, and St. George, and a few smaller
pieces. Some glass from the cathedral is now in
the chancel of Messingham Church, Lines. A good
deal was surviving in the 1 7th century, and Hollin-
worth mentions St. Michael and angels in the east
window of the south aisle, and St. Augustine and
St. Ambrose in the corresponding window on the
north : presumably the quire aisles are meant. At the
' uppermost end of the outmost north ally,' near
St. James's chapel, was a window with the Trinity
and the Crucifixion.*68
The church has lost most of the many monuments
which it formerly possessed, such as the two alabaster
effigies of Radcliffes mentioned by Hollinworth on
the north side of the quire. Warden Huntington's
brass, 1458, formerly in the middle of the quire, was
afterwards put in a vault below, but in 1907 was
replaced in the quire, and retains his figure in Mass
vestments, with the very fitting inscription on a scroll,
' Domine dilexi decorem domus tuae.' Warden
Stanley's brass has been already mentioned, and in the
chapter-house is a triangular brass plate surrounded
by shields of arms, commemorating the Ordsalls of
Ordsall Hall.26la An interesting but quite modern
seated figure of Humphrey Chetham, founder of the
hospital and library, set up in 1853, is at the east
end of the north aisle of the quire, and in the south
aisle is a copper plate in a carved oak frame to Warden
Heyrick, 1667. On the back of the north range of
quire stalls are fastened two brass plates to Antony
Mosley, 1607, and Oswald Mosley, 1630, and there
are a number of good 18th-century monuments in
various parts of the church. There are recent
monuments to Hugh Birley, M.P. for Manchester,
Thomas Fleming, 1852, and Dean Maclure. Two
early sculptured stones were found during the
restorations, and there are brasses in the chapter-house
and library.263
26115 Mancuniensis, 1656.
262 See a paper by Rev. H. A. Hudson in
Proc. Lanes, and Ches.Antiq. Soc. xxv ( 1 907).
2623 For the Radcliffe brasses see Proc.
Lanes, and Chis. Antiq. Soc, ix, 90.
263 See Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.),
xiv, 205, for notes taken between 1591
and 1636 ; Thornely, Lanes, and Cbet.
Brasses, 15, 39, 113 ; and Lanes, and Ches.
Antiq. Soc. xxiii, 172, for the ancient
sculpture of St. Michael. There are
copies of monumental inscriptions and
gravestones in the interior and the grave-
yard in the Owen MSS.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The present organ in its Gothic case set on the
rood-loft succeeds one made by Father Smith about
1684. This, after having been sent to St. Saviour's
Church, Chetham, was returned to the cathedral, and
set up in the north aisle of the quire.
The list of cathedral plate includes —
Two chalices, 1584-5, each inscribed, 'This
belongs to the Collegiate Church of Manchester.'
Two chalices, 1626, each inscribed, 'Given to the
Church of Manchester by Margarett Nugent, Wid-
dowe, 1626.'
Three patens, 1676-7, each inscribed, 'This
belongs to the Collegiate Church of Manchester, and
was bought at ye parish charge, Anno Dom. 1676.'
Almsdish, 1675-6, same inscription as patens, but
date-letter a year earlier.
Small flagon, 1697-8, with the mark of Peter
Harracke; no inscription.
Pitcher flagon, 1701, inscribed, ' The gift of Mrs.
Mary Holbrook to the Collegiate Church of Man-
chester 1701,' with the mark of John Ruslem.
Four large flagons, 1707-8, 17 in. high, with
mark of Nathaniel Lock, each inscribed, ' Deo et
ccclesiae Mancuniensi Sacrum anno 1708. Johannes
Sandiford D.D.D.' Two patens, same marks and in-
scriptions.
Almsdish, 1715, inscribed, 'The gift of Mrs.
Elizabeth Cartwright, Widdow, to ye Collegiate
Church of Manchester, Anno Dom. 1715.'
Chalice, 1875, given in memory of Canon Richson
by an unknown donor. Silver gilt.
Four beaker cups made for the Scots church of the
Scots Factors at Campvere, Holland, in 1620 (no
marks), presented by Earl Egerton of Tatton. They
are numbered I, 2, 3, and 4, and bear Latin and
English inscriptions, the latter reading :
1 . According zeal off factors at Campheir
2. Gives us four coups for the Lord's table heir
3. The year of God a thousand with sax hunder
4. And twenty in Janvar, Macduff being minister.
There is a ring of ten bells, five being dated
1706.*"
The registers begin in I573.166
The endowment of St. Mary'*
ADVOWSON Church at Manchester is recorded
in Domesday Book.266 Rather more
than a century later the rector is named.167 In addi-
tion to the parish, there was a deanery of Manchester,
and several of the early deans are known ; I68 their
position with regard to the parish church, however,
is not ascertained ; they may have been the chaplains
in charge.169 The original endowment was the
plough-land in Newton referred to above ; to this
Albert Grelley the elder added four oxgangs from his
demesne, supposed to be the land afterwards called
Kirkmanshulme, which, though detached, was con-
sidered part of the township of Newton ; 27° the
church had also some land between Deansgate and
the Irwell, known as the Parsonage land. In 1282
the value of the rectory was estimated as 200 marks,*71
though in the official taxation of nine years later it is
given as less than half that sum, viz. £53 6/. 8^.27*
The value of the ninth of the sheaves, wool, &c., was
returned as 60 marks in I34I.273
The patronage of the church descended with the
manor until the confiscation of the college endow-
ments in 1547 ; on the refounding by Mary it was
assumed by the Crown.274
The church was made collegiate in 1421-2 by
Thomas, Lord La Warre, the rector and patron, in
honour of St. Mary, St. Denis, and St. George.27*
The tithes were appropriated to its maintenance, and
the old manor-house and certain lands were given to
increase the endowment, £3,000 being set apart for
building a suitable residence on the site of the manor-
house.276 The new foundation consisted of a warden
or master, eight fellows or chaplains, four clerks or
deacons, and six choristers.277 In 1534 the revenue
from lands was £40 5*. 3^., and from tithes
£186 7/. zd. ; payments of £13 is. 6d. had
264 For the bells see Lanes, and Chet.
Antiq. Soc. xvii, 75-86.
265 Extracts ranging between 1573 and
1750 have been printed by Mr. John
Owen, 1879. The Owen MSS. in the
Free Reference Library include two tran-
scripts (one alphabetically arranged) of the
1 6th to 18th-century portions.
266 y.C.H. Lanes, i, 287. A specula-
tion as to a possible change of site may
be read in Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc.
xxiii, 96-7.
267 W. Farrer, Lanes. Fife R. 331.
268 Jordan, Dean of Manchester, occurs
| in 1177, when he was fined for some
1 offence against the forest laws ; ibid. 38.
In 1193-4 he rendered account of £20
' for the service of Count John ' ; ibid.
78, 92, 97.
Geoffrey, Dean of Manchester, attested
a Grelley deed about I2OO ; Trans. Hist.
Soc. (new ser.), xvii, 42. G. Dean of
Manchester, perhaps the same, occurs
about 1240 ; Wbalhy Coucher (Chet. Soc.),
ii, 60 1. See also Booker, Birch (Chet.
Soc.), 231.
Randle, the dean in 1294, was witness
to a grant of land in Ancoats ; Trafford
deed quoted by Canon Raines. He was
no doubt the same as Randle de Welhum,
dean ; Booker, Prestwick, 250.
289 William Knight, archdeacon of
Chester, held the deanery in 1534 ; Valor
Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 224. In later times
(it has been asserted) the dean's office
•was annexed to the rectory or wardenship,
because the charter of Charles I speaks of
the wardens as ' installed into the warden-
ship or deanshtp of that church.' In
1594, however, the rural dean wai
Thomas Richardson, and Bishop Bridge-
man (between 1619 and 1636) reserved
the deaneries of Manchester and Amoun-
derness as preferments for his chaplains ;
Dansey, Horae Decanicae Rurales, ii, 375,
381.
270 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 57. The gift was
made between 1154 and 1162 and was in
free alms.
»7l Ibid. 249, 250.
279 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 249.
278 Inq. Non. (Rec. Com.), 39. The
details are thus recorded : Manchester
22 marks ; Salford with Broughton, 52*.
Cheetham, IQS. ; Hulme by Manchester
io*. ; Chorlton, los. ; Stretford, 461. %d.
Reddish, 521. 4</. These sums, however
amount to less than 35 marks.
874 The list of rectors and wardens
gives evidence of this. Thomas West,
Lord La Warre, died in 1554 seised of
the manor of Manchester and the advow-
son of the church ; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m.
The Crown seems to have exercised the
patronage from the refounding of the
college in 1557, and expressly claimed it
192
in the charters of Elizabeth and of
Charles I.
276 Half a century ago it wag supposed
that the nave was the representative of the
old parochial church of St. Mary, while
the chancel was the new collegiate church.
276 The ancient rectory house is sup-
posed to have been in Deansgate, on the
church land there.
277 The erection of the college, with
the appropriation of the rectory, is re-
corded in the Lichfield Epis. Registers,
Heyworth, x, fol. 61. See also y.C.H.
Lanes, ii, 167. Before the change was
made the parishioners were summoned
and gave their consent ; Hollinworth,
Mancuniensis, 40, 41. The king's licence
(printed in Hibbert-Ware, Foundations,
i, 38-40) was granted on 22 May 1421 ;.
and the Bishop of Lichfield's decree
is dated 5 August 1421. On 9 May
1422 the rector-patron paid 200 marks
for the royal licence to appropriate the
rectorial tithes and possessions to the en-
dowment of the new college ; Raines,
Wardens (Chet. Soc.), 13, 14. The
pope's confirmation was obtained in 1426;.
Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xxiv, 11-20.
All the members of the foundation were
required to reside and keep hospitality.
Two of the priests were to serve the
parish, and all the rest were bound to
keep the choir daily ; Raines, Chant.
(Chet. Soc.), i, 8.
MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL : THE NAVE, SHOWING SCREEN AND ORGAN
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
to be made, and the clear value therefore was
£213 los. \\d. The warden received £20, and
each of the eight fellows or vicars £4, so that a large
sum remained for the minor officers and the general
expenses of maintenance.278
The college was dissolved in 1 547 under Ed-
ward VI, and its lands were confiscated ; 279 it was,
however, refounded on the old lines by Mary in
1557, and parts of its lands in Newton and Kirk-
manshulme which still remained in the Crown, as
also the rectorial tithes, were given back to it.850 As
Mary's refbundations were again confiscated at the
beginning of Elizabeth's reign 281 the position of Man-
chester College was doubtful ; it was not actually
seized by the Crown, though plundered indirectly,
and in 1578 was formally refounded by the queen.28'
The name was changed to Christ's College ; the
warden and four fellows constituted the foundation,
and were to appoint two chaplains or vicars to visit
the sick, administer the sacrament and other divine
services ; also four laymen and four children skilled
in music were to sing, say prayers, read chapters, and
continue other divine exercises in the collegiate
church. The warden was to receive 4*. for each
day he was present and resident ; each fellow i6d.
each day he was present ; 28S a chaplain 6f d. a day,
a chorister 4^., and a singing boy i\d. The
warden and subwarden were to have a house rent-
free.
On account of various abuses it became necessary
in 1635 to obtain a new charter, refounding the
college ; 284 and this charter — except during the Com-
monwealth, when Manchester, like other collegiate
foundations, was suppressed285 — continued in force
until the foundation of the bishopric of Manchester
in i847,286 when the church became the cathedral,
and its warden the dean, other consequent changes
being made.
The Commonwealth Surveyors in 1650 found the
warden and fellows in nominal possession of lands in
Deansgate, Newton, and Kirkmanshulme, of a total
rent of £4.6, with the benefit of fines ; the payment
had recently been stopped ' by order.' The tithes were
estimated at the clear value of £550; the greater
part of these had also been detained. The warden,
one of the fellows, and another minister were in charge
of the parish church, being ' godly preachers.' 287
With the growth of the town the value of the
church lands constantly increased. They are now
in the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who,
after making the regulated payments to the dean,
canons, and others, and providing for the maintenance
of the services, devote the remainder to various eccle-
siastical purposes in the neighbourhood.288
The following is a list of the rectors, wardens, and deans : — I89
RECTORS
Instituted
C. 1200 . .
oc. 1291 .
oc. 1295 .
Name
Albert de Nevill290 .
William de Marchia '91
Walter de Langton "* .
Patron
Cause of Vacancy
2'8 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 224.
The site of the college was valued at 30.1.
a year. A rent resolute of \%d. was due
to Lord La Warre for certain of the
estates in Manchester ; fees of £4 and
£5 were paid to the seneschal and bailiff;
and £2, £i, and £i respectively were
paid to the bishop and archdeacon of
Chester and to Lichfield Cathedral.
a'9 Edward was in this carrying out his
father's designs. The college building,
now Chetham's Hospital, was granted to
the Earl of Derby, and other grants were
probably made. The warden and fellows
received pensions.
280 Pat. 3 & 4 Phil, and Mary, pt. II,
15 July 1557. George Collier was ap-
pointed warden or master, John Cuppage
and Lawrence Vaux chaplains, and they
were to choose the six other priests who
were to be their fellow chaplains.
281 By an Act passed in the first year
of her reign.
282 The charter Is printed in Hibbert-
Ware's Manch, Foundations, i, 89-99. It
recites that the college ' is deemed in the
judgment of divers to be quite dissolved
and so come into our hands, or else is not
so effectually ratified and confirmed in all
points as were to be wished." Mary simply
restored the old foundation ; but Elizabeth
reduced the staff of fellows and choristers,
perhaps on account of the waste of re-
venues which had gone on. A vacant
fellowship was to be filled by the election
of the warden and surviving fellows.
A notice of the tithe corn book of 1584
is given in Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc.
xxii, 170.
283 The warden was, however, allowed
three months' absence each year, without
loss of revenue, and each fellow fifteen
days each quarter.
284 Hibbert-Ware, op. cit. i, 152-67,
402-12. The stipends were thus fixed :
Warden £70, each fellow £35, chaplain
£17 i Of. and other accustomed profits,
lay-clerk £10, and singing boy £5 ; to
be increased or diminished according to the
revenue. Residence was required, and fines
were fixed for absence or neglect of duty.
A number of interesting letters from
Richard Johnson, one of the fellows, re-
lating to the new charter, are printed in
the Life of Humphrey Chetham (Chet. Soc.),
45-70.
285 This was done under the Act sup-
pressing deans and chapters, but its
legality was questioned at the time. In
1649 'the chapterhouse door and the
college chest were broke open and the
college deeds were seized on by some
soldiers and sent up to London ' ; Hol-
linworth, Mancuniensis, 123.
286 See V.C.H. Lanes, ii, 96. The Act
was 10 & II Viet. cap. 108. A pre-
liminary Act was passed in 1840 (3 & 4
Viet. cap. 1 13), which sanctioned the pro-
posals of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners,
made in 1838 (published in the Land. Gaz.
25 Jan. 1839), for the creation of the see
and the conversion of the church into a
cathedral with dean and chapter.
287 Commonwealth Cb. Surv. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 4.
288 A balance sheet of the account of
the chapter estates is printed in the Man-
chester Diocesan Dir. The gross income
is about £45,000, of which £1,400 is
from the tithe rent charges, and over
£34,000 from rents of lands. The ex-
penses of management, taxes, &c., absorb
193
over £5,000 ; the dean and canons
£4,400 ; and the church services nearly
£2,000 ; some £30,000 remaining for
the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.
289 Accounts of the wardens and fellows
of Manchester have been compiled by the
late Canon Raines, and printed by the
Chetham Society (new ser. v, vi, xxi,
xxiii). Of these full use has been made
in the following notes. The confusion of
Mancetter and Manchester has led to
some errors both in Canon Raines's work
and in the Cal. of Papal Letters.
290 Lanes. Pipe R. 331. He is supposed
to have acted as Robert Grelley's sene-
schal ; ibid. 171. He granted to John de
Byron a certain part of his land in the
vill of Newton at a rent of £3 41. and two
wax candles of one pound each at the
Assumption ; Raines, Wardens, 4, quoting
a Trafford deed.
291 Pope Nicholas IV granted him, at
the king's request, he being treasurer, a
dispensation to hold Manchester and six
other benefices, as well as the deanery of
St. Martin's le Grand, and canonries in
Salisbury, Chichester, and Wells, though
he was only a subdeacon ; he resigned
one benefice, and was to resign others ;
Cal. of Papal Letters, i, 530. In 1293 he
became Bishop of Bath and Wells, and
died in 1302 ; Le Neve, Fasti (ed. Hardy),
i, 135. He was much vrnerated, and
miracles were said to be wrought at his
tomb ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
In 1292 the Abbot of Merivale sued
Hugh de Stanstead, rector of 'Mane-
cestre,' for a debt ; De Banco R. 92, m.
94. This was perhaps Mancetter.
292 Bishop of Lichfield 1296 to 1321 ;
Le Neve, op. cit. i, 549. In 1295 Boni-
25
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Instituted
— 1296 . .
1 8 Nov. 1299
12 Apr. 1306
24 Jan. 1313-4
28 Sept. 1323
24 Aug. 1327
21 Aug. 1351
oc. 1390 . .
25 Nov. 1422
— 1459 . .
Name Patron
William Sygyn *>3 The King . . .
Otho de Grandison '°4 „ •
Geoffrey de Stokes MS Thomas Grelley .
Mr. John de Everdon ™ .... Sir John La Warre
Mr. Adam de Southwick s97 . „
John de Claydon W8 „ •
Thomas de Wyke *" Joan Dame La Warre
Thomas Lord La Warre300 . .
Cause of Vacancy
res. Bp. Langton
res. J. de Everdon
d. A. de Southwick
d. J. de Claydon
WARDENS
John Huntington, B.Decr.501
Roger Radcliffe, LL.D.303 .
T. La Warre
res. T. La Warre
face VIII at the king's request allowed
his clerk Walter de Langton, deacon,
papal chaplain, to hold a number of bene-
fices and canonries, resigning some and
accepting Manchester among others ;
Cal. of Papal Letters, i, 559. There is a
notice of him in Diet. Nat. Biog.
298 In 1299 W. Bishop of Lichfield
and formerly rector of Manchester agreed
with William de Gringley, rector of Marn-
ham, and the other farmers of the church
of Manchester concerning moneys due to
him, amounting to over £40 ; also 6s.
which the Dean of Manchester received
during the time of vacancy, and I CM. 6d.
which the farmer of William Sygyn, rector
in 1299, had received ; Lich. Epis. Reg.
Langton, i, fol. 4.
The king presented his clerk Master
William Segini del God to the rectory in
1296 ; Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, p. 190. In
1 297 the pope allowed his chaplain Master
William Siguin to hold the rectory of
Manchester, having resigned a benefice in
Agen (France), and having canonries and
prebends there and in Wells and Howden ;
he had been under age when first beneficed ;
Cal. of Papal Letters, i, 572.
294 Lich. Epis. Reg. i, fol. 4*, 86. ; on
the day of his institution he had leave to
be absent at the schools for two years, and
a few months afterwards (29 Mar. 1300)
the time was extended to five years. It
is probable, therefore, that he never saw
Manchester. Thomas Grelley, the lord
of Manchester, was a minor in 1299, so
that the king presented, as in the pre-
ceding vacancies ; Cal. Pat. 1292-1301,
p. 440.
In 1301 the pope made provision, at
the request of Otho de Grandison, to his
nephew Otho of a canonry and prebend
of York, notwithstanding that he held
canonries and prebends of Lausanne and
Autun, the church of Manchester, and
two others which he was to resign ; Cal.
of Papal Letters, i, 594. In the same year
Otho was a clerk at Cambridge, and he
and his men were the victims of an
assault; Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, p. 629.
In 1304 he had the king's licence to go
beyond the seas (ibid. 1301-7, p. 217),
and does not seem to have returned to
Manchester.
295 The custody of the church (in
sequestration) was granted on 31 Mar.
1306 to Geoffrey de Stokes, one of the
king's clerks, and a fortnight later he was
instituted to the rectory ; Lich. Epis. Reg.
Langton, i, fol. lob. The reason for the
sequestration is not expressed. Geoffrey
de Stokes was rector of Gransden, Cam-
bridge, in 1302, and resigned Wotton
for Brightwell in 1304 ; Cal. Pat. 1301-7,
pp. 63, 304.
296 Lich. Epis. Reg. Langton, i, fol. 606;
he was a priest. In the survey of 1322
it is recorded that John de Everdon was
rector, and in possession of the endow-
ment, valued at 200 marks a year, con-
sisting of eight burgages in Manchester,
the vills of Newton, Kirkmanshulme, and
appurtenances ; Mamecestre (Chet. Soc.),
ii, 378. He held a prebend at St. Paul's
and became dean in 1323 ; he died
15 Jan. 1336-7 ; Le Neve, op. cit. ii,
417, 311. He had held other benefices
and canonries before coming to Man-
chester ; Cal. of Papal Letters, ii, 23, &c.;
Le Neve, op. cit. i, 586, 418.
M7 Lich. Epis. Reg. Northburgh, ii,
fol. 996 ; he was a clerk. He was rector
of Rostherne in Cheshire from 131910
1323 ; Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), i,
437. He died 31 July 1327.
398 Lich. Epis. Reg. Northburgh, ii,
fol. 102 ; a priest. In June 1344 he
had leave of absence for fifteen months ;
ibid, ii, fol. ii. He attested several local
deeds ; see Raines, Wardens, 8. He was
rector of Swineshead in 1327 ; Dods.
MSS. cxlix, fol. 1566. Probably he re-
signed it for Manchester. In 1330 John
XXII granted him the provision of a
canonry at St. Paul's, with reservation of
a prebend ; Cal. of Papal Letters, ii, 321 ;
Le Neve, op. cit. ii, 407. From a plea
in the following year it appears he had
owed ,£130 to John son of Roger La
Warre ; De Banco R. 286, m. 28 d.
299 Lich. Epis. Reg. Northburgh, ii,
fol. 1 29 ; a chaplain. In the following
January, being described as priest, he
received leave of absence for study ; ibid.
ii, fol. izb. He obtained leave of ab-
sence for a year or two at various later
dates— [355, 1361, 1362, 1365, 1371,
and 1380; ibid, ii, fol. 146; v, fol. jb,
gt, 246, 336; Raines, (op. cit. 10) records
a similar licence in 1357, so that Wyke's
residence at Manchester was but inter-
mittent. In 1368 he had leave to absolve
his parishioners until Easter, and to choose
a confessor for two years ; Lich. Epis.
Reg. Stretton, ii, fol. 19. He is some-
times called ' the elder ' to distinguish him
from Thomas de Wyke the younger,
rector of the adjoining parish of Ashton
from 1362 to 1371.
800 The date of his institution has not
been discovered, but was probably about
1390; he had the bishop's leave of ab-
sence for two years, the church being let
to farm ; Lich. Epis. Reg. Scrope, vi,
fol. 1256. He succeeded to the lordship
of Manchester in 1398 on the death of
his brother John, being then 'over forty
years' of age ; Inq. p.m. 22 Ric. II,
no. 53. In 1363, being 'in his twenty-
first year,' he obtained the papal dispensa-
tion to be ordained priest and hold a bene-
fice ; Cal. of Papal Letters, iv, 31. From
1371 to 1373 he was rector of Ashton-
under-Lyne ; he held a canonry at Lin-
coln from 1376 till his death in 1427,
others at York from 1381 to 1397 and
1407 to 1427, at Southwell 1397 ; Le
Neve, Fasti, ii, 161, 158 ; iii, 191, 209,
I94
450. He was also rector of Swineshead
in Lincolnshire in 1423 ; Raines, Wardens,
15. In 1390 Boniface IX, in considera-
tion of his noble birth and at the request
of Richard II, granted him a dispensation
to hold another benefice with cure, he
then having, in addition to the rectory of
Manchester, the free chapel of Barthorpe
in Lincolnshire and canonries at Lincoln
and York ; Cal. of Papal Letters, iv, 356.
He resigned the rectory of Manchester
in order that the college he founded in its
place might begin its work without in-
cumbrance. He would then be nearly
eighty years of age.
801 Lich. Epis. Reg. Heyworth, ix, fol.
112 ; on 23 Nov. 1422, at the manor of
Swineshead, Thomas La Warre presented
Mr. John Huntington to be instituted to
the wardenship of the collegiate church of
Manchester, viz. of one college, with
master or warden, chaplain, and eight
fellow chaplains, four clerks, and six
choristers ; two days later Huntington
was admitted, all episcopal rights and
customs and the pension of 40*. being
reserved.
The new warden, who was rector of
Ashton, resided in Manchester ; his great
work was the building of the quire of the
church. He was buried in this part of
the building. His life is told by Raines,
op. cit. 16-23. He died ii Nov. 1458,
and by will of 1454 left his lands in Man-
chester and Salford towards the building
of the new work of the chancel of the
church of our Lady of Manchester by
him begun. His Chesterfield property
he left to his kinswoman Elizabeth Barret.
The testator's directions were not carried
out fully, for lands in Nether Alport came
into the possession of the Hulme family,
and it was not until 1 507 that a settlement
was made by arbitration. The feoffees
were then directed to receive ^5 a year
for a chantry priest to be nominated by
Ralph Hulme and his heirs, to pray for
the souls of John Huntington and others.
The warden also acquired land in Hanging
Ditch for an almshouse, but his intention
was not fulfilled. Warden Huntington's
last will is printed in trills (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 17, and Lanes, and
Ches. Antiq. Soc. iii, 144. For his me-
morial brass still remaining, see ibid, ii, 92.
During his wardenship there was a
stormy incident. One of the clerks,
Thomas Barbour, had given offence to
the Booths and others, who attempted his
arrest in church. The people protecting
him, the Booths summoned Sir John
Byron and others of the gentry, who with
their men to the number of 500, all armed,
laid siege to the warden's house. The
clergy dare not enter the church, which
remained closed. See the warden's peti-
tion in Manch. Fello-ws (Chet. Soc.), 14.
802 There is no record of this warden's
appointment, but 'on 22 Feb. 1458-9 a
H
p
c
co
u
Instituted
12 Dec. 1459
9 Nov. 1465
27 July 1481 .
22 July 1485 .
29 Oct. 1506
29 July 1516 .
2 Oct. 1528.
c. 1558 . .
1560 . .
1562 . .
SALFORD HUNDRED
Name Patron
John Booth m Lord La Warre, &c.
Ralph Langley 304 R. Hatfield, &c. .
James Stanley 305 T. Lord La Warre
James Stanley306
MANCHESTER
Cause of Vacancy
exch. R. RadclifFe
prom. Bp. Booth
exch. R. Langley
d. J. Stanley
Robert Cliffe, LL.B.307 The King prom. Bp. Stanley
George West 308 Sir T. West ... . . d. R. Cliffe
George Collier, M.A. 309 . . . . Lord La Warre . . . res. Geo. West
Lawrence Vaux, B.D.310 ....
William Birch, M.A.311 .... The Queen
Thomas Herle, B.D.318 .... „
writ was issued to allow Sir Richard West
to present to the church ; Dtp. Keeper's
Rep. xxxvii, App. 177. Dr. Radcliffe was
Canon of York in 1456 and of St. Paul's
in 1458, Archdeacon of Sarum in 1465,
and Dean of St. Paul's in 1468, holding
these dignities till his death in 1471 ; Le
Neve, op. cit. iii, 203 ; ii, 383, 625, 313.
808 Lich. Epis. Reg. Hales, xii, fol. 97,
<)jb ; an exchange was made by which
Roger Radcliffe became rector of Adbolton,
John Booth resigning. The patrons of
Manchester were Sir Richard West Lord
La Warre (lord of Manchester), and
Thomas Uvedale, John Whittokesmede,
Richard Cooke, and Thomas Bailie, feof-
fees of the lordship to the use of Lord La
Warre. For the patronage at this time
see Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvii, App. 177.
John Booth son of Sir Robert Booth of
Dunham, who had been rector of Leigh,
held many ecclesiastical dignities, finally
becoming Bishop of Exeter, 1465 to 1478;
Le Neve, Fasti, i, 376, &c.
8M Lich. Epis. Reg. Hales, xii, fol. 102;
the patrons for that turn were Richard
Hatfield and Nicholas Statham, by grant
of Lord La Warre and the feoffees named
in the last note. Ralph Langley was also
rector of Prestwich, 1445 to 1493. He
is said to have given the first chimes to
Manchester Church. He had a dispute
with his predecessor in respect of certain
goods claimed by the bishop ; Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. 34, m. 30.
805 Lich Epis. Reg. Hales, xii, fol.
113^5 Warden Langley took the pre-
bend in St. Paul's vacated by James Stan-
ley, who had held it since 1458. The
new warden was also Archdeacon of
Chester, 1478 to 1485, and held the
family rectory of Winwick ; see Le
Neve, op. cit.
806 Lich. Epis. Reg. Hales, xii, fol. 120;
he was a clerk. He became rector of
Winwick in 1493, and wai also rector of
Walton on the Hill and Rostherne ; he
was Dean of St. Martin's le Grand, and
Archdeacon of Richmond (1500) ; he be-
came Bishop of Ely in 1506, and died in
1515. In the Stanley family poem he is
called ' a proper man,' but regret is ex-
pressed that he became a priest instead of
a soldier, not having the gift of conti-
nence. His illegitimate son, Sir John
Stanley of Hanford in Cheshire, was a
soldier of distinction, and became a monk
at Westminster ; Earwaker, East. Ches. i,
245-50. The bishop was fond of cock-
fighting down to the later years of his
life ; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 63. For a defence of his char-
acter see the Rev. E. F. Letts in Lanes,
and Ches. Antiq. Soc. vi, 161, &c. He
died at Manchester and was buried there;
his memorial brass remains in the cathe-
dral. There are notices of him in Diet.
Nat. Biog. and Cooper, Atben. Cantab, i, 1 6.
»°7 Lich. Epis. Reg. Blyth, xiii-xiv, fol.
55 ; the king presented because the patron
had not then taken livery of his lands.
Robert Cliffe had in 1496 studied the civil
law at Oxford and Cambridge for eight
years ; Grace Bk. B. (Luard Mem.), 99.
He had been rector of Winwick from
1485 to 1493, and after leaving Man-
chester held benefices in Cambridgeshire ;
see Cooper, Atben. Cantab, i, 66, 67, for his
later career. The Lichfield registers state
that the wardenship was vacated by his
death, but this appears to be an error, as
letters from him written at Cambridge
are printed in Raines, Wardens, 47-50 ;
they are endorsed ' Mr. Warden's letters
about the tithe of the Moor, n Hen.
VIII,' and speak of an approaching meet-
ing of Parliament. The endorsement
may be erroneous, as Parliament did not
meet in 1520. He was adverse to the
king's divorce from Queen Katherine ;
Cooper, Ann. of Camb. i, 338 (quoting
Burnefs Records, I, ii, no. 22).
808 Lich. Epis. Reg. Blyth, xiii-xiv, fol.
59^. George West was probably a child
at his appointment, and is not even
described as 'clerk.' After his father's
death (1525) he appears to have refused
to proceed to holy orders, gave up the
wardenship in 1528, married and became
the ancestor of the Earls De La Warr,
and was made a knight in 1533. He had
also the church of Shepton Mallet, which
he resigned at the same time as Man-
chester ; L. and P. Hen. Vlll, iv, 211 9.
He died in 1538 ; see Raines, op. cit.
52-5 ; Collins, Peerage (ed. 1779), v, 390.
809 Lich. Epis. Reg. Blyth, xiii-xiv, fol.
64^. George Collier was M.A. at Oxford
1510, and perhaps rector of Wickwar,
Gloucestershire, before 1535 ; Foster,
Alumni Oxon. ; Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii,
492. He was warden when the college
was dissolved in 1547, and retired into
Staffordshire during the reign of Edward
VI, being an adherent of the ancient
faith ; he returned to Manchester in the
next reign, and died there. Tradition
described him as a man ' of great bounty
and hospitality '; Raines, op. cit. 55—62.
At the beginning of 1555 he was one of
those deputed to persuade John Bradford
to recant ; Foxe, Acts and Monuments
(ed. Cattley), vii, 182. In August 1556,
before the formal restoration of the col-
lege, he described himself as warden in
granting probate of a will at Manchester ;
Piccope, Wills (Chet. Soc.), ii, 149. His
granting probate shows that he was Dean
of Manchester. The inventory taken
after his death is dated 12 July 1558; he
had property at Stone in Staffordshire, and
Robert Collier of Darlaston owed him
£42; Wills (Chet. Soc. new. sen), i,i8-22.
• 81° No payment of first-fruits is re-
corded. A full biography is prefixed to
Mr. T. G. Law's edition of his Catechism
(Chet. Soc. new ser. iv). Vaux or Vause
was of the Blackrod family of the name,
and born about 1520 ; educated at Man-
chester and Oxford; B.D. (Corpus Christi
195
College) 1556 ; and made fellow of Man-
chester College. His career during the
reign of Edward VI is unrecorded, but as
an adherent of the old religion he prob-
ably retired into private life like the
warden. The tradition of the next cen-
tury allowed him to have been ' a man
well beloved and highly honoured by many
in Manchester, yea by the generality ;
and this was one reason why many there-
about were lother to be reclaimed from
Popery than about Rochdale ' ; Hollin-
worth, Mancuniensis, 81. On learning
the changes made by Elizabeth, Vaux at
once made up his mind, consigned the
muniments of the college and part of the
plate to Alexander Barlow and Edward
Standish of Standish, and left Manches-
ter. After a short time he escaped to
Louvain, but returned secretly to England
in 1565 and ministered in Lancashire for
a short time, publishing the papal pro-
hibition of attendance at the statutory
services. He was again at Louvain in
1567, and in 1572 became a canon regular
in St. Martin's there. In 1580 he was
sent by the pope, into England, but was
captured at Rochester. He was ex-
amined by the Bishop of London and
committed to the Gatehouse Prison at
Westminster, where he was in 1583
described as 'an old massing priest, a
Lancashire man born.' He was after-
wards removed to the Clink in South-
wark, and probably died there in 1585 ;
there was a story current that he had
been starved to death, and he is therefore
sometimes called a martyr. His Catechism
was published in 1567, and reissued fre-
quently ; and he wrote some other works.
See further in Wood, Athenae ; Raines,
Wardens, 62-70 ; Diet. Nat. Biog.; Gil-
low, Bill. Diet, of Engl. Catholics, v, 565;
Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 364 ; Lanes,
and Cbes. Antiq. Soc. Hi, 1 84.
811 He paid first-fruits 22 Aug. 1560 ;
Lanes, and Ches. Ree. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), ii, 409. He was of St. John's
College, Cambridge, and then fellow of
Corpus Christi, 1548 ; a Protestant,
ordained by Bishop Ridley, he had a
licence to preach throughout the kingdom
from Edward VI in 1552, but retired
into private life or went abroad in Mary's
reign. Reappearing on the accession of
Elizabeth he was presented to Gateshead
and Manchester : the latter benefice,
however, he quickly resigned, being un-
willing, it is said, to agree to its spolia-
tion. He died in 1575, being then rector
of Stanhope in Durham ; Raines, op. cit.
70-5, where his will is given ; and 193 ;
also Cooper, Athen. Cantab, i, 562.
812 First-fruits paid 27 May 1562;
Lanes, and Ches. Rec. ii, 409. He was a
Cambridge man, and seems to have been
appointed fellow of Manchester at the
beginning of 1559, being made a canon
of Worcester in 1561. He was a typical
dignitary of the time, alienating the
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Instituted
1578 . . .
1579 . . .
1595 . . .
1609 . . .
1635 . . .
Name
John Wolton, B.D.31J . . .
William Chadderton, D.D.314
John Dee, D.Math.315 . .
Richard Murray, D.D316 .
Richard Heyrick, B.D>"7 .
The Queen
The King
Patron Cause of Vacancy
prom, Bp. Wolton
trans, Bp. Chadderton
. . . d. Dr. Dee
dep. Dr. Murray
estate* of his church for the benefit of
those in power or his own family ; a lease
made by him to the queen in 1576 was
specially mentioned in Elizabeth's charter.
Archbishop Parker in 1566 recommended
him as 'a grave, priestly man,' for pro-
motion to the bishopric of Bangor. In
the same year Herle complained that some
of his difficulties in collecting tithes came
from the action of Lawrence Vaux — de-
prived (he said) 'for Papistry and holding
of most erroneous opinions against the
Catholic faith ' — in giving the college deeds
into the custody of Alexander Barlow.
One result was a ' great hindrance to the
true, sincere, and Catholic religion,' be-
cause the warden and fellows were not
able to pay preachers who might teach the
people ' their duties towards God and the
Queen's most excellent Majesty ' ; Vaux,
Catechism (ed. Law), 19, 20 (introd.).
Herle had to resign, or was deprived, in
order to allow the refounding of the col-
lege in 1578. He died nine years later,
holding canonries at Worcester and Ches-
ter, and the vicarage of Bromsgrove ;
Raines, op cit. 75-84, where various par-
ticulars of his leases and grants are given.
818 He was appointed warden under the
new charter, and was next year advanced
to the bishopric of Exeter, so that his
tenure was brief, and he probably did not
reside. He was born in Whalley and
sent up to Oxford (B.A. 1555), but fled
to the Continent to join the Protestant
exiles. Returning on the death of Mary,
he was made canon of Exeter in 1560
and rector of Spaxton in 1563. As Bishop
of Exeter he actively persecuted the ad-
herents of the ancient faith — to whom
his own son joined himself — as well as
the more extravagant Protestant sects,
the Family of Love and others, showing
himself a zealous servant of the queen.
He died in 1594. He published several
works, one of which was reprinted by the
Parker Society. See Raines, op. cit.
84-8 ; Wood, Athenae ; Diet. Nat. Biog.}
F. O. White, Eliz. Bishops, 259-63.
814 He was the son of Edmund Chad-
derton of Nuthurst ; educated at Queens'
College, Cambridge, and became fellow
of Christ's College, Lady Margaret's Pro-
fessor of Divinity, and Master of Queens'
College. He was a Protestant of the
Puritan type, being chaplain to the Earl
of Leicester in 1568. In the same year
he became Archdeacon of York, and in
1579 was made Bishop of Chester, the
wardenship of Manchester being added in
commendam. He was a bitter persecutor
of the adherents of the ancient religion,
and being placed on the Ecclesiastical
Commission for the North, resided at
Manchester as a convenient centre for
directing operations. He actively en-
couraged the Puritan preaching-exercises
in the Manchester district, but on his
removal to the see of Lincoln in 1595 he
was obliged by the queen to repress them
there. He died in 1608. Hollinworth
(op. cit. 89) calls him ' a learned man and
liberal, given to hospitality, and a more
frequent preacher and baptiser than other
bishops of his time ; he was resident in
Manchester till the daily jarrings be-
tween his attendants and some inhabitants
of the town, occasioned probably by pride
and stiffness on one or both parts, oc-
casioned him to remove his habitation to
Chester.' See Raines, op. cit. 89-101 ;
F. O. White, Ehz. Bishops, 264-69 ;
Foley, Recs. S.J. ii, 117-30 ; Diet. Nat.
Biog. ) Cooper, A then. Cantab, ii, 482. His
portrait is given in Hibbert-Ware's Manch.
Foundations, i, 101.
81* Educated at St. John's College,
Cambridge, and Louvain, he acquired
great fame as a mathematician and
astronomer. He was one of the original
fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge, in
1 546, and received benefices in the time
of Edward VI, proved himself orthodox
to the satisfaction of Bishop Bonner, and
held his benefices for thirty years, when
he was deprived on an informality, having,
as Canon Raines supposes, never resided
on them, his ordination even being a
matter of dispute ; he was, however,
called 'clerk' on his presentation to
Manchester. He had a great library, and
was addicted to the study of astrology and
magic, to which he owes his popular
celebrity 5 in this matter, if he imposed
upon others, he was himself greatly de-
luded, as in his supposed transmutations
of metals, and intercourse with spirits. In
Lancashire, says Hollinworth (op. cit. 99,
100), he discouraged the practice of un-
lawful exorcism and rebuked a conjurer ;
'he was very sober, just, temperate in his
carriage, studious, yea an observer of
public and private devotions,' but 'had
the unhappiness to be much vexed by the
turbulent fellows of the college.' He
consequently removed to Mortlake, and
died, after much suffering from poverty,
in 1608. At Manchester he contrived to
introduce the church organ in 1 600. Some
of his MSS. are in the Chetham Library.
See Raines, op. cit. 101— 10; Autobiographi-
cal Tracts of Dr. John Dee (Chet. Soc.) ; Dee's
Diary (Camden Soc. and ed. J. E. Bailey) ;
Diet. Nat. Biog. ,• Hollinworth, Mancuniensis,
96-100 ; Cooper, Athen. Cantab, ii, 497-
$06.
For a complaint as to the condition of
the church under his wardenship see
Pal. Note Bk. i, 45-8.
After Dr. Dee's death the wardenship
should have been given to one of the
fellows of Elizabeth's foundation — Wil-
liam Bourne, B.D., of St. John's College,
Cambridge. He was 'zealous against
every error, especially against Popery ;
seldom or never did he ascend the pulpit
but he struck at some Popish doctrine or
practice before he came down. He dis-
sented little or nothing from the discipline
used in Scotland,' but thought some holy
days should be observed. He was in
great credit with the people, and did his
best to procure ministers to every chapel
in the parish. The promise made about
the wardenship was broken, partly on
account of his nonconformity and partly
by the power of the Scottish party at
court ; Hollinworth, op. cit. 103-8. He
was ordained without any subscription, ap-
pointed fellow about 1603, and died in
1643 ; seethe account of him in Raines,
Manch. Felloivs (Chet. Soc.), 85-95.
816 He was son of Sir Charles Murray
of Cockpool, near Annan, and a courtier
196
of James I, by whom he was promoted to
a number of ecclesiastical benefices in
England. Hollinworth (op. cit. 108-11)
describes him as ' of honourable descent,
competently learned, zealous for the dignity
of his place as warden, but not laudable
otherwise,' being ' a great pluralist,' and
'a mighty hunter of other ecclesiastical
dignities and benefices.' Further, 'in
his time the choir part of the church
grew very ruinous ; the revenues of the
college were leased out by his means.' He
refused, on receiving the wardenship, to
take the oaths prescribed by the charter
of foundation, and therefore was never
legally warden, and this it was, together
with his waste of the revenues of the
college, that led to the granting of the
new charter by Charles I, after inquiry by
a special commission in 1635. Herein
it is recited that the revenues had
dwindled away, either ' by carelessness
and absence, or covetousness of the war-
den and fellows ' ; that the church was in
a dangerous condition ; that the warden,
having avoided taking the oath ' con-
cerning the not receiving of any rents of
the college, except for the days on which
he was present,' was only a usurper, and
had been removed from his place ; and
that the college itself ' truly had none or
else a very uncertain foundation.' He was
created a baronet in 1625, and died in 1636,
without issue. See Raines, op. cit. 112—
22 5 G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, ii, 292.
W He was a first cousin of Robert
Herri ck the poet ; born in 1 60 1, educated
at Merchant Taylors' School and at St.
John's College, Oxford; M.A. 1622 ;
elected fellow of All Souls' in 1624.
The reversion of the wardenship of'
Manchester was purchased for him of the
king by Sir William Heyrick, his father,
in consideration of an advance of £8,000.
He readily adopted Presbyterianism, led
in establishing the Classis, took part in
the Westminster Assembly of Divines,
and promoted the intolerant ' Harmonious
Consent ' of 1 648. During the suppression
of the college £100 a year — raised to
£120 — was allowed to Warden Heyrick;
Plund. Mins. Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 106, 107 ; ii, 21. To Richard
Hollinworth £104 was allowed ; ibid, ii,
55, 76. Heyrick was not opposed to the
monarchy, and on the Restoration pro-
fessed his loyalty to Charles II, and was
allowed to retain the wardenship without
conformity, it being apparently regarded
as a purchase from the Crown. He pub-
lished several sermons. His library was
valued at ,£160. See Raines, op. cit.
122-39; D'tct' Nat. Biog. ; Wood, Athenae;
Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. vii, 134 ;
xiii, 103 ; Crossley in Wortbingtori s
Diary (Chet. Soc.), ii. 237. There is a
pedigree in Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.),
138. For epitaph see Hibbert-Ware,
Manch. Foundations, \, 372.
Had Heyrick been expelled from the
wardenship in 1662 he would probably
have been succeeded by Dr. Edward
Wolley, a devoted Royalist, who had had
a patent for the dignity from Charles I,
and was afterwards appointed to the
bishopric of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh ;
Manch. Guardian N. and 0. no. 1 142.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
Instituted
29 Aug. 1667
I May, 1684
1718 . . .
25 Oct. 1738
7 March 1782
12 July 1800
8 March 1823
10 July 1840
— Ny 1847
7 Dec. 1872 .
30 April 1884
28 Oct. 1890
25 July 1906
Name
Nicholas Stratford, D.D.318 ....
Richard Wroe, D.D.319
Samuel Peploe, B.D.320
Samuel Peploe, D.C.L.3"
Richard Assheton, D.D.321 ....
Thomas Blackburne, D.C.L.323 . . .
Thomas Calvert, D.D.324 ;. . ...
DEANS
Hon. William Herbert, D.D."5 . . .
George Hull Bowers, D.D.326 . . .
Benjamin Morgan Cowie, D.D.327 . .
John Oakley, D.D.328
Edward Craig Maclure, D.D.329 . .
James Edward Cowell Welldon, D.D.330 .
Patron
The King
Cause of Vacancy
d. R. Heyrick
res. N. Stratford
d. R. Wroe
res. Bp. Peploe
d. S. Peploe
d. R. Assheton
d. T. Blackburne
The Queen
The King
d. T. Calvert
d. W. Herbert
res. G. H. Bowers
piom. B. M. Cowie
d. J. Oakley
d. E. C. Maclure
818 He was educated at Trinity College,
Oxford, of which he became a fellow in
the Commonwealth period ; M.A. 1656 ;
D.D. 1673. There is a portrait of him
in Hibbert-Ware's Manch. Foundations, ii,
5. He conformed to episcopacy at the
Restoration, and had various benefices
and dignities, resigning Manchester on
becoming vicar of St. Mary Aldermanbury
in London. The strength of the Presby-
terians in the Manchester district, and a
troublesome lawsuit with the Trafford
family regarding the tithes of Stretford,
are thought to have influenced him in re-
signing. He adhered to the Whig party,
and on the Revolution was made Bishop
of Chester and Rector of Wigan. At
Manchester he restored the use of the
surplice, antiphonal singing by the choir,
and the reception of the communion at
the altar rails ; ' he was very laborious
and extraordinarily charitable, affable, and
humble in his place, and generally be-
loved.' See Raines, op. cit. 139-47,
where there is a list of his works ; Diet.
Nat. Biog. ; Wood, Athenae.
It should be explained that though Hey-
rick himself did not conform, the surplice
•was used in the church after the passing
of the Act of Uniformity ; see New-
come, Diary (Chet. Soc.), 120. The
churchwardens' accounts of 1664 record
a payment for washing the surplices.
819 Act Bks. at Chester Dioc. Reg.
He was born at Radcliffe ; educated at
Jesus College, Cambridge, of which he
was elected fellow ; M.A. 1665 ; D.D.
1686. In 1675 he was elected fellow of
Manchester, and became exceedingly ad-
mired in the district, the epithet ' silver-
tongued' distinguishing him. Several of
his sermons were published. He had
some other church preferment. In
politics he was a Whig, and thus was
untouched by the Revolution and the
Hanoverian succession. He died 6
January 1717-18. See Raines, op. cit.
148-57 ; Diet. Nat. Biog. ; also Pal. Note-
Bk. ii, i, 33 (with portrait). He lived in
Deansgate in 1683 ; Ct. LeetRecs. vi, 231.
820 He was educated at Jesus College,
Oxford ; M.A. 1693. There is a portrait
in Hibbert-Ware, op. cit. In 1695 he
became rector of Kedleston and in
1700 vicar of Preston. He was a latitu-
dinarian in religion and a Whig in
politics. His courage in praying for King
George in 1715 during the Jacobite
occupation of Preston is said to have led
to his promotion to Manchester. The
appointment was resisted on the ground
that the statutes required the B.D. degree
in the warden, and that his obtaining
such degree from the Archbishop of
Canterbury would not suffice. At Man-
chester he was unpopular with the fellows
of the collegiate church, who were High
Churchmen and Jacobites, and he was in
antagonism to the bishop also (Dr. Gas-
trell). On the bishop's death, however,
Peploe was in 1726 promoted to Chester,
retaining the wardenship till 1738. As
warden and as visitor he was harsh and un-
popular. He published some sermons.
See Raines, op. cit. 1 57-66 ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
821 The church papers at Chester begin
with this warden. He was presented by
the king on ' the death of Richard Wroe,
S.T.P., last warden,' the in commendam
tenure of Bishop Peploe being ignored.
He was the only son of Bishop Peploe ;
educated at Jesus and Wadham Colleges,
Oxford; B.C.L. 1726; D.C.L. 1763.
There is a portrait in Hibbert-Ware, op.
cit. He held various ecclesiastical pre-
ferments— vicar of Preston, rector of
Tattenhall, Canon of Chester, Archdeacon
of Richmond, and Chancellor of the
diocese. He shared his father's religious
and political views, so that his father's
opponents became his also, and it was not
until after the suppression of the 1745
rebellion that he became more friendly
with the other clergy of his church ; he
does not appear to have resided regularly
in Manchester. He is described as a
gentle and liberal man, ' remarkable for
his attendance on public worship,' and
preserving ' the gravity and decency of the
clerical character.' See Raines, op. cit.
166-71.
822 He was a son of Ralph Assheton of
Downham, and was educated at Brase-
nose College, Oxford, of which he was
elected a fellow; M.A. 1751 ; D.D. 1782.
He was rector of Radcliffe and Middleton
in 1757, but resigned the former ; he re-
tained the latter till his death in 1800.
See Raines, op. cit. 171-6.
828 He was a son of Thomas Black-
burne of Orford, and educated at Brase-
nose and Trinity Colleges, Oxford ; M.A.
1794; D.C.L. 1801. He was curate of
Thelwall in 1782, vicar of Weaverham
in 1796 ; these he held till 1806. The
wardenship is said to have been granted
at the request of his elder brother John,
for forty-six years knight of the shire.
He resided at Thelwall Hall near War-
rington. See Raines, op. cit. 176-8 ;
Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), i, 749.
824 He was educated at St. John's
College, Cambridge, and became fellow ;
M.A. 1800; D.D. 1823. There is a
portrait of him in Hibbert-Ware, op. cit.
ii, 172. He was Norrisian Professor,
197
1815 to 1824, and preacher at Whitehall
in 1819, thus attracting the notice of
Lord Liverpool, who afterwards presented
him to the wardenship. In 1819 also he
took the surname of Calvert instead of
Jackson, in memory of a friend who had
left him a fortune. He published some
sermons. He was a strong opponent of
Catholic Emancipation, but otherwise
' gentle in ruling, wise in counsel, charit-
able in word and deed.' See Raines, op.
cit. 178-83 ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
825 He was a son of Henry, Earl of
Carnarvon ; educated at Exeter College,
Oxford, but removed to Merton ; M.A.
1802 ; D.C.L. 1808 ; D.D. 1841. He
tried a parliamentary career, 1806 to
1812, but in 1814 was presented to the
rectory of Spofforth, which he held till
his death. He was a Whig in politics,
and a High Churchman of the old
Arminian school in religion, but never-
theless assisted the Bible Society ; he
supported the Ten Hours Bill of 1844.
He published some poems and other
works, and was a botanist of repute. He
died in 1847, shortly before the passing
of the Act which made Manchester
Collegiate Church a cathedral ; but after
the Act of 1840 he had usually been
styled Dean of Manchester. See Raines,
op. cit. 183-92 ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
826 He was of Clare College, Cam-
bridge ; B.D. 1829; D.D. 1849. He
was rector of St. Paul's, Covent Garden,
1831 to 1848, and actively concerned in
the foundation of Marlborough and
Haileybury Colleges. He died in 1872 j
Diet. Nat. Biog.
82? He was of St. John's College, Cam-
bridge, graduating as senior wrangler in
1829, and being elected fellow; D.D.
1880. He held university and other
appointments, and was vicar of St.
Lawrence Jewry from 1857 to 1873. ^n
1883 he was made Dean of Exeter. He
published various sermons, &c. He died
in 1900 ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
828 He was of Brasenose College, Ox-
ford ; M.A. 1859; D.D. 1881. He pub-
lished one or two works and was vicar of
St. Saviour's, Hoxton, from 1867 to
1 88 1, when he was advanced to the
deanery of Carlisle ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
829 He was of Brasenose College, Ox-
ford ; M.A. 1858 ; D.D. 1890. He became
vicar of Habergham Eaves in 1863 and of
Rochdale in 1877. He died 8 May 1906.
880 Formerly fellow of King's College,
Cambridge ; M.A. 1880 ; head master of
Harrow School, 1885; D.D. 1898; Bishop
of Calcutta 1898-1901 ; canon of West-
minster 1901.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The cathedral staff consists of the dean, four
residentiary canons, who have rectories within the
parish, and undertake the duties of the sub-dean,
bursar, collector of rents, and registrar ; twenty-four
honorary canons and two minor canons, assisted by
two clerks in orders, of whom one acts as precentor.531
Of the fellows and canons no account is given in
this place, but as many of them were beneficed in the
county, they are not altogether unnoticed.
The earlier rectors were often men of distinction,
but pluralists and non-resident. It was to remedy
this abuse that the college was founded, and to some
extent it met the necessities of the case. The various
chantries also helped to maintain an adequate supply
of clergy ; in particular, the foundation of Richard
Bexwick for priests and schoolmaster in the Jesus
chapel was made with this intention.331 The first
college possessed a library, which seems to have
perished with it ;134 but another was in 1653 founded
in the Jesus chapel and maintained by the town.*35
Just before the destruction of the college there appear
to have been the warden, five priests, and four
deacons on the foundation, * all resident and ob-
serving their statutes ' ; also two curates, six chantry
priests, and a fluctuating number of others — fifteen
or more — who had casual offices or served the out-
lying chapelries. Thus for a population estimated at
6,000 ' houseling people,' there were over thirty
priests available. The church was decently furnished
with plate, vestments, and other ornaments.*36
The simultaneous abolition of college and chan-
tries and the confiscation of the endowments made a
vast difference. It is not exactly known how the
Edwardine services were conducted, or what pay-
ments were made to the ministers.337 In the Visitation
list of 1548 twenty-two names appeared; ten of
them reappeared in 1554, when six new names were
added, two being those of the ' curates ' — Ralph
Birch and Hugh Ormishaw. In 1563 Thomas
Herle, the warden, headed the list ; he had two
curates — Robert Prestwich and Edward Holt ; five
of the chapels of ease had curates in charge ; there
were four other names, two of which were soon
erased, and another was described as ' decrepit.' The
number of clergy therefore had been reduced to
twelve, nine being effective. In the list of i 565 only
those on the foundation were recorded — the warden,
four chaplains, four deacons, and four (lay) choristers.
The omission of any notice of the chapels of ease
was perhaps a fault of the registrar's clerk ; but it
seems clear that the Pre- Reformation staff of thirty
to thirty-four had been reduced to a dozen or less.
Only two of the clergy of 1548 appear in the 1565
list, but some of the chapels of ease, if just then in
use, may have retained the former curates.338
Though the gentry held, for a time at least, to the
old ways, and though such wardens as Collier and
Vaux were in life and doctrine an instructive contrast
to their successors,339 the people of the district rapidly
accepted Protestantism, and that in its more pro-
881 By an Act of 1850 (13 & 14
Viet. cap. 41) the dean has cure of souls
in the fragment of the ancient parish
which is still served by the cathedral in
its parochial aspect, and has the assistance
of the chaplains or minor canons. The
residentiary canons are rectors of four
parishes, formed out of the old parish —
St. Andrew, Manchester ; St. Matthew,
Manchester ; St. George, Hulme ; and
St. Philip, Salford. While the dean is
presented by the Crown the canons are
collated by the bishop.
The Act named was preceded and
accompanied by a sharp local controversy.
An important contribution was one by
Thomas Turner, in the form of a letter to
the Bishop of Manchester ; the second
appendix contained translations of the
licence of Henry V, the petition of the
parishioners, and the charter of the Bishop
of Lichfield in 1421 ; also of the charters
of Philip and Mary, Elizabeth, and
Charles I ; with other documents. He
showed that practically the whole endow-
ments (as restored by Queen Mary) were
rectorial, and that Lord La Warre's
additional gifts were of small extent.
383 Richard Bexwick's foundation was
originally for four priests to do divine
service, assist the warden, keep the choir,
be present at matins, mass, evensong, &c.
as it was found that the parish, with
' 7000 housling people and more resident,'
could not be sufficiently served by the
warden and fellows without further help.
Richard Bexwick was ' an especial bene-
factor,' having given a suit of vestments
worth ^45, and built a chapel and one
side of the choir at a cost of 300 or
400 marks ; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 81-3 ; ii, 233.
884 Cardinal Langley in 1437 be-
queathed the Floret Bernardi to the
college of Manchester ; Raines, Chant.
(Chet. Soc.), i, 121. A later bequest of
Looks to the college library was made by
Henry Turton, one of the fellows ;
Piccope, Wills (Chet. Soc.), ii, 13.
885 Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. (ed. Earwaker),
iv, 91-100, &c ; Raines, Chant, i, 50-2 ;
N.andQ. (ser. 5), viii, 61, 81.
886 Raines, op. cit. i, 7-22; a full account
is given of the revenues, expenditure, and
vestments, &c. For the clergy not on any
of the foundations see Clergy List (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 12. The
Visitation list of 1548 omits the clergy
of the college, then dissolved, but some
of them were probably resident in the
town ; their names are given in Chant, i,
19, 20.
The 'ornaments' remaining in 1552
are recorded in Ch. Goods (Chet. Soc.), 4 ;
they included ' certain ornaments for the
sepulchre,' but no organ is named.
There were five bells in the steeple, which
are said to have remained in use until
1706. Some were sold to Didsbury
chapel ; ibid. 8.
887 The only authority is Hollinworth,
who states that the Earl of Derby, having
obtained the college, &c., 'was careful,
as our fathers have told us, to provide
very well for three or four ministers offi-
ciating in the church' ; Mancuniensis, 63.
888 These details are from the Visitation
lists preserved at Chester. John Glover,
a ' deacon ' of the old college, still
appeared in 1565, and Robert Prestwich's
name occurs in the lists of 1548, 1563,
1565 ; his absence in 1554 may mean
that he was a Protestant, but he had been
one of the chantry priests.
889 In all nine fellows and deacons of
the college were named in 1548. The
story of Vaux has been given above ;
that of John Cuppage, his friend, is in
many ways similar ; he refused to appear
at the Visitation of 1559, suffered perse-
cution for adhering to the old faith, and is
supposed to have died in Salford prison
about 1584; Vaux, Catechism, 75-8, 84
note (introd.).
198
In 1559 four of the fellows — Edward
Pendleton, Robert Prestwich, Richard
Hart, and Richard Ford — appeared, but
Hart refused to subscribe ; Prestwich was
warned against frequenting taverns ; Ch.
Goods, 7 (quoting S.P. Dom. Eliz. r,
10 1) ; Gee, Eliz. Clergy, 8 1. In 1562
Vaux, who had been ordered to live in
Worcestershire, and Hart in Kent or
Sussex, were ' thought to behave them-
selves very seditiously and contrary to
their recognizances, secretly lurk in Lan-
cashire and are thought to be maintained
there by rulers and gentlemen of that
county' ; ibid. 181. In 1574 three of
the old clergy (1548) were receiving pen-
sions— John Cuppage, Edward Pendleton
(then vicar of Eccles), and Robert Prest-
wich ; of the rest Collier, Johnson, Ryle,
Woodall, and Wolstoncroft had died be
fore the accession of Elizabeth, and
Ralph Hunt and James Barlow died about
1571 ; Ch. Goods (quoting Spec. Com.
16 Eliz. no. 3258). John Glover, as
above shown, also conformed under Eliza-
beth.
In 1570 Roger Cooksey, clerk, made
claim to an annuity of £6 131. 4^., for
service and prayer, against Thomas Herle,
warden, Richard Hall, paymaster, and Ed-
ward Holt, receiver ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec.
Com.), ii, 389.
At an inquiry in 1571 Warden Herle
confessed that he had been absent for two
years and more, having a dispensation.
Neither he nor the fellows were bound to
preach. The only ornament the church
possessed was a broken chalice ; the
building was in decay and the 'painted
pictures ' had not been defaced. Nicholas
Daniell, one of the fellows, averred that
Edward Holt, another fellow, kept an ale-
house and frequented such places, being a
drunkard. Richard Hall, another fellow,
practised medicine, ' and when he should
serve God he runneth after his physic and
surgery ' ; Raines, Wardens, xv. The
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
nounced forms. The preaching of John Bradford
may have had something to do with the change,
though he was so little satisfied that he warned his
audiences that ' because they did not readily embrace
the Word of God, the Mass should again be said in
that church, and the play of Robin Hood acted
there.' 34° His letters and George Marsh's show that
there were a certain number of resolute Protestants in
the town in Mary's reign,3" and some are stated to
have been imprisoned in the college.341
The refoundation of the college by Queen Elizabeth
gave the church a respectable body of Calvinistic
divines,3" but the wardenships of Dee and Murray
again proved disastrous. One of the fellows, how-
ever, William Bourne, acquired a dominating position
in the town ; 'This is Mr. Bourne's judgement,' was
sufficient for the people.344 It is not surprising to
learn that two of the chaplains in 1591 administered
the sacrament without a surplice and that other irregu-
larities were allowed ; many of the people, it seems,
preferred the churchyard to the church at sermon-
time.345 The growing influence of Puritanism is
seen in the stricter Sunday observance.346 The new
foundation of Charles I had no perceptible effect in
neutralizing its prevalence.347
Under the Presbyterian discipline established in
1 646 Manchester became the head of a classis, which
included also the adjoining parishes of Ashton, Eccles,
Flixton, and Prestwich-with-Oldham.848 Four years
later there seems to have been a regular staff of twelve
ministers in the parish, of whom three were at the
parish church and the others at the various chapels.349
Just before the Restoration Richard Heyrick, Henry
Newcome, and Joshua Stopford were in charge.350
After 1660 a tone a little more High Church gra-
dually prevailed, so that by the end of the i yth cen-
tury the clergy were strongly Jacobite, and remained
so until after 1745. Bishop Gastrell about 1717
found that the warden and four fellows supplied all
the turns of preaching, and the two chaplains read
prayers and did all the other duty of the whole
parish, receiving the surplice fees ; a ' cathedral ser-
vice ' was performed by the four singing men, four
choristers, and organist.351 At this time and after-
wards the building of new churches and the growth
of Nonconformist congregations continually diminished
the importance of the collegiate clergy ; while the
great increase of their wealth rendered a change of its
distribution desirable, and this was effected in the
least injurious mode by several Acts of Parliament.35*
From 1854 the various district chapelries have be-
come independent parishes, the incumbents having
the title of rector.
As might be expected from the importance of the
place there were a number of chantry endowments,
of which particulars are given in the record of their
confiscation in 1 547. The curates, i.e. the two
fellows or chaplains who served the parish, had in
addition to their college stipend the profits of the
' Obit lands,' given at various times by a number of
benefactors, being in return bound to celebrate certain
obits yearly for the souls of the donors. The rents
amounted to lozs. n^.353
The chantry of St. James, founded by Ralph
Bishop of Chester refused Hall's pension
in 1581 ; ActsofP.C. 1581-2, p. 266.
A little later it was stated that the
clergy had been beaten and one of their
preachers attacked and wounded.
The loss of the old hospitality was a
grievance with the tenants ; Newton
Chapelry (Chet. Soc.), ii, 51.
840 Hollinworth, Mancuniensis, 75.
841 Foxe, Acts and Monuments (ed. Catt-
ley), vii, 196, 204, 60, 66.
848 Hollinworth, op. cit. 79 ; * their
names, as tradition saith, were Ridlestones,
Wharmbies, &c.'
848 The Elizabethan fellows of 1578
were John Molins, D.D., Alexander
Nowell, D.D. — both exiles for religion in
Mary's time ; the latter became Dean of
St. Paul's — Thomas Williamson, and
Oliver Carter, B.D. ; the last-named had
been a fellow under Herle's wardenship
and is noticed in Diet. Nat. Biog.
844 Hollinworth, op. cit. 105 ; see an
earlier note.
345 W. F. Irvine in Lanes, and Ches.
Antiq. Soc. xiii, 64-9. It is stated that
the surplice was not used in the church
for upwards of forty years, i.e. from about
1590 onwards ; Funeral Certs. (Chet. Soc.),
77. At the Visitation of 1598 the
churchwardens were ordered to provide a
surplice and Book of Common Prayer ;
they had all eaten flesh in Lent and days
forbidden. In 1608 Bourne was pre-
sented for not wearing the surplice ; some
persons communicated standing. In 1622
Henry Holland of Denton was 'suspected
of Brownism.' Many persons refused to
stand at the Creed and bow at the name
of Jesus. Nevertheless the organ playing
is mentioned ; Visit. P. at Chester.
846 Up to 1578 'Sundays ' and holidays
were the usual times for practising arch-
ery ; Manch. Ct. Lett Rec. i, 196. In
1611 dealers in fruit, pedlars, and other
street traders were forbidden to sell on
'the Sabbath day' ; ibid, ii, 264. In
1634 four men were paid for 'watching
packs ' on Whitsunday, to see that none
should be brought into the town on that
Sabbath day ; Manch. Constables' Accts. ii,
7. Perhaps it was due to the same spirit
that players were ordered to leave ; ibid.
"t 33> 34» 36- For the state of the
church see Cal. S.P. Dom. 1633-4, p.
523-
847 The careers of the new warden and
of William Bourne, one of the fellows,
have been described above. The other
fellows of 1635 were Samuel Boardman,
Richard Johnson, and Peter Shaw, first
elected in 1629, 1632, and 1633 respec-
tively. Of these Richard Johnson, though
a Calvinist in doctrine, was the nearest
approach to the ' moderate Churchman ' of
to-day, and suffered insults and imprison-
ment for his loyalty to the king during
the Civil War ; he lived to hold his fel-
lowship again ; Raines, Fellows, 1 14-
15-
Another noteworthy fellow chosen in
1643 was Richard Hollinworth, of Mag-
dalene College, Cambridge, author of the
Mancuniensis frequently quoted in these
notes ; ibid. pp. 138-71 ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
The Hollinworth family was of old
standing in the town. Robert Hollin-
worth held a burgage and a half in 1473 >
Mamecestre, iii, 491. In 1502 James,
son of Thomas, son of Thomas, son of
John Hollinworth, claimed two messuages
as heir of his grandfather ; Pal. of Lane.
Plea R. 92, m. 4 ; also Pal. of Lane.
Writs Proton. 10 Hen. VII. For the
parentage of Richard Hollinworth see Ct.
Lett Rec. iii, 188-9; and f°r n'8 works,
C. W. Sutton in Lanes, and Ches. Antiq.
Soc. vi, 138.
I99
848 The records of this classis have been
printed by the Chetham Society (new
ser. xx, xxii, xxiv) with notes by the
editor, Dr. W. A. Shaw.
849 Commonwealth Ch. Surir. 5—13.
850 Pal. Note Bk. i, 155, where there is
a notice of Stopford, as also in Diet. Nat.
Biog.
KlNotitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 57.
There were eight churchwardens and six-
teen sidesmen. The Traffbrds had by
prescription the right to nominate the
parish clerk ; this was recognized in the
Act of 1850.
Bishop Nicolson in 1704 found that
the warden lived in town, but all the
fellows on their cures at some little dis-
tance. The fellows preached by turns,
forenoon and afternoon, on Sundays, and
the warden on some solemn days ; Lanes,
and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xxii, 187.
8511 Of the later fellows of the college
mention must be made of Richard Par-
kinson, of St. John's College, Cam-
bridge; M.A., 1824; 'D.D. 1851. He
was perpetual curate of Whitworth from
1830 to 1841 and elected fellow of Man-
chester in 1833, becoming a canon on
the change in 1847. He was one of
the founders of the Chetham Society,
and exercised great influence in Man-
chester and the district. He was in
1846 appointed principal of St. Bees Col-
lege, where he remained till his death in
1858 ; but his retention of the canonry
aroused much bitter feeling against him as
a non-resident pluralist, and led to the
passing of the Rectory Act of 1850, by
which the canons were attached to
churches in Manchester parish. See
Raines, Fellows, 361-82 ; Diet, Nat. Biog.
858 Raines, Chant, i, 22-4 ; where par-
ticulars of the donors and their gifts are
recorded.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Hulme in 1507 from lands left by the first warden,
John Huntington, had a clear income of £6 is. 8</.354
The ' new chapel ' of St. John Baptist — later known
as the Stanley or Derby chapel — begun by James
Stanley, Bishop of Ely and formerly warden, and
completed by his son Sir John Stanley, had an endow-
ment of £4 zs. 8//.S5i This chapel, which has the
small Ely chapel at its north-east corner, was used as
the baptistry a century ago. The Trafford chapel or
* closet of St. Nicholas ' had a chantry founded, it
was believed, by Robert Grelley — possibly the lord
of Allerton and Chorlton, living in the I4th century;
the clear income was £5 gs. 7</.SS6 In the same
chapel was another chantry founded by the ancestors
of Sir Edmund Trafford, the incumbent being known
as ' the Lady priest ' ; the endowment being very
small, 6$s. net, the parishioners contributed a quantity
of oats for him.357 At St. George's altar there were
two chantries, both founded by Robert Chetham ;.
at one of them the priest was to celebrate Mass at six
o'clock in the morning for the souls of the founder
and his ancestors ; the net endowment of this chantry
was £6 zs. 7</.,3M and that of the second £5 os. 8^.359
Another chantry was that founded by William Rad-
cliffe at the altar of the Trinity, with a net income of
£5 3'- ^-S6°
An important foundation, already mentioned, was
that of Richard Bexwick at the Jesus altar. His in-
tentions do not seem to have been carried out fully,,
but in i 547 two priests, one of them teaching a school,
were maintained.361
There were gilds associated with the Jesus and
854 Raines, Chant, i, 25-8; Notitia Cestr.
ii, 59-62, notes. The circumstances of the
foundation are narrated in the account of
Warden Huntington already given. The
endowment consisted of 26 acres in Alport
and three burgages in the town. The chan-
try priest in i 5 34 was John Bexwick (Falor
Eccl. [Rec. Com.], v, 225), and in 1547
Nicholas Wolstonecroft, who paid his first-
fruits in 1543 (Lanes, and Ches. Recs.
[Rec. Soc.], ii, 408), and is named in the
list of clergy at the Visitation of 1554.
In the chapel was an ' Image of Pity,'
with the announcement of an indulgence
or pardon of 26,000 [years] and twenty-six
days on reciting five Paternosters, five Aves,
and a Credo ; Hollinworth, 55. The
lands of this chantry were in 1549 be-
stowed on the Earl of Derby for a pay-
ment of £268 31. 4</. ; Pat. 3 Edw. VI,
pt. ii.
855 Chant. 28-31. The lands were at
Bollington and Lyme in Cheshire. The
chapel possessed a chalice and three old
vestments. Thomas Johnson was the
j'iest in 1534 and 1547.
856 Ibid. 31-5. The endowments con-
sisted of three burgages in Manchester
and tenements at Grindlow Cross. The
ornaments consisted of a chalice, vest-
ments, and altar cloths.
In 1320, when Robert Grelley was
living, one Henry de Salford, chaplain,
paid to the lord of Manchester a rent of
2OJ. for Grindlow, and zs. q.d. for Black-
acres ; a note — perhaps of the 1 6th cen-
tury— states that these were the lands of
St. Mary's chantry ; Mamecestre, ii, 279.
From deeds printed in Canon Raines*
notes it appears that the patronage of the
chantry wa» in 1428 in dispute between
Sir Edmund Traffbrd and Thomas Booth
of Barton the elder, it having been the
right of ' the heir of Bexwick ' ; De Traf-
ford D. no. 86 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R.
2, m. 9 d. On the death of Thomas
Whitehead, Reynold Hobson became chan-
try priest in 1506 on the presentation of
Sir Edmund Trafford (De Trafford D.
no. 70), and was in 1508 succeeded by
Henry Ryle, perhaps the same who was
serving in 1534, though he seems to have
resigned in 1514. On the resignation of
Charles Gee, Edmund Trafford presented
another Henry Ryle in 1542 (Act Bks.
at Chester ; Lanes, and Ches. Recs. ii,
407), and he was serving in 1547 ; he was
summoned to the visitation in 1554. The
chapel was long used as the burial-place
of the Trafford family.
For grants of the lands of Trafford's
chapel see Pat. 32 Eliz. pt 1354 Jas. I,
pt. 25 ; also Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.),
iii, 382.
85? Chant. 36-40. From deeds there
given the chantry seems to have been
founded or refounded early in the 1 5th
century, but there has been preserved a
gift to Matthew de Sholver, chaplain, and
his successors celebrating the Mass of St.
Mary at St. Nicholas' altar, which may be
dated about 1300 ; Norris D. (B.M.), no.
951. In 1429 Thomas son of Thomas del
Booth of Barton claimed to present to ' the
chantry of the Blessed Mary at the altar of
St. Nicholas,' against John de Bamford
Henry de Trafford, and Hugh de Scholes,
chaplain ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 2, m.
9^ ; see also the preceding. The endow-
ment was derived from burgages in St.
Mary Gate, Todd Lane, and Deansgate ;
the priest celebrated with the ornaments
of the other chantry. John Reddish
seems to have been the chaplain in 1431,
James Smith in 1498 and 1525, John
Dickonson in 1532 and 1535, William
Ashton (or'Hache1) in 1547.
858 Chant. 40-5. The endowment
was derived from burgages in Market
Street Lane, Millgate, and Deansgate ;
there was no plate. From a deed printed
in Raines" notes it appears that the chan-
tries were founded in 1501, the priest to
be 'one of the priests of the Guild or
Brotherhood of our Blessed Lady and St.
George of Manchester, to be founded in
the College Church of Manchester ' ; the
hour of six o'clock wasjfixed by the founder.
John Bridcoak was the cantarist in 1534
and 1 547. This chantry was partly en-
dowed by the founder's wife — Isabel
daughter of Richard Tetlow — out of her
father's estate.
859 Ibid. 46-8. The endowment in-
cluded Domville House in Salford, and
other burgages and lands in Salford,
Worsley, and Spotland. From the will of
the founder's widow, it is clear that Hugh
Marler was the incumbent in 1523.
Robert Byrom was there in 1534 (Valor
Eccl. [Rec. Com.], v, 226) and Edward
Smith in 1547. In addition to making
regulations for the two chantries Isabel
Chetham by her will left a pair of silver
beads to our Lady of Manchester, 5 marks
to the repair of the church, and 261. 8</.
to the building of Irk Bridge.
Of the Gild of St. George nothing
further seems to be known. The chapel
was built by William Galey, who died in
1 5°8, and part of the endowment was left
by him, viz. a house in Market Street
Lane occupied by Robert Chetham, and
no doubt part of the endowment of the
former chantry. See Raines, loc. cit. in
the notes, and Hollinworth, Mancuniensis,
55. For the Galey family see Mamecestre,
iii, 489 ; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes.
2OO
and Ches.), ii, 162 ; Manch. Ct. Lett Recs*
ii, 8, 77.
For disputes as to the chantry lands in the
Acres and elsewhere see Ducatus Lanc.(Rec*
Com.), i, 224, 265 ; Duchy Plead, iii, 30.
860 Chant. 49-54. The income was de-
rived from burgages and shops in Market
Street, Hanging Bridge, Smithy Door,
Hanging Ditch, and Collyhurst Fold
(' foyte '). There was no plate. Hugh
Brideoak was priest in 1534 and Roger
Ireland in 1547; William Woodall suc-
ceeded before 1548. This chantry seems
to have been founded by William Radcliffe-
of Ordsall, who died in 1498. In the
following year Elizabeth widow of John
Radcliffe of Ordsall bequeathed to the
chaplain celebrating at Trinity altar a
mass book with cover and clasps, a cruet
of silver with I.R. on the cover, two
towels, a vestment of green and white
velvet with bulls' heads on the orphreys,.
and 3*. 4</., to buy a sacring-bell ; Raines,
in the notes. The chapel is now the
outermost aisle of the nave on the north
Hollinworth (op.cit. 47) describes the 'very
rich window ' and gives the verses in-
scribed on it ' in worship of the Trinity.'
861 Some particulars have been given in
a previous note ; see also Chant. 48-52,
where are printed several deeds relating
to the foundation ; e.g. the licence of
James Stanley, as warden, to the Gild
of St. Saviour and the Name of Jesus to
receive all oblations and emoluments
offered to the image of the Saviour in the
chapel recently built at the south side of
the collegiate church ; an agreement of
1509 as to the position of the Bexwick
chaplains in the choir and in the college^
showing that they were to share in all
things, except the stipend ; a deed by
which Isabel daughter and sole heir of
Richard Bexwick and widow of Thomas
Beck (to whom the chantry was some-
times attributed) conveyed the Jesus
chapel in 1562 to Francis Pendleton and
Cecily his wife, daughter of Isabel, and
others. A case respecting the endow-
ment of this chantry is given in Duchy
Plead, ii, 82. The revenue was £4 is. \d.
in 1534, when James Barlow was chantry
priest ; at that time 18*. %d. was by the
founder's will distributed at his obit to the
clergy and the poor ; Valor Eccl. (Rec,
Com.), v, 225. Robert Prestwich was
the cantarist and Edward Pendleton the-
schoolmaster in 1546, when the revenue
was £8 i zs. 3</. ; Chant. 246-7.
The chapel had at the south-east
corner a smaller chapel, now destroyed, in
which were buried the remains of William
Hulme, the founder of the Hulme exhibi-
tions at Oxford.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
St. George's chapels ; 362 also a gild of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, which may have been associated with
the Lady chapel.363 This chapel was at the east end
of the church,364 and there was an altar of St. Michael,
probably at the east end of the south aisle of the
quire.365 The chapel of Salford Bridge does not ap-
pear to have had any special chaplain or endowment.
The grammar school, founded by Hugh Oldham
in I5l5,365a and Chetham's Hospital and Library,
founded under the will of Humphrey Chetham, who
died in 1653, are described elsewhere.
Apart from the grammar school
11 11
there does not seem to have been
any endowed charity for the whole parish, but several
of the townships have valuable estates. An inquiry
was held in 1904, but it concerned only those por-
tions of the parish which are outside the boroughs
of Manchester and Salford, so that the latest de-
tailed official report is that of 1826, in which year
the following were the existing charitable endow-
ments, apart from schools,366 some of the funds having
been lost.367 For Manchester the charities of George
Clarke,363 George Marshall,369 Ellen Shuttleworth,37*
Thomas Hudson,371 Henry Dickenson,37* John Alexan-
der and Joshua Brown,373 Thomas Percival,374 Joseph
Champion,375 James Moss,376 Walter and Margaret
862 See the preceding notes. In the
chapel of St. George was a statue of the
saint on horseback ; Hollinworth, op. cit.
47. Later it was known as the Radcliffe
chapel.
363 jt h^d burgages in the town in
1473; Mamecestre, iii, 506. For the
Gilds see Lanes, and Ches. Antij. Soc. x,
1-24.
864 Afterwards called the Byron or
Chetham Chapel.
863 St. Michael's altar is named in the
will of Henry Turton, cited above ; Pic-
cope, PPills, ii, 12. 'The east window
of the south aisle had Michael and his
angels ; the nine orders of angels, fighting
with the Dragon and his angels ' ; Hollin-
worth, op. cit. 46.
863a V.C.H. Lana. ii, 578.
s«« The scholastic endowments were
for schools at Ardwick, Blackley, Crump-
sail, Didsbury, Gorton, Heaton Norris,
Levenshulme, and Newton. The bene-
factions for Crumpsall and Newton are
still available.
Anne Hinde in 1723 left lands in Sal-
ford and Manchester for the instruction
of ten poor children of Manchester and
ten of Salford, half boys and half girls.
They were to be taught to write and read
(up to a chapter in the Bible), and they
must learn the Church Catechism. Green
clothes were to be provided for them ;
hence this was known as the ' Green
Gown' Charity. The land in Salford
was sold for £1,967 10*., the New Bailey
prison being erected on it. In 1838 the
houses in Fennel Street were sold to the
Corporation of Manchester for £2,600.
The income in 1826 was almost £200,
which sufficed for the education and
clothing of fifty-seven children. The in-
come (from consols) is now only
£114. 21. 8</., and is spent on education
and clothing by the trustees.
St. Paul's (Turner Street) Charity
School was founded in 1777. The pre-
sent income is £40 2s.
Richard Lichford in 1710 left a rent-
charge of £5 on Cooper's tenement in
Blackley to pay a schoolmaster in that
township. This is still in operation.
Elizabeth Chetham in 1689 gave £20
for the teaching of children in Moston
and Newton to read the Bible. The in-
come is now£i.
At Heaton Norris there were in 1826
two charity school foundations — one by
John Hollingpriest, 1785, the other by
public subscription. The latter has been
lost ; the former has an income of
£24 2s. 4</., paid to schools in the town-
ship.
Margaret Usherwood in 1 742 left the
residue of her estate for the education and
clothing of six poor children of Chorlton-
with-Hardy 5 this was in 1826 represented
by £160 in the hands of Robert Feilden,
who paid £8 as interest. The capital is
now invested in a Manchester Corporation
bond, producing £4 121. a year, applied
for the benefit of children of the town-
ship.
867 John Whitworth in 1623 left £20,
and William Drinkwater in 1688 left
£100 for the relief of the poor ; Mary
Chorlton in 1706 left £50 to provide ap-
prenticeship fees ; and the Rev. John
Clayton in 1772 gave £30, which was to
be lent without interest. These had
been lost before 1826.
John Barlow of Pott Shrigley in 1684
charged his estate with £6 a year for
apprenticeship fees of poor boys in Shrig-
ley and Manchester alternately ; but in
1826 it could not be ascertained that
Manchester had ever benefited by it.
William Baguley in 1725 left £200 for
the founding of a charity school for poor
children in Manchester ; chief rents
amounting to £8 is. $d. were purchased,
and a schoolmaster had received part at
least down to his death in 1821. In 1826
there were no trustees to claim the rents
and appoint a master, and it would seem
that the charity had thus become defunct.
Elizabeth Bent in 1773 left £300 for a
school in the Old Churchyard, and three
sums of £50 each for poor housekeepers
of Manchester, Cheetham, and Prestwich.
The capital appears to have been lost in
1 80 1 by a defaulting solicitor.
John Gilliam in 1632 gave £20 for the
poor of Newton, and 1 2s. was paid by the
steward of Edward Greaves until about
1824 ; but the Culcheth estate had about
1790 been sold to Samuel Barker and his
brother, unburdened as they said, and in
1826 all payment had ceased.
Sarah Taylor in 1680 left £20 for the
minister of Gorton Chapel, and £20 for
the poor. A voluntary payment of £i a
year in respect of the latter legacy was
made in 1826, but has ceased.
868 Founded in 1636 ; see the account
of Crumpsall. The present income is
£3,326, and is distributed by the Lord
Mayor in conjunction with some other
charities, as below, through the City Trea-
surer as almoner. The whole is distri-
buted partly in goods — blankets, shawls,
flannels, and sheets — and partly in cash,
at the mayor's discretion, to about 9,000
recipients who are recommended by rate-
payers and approved. Money is also
given to hospitals and benevolent socie-
ties. These and similar details of the
existing charities are taken from the Offi-
cial Handbook for Manchester and Salford,
issued annually.
869 George Marshall in 1624 left his
lands for the benefit of the poor of Man-
chester. In 1826 it was stated that the
property had been sold to the Commis-
2O I
sioners, and was represented by £2,250
consols ; the interest was added to
Clarke's Charity. The present income is
£66 181. 4</. which is distributed by the
Lord Mayor as the last.
870 In 1695 she left £50 for linen cloth
for the poor of Deansgate ; in 1826 the
capital was invested in Government
stock, producing £2 4*. %d. This now
forms part of the Lord Mayor's charities.
the income being £2 14*. lod.
871 He in 1787 left £500 for Charles
Kenyon, ' supposed to be beyond the seas
in America,' on condition that he should
return within five years and prove him-
self to be the son of one Esther Kenyon ;
otherwise the interest was to be paid to
the borough-reeve in augmentation of his
charitable funds. The inquiry of 1826
appears to have been the means of recover-
ing this charity, for the interest had not
been paid for some years. The present
income is £29 81. 8<£, which is added to
the Lord Mayor's charities.
878 He left the interest of £100 for the
poor of Manchester ; his executors pur-
chased an estate in Saddleworth called
Mere Stone Height, a rent of £5 being
charged on it in respect of the interest.
This was in 1826 distributed by the
churchwardens. The £5 is still received,
and is distributed by the churchwardens
and overseers in bread, bedding, and cloth-
ing.
873 John Alexander in 1688 gave some
land in Gorton called the Marshes for the
use of the poor, and about 1751 the
churchwardens and overseers spent £100
left by Joshua Brown in 1694 on im-
proving the land. In 1826 the estate
consisted of 6J acres (customary measure
of 7 yards to the perch), let at £30 a
year. The present income is £326 3$.,
which is distributed as the last-named
charity.
874 For the benefactor's family see the
account of Royton. Thomas Percival
left £150 in 1693, and it was laid out in
the purchase of land in Royton, measuring
nearly 10 acres customary measure, and
let in 1826 at £28 ; there was coal under
the land. The present income is £6 5 ioj.,
and this is distributed in the same manner
as the two preceding charities.
875 By his will of 1684 he left £100 to-
provide twelve penny loaves of wheat
bread to be distributed to poor inhabitants
of Manchester on St. Thomas's Day. In
1826 it was represented by a charge of
£7 u. 6d. on the rates. The present in-
come is only £4 51. 4^., which is given
in bread by the churchwardens and over-
seers.
878 By his will (1705) he left £100 to
purchase lands, the income from which
was to be spent on ' five gowns for five
aged men ' living in Manchester, ' to be of
26
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Nugent,877 Edward Mayes,378 Richard Holland and
others,379 Nicholas Hartley,*80 Ellen Hartley,381 John
Partington,38* Robert Sutton,383 Thomas Minshull,384
Humphrey Oldfield,38* Francis Cartwright,386 Catherine
Richards,387 Jane Corles,388 Roger Sedgwick,389 Elizabeth
Scholes,390 Ann Butterworth and Daniel Bayley,391 Me-
riel Mosley and others,391 Daniel Shelmerdine,393 Ellen
Nicholson,394 Catherine Fisher,394 James Clayton,396
a housewife's kersey of a sad blue colour,
and to be given on Christmas Day morn-
ing before prayers in the south porch of
parish church of Manchester.' In 1826
this was represented by a rent-charge of
,£5 5*. on the capital messuage called
Hope in Eccles. This sum is still received
and spent in clothing by the church-
wardens and overseers.
•77 For these benefactors see the account
of Moston. Walter Nugent and Margaret
Nugent his mother in 1609 settled two
chief rents of zos. each for the buying of
turves for the poor. In 1826 one of the
rents was found to be charged on property
held by Clarke's trustees, and the other
on a house, 38, Smithy Door, owned by
T. C. Worsley of Platt ; on the latter
the rent-charge had not been paid for
many years, but resumption was pro-
mised. The income is now £4 ; it is
added to the Clarke and other charities of
the Lord Mayor.
*?B In 1621 he left £120 for the poor,
the income to be distributed in money or
victuals. Land in Millgate and Miller's
Lane was purchased, the present Mayes
Street indicating its position, and on it
the overseers long afterwards erected
buildings called the Almshouses, occupied
by six poor women. An Act was passed
in 1794 allowing the trustees to sell or
lease the land, thus enabling the estate
to be improved. The rents in 1826
amounted to nearly £430, subject to a
chief rent of 131. lod. to William Hulton.
The present income is ,£479, which is
distributed by the trustees in food or
money. For an account of the alms-
houses see Ct. Leet Rec. vi, 139 n. ; and
Procter, Bygone Manch. 80.
87* Richard Holland in 1622 gave £100,
and others about the same time gave
sums amounting to £58 3*. ; and these
with other moneys were in 1681 laid out
in building the Almshouses recorded in
the last note. It seems therefore that
these sums have been merged in the
Mayes Charity.
880 Nicholas Hartley gave £50 for the
poor of Manchester, and his brother and
executor John in 1628 gave a house and
land in Moston, as representing the £50.
John Hartley, grandson of the former
John, was a trustee in 1692. In 1826
the land, &c., was tenanted by Samuel
Taylor, it lying near his residence, at a
rent of £15 15*. The present income is
£126, which is distributed by the trustees
in money gifts.
881 Ellen widow of Nicholas Hartley
in 1626 gave a burgage in Market Stead
Lane for the relief of poor persons dwell-
ing in Manchester. It was sold in 1822,
under the Act for widening Market Street,
and the purchase-money, £1,370, invested
in Government stock. This now pro-
duces £45 6s., and the Lord Mayor and
deputy-mayor, who act as trustees, dis-
tribute the income on Christmas Eve in
half-crowns to poor aged people, chiefly
on the recommendation of the police super-
intendents.
Anne Collier in 1848 augmented this
charity by a gift producing an additional
£1721. <)d.
882 By his will of 1677 he left £100
to be invested in land for the benefit of
the poor. Lands called Mythom, Delf
Hills, &c., in Little Lever were pur-
chased, on which a rent-charge of £5
was made, representing the interest on
the £100. In 1826 the lands were held
by Matthew Fletcher, who was unaware
of his liability to pay the £5 a year, but
undertook to discharge it. The money is
still paid, and is distributed by the Lord
Mayor in the same manner as the Hud-
son Charity above described.
888 He bequeathed £200 in 1687 to
provide ' an outward or uppermost gar-
ment' to each of twenty-four or more
poor and aged housekeepers, &c., of Man-
chester, and gave land at Abbey Hey in
Gorton — or a charge of £10 on it — to
provide clothing for another twenty-four.
Land in Sholver in Oldham was pur-
chased, and in 1826 rents of £10 each
were received from Gorton and Sholver.
The £zo is still paid, and is given in
clothing by the trustees.
884 In 1689 he conveyed to trustees a
tenement at the corner of Hanging Bridge
and Cateaton Street (subject to a chief
rent of I zd.) for the apprenticing of poor
boys ; 501. was to be given with each boy,
as well as los. towards providing him
with clothes. The rent in 1826 was ,£51,
but was irregularly paid, and the premises
required rebuilding. The present income
is £153, which is applied by one of the
minor canons and other trustees.
885 Humphrey Oldfield in 1690 left
£20 to the poor of Manchester, and £50
to the poor of Salford. The capital was
in 1826 in the hands of the Rev. Thomas
Gaskell, who distributed £3 los. yearly
according to the benefactor's wishes. The
same sum is still yearly given by the
trustees.
386 By hjg w;u ;n j^og ne gave £420
to provide 20*. for a sermon by ' a true
and orthodox minister of the Church of
England ' every New Year's Day ; the
rest of the interest was, as to two-thirds,
to be lent without interest ' to poor
honest men, well-principled in the doc-
trine of the Church of England,' in order
to start them in business ; and as to the
other third, to apprentice poor house-
keepers' children. Lands were purchased
in Oldham (Barrowshaw), and Chadder-
ton, and certain chief rents. In 1826
the founder's instructions were still ad-
hered to, but at present the income,
£76 1 51. 4<f., is by the trustees devoted to
education.
sa< In bequeathing Strangeways to
Thomas Reynolds in 1711, she directed
that £100 a year out of her houses in
Manchester should be given to help
widows of decayed tradesmen of Man-
chester, and to apprentice their sons. In
1797 Lord Ducie gave a piece of ground
(High Knolls, &c.) for a poor-house at
£100 rent, which represented the above
charge, for the churchwardens gave Lord
Ducie a receipt for £100 in respect of the
Richards Charity, and he gave them a
receipt for the like sum as rent. The
capital was gradually increased by accu-
mulation of interest, the £100 being only
partly expended in the year, and the sum
yearly available is now £117 181. %d.t
which is paid in annuities to widows, &c.,
at the discretion of the Dean of Manches-
ter (as successor to the warden) and the
Earl of Ducie.
2O2
888 By her will of 1732 she gave £55
for loaves on Sundays, &c., to poor per-
sons frequenting divine service at the
Collegiate Church. The present income
is £4, which the minor canons distribute
to the poor in bread and money.
889 In 1733 he directed his son Roger
to lay £200 out in lands and to distribute
to poor persons not receiving relief £ioa
year of the proceeds. In 1826 the rent-
charges which had been purchased
amounted in all to £8 31. gd. The present
income is £18 j*. yd., which is distributed
by the Lord Mayor in conjunction with
Clarke's Charity.
890 By her will of 1734 she provided
for a charity sermon on St. John the
Baptist's Day, at which the interest of
,£150 should be distributed to twenty
poor housekeepers ; an additional sum
was left for Chapel-en-le-Frith. The
gross income at present is £12 191. n</.,
of which part is given to the place last
named.
891 Anne Butterworth in 1735 k^
£500 for apprenticing the children of
poor ministers, tradesmen, &c., being
Protestant Dissenters ; and Daniel Bayley
in 1762 gave £100 for the like purposes.
By the investment of surplus income the
capital had grown to £3,066 consols in
1826, when, though the trustees were
members of either Cross Street or Mosley
Street Chapel, the beneficiaries, being
Protestants, might be either of the
Established Church or Dissenters. The
income now amounts to £200 91. id,t
and is spent by the trustees in apprenticing
children.
892 Dame Meriel Mosley in 1697 gave
£50 for poor persons attending the Pro-
testant Dissenters' Chapel in Manchester:
subsequent benefactions within a century
raised the capital to £400. The income
now amounts to £23 191. 3^., and is dis-
tributed by the trustees among the poor
attending Cross Street Chapel.
893 In 1801 he left 120 guineas, the
interest to be given to ' the poor, sick, and
distressed members of the church assem-
bling and communicating at the ordinance
of the Lord's Supper in Mosley Street
Chapel.' This chapel has now been
transferred to Chorlton, and the interest —
a rent-charge of £7 os. zd. — is paid by
the trustees accordingly.
894 By her will of 1742 she left £120
for the poor. The trust has been sur-
rendered to the corporation, and £6 a
year is distributed annually on New
Year's Eve to ten poor aged women ;
vacancies in the list are filled up by the
Lord Mayor.
895 Catherine Fisher in 1752 gave cer-
tain houses, &c., to trustees to secure the
payment of money and weekly gifts of
bread to poor housekeepers of Manchester
and Salford who should 'attend divine
service of the Church of England on
every Lord's Day.' The present in-
come is £24 4*. 4<f., given by the trus-
tees in bread and money ; 501. goes to
Salford.
896 He left £400 for bedding and bed-
clothes for poor working inhabitant
housekeepers, to be distributed on St.
Thomas's Day. The churchwardens and
overseers now distribute the income,
£1 1 Hi., in bedding.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
Sarah Brearcliffe,397 Thomas Henshaw ;398for Blackley
—Adam Chetham,399 Thomas and John Traves ; 40°
for Didsbury, &c. — Sir Edward Mosley,401 Thomas
Chorlton,40* Sergeant Boardman,403 Ann Bland and
Thomas Linney,404 Edward Hampson ; 40i and for
Salford— Humphrey Booth the elder,406 his grandson
Humphrey Booth the younger,407 Charles Broster,403
Charles Haworth,409 Robert Cuthbertson,410 George
Buerdsell,411 Thomas Dickanson,41* John Caldwell,413
Alexander and Mary Davie,414 and Samuel Haward.415
The partial report of 1904 shows that many of the
above stocks are still available, and tha>t some new
ones have been added ; these were, excluding
church 416 and educational and recreative endow-
ments,417 as follows : — For Didsbury — Sarah Feilden,
for the poor ; 418 for Heaton Norris — Sir Ralph Pen-
dlebury, stocks producing £4,722 a year for children
of this and some other townships,419 Rev. Stephen
M" She died in 1803, having in 1792
given £3,000 on trust for the relief of
fifteen old housekeepers of Manchester
and Salford. The income is now £97 101.,
and is distributed by the trustees.
398 jje was a hat-maker at Oldham,
and died in 1810, having left £40,000 for
a blue-coat school at Oldham, and
£20,000 for a blind asylum at Manches-
ter, forbidding the money to be used in
the purchase of land. In consequence of
this provision nothing had been done in
1826 towards carrying out the testator's
object, but the money was accumulating at
interest. A blind asylum was in 1837
built at Old Trafford.
899 In 1625 he gave a messuage and
land in Blackley for the minister of the
chapel (one-third), and the poor of the
township (two-thirds). A poor-house was
afterwards built on part of the land. The
present income is £23 121., which is given
to the preacher at Blackley and to the
poor.
400 This arose from two sums of £20
each given in 1721 and later, half the
interest to be given to the minister of
Blackley Chapel and half to the poor.
The income, £l 6s, gJ., is now given by
the trustees to the poor.
401 In 1695 he charged his manors
of Withington and Heaton Norris with
£4 for the poor of the two townships,
and £4 for Didsbury School. In 1826
both rent-charges were paid by Robert
Feilden out of lands formerly part of the
manor of Withington. Colonel Robert
Feilden of Bebington, grandson of the
preceding, in 1874 disputed his liability,
and dying soon afterwards his estate at
Didsbury was sold, and the charity was
lost.
402 In 1728 he charged his lands at
Grundy Hill in Heaton Norris with the
payment of £5 yearly, of which £i was
to go to the schoolmaster at Barlow Moor
End, and £4 was to be given in bread
to the poor each Sunday in Didsbury
Chapel. This is now incorporated with
the following.
403 In 1768 he left £50 for a bread
charity similar to the preceding, and the
two appear always to have been adminis-
tered together. The total income,
£6 i8i. 8<f., is given in bread at the
churches of St. James, Didsbury ; St. Paul,
Withington ; and St. John the Baptist,
Heaton Mersey.
404 Dame Ann Bland and Thomas
Linney gave £100 each for the poor of
Didsbury and district. Twyford's Warth
was purchased, and the rent, £13, was in
1 826 distributed according to the founders'
wishes. The rent is now £7 io*., of
which half is distributed in the township
of Didsbury, and half in that of Withing-
ton, in accordance with customary prac-
tice.
405 He in 1811 left £400 to pay certain
legacies, and to use the interest of the
remainder to pay £i to the preaching
minister of Didsbury, £i to the school-
master, and £i to the singers. In 1826
the said remainder (£100) was in the
hands of Robert Feilden, who paid £5 as
interest. The above-named Colonel
Feilden desired to repudiate liability for
this also, but was obliged to admit it. His
representatives after 1874 succeeded in
evading it.
406 For an account of the Booths see
the townships of Salford and Moston.
The income of the elder Humphrey's
foundation now amounts to £17,000 a
year. In 1630 he gave land by the road
from Manchester to Shooter's Brook (now
at the junction of Piccadilly and Port
Street), and three closes called Millward's
Croft (or Mileworth Croft, also called, it
appears, the Tue Fields, at the junction of
Great Bridgewater Street and Oxford
Street), all in Manchester, for the relief
of poor, aged, needy, or impotent people '
of Salford. In 1776 an Act of Parlia-
ment was obtained enabling the trustees
to grant building leases, &c. In 1826
the money was disbursed by constables
and churchwardens of Salford in weekly
doles, in gifts of linen and in blankets.
407 In 1672 he left a house, &c., in the
Gravel Hole (Gravel Lane), land near
Broken Bank (the Chequers), and land
with a well called Oldfield Well for the
repair of Salford Chapel ; the overplus
to be distributed to the poor at Christ-
mas in the same manner as his grand-
father's charity. The present income is
£1,000.
408 He left £100 (in or before 1787)
for the purchase of a rent-charge ; half the
income was to be given to the poor in
coals, and the other half spent on clothing
poor children. With interest the fund
accumulated to £150, which was added to
the elder Booth's fund, the trustees pay-
ing £7 id, as interest. This sum is still
paid.
409 In 1636 he gave £10 for the benefit
of the poor ; in 1826 the capital was in-
tact, and ioj. a year was paid to the
churchwardens and constables, who laid it
out on clothing. It appears to have been
lost since.
410 He left, by his will of 1683, £100
for the poor, apparently as an augmenta-
tion of the Booth Charity ; land in
Droylsden was purchased, from which in
1826 a rent of £5 was derived, spent on
blankets. The same rent is still re-
ceived.
411 In 1690-3 he gave a messuage, &c.,
in Fore Street (or Chapel Street) for the
benefit of the poor, the distribution being
entrusted to the borough-reeve and con-
stables. The present income is £572.
411 In 1697 he bequeathed a messuage,
&c., in Salford for the provision of 'eight
coats for eight poor old men of the town
of Salford, such as should constantly fre-
quent the church ; the same to be made
new and ready on Christmas Day yearly,
with such badge upon the same as the
feoffees should think fit.' The estate was
released in 1711. About 1801 the land
203
was leased out in parcels at a total rental
of £42 1 5*. ; the present income is
£s°°-
418 By his will of 1744 he left half the
moiety of the residue of his estate for the
poor, to be expended in shirts and shifts,
and the balance in coal ; but £50 of it
was to go to the endowment of ' the offi-
ciating clerk in the chapel at Salford.' In
the result £ i oo was received by the trus-
tees, and in 1826 half the interest (viz.
£2 5*.) was paid to the clerk, and the
other half given to fourteen aged poor
persons as directed. The present income
i*£3-
414 Alexander Davie gave a rent-charge
of £2 los, on lands at Sandy well, and
Mary Davie left £50 for a bread charity.
In 1826 £5 was received, to which the
£5 from Haward's Charity was added,
and forty-eight penny loaves were given
each Sunday after service at Trinity
Chapel. The £5 is still received.
414 This charity chiefly concerns Old-
ham, but £5 is paid out of it to Salford ;
for the benefactor see Pal. Note Bk, iii,
89. The Manchester Charities of Cathe-
rine Fisher, Humphrey Oldfield, and Sarah
Brearcliffe are in part available for Sal-
ford.
418 St. Paul's Church, Chorlton-with-
Hardy ; Old Methodist Chapel, Levens-
hulme ; Wesleyan Chapel, Stretford ;
Brookfield Parsonage, Gorton (Unitarian);
Mission Room, Heaton Norris ; Albert
Park Wesleyan Chapel, Didsbury ; Christ
Church, Heaton Norris 5 St. Matthew's,
Stretford ; Christ Church, Denton.
^ Hulme Grammar School, Withing-
ton ; Recreation Ground, Heaton Nor-
ris ; Mechanics' Institution and Schools,
Levenshulme ; Christ Church School,
Moss Side ; Library and Technical Insti-
tute, Stretford ; Library, Denton ; School
and Mechanics' Institute, Droylsden ;
School, Gorton (Richard Taylor).
418 Founded in 1835 ; the income
(£2 izs. 4*/.) is distributed in coals by the
Rector of St. James's, Didsbury.
419 By his will of 1 86 1 Sir Ralph left his
residuary estate to certain persons, telling
them that he had intended it for a charit-
able purpose, but was prevented by a legal
difficulty. A long lawsuit followed, and
by costs and payments to next-of-kin
the residue was reduced from £120,000
to £78,000 by 1872. It then became
possible to carry out the design of the
testator for the education of orphan chil-
dren. In 1879 the charity was formally
established. The orphans must be the
children of parents residing (for a time
at least) in Heaton Norris, Reddish, or
Burnage, or in certain of the neighbouring
townships in Cheshire. No clergyman,
dissenting minister, or Roman Catholic
is eligible as governor ; the teaching is to
be ' strictly moral, religious, and scrip-
tural, and unalterably based upon Protes-
tant principles.' The orphanage is in
Heaton Norris ; about 250 children are
assisted annually.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Hooper,4" Thomas Thorniley,411 and Albert Edward
Nuttall ; 4W for Stretford— Emma Bate.4*3
Among the more recent endowments 4*4 for Man-
chester and Salford are those of William Smith for
various hospitals,41* Isabella Catherine Denby for
orphan daughters of tradesmen,4*6 the Barnes Sama-
ritan Fund with an income of £2,624 f°r medical
relief and nursing,4*7 John and Emma Galloway for
relief of the poor of Hulme,418 George Pilkington
£417 a year for bedding and clothing,4*9 Thomas
Porter, £3,500 a year for outfits of orphans,430 and the
Westwood almshouses.431 There are some further
endowments for education,43* and some smaller bene-
factions.433
SALFORD
Salford, Dom. Bk. and usually ; Sauford, 1 1 68 ;
Shalford, 1238 ; Chelford, 1240.
Ordeshala, 1177 ; Ordeshale, 1240 and common ;
Ordesalle, 1292; Urdeshale, 1337 ; Ordessale, 1338 ;
Hurdeshale, 1354; Ordesale, 1358.
The township of Salford lies in a bend of the
Irwell, which, except for a few deviations caused
probably by changes in the course of the river, still
forms its boundary except on the west, where a line,
2 miles long, drawn from one part of the stream to
another, divides Salford from Pendleton. The area is
1,329 acres.1 The surface is comparatively level,
rising on the north-west side ; on the south-west is a
low-lying tract along the Irwell. The population in
1901 was 105,335.
There are five bridges across the river into Man-
chester, and a railway bridge ; two into Cheetham,*
and another railway bridge ; two into Broughton ; 3 a
footbridge into Hulme, and a swing bridge into
Stretford. Starting from Victoria Bridge, on the site
of the ancient bridge connecting Manchester and Sal-
ford,4 and proceeding west along Chapel Street, Trinity
Church — formerly Salford Chapel — is seen on the
north side. At this point the street is crossed by the
road from Blackfriars Bridge to Broughton, which is
afterwards joined by the old road towards Broughton
from Victoria Bridge by way of Greengate. Further
on, Chapel Street is joined by the road from Albert
Bridge and Irwell Bridge. On the north side may be
seen the Town Hall, and a little further on the Roman
Catholic Cathedral. Then the hospital,5 in what used
to be known as White Cross Bank, is passed, and the
Irwell is reached. The land on its bank has been
formed into a park (Peel Park6), in which stand the
museum and technical school. Soon afterwards the
boundary is touched. Windsor is the local name for
this district.
Turning south by Cross Lane, the Cattle Market is
passed on the west side.7 After passing the railway
station and crossing Regent Road, the entrance to the
great Salford Docks of the Ship Canal Company is
seen. Cross Lane, as Trafford Road, continues as far
as the swing bridge over the Irwell, the docks lying
on its west side, and Ordsall Park 8 on the east. Part
of the dock site was formerly the New Barns race-
course, where the Manchester races were held.
Turning to the east before reaching the bridge, a
cross street leads into Ordsall Lane, which takes a
winding course to the north-east for over a mile and
a half, joining Chapel Street near the Town Hall.
On the west side of the lane stands Ordsall Hall, an
ancient seat of the RadclifFe family. A little distance
to the north, Oldfield Road branches off from Ordsall
Lane to join Chapel Street opposite the hospital.
There is a recreation-ground between Oldfield Road
and Ordsall Lane.
Regent Road, a great east and west thoroughfare
already mentioned, begins at Regent Bridge over the
Irwell, and after passing Cross Lane is called Eccles New
Road ; on the north side is the Salford workhouse.9
The Manchester and Bolton Canal crosses Salford
between Chapel Street and Regent Road, and joins
420 By his will, dated 1897, he left £50
for the purchase of coal at Christmas for
the poor of Heaton Mersey Independent
Chapel.
421 By his will of 1886, proved 1900,
he gave £200 for the maintenance of the
mausoleum, &c., and the residue for the
clothing of poor persons attending St.
John's Church, Heaton Mersey.
422 By his will of 1 892 he left £200
for the benefit of the sick poor of Heaton
Mersey, and £50 for the provision of a
Christmas treat for aged persons of the
same place.
428 In 1838 she bequeathed £300, one-
half the interest for the Sunday school at
St. Matthew's, Stretford, and the other
half for poor persons who were communi-
cants at that church ; this is given in bread.
424 See the Manchester and Salford
Official Handbook.
426 The benefactions, dating from 1866
to 1874, amount to £i 10 a year, and are
administered by the corporation.
426 This was founded in 1 847 ; the
income of £139 191. is administered by
the Lord Mayor and three senior alder-
men.
W Administered by trustees. The
founder was Robert Barnes, a cotton
spinner ; born in Manchester in 1 800 he
died at Fallowfield in 1871, having long
devoted himself to works of charity. He
was mayor of Manchester in 1851. In
religion he was a Wesleyan, his family
having been connected with Great Bridge-
water Street Chapel.
488 This was founded by their children
in 1895 ; the income, £28 I2s. io</., is
administered by the Overseers of South
Manchester. John Galloway was head
of a great engineering concern in Hulme.
429 The churchwardens and minor
canons administer this fund, which dates
from 1858. For a notice of the bene-
factor, who died in 1864, see The Old
Church Clock (ed. J. Evans), pp. xc, 240.
430 This was established in 1878; a
board of governors has the management.
481 This dates from 1877. It was
founded by John Robinson, of the Atlas
Works and of Westwood near Leek, in
memory of his daughters. The income,
,£229 ioj., is administered by trustees.
432 Alderman Benjamin Nicholls, who
died in 1877, bequeathed j£3>4°° a 7car
for education. Peter Spence in 1879 left
,£5 41. a year for the Manchester Sunday
School Union. A. Alsop in 1826 and
E. Alsop in 1838 left sums producing £89
for education at Blackley. The Byrom
Fund, 1859, gives £120 a year for indus-
trial schools at Ardwick. Elizabeth Place
in 1855 left £42 a year for industrial
schools.
488 Admiral Duff in 1858 left £34 15*.
a year for ' Protestant Scripture readers
. . . members of the Church of England.'
The Manchester Charity for the Protec-
tion and Reformation of Girls and Wo-
204
men in 1881 entrusted an income of
,£11 I2J. 4</. to the Town Council for
distribution. The Rev. N. Germon in
1883 left £10 141. %d. a year for the
poor; T. Kingston in 1887, £2 icu. $d.
for nursing; T. Mottershead in 1890,
£6 -jt. 6d., equally between education
and the poor ; — Wray in 1865, £4 for
clothing.
1 x>354 acres, including 93 of inland
water ; Census Rep. of 1901.
2 Waterloo Bridge, by Exchange station,
was built in 1817, under an Act obtained
the previous year : 56 Geo. Ill, cap. 62.
8 The first bridge was built by Samuel
Clowes of Broughton, in 1806 ; it was
rebuilt in 1869. Sprmgfield Lane Bridge,
an iron bridge, was first built in 1850, and
renewed in 1880.
4 Rebuilt in 1837-9.
5 Founded in 1 827. There is also a dis-
pensary in Garden Lane. Another charity
is the Day Nursery in Broughton Road.
6 Peel Park was purchased in 1 845
from William Garnett ; it had been known
as the Lark Hill estate. The park, with
library and museum, was opened in 1 849.
A statue of Sir Robert Peel was placed
there in 1852, and there are others.
"• Opened in 1837. An earlier cattle
market was established in 1774 ; Axon,
Mancb. Annals, 102.
8 The park was formed in 1879.
9 This was built in 1852. The older
workhouse in Greengate was built in 1793.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
the Irwell by Prince's Bridge. The London & North
Western Company's Exchange station, Manchester,
lies in Salford, in a bend of the Irwell. From this the
line runs south-west, mostly on arches, to Ordsall
Lane station, at which point it is joined by lines from
Manchester, and then proceeds west by Cross Lane
station to Liverpool. There are large goods yards at
this part of the line. The Lancashire and Yorkshire
Company's line from Manchester to Bolton and Bury
runs parallel with the other as far as Salford station,10
situated to the south of Chapel Street, on the road to
Albert Bridge ; it then proceeds west and north to
Pendleton, having large goods yards along the south
side, as well as a cattle station. There is a branch
line to the Ship Canal docks.
Some Roman and other early remains have been
discovered at various times.11
Woden's Ford was ' a paved causeway across the
Irwell from Hulme to Salford.' u
The oldest part of the town is the triangular area
formed by Chapel Street, Gravel Lane, and Green-
gate ; much of it is occupied by the Exchange station.
Greengate was continued north by Springfield Lane.
In the centre of Greengate, near the junction with
Gravel Lane, stood the Court House, with the cross
at the east end. The Hearth Tax return of 1666
records a total of 312 hearths liable. The largest
house was Ordsall Hall, then Colonel John Birch's,
which had nineteen hearths, and there were a
number of other considerable mansions." A plan of
the town in 1740 shows a line of houses along the
west side of Cross Lane ; also the mill and kiln to the
north-west of Ordsall Hall.
The present St. Stephen's Street, which was not then
formed, may be taken to represent approximately
the western boundary of the town a century ago. The
New Bailey prison, built in 1787—90 and taken down
in 1 871, near the site of the Salford station, was at the
edge of the town. The plan of 1832 shows a con-
siderable development to the west of Ordsall Lane,
between Chapel Street — then known as White Cross
Bank, Bank Parade, and Broken Bank — and Regent
Road. Houses also stood by the Irwell, between
Adelphi Street and the river. The Town Hall and
market had been built ; there were numerous churches
and schools, also an infantry barracks, which stood till
about ten years ago to the south-west of the junction
of Regent Road and Oldfield Road. There is no need
to dwell on the later history ; new streets have been
opened out and lined with houses and business pre-
mises, and a great improvement was effected by open-
ing the straight road above-mentioned from Blackfriars
Bridge to Broughton Bridge.
Railways and docks now occupy a considerable
share of the area. There are also numerous factories
and mills, many large engineering works, breweries,
and other very varied industries.
Salford retains very few old buildings of any archi-
tectural interest, the only one necessary to mention
here being the Bull's Head Inn in Greengate, a
picturesque timber-and-plaster building on a stone
base with four gables to the street. It has suffered
a good deal from restoration and alterations, how-
ever, and the roofs are now covered with modern
slates. The south gable is built on crucks, an in-
teresting survival in a wilderness of brick and mortar.
The house, once the abode of the Aliens, has lost the
projecting porch and gable, which formerly gave it an
air of distinction, and has fallen on evil days.
The town can boast no public buildings of archi-
tectural importance. The Town Hall in Bexley
Square, of which the foundation stone was laid by
Lord Bexley in August 1825, is a plain building with
a rather dignified classic front of the Doric order,
erected in 1825—7, but now found entirely inadequate
for the purposes of the borough. It was extended in
1847, 1853, and 1860, but in 1908 a proposal for
the erection of a new and adequate building was
put forward. The Roman Catholic Cathedral of
St. John is a good specimen of the decorated Gothic
style of the middle of the last century (1855), and
contains some fine work by E. W. Pugin. At the west
entrance to Peel Park are the handsome wrought-iron
gates formerly belonging to Strangeways Hall, and bear-
ing the arms of Lord Ducie. A great number of good
well-built early 19th-century brick houses yet remain
in the town, many of them with well-designed door-
ways, but the majority have now been abandoned as
town residences, and are occupied as offices and for
other business purposes.
Henry Clarke, LL.D., a mathematician, was born
at Salford in 1743 ; he became professor in the
Military Academy, and died in 1818." William
Harrison, a distinguished Manx antiquary, was born
at Salford in 1802 ; he died in 1884." Richard
Wright Procter, barber and author, who did much to
preserve the memories of old Manchester, was born in
Salford in 1816, and died in l88i.16 James Pres-
cott Joule, the eminent physicist who determined the
mechanical equivalent of heat, was born at Salford in
1818. He died in 1889." Henry James Holding,
artist, was another native, 1833— 72." Joseph Kay,
economist, was born at Ordsall Cottage in 1821 ; he
was judge of the Salford Court of Record from 1862
till his death in 1878." William Thompson Watkin,
born at Salford in 1836, became an authority on the
Roman remains of the district, publishing Roman
Lancashire in 1883 and Roman Cheshire in 1886. He
spent most of his life in Liverpool, where he died in
1888."
Before the Conquest S4LFORD was
M4NOR the head of a hundred and a royal manor,
being held by King Edward in 1066,
when it was assessed as 3 hides and 1 2 plough-lands,
waste, and had a forest 3 leagues square, containing
heys and eyries of hawks.11 The manor was thus
10 This station was the terminus of the
line when first formed in 1838 ; the ex-
tension to Victoria Station was effected six
years later.
11 Watkin, Roman Lanes. 3 8 ; Lanes, and
Ckes. Antiq. Soe. v, 329 ; x, 251.
13 Thus Barritt the antiquary, who in-
vented the name. The ford is marked on
the plan of 1740. 'Woden's Cave,' in
Ordsall, was near the Salford end. See
Manck. Guardian N. and Q. no. 749 ;
Hibbcrt-Ware, Manch, Foundations, i, 5—7.
u Subs. R. 250-9. Dr. Chadwick
had 12 hearths, Robert Birch and Alexan-
der Davie 10 each, Major John Byrom 9,
Richard Pennington and Hugh Johnson
8, William Tassle 7, Joshua Wilson, Wil-
liam Higginbotham, James Johnson, Mr.
Hewitt, and Dr. Davenport 6 each ; there
were four houses with 5 hearths, ten with
4, and fourteen with 3.
14 There are notices of him in Baines"
Lanes, and in Diet. Nat. Biog.
205
*• There is a notice of him in Diet. Nat.
Biog.
11 His works include Mem. of Mancb.
Streets and Bygone Manch. To the posthu-
mous edition of his Barber's Shop (1883)
is prefixed a memoir by Mr. W. E. A.
Axon ; see also Pal. Note Bk. i, 165, and
Die t. Nat. Biog.
J7 See Diet. Nat. Biog.
» Ibid. »» Ibid. *> Ibid.
n V.CJi. Lanes, i, 287.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
DUCHY OF LANCASTER.
England differenced -with
a label azure.
much more extensive than the present township. Since
the Conquest Salford proper has always been re-
tained by the lord of the land
* between Kibble and Mersey '
as part of his demesne, and
has therefore descended with
the honour of Lancaster, re-
maining to the present day a
manor of the king as Duke of
Lancaster. The headship of
the hundred has likewise been
retained by it.
The men of Salford in 1 168
paid £14 ioj. to the aid for
marrying the king's daughter."
An increase of 4/. for the half-
year appears in the rent of the manor of 120 1.13 In
1226 the assized rent of Salford was 23/.,24 and the
vill, with its dependencies — Broughton, Ordsall, and
a moiety of Flixton — paid 1 1 zs. tallage."
The waste included wide strips along Oldfield
Road, the road leading to Pendleton, and others.
The inhabitants' pigs used to stray at will on this
waste.26
The ' town of Salford and the liberties of the same '
are frequently referred to in the Court Leet Records.
Oldfield Lane seems to have been the most important
liberty ; in 1601 it had a separate bylaw man.*7
About the year 1230 Ranulf Blun-
BO ROUGH deville, Earl of Chester, erected his
vill of Salford into a free borough, the
burgesses dwelling therein being allowed certain pri-
vileges.28 Each burgage had an acre of land annexed
to it, and a rent of I zd. had to be paid to the lord at
the four terms — Christmas, Mid-Lent, Midsummer,
and Michaelmas. Succession was regulated,19 and
right of sale admitted.30
A borough-reeve was to be freely elected by the
burgesses, and might be removed at the end of a
year. A borough court or portman mote31 was
established, in which various pleas affecting the bur-
gesses were to be decided before the earl's bailiffs by
the view of the burgesses.33 No one within the hun-
dred was to ply his trade as shoemaker, skinner, or the
like, unless he were ' in the borough,' the liberties of
the barons of Manchester, &c., being reserved. The
burgesses were free from toll at markets and fairs with-
in the earl's demesnes, but were obliged to grind at
his mills to the twentieth measure and to bake at his
ovens ; common of pasture and freedom from pannage
were allowed them, as also wood for building and
burning.
A little earlier, viz. on 4 June 1228, the king had
granted a weekly market on Wednesdays and an annual
fair on the eve, day, and morrow of the Nativity of
St. Mary, at his manor of Salford.33
By encouraging the growth of the borough as a
trading place the lord derived an increasing rent ; in
1257 it amounted to about £12 a year.34 The extent
made in 1346 shows that there were then 129^ bur-
gages in addition to 12 acres in the place of another
burgage, each rendering the izd. yearly rent. There
were also a number of free tenants paying over £$ I o/.
for lands in Salford and adjoining it. The profits of
the portmote were valued at I zs. a year. The total
was therefore nearly £16 a year.34
The records of the portmote court from 1597 to
1669 are in the possession of the corporation. The
head of the Molyneux of Sefton family, as hereditary
steward of the hundred, presided, except during the
22 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 12.
28 Ibid. 131.
84 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 137. A toft in Sal-
ford by the bridge produced an additional
izd. ; ibid. 138.
25 Ibid. 135.
88 Encroachments on the waste are fre-
quently noticed in the Ct. Leet Rec. (Chet.
Soc.) ; e.g. an encroachment in 1634
between the lands of Mr. Prestwich and
the highway leading to the Irwell, 9 yds.
in breadth and 50 yds. in length ; ibid, ii,
*7 Ibid, i, 28. In 1631 it was forbidden
to allow swine to 'go abroad in the streets
within the liberties of the White Cross
bank and Shawfoot stile' (leading to
Broughton Ford) ; ibid, i, 239.
28 The original charter, with seal ap-
pended, is in the possession of Salford
Corporation, at Peel Park Museum. It was
printed, with notes and translation, by
J. E. Bailey in the Pal. Note Bk. 1882 ;
and more recently by Professor Tail in
his Mediaeval Manch. 6z, &c., with anno-
tations which have been freely used in the
present account of it.
The privilege of immunity from tolls in
other fairs and markets of the county was
claimed in 1541 against the mayor of
Preston ; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), ii, 161.
29 On the death of a burgess his widow
might remain in the house with the heir,
so long as she remained unmarried. As
relief the heir gave arms — a sword, or bow,
or spear.
80 A burgage might not be sold to
religious. In any sale the heir had a right
of pre-emption. A burgess who sold his
burgage was free to leave the vill, taking
all his goods, on paying \d. to the lord.
81 It is called ' Laghemote ' in clause 3.
82 The pleas belonging to the borough
included robbery, debt, and assault if no
blood wat shed. The fines were restricted
in amount. For breach of the assize of
bread or ale the offender forfeited izd. to
the lord for three offences, but on a fourth
he was put in the pillory (facet assisam
•ville). A debtor who failed to appear paid
a fine of izd. to the lord and 4</. to the
reeve. If one burgess assaulted another
the former might make his peace ' by the
view of the burgesses,' i.e. by a composi-
tion approved by them ; he paid izd. to
the lord.
88 Cal. Close, 1227-31, p. 54. In 1588
the fairs were said to be on Whit Monday
and 6 Nov. ; Lanes, and Ches. Hist, and
Gen. Notes, ii, 131.
84 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 205. The
receipts for a half year were : Assized rent
of the borough, 651. 3<f., and ^od. ; toll of
the borough, at farm, 40^.5 perquisites of
courts, 51. id. — 113*. lod. ; to which was
added 6s. 8</. paid by Agnes, the reeve's
widow, for the wardship of her daughter's
land.
35 Add. MS. 32103, fol. 145, &c. The
free tenants were : —
Henry de Pilkington, three islands of
land by the bank of the Irwell, by charter
of William de Ferrers to Robert son of
Thomas de Salford, at 6s. 8<£ rent. ; John
Bilby [Bibby], the common oven, with 4
acres, at 41. ; John de Radcliffe, 63 acres
approved from the waste in Salford,
Pendleton, and Pendlebury, at 311. 6d. ;
206
Thomas de Strangeways, 15 acres from
the waste ; John de Leyland, 5 acres, at
zs. 6d. ; Robert Walker, John de Stanlow,
and Adam Wright, in common 3 acres, at
is. 6d. ; Henry de Bolton, 34 acres, at
\js. 3</. ; Roger de Manchester (?), 6J
acres, at 3*. T,d. ; Henry Marche, i acre,
at 6d. ; Robert de Hur', 2 acres, at is. ;
William Magotson, i acre, at 6d. ; Thomas
de Pilkington, 2 acres, at izd. ; Thomas
Geoffreyson, 5 acres, at js. 6d. ; Henry
son of William de Salford, 5^ acres, at
2s. 9</.
All the above tenants were obliged to
grind the corn growing on those lands to
the twenty-fourth measure, but had rights
of pasture and turbary.
Other tenants were Roger Dickeson,
Maud Linals, Ellen Shokes, and Henry
son of William de Salford. John de Rad-
cliffe and Henry de Pilkington held some
other lands ; the latter claimed the right
to keep the pinfold, but had to provide
lodgings at the lord's will in two of his
burgages.
Many of the free tenants held burgages
also. The most considerable burgage-
holders, however, were John de Prestwich,
with fourteen and a fraction, and Henry de
Worsley, with about the same. The other
holdings ranged from half a burgage up to
five. Among the burgesses were Adam de
Pendleton, Alexander de Pilkington, John
de Oldfield, James de Byrom and John
his brother, and the heir of Geoffrey de
Trafford.
The sheriffs compotus of 1348 shows
a similar total ; it states that John de
Radcliffe had the water-mill at a rent of
66s. %d.
SALFORD HUNDRED
Commonwealth period. The courts were held at
Michaelmas and April. The officers appointed in 1597
were borough-reeve, constables, mise layers, mise
gatherers, bylaw men, affeerers, and ale-founders ; in
1656 the following additional ones were elected :
scavengers for the Greengate and Gravel Hole,
scavengers for the Lower Gate, apprisers, officers for
surprising and robbing of coals, for pinning of swine
trespassing, for mastiff dogs, for the pump, and for
measuring of cloth.36
A number of grants of tenements and tolls in Sal-
ford are found in the Duchy Records,37 and some
private charters are accessible ; " the Plea Rolls have
some records of disputes among the inhabitants.3"
** The 1597-1669 records have been
printed in full by the Chetham Soc. (new
ser. 4.6-8), the late Alderman Mandley
being editor ; a few earlier ones are at the
Record Office, and that for 1559 was in
1857 in possession of Stephen Heelis,
mavor of the borough ; Raines MSS.
(Chet. Lib.), xxxvii, 389.
The business at the courts was of the
usual kind : admitting new tenants, ad-
judging on assaults, breaches of the laws
regulating ale-selling, keeping swine, &c.
In 1656 a man was ordered to remove,
with his wife and children, or give security
to hold the town harmless.
The danger of fire claimed attention in
1 6 1 5, but it was not till twenty years later
that expenditure was incurred on buckets
of leather, hooks, and long ladders for use
in emergency.
In 1608 the jury found that there was
no cuckstool, but 'unreasonable women'
might be put in the stocks or the dungeon.
A general lay was ordered in 1619 to de-
fray the cost of the cuckstool. The bridle
was ordered to be placed on a scold in
1655. In the same year two men were
fined for profaning the Sabbath. The
laying of stalls upon the Sabbath Day had
been forbidden in 1615. Three ingrossers
were presented in 1658.
Among other offences it was reported
(in 1650) that there was 'great abuse
committed by divers persons ' who brought
coals for sale, 'by gelding and robbing
their loads before they come to town.'
Milk dealers (in 1 646) were warned against
selling it except 'by true measures, as
quart, pint, and gill.'
The inhabitants were about 1606 an-
noyed by Manchester people driving their
swine into ' the Wastes of Salford, there
to depasture,' and officers were appointed
to impound such swine.
In 1655 it was ordered that the con-
stables should have ' that little house upon
the bridge, formerly called Sentry house,'
paying id. a year to the lord. ' Madam
Byrom of Salford, widow,' in 1696 laid
claim to the watch-house at the end of the
bridge, which had been built by the Sal-
ford burgesses ; Peel Park D. no. 4.
A number of place-names occur in the
records : Galley Lane, Cross Lane, Gar-
net Acre in Oldfield Lane, High Lane,
the Broad Gate towards Ordsall Hall,
White-cross Bank and Sand i vail Gate,
Back Street, Parker Pits, Clay Acre,
Docky Platt, Bird Greatacre, Penny Mea-
dow, Lady Pearl, a spring called the Pirle,
Hanging Meadow, Barrow Brook, Barley
Croft, and Middlefield. Mrs. Byrom had
'two doles in the Oldiield' in 1621.
The footway to Ordsall (from Pirle
Spring along the riverside) occasioned
much disputing about 1610. One Richard
Knott had stopped up a way 'over Good-
steele,' which, it was asserted, had been
open for sixty years. Sir John Radcliffe
had more recently opened a way over
George Croft, ' for the ease of his children
which went to school to William Debdall
in Salford.*
William Freeman was in 1634 ordered
to gravel the way ' where he makes ropes.'
A logwood mill is mentioned in 1 660 ;
the 'great ditch in the Gravel Hole'
passed the northern end of the mill.
It was ordered in 1635 that all burgesses
holding lands within the borough of Sal-
ford should attend the steward at the fairs,
sending every man a halberd and a man to
carry the same.
The keeper of the king's fold in 1639
enforced poundage for the burgesses' cattle,
to their great grievance, as they considered
themselves protected from it by their
charter. There are several entries as to
the custody of the charters ; ' a sufficient
box with lock and key* was ordered in
1655. In 1650 a rental of the borough
was ordered ; and in 1656 a translation of
the charter.
One of the Peel Park D. (no. 2) is an
acknowledgement by Anthony Giles, foun-
der, of London, dated 1672, that he had
received from the Treasury Commissioners
on behalf of the burgesses and constables
of Salford several weights and measures of
brass, ' sized and sealed by his Majesty's
measures and standards ' at the Exchequer.
These were to be used in the borough.
•7 In 1337 Alexander de Pytington
(? Pilkington) released to Henry, Earl of
Lancaster, his right in the waste for his
two burgages, reserving turbary and free
entry and exit ; similar releases were given
by other burgesses, and are mentioned in
the extent of 1 346 already referred to ;
Duchy of Lane. Great Coucher, i, 66, 67,
no. 32-5. In return for a similar release
by John son of Ellen Chokes, the earl in
1339 granted him 15 acres of the waste at
a rent of js. dd. ; ibid. no. 3 6 ; see also ibid,
no. 40, and Duchy of Lane. Anct. D.
Li2i6, 1219.
Some other grants may be seen in the
appendices to the Dtp. Keeper's Rep. e.g.
xxxii,33i,&c.,to 334; xl, 528, 529; the
Holtneld, Windlehey, and Shawfoot are
mentioned by name, and among the sur-
names are Oldfield, Highfield, Bird, and
Grant.
In 1402 Ralph de Prestwich and Alured
de Radcliffe had a licence to build two
mills on the Irwell, which seems to have
been renewed to the former in 1425 in the
form of a lease for ninety years at 1 3*. \d.
a year ; Dtp. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App.
39i *1»533-
Henry de Buckley in 1414 had a lease of
the toll of Salford at the rent of 5 J marks;
Towneley's MS. CC. (Chet. Lib.) no. 476.
James de Prestwich succeeded him in 1425
at the lower rent of 6ot. ; ibid. no. 327.
tt Cecily widow of William the Couper
of Salford in 1317 released to Randle the
Miller her dower from 5 roods in the Old-
field ; Lord Wilton's D.
The Hunts of Audenshaw and Man-
chester (see Dods. MSS. clxviii, fol 163,
&c.) had lands in Salford. Their charters
include the following of interest : 1397 —
Regrant of a half-burgage to Ellen daughter
of Alexander de Pilkington, lying between
the burgage of Henry son of John de
Strangeways of Manchester and that of
Henry del Helde, with remainder to John
Lancashire ; no. 21. 1399 — Emmota de
Glazebrook gave to Henry del Helde and
207
Emmota his wife a burgage between the
burgage of John de Radclitfe of Chadder-
ton (called the Comel Orchard) and that
of John Bibby (called the Neldurs Acre) ;
no. 12. 1423 — Edmund de Trafford
granted to Ralph son of Ralph de Prest-
wich his claim in land called the Glede-
yard ; no. n. 1447 — Grant by feoffees to
Roger Brid (or Bird) of Salford, of 3 acres
of arable land and a meadow called Mere-
vail ; no. 22. 1467 — Demise to James
Brid, no. 23. 1513 — Roger son and heir
of James Brid granted to Richard Hunt a
burgage called the Cornel Orchard ; no. 64.
In 1653 an exchange was made, John
Byrom of Salford giving a close called
Great Oldfield for William Radley's close
called 'Mary Mould meadow, otherwise
Merryvalls meadow ; ' W. Farrer's D.
Among the Clowes deeds are a number
referring to Garnet's Acre. In 1519 it
was granted by Hugh Lathom to Edward
Pendleton, and in 1573 by Robert Pendle-
ton to Edmund Goldsmith ; Edward Chet-
ham of Smedley held it in 1 642.
Two closes in Oldfield called the Dawce
Latts were leased by Richard Gilbody of
Stretford in 1647 5 Mr. Eanvaker's note.
They were probably the same as the Dockie
Flatt mentioned in October 1624 in the
Salford Portmote Ret. i, 183. Part of the
inheritance of Adam Byrom of Salford, a
' dole ' called the Little Breere riddings, of
about i acre, was sold to John Lightbowne
in 1688; Hulme D. no. 114. The
Higher Croft, messuages near the Court
House, and a cottage in Sandywell Field
with a little lane leading thereto from
Greengate, were in 1723 sold by Alexan-
der and Edward Davie (sons of Alexander
Davie of Salford), the former being de-
scribed as of Sidney-Sussex College, Cam-
bridge ; Manch. Free Lib. D. no. 49. A
dye-house and land called the Royles are
named in a lease of 1726 ; Mr. Earwaker's
note.
89 John de Broughton and Agnes his
wife, in the la tier's right, in 1274 and
1275 recovered certain messuages and land
in Salford ; De Banco R. 5, m. 97 d. ; 9,
m. 40.
In 1292 Geoffrey de Worsley and
Agnes his wife were nonsuited in a claim
against Richard the ' Leycestere,' and
others respecting a tenement in Salford ;
Assize R. 408, m. 7 d.
William de Holland and Joan his wife
claimed various lands in Salford, Hay-
dock, Heaton by Fallowfield, and Eccles in
1324-5 ; Assize R. 426, m. 6.
John son of Geoffrey Walker claimed
two messuages and lands against Ellen
daughter of Richard de Salford, Roger the
Barker, and Margaret widow of Richard
de Worsley in 1346 ; De Banco R. 348,
m. 14.
Joan daughter of Thomas de Pilking-
ton in 1352 unsuccessfully claimed a mes-
suage and land against Henry del Wood
and Joan his wife ; she alleged that her
uncle, Richard de Pilkington, chaplain,
had demised them to Joan with the stipu-
lation that they might be redeemed on pay-
ment of £6 ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R.
I, m. I. Henry del Wood and Joan his
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The township continued to be governed in the
same way until 1791, when a Police Act was obtained
for Manchester and Salford,
and the administration of the
town by commissioners ap-
pointed under it to a great
extent superseded the manorial
system.40 In 1832 the parlia-
mentary borough came into
existence, one representative
being assigned ; 41 and in 1 844.
the municipal borough was
created by charter. The area
included the township of Sal-
ford, together with that small
part of Broughton lying south
of the Irwell, and it was
divided into four wards, each
with two aldermen and six
councillors. At the same time a court of record
was established, debts up to £20 being recoverable.42
A coat-of-arms was granted in 184.4. The town
hall, built in 1825-6," was purchased by the commis-
sioners in 1834. The borough was extended in 1 8 5 3 to
include the adjacent townships of Broughton and Pen-
dleton,44 from which time the area has remained un-
changed, except for some minor adjustments.45 The
borough is now divided into sixteen wards, each with
an alderman and three councillors ; there are seven
wards in Salford proper,46 three in Broughton and six
in Pendleton. In 1891 an Act was obtained to unite
the district, so that a uniform rate is levied throughout
BOROUGH OF SALFORD.
Azure temee of beet a
shuttle between three
garbt or, on a chief of
the second a ivoolpack
proper between two mill-
rinds sable.
the borough. A separate commission of the peace
was granted in 1870 and again in 1886, and quarter
sessions were established in 1899.
The council has provided police and fire brigade.
The cattle market is the principal one for the district.
The gas supply 47 is in the hands of the corporation,
which also has electric light works. Water is supplied
by the Corporation of Manchester. There are four
public baths, two within the township of Salford ; a
sanatorium, two cemeteries, both outside the township
— at Weaste and Agecroft — and sewage disposal works
at Mode Wheel, opened in 1883. A school board
was formed in 1870. A Tramways Act was obtained
in 1875," and the cars are now driven by electricity ;
the lines extend as far north as Whitefield in Pilkington,
and west to Monton. Four parks and a large number
of recreation-grounds have been acquired and opened.
The museum and library was established at Peel Park
in 1850, a lending department being added in 1854.
It claims to be the first free public library. Queen
Victoria, as lady of the manor, was patroness ; hence
the epithet Royal.49 The natural history exhibits
have been removed to Buile Hill, so that the museum
at Peel Park is now an art collection. There are
seven branch libraries, of which two are in Salford.49"
There is also a technical institute.
Queen Victoria passed through the town on her visit
to Manchester in 1851. The king in 1905 unveiled
the memorial to the soldiers who died in the Boer war.
Apart from the Radcliffes of Ordsall the Sal-
ford families recording pedigrees at the Heralds'
visitations were those of Booth, i6i3,50 Byrom,
wife were plaintiffs against William del
Highfield in 13 54. ; Duchy of Lane. Assize
R. 3, m. 5 d. ; and in 1 357 recovered a tene-
ment in Salford against Joan daughter of
Thomas de Pilkington, Cecily his widow,
and William del Highfield; ibid. R.6,m. 2d.
Matthew Newton in 1432 acquired a
toft in Salford from Henry Chadwick and
Cecily his wife ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and dies.), iii, 97.
40 Sec the account of Manchester.
Though the Act was the same, the com-
missioners for Salford were quite distinct
from those for Manchester, and always
acted by themselves. The legal separation
took place in 1829.
41 See Pink and Beaven, Pad. Repre. of
Lanes. 304 ; the parliamentary borough
included the three townships of Salford,
Broughton, and Pendleton. The number
of representatives was increased to two in
1868, and in 1885 to three, selected by
three divisions — North, West, and South.
43 The charter, dated 1 6 Apr. 1 844, is
printed in Reilly, Hist, of Manch. 553 ; it
was confirmed by the Act n & 12 Viet,
cap. 93. The wards were named Black-
friara, roughly the eastern part of the town
between Chapel Street and Bolton canal ;
Crescent, the west and south-west ; St.
Stephen's, the north-west, and Trinity the
tiorth-east.
48 A market originally adjoined it, but
gradually decayed, the site being in 1862
utilised for the enlargement of the town
hall. The 'flat-iron market,' a sort of
rag fair, is held on Mondays by Salford
Church.
44 1 6 & 17 Viet. cap. 32.
45 Part of Pendlebury was added to Pen-
dleton in 1883 ; Loc. Govt. Bd. Order
14672. An adjustment of the boundaries
between Barton and Pendleton was made
by the Salford Corporation Act, 1891.
46 These are named St. Matthias',
Crescent, Regent, Trafford, Ordsall, Isling-
ton, and Trinity, proceeding round the
township, north, west, south, and east.
47 The first gas works were started in
1820. These were purchased by the
commissioners in 1832, and new ones were
erected in 1835 and again in 1859.
It may be added that gas was first used
in the Manchester district in 1805 to light
the factory of Lee and Phillips at Salford ;
Axon, Manch. Ann. 136.
48 Tram lines on G. F. Train's system
were laid in 1861, but abandoned.
49 Royal Museum and Libraries, Salford,
by B. H. Mullen, librarian, to whom the
editors owe other information.
49a At Greengate, 1870 ; Regent Road,
1873.
60 Vhlt. (Chet. Soc.), 10 ; see also
Booker's Blackley (Chet. Soc.), z6. Robert
Booth, with whom the pedigree begins,
purchased messuages and lands in Salford
in 1563, from John Booth (of Barton) and
Ellen his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 25, m. 261. His son Humphrey
Booth, a successful trader, purchased
various properties, including that known
as Booth Hall in Blackley, and showed
himself a pious and liberal dispenser of the
wealth he had acquired. He made the
gallery in Manchester Church in 1617,
built Trinity Church, Salford, and left
lands in Manchester and Pendleton for
its maintenance and for the benefit of
the poor of Salford, now producing an in-
come of £17,000 a year. According to
Richard Hollinworth he was 'just in his
trading, generous in entertainment of any
gentlemen of quality that came to the
town, though mere strangers to him,
bountiful to the church and poor, (and)
faithful to his friends' ; Mancuniensis, 117,
118. Humphrey Booth occurs in the
208
Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. from 1606 onwards-
(ii, 222). He died on 27 July 1635, seised
of twenty-four messuages, &c., 20 acres of
land, i o acres of meadow, and 15 acres of
pasture in Salford and Oldfield Lane, and a
rent of 341. i id. from other lands there, all
held of the king as of his manor of Salford;,
other messuages, &c., in Pendleton, Pen-
dlebury, Oldfield, Oldfield Lane, Cross
Lane, Little Bolton, and Salford, in the
occupation of James' Pendleton and others,
also in Manchester, Ancoats, Ardwick,
and Chorlton, in Blackley and in Royton.
His heir was his deceased son Robert's son
Robert Booth, nine years of age. Just
before his death Humphrey Booth had
settled his estates with remainders (after
Robert the grandson) to Humphrey brother
of Robert ; and to George Booth of Mid-
dleton, son of John brother of Humphrey
the elder ; and another part was devoted
to the use of Robert the grandson's brothers
and sisters, Humphrey, John, Anne, and
Elizabeth. Blackley had been given to
the elder Humphrey's son of the same
name ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvii,
m. 44. Humphrey Booth's will is printed
in Booker, op. cit. 23-5 ; and his funeral
certificate in vol. vi of the Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches. 199.
Robert Booth, the grandson and heir,
became Chief Justice of the King's Bench
in Ireland, and was made a knight ; he
died in 1680, leaving a daughter Susan,
wife of John Fielding. For an account of
him see Diet. Nat. Biog. ; N. and Q. (6th
Ser.), x, 275. There were disputes as to
his lands ; Exch. Dep. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), 92. His younger brother
Humphrey, who eventually succeeded to
Blackley, left a son Robert, who had sons
Humphrey and Robert. The last-named
died in 1758, having devised to his cousin
John Gore, who, on succeeding, assumed
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
1613" and 1 664,52 and Davenport, 1 66.J..53 Richard
Pennington and Nicholas Hewett were ordered to
attend the last visitation.53*
Other land-holders are recorded in the inquisitions **
and court leet records ; 55 many Manchester people
also held land in Salford,56 as did several of the sur-
tlie surname Booth ; dying unmarried in
1788, he was succeeded by his elder bro-
ther, who also assumed the surname of
Booth and became ancestor of the pre-
sent Gore-Booth family i Booker, op.
cit. 26.
Robert Booth of Salford in 1726, as
heir-at-law and devisee of his brother Hum-
phrey Booth, which Humphrey was eldest
son and heir of Robert Booth, made a
lease of a dye-house, &c. ; Mr. Earwaker's
notes.
51 Visit. 35. Some account of this
family, with inquisitions, will be found
under Kersal in Broughton. The follow-
ing fines refer to them : George Byrom
in 1 547 acquired eight burgages, &c., from
Gabriel Gibbons and Katherine his wife ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle 13, m. 300.
Adam Byrom in 1552 purchased three
messuages, &c., from John (? Richard)
Gibbonson ; ibid. bdle. 14, m. 1 1 5. George
Byrom in 1557 purchased some land from
Ralph Radcliffe ; ibid. bdle. 17, m. 65.
Shortly afterwards Henry Byrom acquired
three messuages, &c., from George Byrom
and Margaret his wife ; ibid. bdle. 17, m.
1 06. In the following year Adam Byrom
purchased ten messuages, Sec., from Joan
Brereton, widow, and Geoffrey her son ;
George Byrom purchased messuages in
Salford, Manchester, Barton, and Hulme,
from Ralph Brown and Jane his wife,
Adam Holland and Ellen his wife ; and
Henry Byrom acquired land from Ralph
Radcliffe ; ibid. bdle. 19, m. 58, 80, 89.
Aiam Byrom, in 1559 purchased a mes-
suage, &c., from Richard Gibbonson,
Lawrence Ward, and Isabel his wife ; ibid,
bdle. 21, m. 102. Two years later he ob-
tained another messuage from Thurstan
Tyldesley ; ibid. bdle. 23, m. 173. Later
fines refer to the estate of Lawrence By-
rom and Mary his wife ; ibid. bdle. 49,
m. 107 ; 50, m. 198 ; 53, m. 268 ; 56,
m. III.
From a subsequent note it will be seen
that Adam Byrom's house was known as
Salford Hall. It stood in Serjeant Street,
now Chapel Street, between the old bridge
and the chapel, but on the river side. The
, mill was probably near it. Note by Mr.
H. T. Crofton.
Deeds in the possession of W. Farrer
show that James son and heir of Robert
Walker (afterwards called 'of Withing-
ton ') in 1536 leased his burgage in Sal-
ford to Ralph Brown, and sold it in I 545 ;
in 1554 the purchaser sold to George By-
rom, and the fine of 1557 confirmed the
transfer.
The Worsley family long held lands in
Salford. In 1343 Henry de Worsley
leased to Robert the Miller ij roods upon
Sandy well, a rood in the Whitacre, i£
acres on Ollerschagh and on Kolleschot,
and 3 roods in the Middlefield between
lands of John de Prestwich and Richard de
Pilkington, chaplain, deceased, at a rent
of 6s. ; Earl of Ellesmere's D. no. 118.
Joan Brereton, widow, of Worsley, was
found in 1511 to have held six burgages,
23 acres of land and 3 acres of meadow in
Salford of the king as of his duchy by the
service of i$d. ; Lanes. Tenures (Towne-
ley) MS., fol. 28*.
sa Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 68.
53 Ibid. 96. Edward Davenport, bache-
lor of physic, a grandson of Sir William
Davenport of Bramhall, was ' of Salford,'
in right of his second wife Mary, a daughter
of Humphrey Booth.
Ma Ibid. v.
M William son of Walter de Salford gave
a messuage in Salford (held of the king by
a rent of i zd.) to his sister Agnes. She
married one Roger Dikeson of Manchester,
and had a daughter Emma, wife of Robert
Bibby, whose son John Bibby claimed in
1393-4. Roger Dikeson, however, gave
the messuage to Stephen the Cook and
Joan his wife and Emma their daughter
(died s.p.) ; Joan as widow transferred it
to William de Radcliffe, the occupier
under him being Ellis del Helde, in or
before 1359. Ellis was outlawed for tres-
pass, but his bastard son Henry obtained
possession and held it in 1393-4 ; Towne-
ley MS. DD. no. 1452.
Possibly it was this messuage which was
in 1338 the property of William son of
Thomas de Salford, and in 1455 as 'Sal-
ford hall' that of Edmund Radcliffe and
Elizabeth his wife, it being then settled
on their daughters Cecily and Ellen for
life, with remainder to their son Ralph ;
Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxiv, 13, 22.
In 1 540 Andrew Barton of Smithills and
Agnes his wife sold Salford Hall to Adam
Byrom ; ibid. 35. Robert Barton of
Smithills died in 1580, holding messuages,
&c., in Salford ; the tenure is not stated ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, 24.
In 1420 a messuage, &c., in Salford
was granted to Thomas son of William
Massey of Salford and Beatrice his wife,
with reversion to William the father and
Joan his wife ; Had. MS. 2077, fol. zi6g.
Adam Massey died in 1559, leaving a
sister and heir Isabel about sixteen years
of age, who paid relief ; Ct. R. Another
Adam Massey held four burgages, &c., of
the king in socage by a rent of 1 7*. id. ; he
died in 1604, leaving as heir his grandson
John Olive, son of Joan daughter of Adam ;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 29. John Olive (printed Clive)
died in 1620, holding the same estate and
leaving a widow Margaret and an infant
son Roger ; ibid, ii, 243. Roger died
without issue in December 1640, his uncle
Rayner Olive being the heir, and fifty years
of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxix,
60. A settlement of 1599 made by Adam
Massey, 'late of Oldfield," is recited in
the inquisition.
The Pilkington family was of old stand-
ing in Manchester and Salford. Some in-
cidental references to it have been made
in preceding notes. In 1533-4 Adam son
of Nicholas Pilkington of Manchester
complained that Thomas Langford of
Didsbury, Elizabeth his wife, and Mar-
garet widow of Richard Hunt the younger,
had taken possession of fourteen messuages
and 60 acres of land in the towns and
fields of Salford and Manchester. From
his statement it appeared that one Nicho-
las Pilkington had settled the property on
his son Richard, with remainder to another
son Thomas, and that Richard's son Ed-
mund having died without male issue,
Adam succeeded as son of Nicholas son of
Thomas, son of Nicholas ; Duchy Plead.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 28. It was
probably a later Adam Pilkington of Salford
who occurs frequently in the Manch.
Ct. Leet Rec. ; he, with Margaret his
wife, made a settlement of five messuages,
&c., in Salford and Manchester in 1574 ;
209
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 36, m. 212.
Adam died in 1596, leaving a son and heir
Adam, of full age, and younger son*
William, Thomas, and Edward ; in Man-
chester he had held half a burgage in Shude-
hill and a burgage, &c. in Millgate ; Ct.
Leet Rec. ii, 114-15 ; an abstract of hi*
will is given in the note. The younger
Adam died in 1605, holding ten messuages
or burgages, with 10 acres of land, &c.,
the Pinfold, land called Oatfield and
Checkers (improved from the waste), and
' the Island ' by the Irwell, in Salford, also
a burgage and garden in Manchester. The
Salford lands were held of the king — the
burgages, &c., in socage by ijs. rent, the
Oatfield and Checkers by the hundredth
part of a knight's fee, and the Island by
knight's service and 6s. %d. rent. Adam,
the son and heir, was eight years of age ;
ibid, ii, 214 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec.
Soc.), i, 64. In 1638 Adam Pilkington
of Salford the elder, and Adam his son
joined in selling messuages and tanpits
near the Millgate in Manchester, to Law-
rence Owen ; Mancb. Ct. Leet Rec. iii,
281.
The Pendletons were another old family.
In 1536 Adam (son of William) Pendle-
ton, Ellen his wife, and Hamon Bibbjr
were holders of three messuages, &c., in
Salford ; Raines, Byrom Fed. (Chet. Soc.),
19 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 1 1, m.
47. ' Robert Pendleton sold parcels of land
in Salford in 1566 and 1571 ; ibid, bdles.
28,m.239; 33, m. 167. He, with Isabel
his wife and George his son, concurred in
the sale of an acre of pasture to Edmund
Goldsmith in 1 5 74 ; ibid. bdle. 3 6, m. 1 8 8.
A Robert Pendleton died at Salford in
1641 holding three burgages of the king
in socage and free burgage as of the manor
of Salford ; also 4 acres in Pendleton. His
heir was his daughter Margaret, wife of
William Rodley, and twenty-three years
of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxix,
52. Other Pendleton and Rodley orRad-
ley families are noticed under Manchester.
In Salford Robert Rodley in 1595 pur-
chased a messuage from John Rodley and
Emma his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 57, m. 14.
K These records show the succession to
burgages and lands ; for instance, that of
Sept. 1599, names Radcliffe, Strangeways,
Cook, Byrom, and Partington. The juries
also show the names of the principal in-
habitants ; the list for 1559 is as fol-
lows : — Sir William Radcliffe, Richard
Hunt, and Adam Pilkington, gentlemen,
Gilbert Bibby, Adam Byrom, George
Proudlove, Robert Pendleton, Thoma*
Bolton, James Siddall, Thomas Ainsworth,
Ralph Partington, Thomas Sorocold,
Peter Seddon, and Thomas Hunt.
56 For instance, the Gees, Hunts, Bibbys,
and many others.
In 1295 Henry son of William son of
Simon de Manchester claimed a messuage
in Salford against Agnes widow of Adam
the Fidler ; De Banco R. 109, m. 38.
About 1560 the Bibbys were concerned
in the Chequers, Salford, and land called
Bowbrook Head ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec.
Com.), ii, 231, 238, 2565 see also iii,
213, 235. William Dowson in 1596
purchased a messuage from Edward Bibby
and Elizabeth widow of Gilbert Bibby ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 59, m.
74-
27
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
rounding gentry.47 The freeholders of 1600 were:
John Radcliffe of Ordsall, Adam Pilkington, Edward
Bibby, (Ralph) Byrom, Thomas Byrom, and Adam
Massey of Oldfield Lane.58 The following contributed
for their lands to the subsidy of 1622 : Sir John
Radcliffe, Dame Anne RadclifFe, Humphrey Booth,
Adam Pilkington, Adam Byrom, Thomas Hartley in
right of Margaret his wife, and John Duncalf.5'
The Protestation of 1641 was agreed to by 341
persons.60
The Crown was accustomed to lease out the profits
of the market, mills, &c.61
ORDS4LL, which may then have included Pendle-
ton, appears in the Pipe Roll of 1177 as contributing
2 marks to the aid.61 The manor of Ordsall was in
1251 granted by William de Ferrers to David de
Hulton, together with a moiety of Flixton,63 in ex-
change for Pendleton.64 It descended for some eighty
years in the Hulton family,64 and on the partition of
his lands made by Richard de Hulton about 1330
Ordsall was given to one of the Radcliffes, probably
as near of kin.66
About 1354 J°hn de Radcliffe obtained possession
after long disputing.67 He had many lawsuits,68 but
s" Besides those already cited the inqui-
sitions name John Strangeways of Strange-
ways, Robert RadclifFe of Radcliffe, Ralph
Assheton of Great Lever, and Sir Edmund
Traffbrd ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Snc.), i,
132 ; ii, 75, 288 ; iii, 327. Thomas son
of Geoffrey de Strangeways in 1335 made
an unsuccessful claim for land in Salford
against Richard de Hulton and Maud his
wife ; De Banco R. 303, m. 83 d. ; 304,
m. 367 d.
In 1338 Cecily daughter of Roger the
Barker (' Tannator ') granted two burgages
in Salford to Geoffrey son of Sir Henry de
Trafford, and immediately afterwards
Roger the Barker gave his lands to the
same Geoffrey ; De Trafford D. no. 99-
100.
58 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 246-9.
89 Ibid, i, 148. It appears that John
Duncalf was of Oldfield Lane ; Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Rec. Soc.), i, 284.
60 Pal. Note Bk. iv, 100.
61 In 1703-4 the mill, with power to
grind corn, grain, and malt, was leased,
along with part of the waste, to Edward
Byrom, and the lease was renewed in
*733 5 Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. 27,
fol. 54 d.
The tolls of the markets and fairs were
leased to John Bennett in 1699 an^ to J°hn
Walmesley in 1739 ; ibid. 27, fol. 181 d.
18 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe £.36. A half-
year's increment of 41. from Ordsall ap-
pears in the roll of 1200-1 ; ibid. 131 ;
and the full increment of Ss. in the fol-
lowing years ; ibid. 148, 163. It contri-
buted 291. %d. to the tallage in 1205-6 ;
ibid. 202.
In 1226 the assized rent of Ordsall was
321. ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 137.
68 Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland),
347. The two were to be held by the
service of 2 marks of silver and the sixth
part of a knight's fee. Out of the rent
2os. was charged on Flixton and 61. 8</.
with the knight's service on Ordsall.
The Hultons had some earlier connexion
with the manor, for in 1240 Robert de
Hulton was summoned to answer for
assarting common land pertaining to the
manors of Salford, Ordsall, and Broughton ;
he replied that he held by a grant from
his brother Richard de Hulton, and called
Richard's son (also named Richard), to
warrant him, but this son being under
age the trial was deferred ; Cur. Reg. R.
107, m. 9 d.
*4 See the account of Pendleton.
65 In 1292 Richard son of David (de
Hulton) was non-suited in claims against
Edmund the king's brother, and against
Adam de Prestwich, for tenements in
Ordsall ; Assize R. 408, m. 3, 36.
Richard de Hulton for the sixth part of
a fee in Ordsall and Flixton contributed
6s. SJ. to the aid of 1302; Lanes. Inq.
and Extents, i, 314.
Richard de Hulton granted an annuity
of 261. %d. out of Ordsall to Richard de
Reddish, and his widow Margery and son
Richard were in 1 3 1 3—14 accused of with-
holding it. The money was paid into
court, and it was stated that Richard de
Reddish had refused to give an acquit-
tance ; Assize R. 424, m. 6 d. In 1322
Richard de Hulton complained that Adam
de Radcliffe had entered his manors at
Ordsall, &c., illegally; Cal. Pat. 1321-4,
p. 162.
Richard de Hulton was tenant in 1324
by the old services ; Dods. MSS. cxxxi,
fol. 38.
Robert son of Richard del Birches was
a plaintiff in 1337 and 1338 against
Richard son of Richard de Hulton, Maud
his wife, and others respecting the Hulton
inheritance in Ordsall, Flixton, Hulton,
Lostock, Rum worth, and H alii well; Assize
R. 1424, m. 8 d. 9; 1425, m. id. 5.
Robert son of Roger de Radcliffe was
plaintiff regarding Ordsall in 1 338; Richard
de Hulton, Maud his wife, and others
defending ; ibid. m. I.
46 The details of the transfer are not
clearly known. The Hulton estate in
Blackburn went to another Radcliffe,
whose descendants divided Flixton with
the Ordsall Radcliffes.
In 1338 Robert son of Roger de Rad-
cliffe and William son of Robert de Rad-
cliffe claimed annuities from the manors
of Ordsall and Flixton against Robert del
Legh, Richard de Hulton the elder, Maud
his wife, Richard de Hulton the younger,
Margaret his wife, and others ; Assize R.
1425, m. i, 6 d.
From a later statement (1399) it ap-
pears that Ordsall and Flixton were held
by Robert de Radcliffe, a bastard, until
his death on 14 Feb. 1344-5 ; he had no
issue, and John de Radcliffe of Ordsall
took possession ; Pal. of Lane. Chan.
Misc. 1/9, m. 117, 1 1 8. Robert de Rad-
cliffe was sheriff from 1337 to 1342, being
succeeded by Sir John Blount ; P.R.O.
List, 72. In the survey of 1346 it is
stated that Robert de Radcliffe had paid
6s. &d. for Ordsall, which had come into
the lord's hands for lack of an heir ; Add.
MS. 32103, fol. 146^.
A claim for a rent of zos. and a robe
from Ordsall was in 1 344 made by John
son of William de Charnley against John
son of Richard de Radcliffe and Robert
son of Roger de Radcliffe ; the plaintiff
alleged a grant by Richard de Hulton ;
Assize R. 1435, m. 44. At the same
time Sir Nicholas de Langford made his
claim to the Hulton estates ; Robert de
Radcliffe, then bailiff of Salfordshire, re-
plied concerning three plough-lands in Sal-
ford, and twenty messuages and 200 acres
in Blackburn ; while John de Radcliffe
(bailiff of Blackburnshire) and Richard his
son, also defendants, said they had nothing
in the estates ; ibid. m. 40. It might
2IO
appear that Robert de Radcliffe was living
and bailiff of Salfordshire in 1347, John
de Radcliffe being his kinsman, but there
is perhaps some mistake in the roll ; ibid,
m. 33 d. (cf. heading of m. 32 d. — 21 Edw.
Ill ; the membranes are much mixed up,
m. 34 being of 18 Edw. III). In the
Radcliffe pedigrees Robert the bastard is
called a son of Richard de Radcliffe of
the Tower. There must therefore have
been two Roberts.
It was found by an inquisition taken
at Hulton in Aug. 1345 that Robert de
Radcliffe, lately sheriff, who owed the
king £149 145. 8$J. for debts and licence
to agree regarding the manor of Astley,
had at Ordsall on the day of his death ten
oxen (worth IDOJ.) which Thomas de
Strangeways took, two oxen (201.) which
William son of Robert de Radcliffe took,
and two horses (131. 4^.) which Richard
son of William de Radcliffe took ; L.T.R.
Memo. R. 117.
A Robert de Radcliffe was knight of
the shire in 1334, and John de Radcliffe
in 1 340 ; Pink and Beaven, Parl. Repre.
of Lanes. 24, 28.
«7In July 1351 John de Radcliffe the
elder claimed the manor of Ordsall, viz.
a messuage, 120 acres of land, 12 acres of
meadow, and 12 acres of wood. The
defendants were John Blount of Hazel-
wood and Sodington, Robert de Legh the
elder, and Thomas de Strangeways the
elder. John Blount claimed by the char-
ter of Henry, Earl of Lancaster (father of
the duke), Ordsall having been forfeited
by Robert de Radcliffe ; it was held by
the service of a rose. The recognitors
found that a certain William de Hulton
had held Ordsall for his life, with rever-
sion to Richard de Hulton ; and William
granted his estate to John de Radcliffe
the claimant. Richard de Hulton then
released to John all his claim ; but Robert
de Radcliffe, Robert de Legh, and Thomas
de Strangeways ousted John de Radcliffe
and took possession on behalf of Robert.
No agreement was come to before Robert's
sudden death, after which John re-entered
until the earl's officers took possession.
John Blount had occupied for five years.
The case went on until 1354, when judge-
ment was given in favour of the claimant ;
Duchy of Lane. Assize R. i, m. 2.
A Sir John de Radcliffe who was at
the siege of Calais in 1346 with a retinue
of two knights, twelve esquires, and four-
teen archers (Muster Roll in Windsor
Castle Library) is usually identified with
this John de Radcliffe of Ordsall.
68 In Dec. 1355 Robert de Legh and
Maud his wife (widow of Richard de Hul-
ton) claimed the manor of Ordsall against
John de Radcliffe the elder ; Duchy of
Lane. Assize R. 4, m. 6 d. The grant by
Richard de Hulton to John son of Richard
de RadclifFe was adduced, but it appeared
that Robert and Maud had in 1339 re-
PQ
ffi
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
appears to have prospered, as his son Richard,683 who
died in 1380, held not only the manor of Ordsall and
a portion of Flixton, but also
the adjacent estates of Hope
and Shoresworth, together with
lands in Salford and Tock-
holes.69
John de Radcliffe, the son
and heir of Richard,was twenty-
seven years of age on succeed-
ing.70 In 1385 he had the
king's protection on his de-
parture for Normandy in the
retinue of Thomas de Holand,
Earl of Kent and Captain of
Cherbourg." His title to
Ordsall seems to have been
called in question in 1399.™ He was afterwards
made a knight,73 and died in 1422 holding the manor
of Ordsall and the rest of the patrimonial estate,
except Shoresworth and Hope, which he had in I 396
RADCLIFFE of Ordsall.
Argent fwo bendlets en-
grailed sable and a label
gules.
granted to his son John on his marriage with Clemency
daughter of Hugh de Standish.74
Sir John Radcliffe, who was forty-four years old on
succeeding,75 died on 26 July 1442, holding Ordsall
by the ancient services. He had given his moiety of
Flixton to his son and heir Alexander on marrying
Agnes daughter of Sir William Harrington. He left
a widow Joan.76 Of Alexander, then thirty years of
age, little is recorded, though he was knight of the
shire in 1455 ;77 he died in 1475-6, leaving a son
and heir William, forty years of age.78 William died
in August 1498, holding Ordsall and the other
manors ; his son John having died shortly before him,
the heir was his grandson Alexander the son of John,
of full age.79 Alexander, who was made a knight at
Lille in 1513, 80 was one of the most prominent men
in the county, being high sheriff four times.81 He
died on 5 February 1548—9, holding Ordsall and the
other hereditary manors with some additional lands ;
Sir William Radcliffe his son and heir was forty-six
years of age.8*
leased to Robert son of Roger de Rad-
cliffe all their right in the manors of
Ordsall and Flixton, whereby their claim
against John de Radcliffe and Joan his wife
should be barred, John having Robert's
estate ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 5, m.
25 d. ; see also 6, m. i (Mich.). The
suits went on with varying fortune, until
in 1359 Robert and Maud released their
claim, in return for an annuity of 33.1. \d.
for Maud's life ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 162.
In July 1356 John de Radcliffe made a
claim against Richard de Langley, Joan
his wife, and others, respecting lands in
Salford and Pendleton ; Duchy of Lane.
Assize R. 5, m. 17.
Thomas de Goosnargh in 1358 proved
his right to an annuity of 131. ^d. granted
from Ordsall by Richard de Hulton ; the
defendants were John de Radcliffe the
elder, Sir Henry de Trafford, John de
Bold of Whittleswick and Katherine his
wife; Assize R. 438, m. 18. In the
same year Henry son of Richard de Bolton
claimed a tenement in Ordsall against
John de Radcliffe the elder ; ibid. m. 9.
In the following year John son of
Richard de Radcliffe (or John de Radcliffe
the elder) was plaintiff; though he did not
proceed against Henry del Wood and Joan
his wife, and against Henry de Trafford
and others, regarding lands in Salford ;
his pledges were : (i) John son of John
de Radcliffe, Richard son of John de Rad-
cliffe ; (2) Richard de Windle, John de
Radcliffe the younger ; (3) John de Rad-
cliffe the younger and Richard his brother ;
Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 7, m. 7 (Lent,
beginning 9 D.H.) ; m. 2 (Mich.) ; m. 4.
(Lent).
68a John de Radcliffe died in or before
1362, in which year his son and heir
Richard claimed part of his inheritance in
Ordsall, Livesey, and Tockholes, formerly
in the possession of Robert de Radcliffe
and Cecily his wife ; L.T.R. Memo. R.
127, m. 8.
69 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 8.
Ordsall was held by knight's service and
a rent of 6s. %d. ; there were there a hall
with five chambers, kitchen, chapel, two
stables, three granges, two shippons,
garner (worth nothing), dovecote (worth
2s. a year), orchard (i2</.), windmill
(6s. 8</.), 80 acres of arable land (£4),
and 6 acres of meadow (6s.). In Salford
Richard held, by knight's service and zoi.
rent, 40 acres of arable land (201.). He
was also bailiff of Rochdale.
He married Maud daughter and heir of
John son of John de Legh, lord (in right
of his mother Maud daughter of Sir John
de Arderne) of a moiety of Mobberley ;
the marriage brought the manor of Sand-
bach and other lands in the county. The
Cheshire inquisitions of the Radcliffes are
printed in Ormerod's Ches. (ed. Helsby),
1,415, 416; see also Dep. Keeper's Rep.
xxxvii, App. 603-9. Hi8 second wife
was Sibyl daughter and heir of Robert de
Clitheroe of Salesbury ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Chet. Soc.), i, 149.
70 The escheator was ordered in Sept.
1380 to deliver the manor of Ordsall and
other lands to John son and heir of
Richard son of John de Radcliffe ; Dep.
Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 353.
71 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxix, App. 56.
He did not go, and the protection was
withdrawn ; Cal. Pat. 1385-9, p. 117.
72 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xl, App. 528.
78 In 1413 Sir John de Radcliffe be-
came bound to abide the award of Ralph
son of Ralph de Radcliffe on the matters
in dispute between Sir John and his sons
John, ' Averey,' Edmund, and Peter ;
Dep. Keeper's Rep, xxxvii, App. 174.
74 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 147-
9 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App. 21.
Ordsall was held by the sixth part of a
knight's fee and 6s. 8,/. rent ; and 50
acres in Salford were held by knight's
service and 541. rent ; the clear values
were £10 and 501. respectively.
From the Cheshire inquisitions it ap-
pears that he left a widow Margaret (who
quickly married Robert de Orrell) and
three younger sons — Alured, who died in
1462 ; Edmund, who died in 1446, leav-
ing a son of the same name, aged eigh-
teen ; and Peter, who died in 1468.
76 He held Ordsall by the sixth part of
a knight's fee in 1431 ; Feud. Aids, iii,
96. For some quarrels among the Rad-
cliffes of Ordsall in 1428-9 — John de
Radcliffe being summoned for an offence
against the sumptuary laws by Alured de
Radcliffe — see Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 2,
m. 26, and Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Notes,
ii, 130.
76 Towneley's MS. DD, no. 1480 ; Joan
the widow had had settled upon her lands,
&c., in Flixton, Shoresworth, and Tock-
211
holes. It may be noted that according to
the inquisitions after the deaths of his
father and uncles, Alexander was thirty in
1442, forty-five in 1446, forty in 1462,
and fifty in 1468.
77 Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 56. Alex-
ander son of Sir John de Radcliffe in
1445-6 held the sixth part of a fee in
Ordsall, paying i6j. 8</. as relief ; he held
Shoresworth and Flixton jointly with his
wife ; Duchy of Lane. Knights' Fees,2/2o.
Alexander Radcliffe in 1451 charged Law-
rence Hyde of Barton and others with the
death of Hugh Radcliffe his brother ;
Coram Rege, Mich. 30 Hen. VI, m.
92.
There are some pleas respecting the
Radcliffe family about 1446 in Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. 8, m. 5 b, 38. Peter son
of Sir John Radcliffe was charged with
the death of Peter Cowopp ; ibid. m.
2 2 b.
78 Ormerod, Cbes. i, 415.
79 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 1 24.
The value of the 50 acres in Salford had
increased to 50*. a year. The bailiwick
of Rochdale and the lands in Tockholes
and Livesey are not named.
80 Metcalfe, Bk. of Knights, 55.
81 In 1523-4, 1528-9, 1538-9, and
1547 ; P.R.O. List, 72.
Sir Alexander was steward of the town
of Salford in 1 543, and arranged a muster
in view of the expedition into Scotland ;
Duchy Plead, ii, 191.
82 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. ix, 26.
In addition to Ordsall (where there were
a water-mill, a windmill, &c.), Flix-
ton, Hope, Tockholes, and Livesey, Sir
Alexander held lands, &c., in Pendleton
and Monton, and three parts of the manor
of Newcroft in Urmston, with lands there.
The inquisition recites the provision
made for his wife Alice, his younger sons
Edmund, Alexander, John, and his brother
William ; all of them were living at Ord-
sall in 1 549.
A portion of the monumental brass of
Sir Alexander and Alice his wife remains
in Manchester Cathedral. The family
burial-place was in the choir ; see E. F.
Letts in Lanes, and Cbes. Antiq. Soc. ix,
90-100.
The trustworthy part of the 1567
pedigree begins with Sir Alexander ; Visit.
(Chet. Soc.), i. See also Visit, of 1533
(Chet. Soc.), 64.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Sir William Radcliffe, made a knight in the Scottish
expedition of 1 5 44,^ appears to have added to his
patrimony; he died on 12 October 1568, and was
succeeded by his son John, then thirty-two years of
age, an elder son Alexander having died before his
father.84 Sir John Radcliffe 8i died on 1 9 January
1589—90 ; the inquisition describes his lands in the
counties of Lancaster, Chester, York, Lincoln, Notting-
ham, and Derby.86 He had been knight of the shire
in 1571 and I572.87 Alexander his son and heir
was only twelve years of age. He was knighted at
the sacking of Cadiz in June I596,88 and died on
5 August 1599 without issue, his brother John,
seventeen years of age, succeeding him.89
John Radcliffe was made a knight in the following
year, during the Irish wars,90 and thereby freed from
wardship.91 He was knight of the shire in three
Parliaments, 1620 to i625,M but in 1627 was killed,
or died of his wounds, during the Duke of Bucking-
ham's expedition to the Isle of Rhe\91 By his wife
Alice daughter of Sir John Byron he left a son and
heir Alexander, twenty years of age.*4 Though so
young, he had been created a Knight of the Bath at
the coronation of Charles I.9S The dispersal of the
family estates began about this time ; a moiety of
Ordsall was mortgaged in 1634 to Humphrey Chet-
ham.96 Sir Alexander married the step-daughter of
Robert Radcliffe, fifth Earl of Sussex, and had with
her by the earl's gift the manor of Attleborough in i
Norfolk.97
At the opening of the Civil War he, in conjunc-
tion with Lord Derby, took an active part in favour
of the king, and was in 1 644 committed by Parlia-
ment to the Tower.98 He afterwards made his
peace.99 He was buried at Manchester on 14 April
1654, leaving several children,100 of whom a younger
son, Robert, became ancestor of the Radclyffes of
Foxdenton in Chadderton.101 The remainder of the
Lancashire estates of the Radcliffes appears to have
been disposed of by Sir Alexander or his son.101
The Chethams did not secure the whole of
Ordsall ; 103 their estate descended to the Clowes
88 Metcalfe, op. cit. 77 ; the arms are
given as gules, a bend engrailed argent.
The will and inventory of Dame Anne,
•wife of Sir William Radcliffe, 1551, are
in Wills (Chet. Soc. new ser.), i, 17, 226.
84 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiii, 33.
The manor of Ordsall with two water-
mills, a fulling-mill, &c., and 20 acres of
land, &c., in Shoresworth — which by this
time seems to have been merged in the
demesne — were held of the queen by the
sixth part of a knight's fee and a rent of
691. 8</. Seventeen burgages in Salford,
100 acres of land there, twenty burgages
in Salford and Oldfield, and 30 acres in
Salford, all held of the queen in free bur-
gage and socage by a rent of izt.t were
included in his possessions ; also manors
and lands, &c., in Flixton, Pendleton,
Hope, Monton, Newcroft, Moston, Tock-
holes, and Livesey, Oakenrod and Spot-
land, and Radcliffe. In 1561 he had
made provision for his wife Katherine,
who survived him and lived at Hope ; also
for Richard Radcliffe, his younger son.
It appears that Sir William's brothers
Alexander and Edmund were still living,
the former at Ordsall and the latter at
Chenies in Buckinghamshire.
The pedigree of 1567 (referred to above)
shows that Alexander Radcliffe, the eldest
son, was at that date living.
Sir William's tomb in the cathedral,
long ago destroyed, bore the following
distich : —
' Sandbach cor retinet, servat Mances-
tria corpus,
Caelestem mentem regna superna
tenent.1
85 He was dubbed at Hampton Court
in Feb. 1577-8 ; Metcalfe, op. cit. 131.
86 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xv, 45.
There is recited his provision for William,
a younger son, and Margaret, Jane, and
Anne, his daughters, from lands at Nor-
manby, &c. ; John, another son, had
lands in Notts, and at Moston. Anne
his wife survived him at Ordsall.
In religion he was regarded by the
authorities as a 'dangerous temporiser,'
i.e. he believed the old religion, but con-
formed to the legally-established system ;
see Local Glean. Lanes, and Cbet. i, 137-9.
Sir John's will, beginning with the
Catholic motto 'Jesus esto mihi, Jesu,'
orders his burial in the choir of Manches-
ter. He wished his sons to be well
brought up, and to be sent to Oxford or
Cambridge when fourteen. One son was
to be a lawyer and to be sent abroad to
study. The inventory shows live stock
and goods valued at ,£1,468 ; Piccope,
Wills (Chet. Soc.), ii, 68-72.
87 Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 66.
88 This is a statement in a pedigree of
1633. He is called 'esquire' in the war-
rant for the livery of his father's lands in
1598 ; Def. Keeper's Rep. xxxix, App. 558.
89 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii, 35.
His mother, Anne, was living at Tock-
holes. He had in 1599 granted to Mary
Radcliffe and Thomas Gillibrand the
manor of Ashby, with various lands in
Lincolnshire and Derbyshire, for 2,000
years. His will, dated 22 Mar. 1598-9,
confirms the dispositions he had made in
favour of his brothers John, Thomas, and
Edmund, and his sisters Margaret (one of
the queen's maids of honour), Jane, and
Anne ; Mary Radcliffe, his cousin, one of
the maids of the queen's bedchamber, was
an executor ; Chest. Epis. Reg. ii, 232.
90 On 24 Sept. 1600 ; Metcalfe, op. cit.
210.
91 Statement in a 17th-century pedi-
gree. Ben Jonson wrote laudatory verses
on Sir John : 'I do not know a whiter
soul,' &c. See also Local Glean. Lanes,
and Chis. i, 137, 152. There were fines
relating to lands in Ordsall and the Rad-
cliffe manors of Ordsall, &c., in 1613 and
1623, Sir John Radcliffe being in posses-
sion ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 81,
no. 27 ; 104, no. ji.
93 Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 69, 70.
88 See Mr. Letts's article above quoted;
and J. Palmer in Hibbert-Ware's Manch.
Foundations, ii, 288, &c. Barritt the an-
tiquary states that Sir John had started on
the expedition as the result of a quarrel
•with his wife ; and that both his legs
•were shot off in the righting.
94 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxv, 6.
The manor of Ordsall, with the water-
mill, &c., were held of the king by the
twentieth part of a knight's fee and an
unknown rent. The date of his death is
given as 5 Nov. 1627.
96 Metcalfe, op. cit. 1 8 6.
96 Raines and Sutton, Humphrey Cbet-
ham (Chet. Soc.), 114. Various sums of
money were advanced by Humphrey
Chetham and his nephew Edward to
members of the Radcliffe family, who
were reduced to great distress ; ibid.
115. On this obscure part of the story
212
see Mr. C. Roeder in Lanes, and Ckcs.
Antiq. Soc. xiv, 201—4.
*7 G.E.C. Complete Peerage, vii, 337 ;
his wife was Jane daughter and heir of
Edward Shute ; Ordsall D. no. 2. See
also Chester, Land. Marriage Lie. (ed.
Foster), col. 1 107. In spite of this it is
commonly believed that Jane Shute was
the illegitimate daughter of the earl.
98 Ormerod, Civil War Tracts (Chet.
Soc.), 1 6, 34, &c.
99 Sir Alexander's estates, apparently in
Essex only, were sequestered by the Par-
liament ; this would complete the ruin of
the family ; Cal. of Com. for Compounding,
iv, 2617. The manor of Henham was
sold in 1651 ; W. Farrer's deeds.
100 Parties to a Manchester deed of
1663 (in possession of W. Farrer) were
Humphrey Radcliffe late of Ordsall and
now of Oldneld within Salford, gent., and
Margaret his wife, one of the daughters
of William Radley of the Hall upon the
Hill ; and from another deed it appears
that Humphrey Radcliffe died before
1672. The will of his widow Margaret,
dated 1674 and proved 1692, mentions
her brother Stephen Radley, her lady
Jane, wife of the late Sir Alexander Rad-
cliffe, late of Ordsall, and her sister-in-
law Frances Wentworth, daughter of the
said Dame Jane.
101 See the account of Chadderton. A
settlement by Alexander Radcliffe of
Foxdenton in 1652 gave successive re-
mainders to Sir Alexander Radcliffe of
Ordsall, K.B., and his sons John, Alexan-
der, Humphrey, Charles, and Robert ;
Raines D. (Chet. Lib.), bdle. 4. The
will of John Radcliffe, dated 1669, names
his mother Jane.
"»In 1658 John Radcliffe of Attle-
borough, son of Sir Alexander, conveyed
to Edward Chetham the manor of Ordsall,
with the hall, water corn-mill, and lands
in Ordsall, Salford, Pendleton, and Pen-
dlebury. The price named is ,£3,600 ;
Clowes D. This was a mortgage ; Earl
Egerton's deeds show various other deal-
ings between 1654 and 1660. Edward
Chetham in 1670 assigned his interest to
John Birch ; ibid. no. 23.
103 Humphrey Chetham rebuilt the barn
at Ordsall in 1646. In the following year
he paid half the chief rent due for the
manor, the other moiety being due from
Sir Alexander Radcliffe, whose interest in
the manor therefore was not entirely lost ;
SALFORD : ORDSALL HALL, WINDOW OF THE 'STAR CHAMBER,' c. 1875
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
family. The hall was sold in 1662 to John Birch
of Ardwick.104 His issue failing, the manor passed
through various hands, and is now the property of
Earl Egerton of Tatton.105
Ordsall Hall has been in its best days a very fine
example of a mediaeval half-timbered house, and is
still of unusual interest. Within the last two gener-
ations it has suffered greatly from neglect and its
gradual envelopment in a wilderness of mean and
dirty streets. Leland mentions the beauty of its sur-
roundings, when it stood in a pleasant park through
which ran a clear stream, now hardly recognizable in
the dirty waters of the modern Irwell, and even as
late as sixty years ago Ordsall Lane ran between fields
and hedgerows, with no buildings in sight except the
Throstle Nest Paper Mills, the Blind Asylum, and
some houses in Chester Road. The house stood
within a rectangular moated inclosure, among gardens
and orchards, and there were a number of detached
outbuildings, barns, shippons, &c. The north and
east arms of the moat still contained water, but the
other two were dry. The entrance was from the
north, through an embattled doorway in the brick
boundary wall, which dated from 1639, being con-
temporary with the still existing brick west wing.
The house was let in three parts, and much cut up
by added partitions, the floor levels altered, and a
floor inserted at half-height in the great hall, while
all the ornamental timber work was hidden by lath
and plaster. Some attempt at freeing the old work
from its modern obstructions was made about thirty
years since, when it was converted into a club for the
workmen employed in a neighbouring cotton mill,
the great hall being opened out and other parts of the
house fitted up as reading and billiard rooms. In
1898 it became a theological college, and in 1904 a
clergy training school ; and in 1 896-8 it was
thoroughly repaired, and in part rebuilt, by Lord Eger-
ton of Tatton, the church of St. Cyprian being built
in 1899 on the site of the long-destroyed east wing.
The lines of the moat are now represented by streets,
and the boundary wall and gateway have vanished,
together with the orchards and gardens and every-
thing which once went to form a pleasant setting to
the old hall; but a few hundred yards away a farm-
house yet stands, hidden among modern buildings
and used as a lodging-house. One of the principal
outbuildings was the Great Barn, with a nave and
aisles divided by great oak posts, and sharing, with
several others in the district, the entirely unfounded
reputation of having formed part of an early wooden
predecessor of the present cathedral church of Man-
chester.
At the present day the house consists of a central
block standing east and west, a west wing running
northward from it, and some outbuildings at the
south-east. There was formerly an east wing, taken
down in 1639, balancing the west wing, which with
the boundary wall on the north inclosed a court
measuring about 80 ft. by 75 ft. The boundary
wall is said to have been set up in 1639, at the same
time as the still existing west wing, and it appears
that before this time a range of buildings existed on
the north side of the court, forming a complete
quadrangle, about 64 ft. by 75 ft. ; part of its
foundations was found in 1898. There is nothing
to show of what date the eastern wing was, as its
foundations only have remained to modern times, and
the oldest part of the building is the central block,
or, in other words, the south range of the original
court. It is still in great part of timber construction
on a stone base, the main beams being of the usual
ic-in. scantling. The chief feature of it is the great
hall, now, after the clearing away of the partitions
which encumbered it, a very noble and impressive
piece of I 5th-century timber construction, 43 ft. by
25 ft., built in two wide bays of 14 ft. span and two
narrow of 7 ft., one at the east to form the dais and
one at the west for the passage through the screens.
The roof is high pitched and open timbered, 32 ft.
to the ridge, with three purlins aside and two inter-
mediates in each of the wider bays, dividing the flanks
into rectangular compartments each inclosing a quatre-
foil. There are three principal trusses, the middle
one springing from wooden moulded responds set
against the side walls, with moulded octagonal capitals
and large arched braces below a cambered and em-
battled tie-beam. The space over the tie-beam is
filled in with a series of fourteen arched openings with
traceried spandrels. The western truss forms the
head of the hall screens, and its tie-beam is cambered
over a central arched opening 1 5 ft. wide, but runs
horizontally over the narrow screens or ' speres '
which flank the opening, and are made of two tiers
of solid square-headed panels, two in each tier.
Originally a movable screen, much lower than the
' speres,' must have stood across the opening, like that
still existing at Chetham's Hospital, leaving passage-
ways at either end of it. The truss at the upper or
dais end of the hall is closed in above with quatrefoiled
Raines and Sutton, op. cit. 115. An
account of lays, &c., paid for Ordsall de-
mesne, both in Salford and Shores-worth,
is given ; ibid. 147, 149 ; for the goods
in 'the new barn' in 1653, see ibid. 273.
104 In Booker's Birch, 106, it is stated
that Samuel Birch purchased Ordsall,
and went to live there in 1662. From
Earl Egerton of Tatton's deeds, however
(no. 14-21), it is clear that the purchaser
was his son, the celebrated Colonel John
Birch, whose daughter Sarah became the
heir ; Booker, op. cit. 113. She married
a relative, John Birch, and in 1699 there
was a recovery of the manor of Ordsall
and lands, &c., the vouchees being John
Birch and Sarah his wife ; Pal. of Lane.
Plea R. 469, m. 5.
In 1691 Colonel John Birch had con-
veyed Ordsall Hall to Leftwich Oldneld ;
and in 1699 an indenture between John
Birch and Sarah his wife (executrix of her
father), Alice widow of Leftwich Oldneld,
and others concerning the manor of Ordsall
and the chapel of St. George in Manchester
Church, sets forth that Leftwich Oldneld
died soon after 1691, leaving a son and
heir of the same name, a minor, and
provides for the completion of the sale ;
Ordsall D. (Earl Egerton of Tatton), no.
24-28.
The manor next occurs in a fine of
1704, when John Stock was plaintiff and
Alice and Leftwich Oldneld were defor-
ciants ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
253, m. 54; Ordsall D. John Stock, one
of the trustees of Cross Street Chapel
(Baker, Memo. 73), died in Nov. 1732,
leaving a son John and a daughter Rose.
After the death of the son in 1755 Ordsall
213
was sold to Samuel Hill, who in the fol-
lowing year sold to Samuel Egerton, a
near relative. Samuel Egerton had an
only daughter, who died without issue,
and the Tatton estates on his death in
1780 went to his sister Hester, widow of
William Tatton of Withenshaw. She at
once resumed her maiden name of Egerton,
and dying in the same year was succeeded
by her son William, who died in 1806 ;
the later descent being thus given : — s.
Wilbraham, d. 1 85 6 ; — s. William Tatton,
created Lord Egerton of Tatton 1859, died
1883 ; — s. Wilbraham, created Earl Eger-
ton of Tatton 1897, the present owner.
See Ormertd, Cbcs. (ed. Helsby), i, 446.
For the Oldneld family see ibid, iii,
273.
105 See N. G. Philips, Old Halls, 15 j
Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), vi, 260.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
panels, and has a flat ceiling over the dais at the plate
level, replacing a panelled cove.
At the north-east of the hall is the great bay window
of unusual character, being in plan seven sides of a
decagon, with pairs of square-headed lights on each
side, and a transom at half height, carved with a
running vine pattern. The wooden framing stands
on a stone base, with a band of quatrefoils on the
inside below the sill of the window, and over the bay
is a rectangular chamber or upper story, apparently
contemporary with it, its angles projecting in a some-
what awkward manner over the canted sides of the
window. The bay opens to the hall by a four-centred
arch of wood, and the room over it is also open for
its full width, and is reached by a stair contrived in
the north-east angle of the hall, within the lines of
the passage at the north end of the dais leading to
a north-east doorway on the ground floor. The west
wall of the hall is framed in square panels inclosing
quatrefoils and has at the plate level a wooden cove,
the gable above which is similarly treated. In this
wall are now two doorways, but traces of the third,
making the triple arrangement of buttery, pantry,
and kitchen passage, were discovered in 1896. The
heads of the doorways, only one of which now re-
mains, were four-centred, cut from a single piece of
wood, and with carved spandrels, and at either end
of the passage through the screens were similar but
wider doorways, that to the north, which still is
preserved, being the most ornate, and having a band
of quatrefoils above the spandrels. The external
north elevation of the hall, though now much re-
paired, preserves its original design with little altera-
tion. The wall surface is divided into square panels
inclosing quatrefoils filled in with plaster, and a con-
tinuous line of narrow lights, six between each pair
of uprights, runs along the upper part of the wall
forming a sort of clearstory to the hall. The upper
story of the bay is similarly panelled, but has lost
its original window, if such existed. Its gable is
also panelled and sets forward on a cove, and a
similar cove existed below the eaves of the hall.
The framing of the bay window is warped and leans
to one side, but is otherwise sound ; small shafts
ending in crocketed pinnacles run up the face of the
mullions. The south wall of the hall was of the same
character as the north, but has been entirely rebuilt in
grey brick, with two very unattractive four-light
windows in terra cotta.
At either end of the hall are buildings which con-
tain work contemporary with it, those at the east end,
which were the principal living rooms, being the
more interesting. They are of two stories, the
original part being one room thick, and having two
rooms on each floor. The rooms on the south front
are the principal ones, that on the ground floor being
known as the Star chamber, from the gilt lead stars
with which its ceiling of moulded oak beams is studded.
It is doubtless to be considered as the Great Chamber,
with a solar over, the name of chapel which has been
given to the upper room being entirely fanciful. Its
walls are covered on three sides with plain oak panel-
ling with a cresting of Tudor flowers, and from the
arrangement of the panelling it seems that the room
has been originally wider from north to south. In
the south wall is now a modern rectangular bay con-
taining a window, the successor of a very picturesque
and interesting bay window of wood two stories in
height, which survived, though in a mutilated state,
till 1896. In plan it formed half of a twelve-sided
figure, the alternate sides being treated as projecting
semicircular bays with seven tall narrow square-headed
lights in each. The plain sides were treated as win-
dows of two lights, that in the middle being pierced
in later times as a doorway to the garden. The room
on the first floor over the Star chamber is also panelled,
but with early lyth-century panelling with a modil-
lion cornice and narrow oblong upper panels, the
others being square. Above its canted plaster ceiling
the mediaeval roof remains, with cambered tie-beam
and arched braces beneath, and it was formerly lighted
by a continuation of the bay window, ending under
a rectangular projecting gable filled in with wooden
studding. This room and the Star chamber have fire-
places on the east side, and the chimney-stack was
found in 1896 to show clear signs of having been
external, proving that at the time of its building the
house extended no further eastward. An interesting
theory worked out in some detail by the late E. W.
Cox that this chimney belonged to a I4th century
house seems to rest on too slight a basis of probability.
The north side of this part of the house is now occu-
pied by an entrance hall and stairs, the latter having
newel posts of an ornamental baluster type, the lower
one dated 1699. These are, however, only the posts
of a bedstead, and the stairs are not ancient. The par-
tition between these rooms and the great hall is of
timber framing, and apparently modern, replacing a
brick wall, which in itself cannot have been mediaeval.
Adjoining the Star chamber to the east is a three-
story block — or rather one of two stories with a low
attic — which seems to be of 16th-century date,
having on the first floor a room with panelled walls
and a ceiling with a geometrical pattern of moulded
ribs. The fireplace is of late Gothic type, and has
over it four linen-pattern panels of oak. The ground-
floor room beneath has no old features of interest, but
in the attic, which seems to be an addition, probably
of c. 1620, there is a good plaster panel of Jacobean
style over the fireplace with the quarterly shield of
Radcliffe between four roses : i. Two bends en-
grailed, with a label of three points (RadclifFe) ; 2.
Two bars, and over all a bend (Leigh) ; 3. Three
billets and a chief; 4. A fesse between three garbs
(Sandbach).
The block to the north of this shows no traces of
antiquity, and the south-east wing already mentioned
is also of no interest.
The buildings at the west end of the hall have
been completely modernized on the south side, and
their outer walls rebuilt in brick, and most of the old
partitions on the upper floor removed. They are of
two stories like the rest, and on the north, towards
the courtyard, have a very picturesque timber-built
elevation, with a large two-storied 17th-century bay
window set against a Gothic front which is probably
of the date of the hall, and has the same quatrefoil
panels. The bay window is a half hexagon in plan,
with square-headed transomed windows of four lights
in each side, and quatrefoil panels below them to
match the older work. They end below the spring-
ing of the gable, which is also panelled with quatre-
foils and set forward on a coved cornice with a
moulded and embattled string at its base. West of
the bay the ground story has a range of narrow win-
dows like those in the hall, now modernized, and on
214
D
CO
X
* s
8 E
Pu,
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
the first floor a very pretty six-light window projecting
from the wall, and carried on a coved and embattled
sill with Gothic tracery on the cove and a shield with
the Stanley badge of an eagle's claw. Its gable on
the south front was of half-timber work before its
destruction, and the east side of the gabled wing was
panelled with quatrefoils, which were cut into by the
south wall of the hall. It does not, however, seem
likely that the wing was earlier than the hall. The
interior of this block is unfortunately modernized, and
its original arrangements can only be inferred, as that
the kitchen stood at the south-west, with a lobby or
entry on the north towards the court, and between
these and the hall were the buttery, pantry, and
kitchen passage, while the floor above was divided into
chambers, perhaps five in all. These arrangements
must have been modified when the existing west wing
was added, on the site of an older wing, about 1639.
It is to be noted that the passage into the screens of
the hall is on the axial line of the former courtyard,
being halfway between the 17th-century west wing
and the foundations of the destroyed east wing. The
west wing was designed for the kitchen and servant's
quarters, &c., and the old buttery and pantry were
perhaps at this time converted into living rooms and
the bay window towards the courtyard added. The
wing is of plain character, in red brick, with square-
headed mullioned windows, now to a great extent
renewed in terra cotta, and having towards the court
a projecting bay containing a stair to the first floor,
on which was formerly a panel with the arms and
initials of Sir Alexander Radcliffe, a garter encircling
the arms, and the date 1639. ^ts P^ce is now taken
by the arms of Lord Egerton of Tatton. The angles of
the bay are cut away below, but corbelled out above to
the square. The roof of this wing preserves its stone
slates, and with its several gables is still very attractive;
one of the original brick chimney stacks remains, with
single bricks set herring-bone fashion between the
shafts, as in other jyth-century work in the dis-
trict. Near the north end of the wing the east wall
sets back on a line so nearly coinciding with that of a
foundation discovered in 1896, running westward
from the old east wing, that it may be taken as mark-
ing the width of an original north wing, and also
suggests that this wing was still in existence when the
17th-century work was begun.
There was formerly a fair amount of old coloured
glass in the windows of the hall and elsewhere, but
much jumbled together ; among other things the coat
of Radcliffe quartered with Fitz Walter in a garter, and
figures of Our Lady and St. Katherine, since removed
to Barlow Hall. Other things, including a lead statue
of Mercury, after John of Bologna, which stood in
the garden, were removed to Tatton.
The land tax in 1787 amounted to^zio106; to
this the principal contributors were Samuel Clowes,
William Egerton, John Gore Booth, and Jonathan
Bury, in all contributing about a fourth part.107
S4CRED TRINITT CHURCH was
CHURCH originally built in a debased Gothic style
in 1635. The tower was added early in
the 1 8th century, but in 1748 the vibration of the bells
which were then hung in it having brought down a part
of the body of the church,108 the whole of the building,
with the exception of the tower, was taken down in
1751 and rebuilt in the following year. It is a
simple parallelogram in plan, with a west tower, and
architecturally uninteresting, being built in stone in
a plain classic style with two tiers of semicircular-
headed windows on each side, and entrances at the
west end of each aisle facing north and south. The
east end has two similar windows, above which exter-
nally is a niche said to have been intended for a figure
of Charles I, in whose reign the church was founded.
The interior has side and west galleries supported by
square pillars panelled in oak, with stone pillars above
carrying the roof. The old high pews were cut
down and made into open seats in 1886. At the
same time other improvements were effected, in-
cluding the opening out of a baptistery under the
tower and the removal of the old flat ceiling ; and
the organ was brought down from the west gallery
and a quasi-chancel formed at the east end.109 The
arms of Booth and those of Kenyon (the Rev. Robert
Kenyon was a former rector) are carved on the ends
of the two front seats in the nave.
The tower, which originally had a short steeple or
conical roof, is Gothic in form with buttresses and
pinnacles and an embattled parapet, but with a classic
cornice between the buttresses and other original
renaissance detail. The tower was, however, largely
rebuilt in 1859, when a large four-light mullioned
and transomed window with ogee head was inserted
on the west side in the lower stage.110 The upper
stage has a two-light louvred belfry window and a
clock on each face.
There is a ring of six bells, hung in 1748.
The plate consists of two chalices, a paten, and
an almsdish of 1635 (?), one of the chalices inscribed
' The Gift of Humphrey Booth unto Trinity Chapel
in Salford ; ' a paten, ' The Gift of Humphrey Old-
field late of Manchester, gent.' ; a flagon of 1697
inscribed 'Anno 1697, given to Trinity Chappell in
Salford for y6 Vse of ye Holy Sacrament, by John
Higinbotham of Salford, merchant ' ; and a chalice
presented in memory of the Rev. H. F. Gore-Booth,
I9o8.m
The registers begin I7O9.111
Apart from the private chapel of
ADVOWSQN Ordsall m there does not appear to
have been any place of worship 114
in the township until Humphrey Booth built and
endowed the chapel as above.115 The patronage has
lu6 Land tax returns at Preston.
107 Ibid.
108 Picture of Mancb. by Joseph Aston,
1816.
109 Glynne, Cburcbet of Lanes, note of
1892.
110 The tower seems to have been re-
paired before this date. Booker, Hist, of
Blacklcy Chapel (1855), 123, says 'the
tower is a square pinnacled one, newly
patched with red sandstones."
111 Notes to Glynne, Lanes. Churches,
1892, p. 50.
112 Ibid. The Owen MSS. have copies
of the gravestone inscriptions.
118 The following licences for this ora-
tory are found in the Lich. Epis. Reg. : —
21 Mar. 1360-1, to John de Radcliffe,
for two years ; v, fol. 5.
7 Mar. 1364-5, to Richard son of John
de RadclifFe, for two years ; v, foL 10.
19 Dec. 1366, to Richard de RadclifFe,
for two years ; v, fol. 15.
24 Oct. 1383, to John de RadclifFe, for
two years ; v, fol. 36^.
114 Henry, chaplain of Salford, is named
215
in 1323 ; CoramRegeR. 254, m. jib. The
Earl of Lancaster may have had a chapel.
115 See the account of Humphrey Booth.
Hollinworth states that he built it at his
own cost, except that £200 was con-
tributed by Sir Alexander Radcliffe and
others, and endowed it with £20 in
lands. Then Humphrey Booth, 'being
in great weakness, earnestly desired that
he might live to see the chapel finished,
which he did ; but immediately after the
solemn dedication of it by the Bishop of
Chester he more apparently weakened j
A, HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
descended with the Booth estates to Sir J. A. R.
Gore-Booth. A district chapelry was assigned to it
in 1839. 1IS The present income is given as £1,340.
The following have been curates and rectors : — l17
1636 Richard Hollinworth,118 M.A. (Magdalene
Coll., Camb.)
1648 William Meek 119
1658 Robert Brown,110 B.A. (Emmanuel Coll.,
Camb.)
1667 John Hyde, B.A. 110a
1694 Robert Assheton, M.A. m (Magdalene Coll.,
Camb.)
?i/3i Richard Assheton, M.A. m (Brasenose Coll.,
Oxf.)
1764 Thomas Barker, M.A.
1 766 Robert Oldfield, M.A. (Brasenose Coll., Oxf.)
Robert Kenyon, M.A. ira (Brasenose Coll.,
Oxf.)
1 787 John Clowes, M.A. 124 (Trinity Coll., Camb.)
1 8 1 8 Samuel Booth, M.A. (Balliol Coll., Oxf.)
1859 Joseph Nelsey Pocklington, M.A. (St.
Catharine's Coll., Camb.)
1861 Edward Allen, M.A. (Oriel Coll., Oxf.)
1876 Capel Wolseley, B.A.
1885 Henry Francis Gore- Booth, M.A. (Corpus
Christi Coll., Camb.)
1902 Peter Green, M.A. (St. John's Coll., Camb.)
In recent times, owing to the growth of the town, a
number of new churches have been erected, those in
connexion with the Establishment being St. Stephen's,
near the Town Hall, 1794 ; m St. Philip's, more to the
west at White Cross Bank, 1825 ;m Christ Church,
near the Crescent, 1831, enlarged 1847 ; 187 St. Mat-
thias, Broughton Road,1*8 and St. Bartholomew's,
Oldfield Road,1M 1842, enlarged in 1863 and 1887
respectively ; St. Simon's, in the extreme north corner
of the township, 1 849 ; I3° the Stowell Memorial
Church, 1869 ;131 St. Clement's,1" and St. Cyprian's,
both in Ordsall, 1878 and 1899 ; and St. Ignatius,
1903. All are entitled rectories. The patronage is
in most cases in the hands of different bodies of
trustees, but to St. Simon's the Crown and the Bishop
of Manchester present alternately, while the Dean and
canons of Manchester are patrons of St. Philip's and
St. Stephen's. There are mission rooms in connexion
with nearly every church.
The Wesleyan Methodists had a chapel in Gravel
Lane as early as 1790 ; a new one close by has re-
placed it. The same denomination has other churches
in Irwell Street, built in 1827, and now used for the
Manchester Mission ; Regent Road, 1870, Ordsall
Park, and Bedford Street. The Primitive Methodists
have a church in Trafford Road, near the docks ; the
United Free Church has two in Salford, and another
in Eccles New Road ; the Independent Methodists,
who had one near Cook Street in 1807, now have
one near the cattle market.133
The Baptists have a church in Great George Street,
founded in 1833 and rebuilt in 1851.
The Congregationalists appeared in Windsor in
1797, when one John Joule built a chapel there.
Another was built in Salford proper in 1819, and is
now the Central Mission church. These have been
followed by Hope, to the south, in 1837, and Rich-
mond to the north in i846.134
The Welsh Calvinistic Independents had a chapel
in Jackson's Square, now under Exchange Station, in
1824, their present one is near Cross Lane. The
Welsh Calvinistic Methodists had a chapel called
Salem in Rigby Street in 1866, but have removed to
Pendleton.
The Presbyterian Church of England has a place
of worship in Chapel Street, built in 1 847. m
The Unitarians built the above-named chapel in
Jackson's Square, but had by 1824 removed to an
adjacent one in Dawson's Croft ; their present place
of worship, known as Pendleton Unitarian Free
then he earnestly begged that he might
partake of the Lord's Supper there, and
then he would not wish to live longer.
It pleased God to revive him in such a
measure as that he was able to go to the
chapel constantly till he was partaker of
the Supper (which could not be done for
some months after the consecration) in
the chapel, and was never able to go forth
after, nor scarce to get home ' ; Mancunien-
tis, 117, 1 1 8.
Humphrey Oldfield in 1684 left his
divinity books to be placed in the
chancel of the chapel. Those left were
in 1876 given to the Salford Free Library ;
Old Lanes. Lib. (Chet. Soc.), 107.
The surveyors of 1650 recommended
that it should be made a parish church for
the township ; Common-wealth Cb. Suri>.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 6. An
allowance of £35 lot. was made to the
minister in 1655, and was continued to
his successor ; Plund. Mins. Accts. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 55, 224, 273.
The certified income in 1717 was ,£60,
including the £20 given by the founder
and £40 from seats ; surplice fees and
offerings came to about £2. The right
of nomination had been given to Mr.
Booth and his heirs by the Bishop of
Chester, without any mention of the con-
sent of the warden of Manchester. Two
wardens were appointed ; Gastrell, Notitia
Cestr. (Chet Soc.), ii, 92.
116 The district was reconstituted in
1856 ; Land. Gam. 29 Mar. 1839, i July
1856.
u? This list is largely due to the late
J. P. Earwaker.
118 See the notes on Manchester Church;
Raines, Fellows of Mancb. (Chet. Soc.),
138 ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
119 He was considered an ' able and
sufficient minister ' ; Common-wealth Cb.
Surv. 6 ; Mancb. Classis (Chet. Soc.),
iii, 441. He died in 1658.
120 He conformed at the Restoration
and was presented to Hoole ; Mancb.
Classis, iii, 421.
isoa pje became vicar of Bowdon in
1690.
121 He was elected fellow of Manchester
in 1699, and was buried at Salford in
1731. In politics he was a Jacobite ;
Fellows of Manch. 206.
123 Son of the Rev. Robert Assheton,
whom he succeeded at Manchester ; ibid.
216.
128 Librarian of the Chetham Library.
124 Also vicar of Eccles.
125 This church had a district assigned
to it in 1839, which was reconstituted in
1856 ; Land. Gaz. ut sup. The graveyard
inscriptions are in the Owen MSS.
126 Built by the Parliamentary Com-
missioners at a cost of £14,000. A
district was formed for it in 1822, which
was reformed in 1858 ; ibid. 4 July 1822,
13 Aug. 1858.
12' A district was assigned in 1858 ;
2l6
ibid. 13 Aug. The first incumbent —
1831-65 — was Hugh Stowell, M.A., a
leader of the Evangelical or Low Church
party and a prominent No-Popery lecturer.
He was a native of the Isle of Man. There
is a Life of him by J. B. Marsden, and he
is commemorated by a memorial church.
128 For district see Land. Gats. 13 Aug.
1858.
129 For district see ibid.
180 A district was assigned, with an
endowment of £150 a year, in 1846 ;
Land. Gam. 10 Feb.
181 A district was assigned in 1871;
ibid. 19 May. The church is in Eccles
New Road.
188 For district see ibid. 26 Aug. 1879.
There is a seamen's mission attached, with
a special chaplain.
188 These particulars are from Baines,
Lanes. Dir. 1824-5, an(^ Axon, Ann. of
Mancb. The Primitive Methodists had
formerly a chapel in King Street, re-
moved to Blackfriars Street in 1874.
This was closed a few years since.
184 See B. Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf.
vi, 208-24. It appears that services be-
gun in 1817 in the former Cloth Hall in
Greengate led to the formation of the
Chapel Street church. Richmond Church
began in a secession from Chapel Street in
1843, the former Unitarian Chapel in
Dawson's Croft being used for a time.
185 It was founded in 1844 ; there is a
mission hall.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
Church, is at the extreme west end of the township,
at Windsor.
The Swedenborgians had a New Jerusalem church
in 1815 and later, but have removed to Wallness
Road. The Bible Christians, a branch of the same
denomination founded by the Rev. William Cowherd,136
worshipped at Christ Church, King Street, from 1809;
this about 1869 they abandoned fora new building in
Cross Lane. A noteworthy member and minister was
Joseph Brotherton, a local cotton spinner, who was
the first member of Parliament for Salford, 1832 to
1857. A statue of him was erected in Peel Park in
1858.
The principal Roman Catholic church is St. John's
Cathedral. The mission was not begun until 1 844 ;
the church, opened in 1848, was consecrated in 1890.
The other churches are St. Peter's, begun in 1863,
church built 1874 ; the Patronage of St. Joseph,
1871 ; Mount Carmel, 1880 ; and St. Anne's,
Adelphi. There is a convent and school of the
Faithful Companions of Jesus at Adelphi House.
BROUGHTON
Burton, 1177; Borton, 1257; Burghton, 1332,
1450; Bourghton, 1572; Broughton, Brughton,
xvi cent.
Kereshale, Kershal, 1200; Kereshole, 1212.
Tottelawe, Tettelagh, 1302 ; Tetlawe, 1368.
In the west and south this township is bounded
mainly by the winding Irwell. The northern and
eastern portions are hilly, the ground sloping west to
the river, and also to the south. The old hamlet of
Broughton lay on the western side of the township,
close to a ford across the Irwell. The higher ground
in the north is known as Broughton Park and Higher
Broughton ; the more level tract to the south as
Lower Broughton, while the north-western arm, in a
bend of the Irwell, is Kersal.1 Almost the whole
township is covered with buildings, there being many
handsome residences in it.1 The area is 1,426^ acres.*
The population numbered 49,048 in 1901.
The principal road is that from Manchester to Bury,
joined by another road from Salford, crossing the
Irwell by Broughton Bridge.4 From the Bury Road
others branch off to the west, crossing the Irwell into
Pendleton by Wallness* and Cromwell Bridges.6
There is no railway in Broughton, but the district is
served by the Salford electric tramways. Albert Park,
close to Cromwell Bridge, was opened in 1877 » there
are several recreation grounds.
Some neolithic implements and other pre-Roman
remains, as also some Roman coins, have been found.7
The Roman road from Manchester to Bury passed
through the township.8
Broughton was incorporated with Salford borough
in 1844 ; there are now three wards — Grosvenor,
Albert Park, and Kersal. A branch library was
opened in 1890 and a reading-room 1905. 8a
William Crabtree, the astronomer and friend of
Horrocks, lived in the township, at Broughton Spout
it is supposed.9 There were ninety-five hearths paying
to the hearth tax in i666.19
The Manchester races were held on Kersal Moor
from 1730 till 1847, with a short interruption.11
A duel was fought on the moor in I8O4.1* Great
reviews were held there in 1831 and 1835, and
Chartist meetings in 1838 and i839.13
There were zoological gardens in Higher Broughton
from 1838 to 1 842."
BROUGHTON was formerly ancient
MANOR demesne of the honour of Lancaster,15
being a member of the royal manor of
Salford,18 but was about 1 190 granted by John, Count
us He was born at Carnforth ; became
curate of St; John's, Manchester, where
he adopted the incumbent's Swedenbor-
gian views, but added doctrines of his
own, as in abstention from animal food ;
he died in 1816 ; W. Axon, Ann. 149.
1 For Kersal generally see Mr. E. Axon
in Bygone Lanes. A hill in the centre
was known as Castle Hill or Cross Hill.
a The following from the Manch. City
News of 20 Jan. 1906 gives a pleasant
picture of Broughton as the correspondent
saw it seventy years ago : 'At the Strange-
ways end of Broughton Lane were a few
residences, whilst in the near fields was a
nest of working men's lock-up gardens,
wherein many a rare pink and picotee,
and many a swelling stock of celery were
nourished with fond and jealous care. The
lane was knee-deep in sand, and the resort
of numerous red and brown butterflies,
till it joined the lower road from Brough-
ton Bridge near the suspension bridge.
So by a few cottages to the Griffin Inn,
the Cheetham Arms, and its opposite ford
— a noted bathing-place for Manchester
youths. Round about this locality were
several farms, one especially (now covered
by Albert Park) lives in our remembrance
as the pasture to which was taken each
evening, more than a century ago, our an-
cestor's old mare, the first horse used in
Manchester in a gin to turn the mill
which perched or straightened the nap on
the back of fustian pieces.
' Some little distance beyond the " Grif-
fin," in Lower Broughton Road, opposite
Castle Irwell, a clough dipped into the
Stony Knolls, and down it came the rain
water and found its way to the Irwell
across the road. This watercourse gave the
clough the descriptive name of Broughton
Spout. From Broughton Bridge, right and
left of the new cut, Great Clowes Street,
were fields. In the centre of one stood a
mansion on an artificially raised mound.
Being thus the exceptional house above the
floods, it was called Noah's Ark, and was
the residence of James Whitlow, solici-
tor, of St. James's Square, Manchester.'
8 1,418 acres, including 32 of inland
water ; Census Rep. 1901.
4 Built in 1806-69. Springfield Lane
Bridge, to the east, was made in 1850-80.
* Opened in 1880. There is a foot-
bridge to the south, from the end of
Hough Lane into Pendleton. The sus-
pension bridge, to the north, was opened
in 1826 ; it is close to the old Broughton
Ford, which was reopened in 1841.
A bridge called Littleton Bridge has
recently been erected by the Clowes family
to develop the Kersal estate.
6 Opened in 1882.
7 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. v, 296,
328, 330 ; x, 250, 251 ; xii, 118 ; ii, 146;
viii, 127.
8 Watkin, Rom. Lanes. 52.
•a Information of Mr. B. H. Mullen.
> Pal. Note Bk. ii, 262.
10 Subs. R. Lanes. 250/9. William
Allen's house had 12 hearths, Elizabeth
Lever's 9, and George Kenyon's 8.
11 ' A strange, unheard of race ' for
women in 1681 is noticed by Oliver Hey-
wood as a sign of the times ; Diaries, ii, 284.
217
The earliest record of horse-racing at
Kersal is contained in the following
notice in the Land. Gax. of 2-5 May
1687 : 'OnCarsalt Moore near Manches-
ter in Lancashire on the 1 8th instant, a
20/. plate will be run for to carry ten
stone, and ride three heats, four miles
each heat. And the next day another
plate of 4o/. will be run for at the same
moore, riding the same heats and carrying
the same weight. The horses marks are
to be given in four days before to Mr.
William Swarbrick at the Kings Arms in
Manchester.'
The races were interrupted from 1746
to 1759 owing to the opposition of Edward
Byrom ; note by Mr. E. Axon ; see fur-
ther in Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xxv.
18 W. Axon, Manch. Ann.
18 Ibid.
14 Manch. Guard. N. and Q. no. 235.
16 Broughton in 1176-7 paid J mark to
the aid of the vills of the honour ; Farrer,
Lanes. Pipe R. 36. In 1200 it is found
among the other demesne manors paying
an increment of 6s. (ibid. 131), which
is given as 121. a year in later rolls ; ibid.
148, 163. It paid 2 marks to the tallage
in 1205-6 ; ibid. 202.
16 In the 1 7th century Broughton was
still regarded as a member or hamlet of
Salford, and in 1640, on account of dis-
putes as to the apportionment of taxes laid
upon Salford and its members, it was
agreed that when the whole paid 201.
Broughton, Kersal, and Tetlow should
pay 51. 5</. as their share of the 20*. t
Salford Portmote Rec. ii, 63.
28
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
of Mortain, to lorwerth de Hulton. On becoming
king in 1199 John did not confirm this grant, but
gave lorwerth the vill of Pendleton instead of it."
Restored to its former position it remained in the
hands of the lord of the honour, yielding a varying
rent,18 for perhaps a century longer. About 1324
Broughton proper was held by Katherine daughter of
Adam Banastre by a rent of 27-r.,19 and descended to
the Harringtons of Farleton lo and their successors in
title, the Stanleys, Lords Mounteagle. In 1578 the
manor of Broughton and lands there were sold by
William, Lord Mounteagle, to Henry, Earl of Derby,21
who gave the estate to his illegitimate son Henry
Stanley.*1 Ferdinando Stanley, the son and successor
of Henry, as a Royalist, had to compound for his
estates in i646.2S He recorded a pedigree in 1664.™
Ferdinando and his son Henry having mortgaged the
manor and lands to the Chethams of Turton and
Smedley, it finally, about 1700, came into the hands
of this family. Ji
The manor then descended in the same way as
Smedley, and on the partition of the Chetham estates
in 1772 became the property of Mary younger sister
of Edward Chetham of Nuthurst and Smedley, and
wife of Samuel Clowes the younger.26 She died in
1775, having survived her husband about two years,
and by her will left Broughton and other estates to her
eldest son Samuel, who died in 1801, having survived
his eldest son Samuel, high sheriff in 1777, and being
succeeded by his grandson, also named Samuel. This
last died without issue in 1 8 1 1,
and was, in accordance with a
settlement he had made, suc-
ceeded by his brother the Rev.
John Clowes, one of the fel-
lows of Manchester Church,
who made Broughton Hall his
chief residence till his death
there in i846.27 A younger
brother, Lieut.-Colonel Wil-
liam Legh Clowes, who had
served in the Peninsular War,
then inherited the estates, and
dying in 1862 was followed
by his son, Samuel William,
who in turn was in 1899 succeeded by his eldest son
Captain Henry Arthur Clowes, late of the First
Life Guards, born in 1867 ; he resides at Norbury
near Ashbourne.
TETLOW was an estate partly in Broughton and
partly in Cheetham, held in the I4th century by a
family using the local surname,28 the service due being
CLOWES. Azure on a
eheveron engrailed be-
tween three unicorns'
heads erased or as many
crescents gules.
W Chart. R. (Rec. Com.), 27.
18 Lanes. Inij. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 13 — in 1226 481.
assized rent. Ibid. 207 — in 1257 assized
rent of Broughton and Pendleton 781. 6d.t
while other rents and profits, including
the farm of the mill, and corn and other
produce sold, brought the receipts up to
19 Dods. MSS. cxxxi, fol. 39. Kersal
and Tetlow had been separated from it.
The tenure suggests a grant by Thomas,
Earl of Lancaster, to Margaret sister of
Sir Robert de Holland ; see the next
note and the account of Great Bolton, also
Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
ii, loo-i.
80 In 1346 John de Harrington held
Broughton by the sixteenth part of a
knight's fee, and Salefield Hey, taken
from the waste, by a rent of 271. 4^. by
charter of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster ;
Add. MS. 32103, fol. 146*. To the aid
of 1 378 Sir Nicholas de Harrington paid
i$d. for the sixteenth part of a knight's
fee in Broughton ; Harl. MS. 2085, fol.
422. Margaret widow of Sir William de
Harrington held it in 1445-6, the relief
for it being 61. $d. ; Duchy of Lane.
Knights' Fees, 2/20. It is named among
the Harrington of Farleton manors as late
as 1572 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
34, m. 76, 80.
31 A settlement of the manor of Brough-
ton and 60 messuages, &c. in Broughton
and Hayrield was made in 1574 by Sir
William Stanley, Lord Mounteagle ; Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 36, m. 146. The
sale in 1578 included the manor and 30
messuages, &c. in Broughton ; ibid. bdle.
40, m. 152.
22 The grant is recited in the Inq. p.m.
of Ferdinando, Earl of Derby, in 1595 ;
Add. MS. 32104, fol. 424.
38 He was taken prisoner by Lord Fair-
fax at Selby and took the National Cove-
nant on 10 Aug. 1644, being thereupon
enlarged ; afterwards he conformed to all
the ordinances of the Parliament and took
the Negative Oath ; Cal. of Cam. for Com-
pounding, ii, 1446. The particulars of
his estate show that Broughton Hall and
the demesne lands were held by his sister
Jane for her life ; his estate brought in
£20 5*. a year. His mother Jane was
living. He had never been a member of
Parliament, nor held office in the state ;
nor was he a popish recusant ; State P.
Com. for Compounding, vol. G, P, E, 186,
fol. 708.
Nathaniel Atkins, physician, who mar-
ried Mrs. Stanley of Broughton — she was
Jane daughter and co-heir of Nicholas
Gilbert and sixty years old in 1651 — had
been noticed among the garrison at La-
thom, ' very conversant and familiar with
the officers' while it was held against the
Parliament ; his estate, therefore, being
his wife's jointure from her former hus-
band, was sequestered by the Common-
wealth authorities ; Royalist Comp. Papers
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 114 5 Cal.
of Com. for Compounding, iii, 2352.
24 Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 285 ;
Henry Stanley is said to have died in
1640, Ferdinando being forty-four years
of age in 1664. Among the Clowes Deeds
is a grant of the manor made in 1678 by
Charles II to Ferdinando Stanley 5 Pat. 30
Chas. II, pt. 72, no. 8.
85 Some documents connected with
these transactions are among the Clowes
Deeds.
In 1 66 1 Ferdinando Stanley pledged the
manor of Broughton and its appurtenances
to George Chetham of Turton in con-
sideration of a loan of £250, for which
£280 was to be repaid within two years.
Pleadings of 1691, in reply to a claim
by Henry Stanley the younger, recite an
indenture of 1626 between Henry Stanley
and others concerning the marriage of his
son and heir apparent Edward Stanley,
whose issue failed, leaving Ferdinando the
heir. The last-named was twice married,
and had by his second wife a son and heir
Henry, besides other children. He died
about 1684, when Henry succeeded to the
encumbered estate. The loan of £250
had been increased by 1667 to £800,
which by failure in paying interest quickly
grew to £1,600. In 1685 the debt was
2l8
£2,194, and James Chetham, as mortga-
gee, seems to have taken possession.
Henry Stanley agreed in 1696 to sell the
manor to George Chetham for £3,600.
The following fines relate to the manor,
some being in connexion with the various
mortgages : In 1625 Henry Stanley and
Joan his wife were deforciants ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 108, m. I. In 1661
George Chetham (as above) secured the
manor from Ferdinando Stanley and
Ursula his wife ; ibid. bdle. 166, m. 148 ;
followed by a similar fine in 1667, James
Chetham being the plaintiff and Ferdi-
nando Stanley deforciant ; ibid. bdle. 179,
m. 119. In a recovery of the manor in
1 700 Henry Stanley was called to vouch ;
Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 471, m. 4d.
26 See the account of Smedley in Cheet-
ham.
The statements in the remainder of the
paragraph in the text are derived from an
elaborate abstract of title prepared in
1844, which recites settlements, wills, &c.,
from 1769 onwards ; and from the pedi-
gree in Burke, Landed Gentry. From the
abstract it appears that the ancient chief
rent of 271. \d. was in 1772 paid to Sir
George Warren. The first Samuel Clowes
mentioned was son of Samuel Clowes,
Manchester merchant, who first appears
in the Ct. Lett Rec . in 1685 (vi, 192). He
purchased the Booths in Worsley.
Among the Clowes Deeds is an extract
from the manor Court Roll of 1742.
a' His long tenure of the estate at a
time when Broughton was rapidly becom-
ing a residential suburb of Manchester,
made him a somewhat important person-
age. He built and endowed St. John's
Church, Broughton, in 1836. He is said
to have been one of the first cultivators of
the orchid. He was educated at Trinity
Coll. Cambridge (M.A. 1805), and elected
fellow of Manchester in 1 809 ; he re-
signed in 1833. He was ' a man of un-
impeachable conduct, of sober piety, and
of great benevolence ' ; Raines, Fellows of
Mancb. (Chet. Soc.), 322-7.
28 Adam de Tetlow in 1302 paid izd.
to the aid for the fortieth part of a fee in
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
the fortieth (later, the six-
teenth) part of a knight's fee
and a rent of 6s. %d. It
passed by marriage to the
Langleys of Agecroft,29 and
then descended with Reddish
to the Cokes.30 The name
Tetlow has long been dis-
used, but is preserved in Tet-
low Lane.
KERS4L was in 1142
given to the priory of Len-
ton,31 and a small cell called
LBNTON PRIORY.
Quarterly or and azure a
Calvary cross ofthejirst
Jimbriated sable standing
on steps of the last.
St. Leonard's was established there.313 On the sup-
pression of monasteries it was in 1 540 sold by
Henry VIII to Baldwin Willoughby,32 and some
eight years afterwards was sold to Ralph Kenyon,
apparently acting for himself and for James Chetham
and Richard Siddall.33
The Kenyon third descended in that family for
some time.34 It included the cell or monastic build-
ings. The Siddall third35 was alienated in 1616 to
William Lever of Darcy Lever,36 and descended to
Rawsthorne Lever of Kersal, who died in 1689
without issue,37 having bequeathed it to the Green-
halghs of Brandlesholme in Bury.38 This part was
Tetlow; Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 314.
In 1 324 Adam de Tetlow held 10 acres
in Broughton, formerly held by Jordan de
Crompton, by homage and the service of
the sixteenth part of a knight's fee ; Dods.
MSS. cxxxi, fol. 3 7 A. It thus appears
that in Broughton as well as in Cromp-
ton Adam succeeded to the inheritance of
others. In 1346 Robert de Tetlow was
tenant, paying a rent of 6s. $d. ; Add.
MS. 32103, fol. 146^.
29 See the account of Agecroft in Pen-
dlebury. Several Tetlow families are met
with in the Manchester and Rochdale
district.
In 1346-55 Richard de Langley and
Joan his wife held the fortieth part of a
knight's fee in Crompton and Broughton,
formerly held by Adam de Tetlow of the
Earl of Ferrers ; Feud. Aids, iii, 91. In
1358 Richard son of Richard de Tetlow
laid claim to it, alleging that Joan wife
of Richard de Langley was a bastard. It
was, however, decided that Joan was the
lawful daughter of Jordan de Tetlow and
Alice his wife, which Jordan (brother of
Richard de Tetlow, father of the claimant)
had held Tetlow. The mother of Jordan
was named Anabil ; she survived her son ;
Assize R. 438, m. 4 d.
The Langleys seem to have granted it
to the Strangeways family, who held it by
knight's service and the rent of 6s. Sd. ;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 24, 50.
Afterwards it reverted to the Langleys,
and is named in their inquisitions, though
the tenure is variously described ; e.g. ibid,
ii, 145, where the estate is described as
eight messuages, 40 acres of land, 4 acres
of meadow, and 10 acres of pasture in
Tetlow in the vill of Broughton, held
of the king as duke by the fortieth part
of a knight's fee, and worth 4 marks
yearly. In the time of Henry VIII the
lands in Tetlow and Cheetham were said
to be held in socage by a rent of id., but
in 1562 the tenure was again described
as the fortieth part of a knight's fee ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vi, 7 ; xi, 16.
Margaret wife of Roger Langley in
1445-6 held the sixteenth part of a fee in
Tetlow, the relief for which was 6s. $d. ;
Duchy of Lane. Knights' Fees, 2/20.
80 It is named in fines relating to the
share of John Reddish and his wife in
1567 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 28,
m. 279 ; 29, m. 126. Also in the in-
quisition after the death of Sarah Coke,
taken in 1630 ; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. xxvi, 53. It is included in fines
relating to the Cokes' estate in 1667 and
1685 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 179,
m. 92 ; 217, m. 20.
81 Lanes. Pipe R. 326. The grant of
the ' hermitage of Kersal ' was confirmed
by Henry II about thirty years later ;
ibid. 327.
The ' wood (boscus) of Kersal ' was in-
cluded in the grant of Broughton to lor-
werth de Hulton as above described.
Some notes on the priory are given in
Lanes, and Chet. Antiq. Soc. i, 39.
81a V.C.H. Lanes, ii, 113.
82 Pat. 32 Hen. VIII, pt. 8 ; the price
mentioned is ^155 6s. $d.
A settlement was in 1543 made by
Baldwin Willoughby and Joan his wife of
the manor and cell called Kersal, with
twenty messuages, a water-mill, 1,000
acres of land, &c., and 201. rent ; the
remainder was to Ralph Sacheverell and
Philippa his wife, and the heirs of
Philippa ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
12, m. 103. From a later fine it appears
that Philippa was Baldwin's daughter and
heir. Another fine was made in 1 548 ;
ibid. bdle. 13, m. 166. In the following
September Ralph Kenyon purchased the
whole ; ibid. bdle. 13, m. 152.
83 As soon as Kenyon had purchased
Kersal he transferred one-third to James
Chetham of Crumpsall and another third
to Richard Siddall of Withington ; inden-
ture of i o Sept. 1548, among the Chet-
ham Papers. Each paid Kenyon ,£132.
From this deed it appears that parts of
the land had been sold to Richard Rad-
cliffe of Langley and Robert Ravald of
Kersal.
84 The king in November 1548
granted to Sir John Byron the custody
of a third part of the third part of the
manor of Kersal, 6 acres in Manchester,
and 141. 4</. rent in Ashton, the estate of
Ralph Kenyon deceased, whose son and
heir George was a minor ; George's
wardship and marriage were included ;
Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. xxiii, 60 d.
A settlement of messuages and lands in
Kersal with a third part of the mill, and
41. 9</. rent in Oaken shaw, was made by
George Kenyon in 1581; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 53, m. 151. George
Kenyon and Robert Ravald were in 1582
charged by Ralph Byrom and Adam Pilk-
ington with depriving the queen's tenants
of Salford of their common pasture in
Kersal Wood, stated to be loo acres ;
Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 270, m. 12, I2d.
George Kenyon died in 1613 holding
a third part of the manor or cell of Ker-
sal, a third of the mill and wood, and
various messuages and lands ; George his
son and heir was thirty years of age ;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 234. A settlement had been
made in 1590 by the father in favour of
George the son and Ellen his wife,
daughter of Richard Whitworth, with
remainders to Ralph younger son of
George ; to Hugh brother of George the
elder, and his son Ralph ; Earwaker
MSS. The Smethurst fields and Brad-
shaw meadow are named.
In 1623 George Kenyon sold the
middle Michael meadow and a lane from
219
Madgewell to the Moorgate to William
Lever of Kersal; ibid. In 1624 he
made a settlement on the marriage of
George his son and heir apparent with
Katharine daughter of John Trevett of
Middlewich, mercer ; ibid. Of these
Georges the elder died between 1659 and
1664 ; the younger in the latter year
made a conveyance of his capital mes-
suage and lands, &c., in Kersal and Auden-
shaw to Leonard Egerton of Shaw and
John Ashton of Shepley ; Thomas Ken-
yon, his son, joined in the conveyance ;
ibid. Thomas Kenyon of Kersal had in
1692 a lease of a cottage there for the
lives of himself, Jane his wife, and Anne
his daughter, Edward Byrom being the
grantor ; ibid. The lease was surrendered
in 1709.
84 Richard Siddall died in 1558, leaving
a son and heir Edward, who purchased
Slade Hall in Rusholme, where a fuller
account of the family will be found ;
Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. i, 42. Edward
Siddall died in 1588 holding a third part
of Kersal Manor and wood, with various
lands and houses there, his son George
being the heir ; it was held of the queen
by the twelfth part of a knight's fee ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, 32.
86 Booker, Birch Chapel (Chet. Soc.),
132 ; the details given show that the mill
was then occupied by Richard Holland.
George Siddall had in 1613 sold part of
his land to George Kenyon ; ibid. From
one of the Clowes deeds it appears that
in 1618 James Chetham and George
Kenyon leased their part of Kersal mill
to Richard Holland of Denton ; a new
mill was to be built. William Lever of
Darcy Lever in 1616-17 granted a close
lately owned by George Siddall to James
Chetham.
•7 The family recorded a pedigree in
1664; Dugdale, Visit. 185, 186. Another
pedigree in the Piccope MS. Pedigrees
(Chet. Lib.), i, 351, states that William
Lever, who married a daughter of George
Kenyon of Kersal, died in 1646, and was
succeeded by a son William, who died in
1 66 1, leaving as his heir his son Raws-
thorne Lever. Rawsthorne married Alice,
daughter of Edward Chetham of Smedley,
but died without issue 18 Oct. 1689 ; by
his will he gave all his messuages, lands,
&c. in Kersal to trustees, until Henry
son of Thomas Greenhalgh of Brandles-
holme should pay £300, on which Henry
was to have the estate. The money was
paid in Dec. 1689 ; Piccope's notes and
Manch. Free Lib. D. no. 52.
88 In 1697 James Chetham of Turton,
Henry Greenhalgh of Brandlesholme, and
Edward Byrom of Manchester 'seised
as tenants in common ' of the land called
Kersal Wood 'and now or late called
Kersal Moor,' about 100 acres in extent,
made an agreement preparatory to a
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
purchased by Samuel Clowes in I775-39
Chetham third 40 had already come into the hands
of the Clowes family,41 whose descendants retain
their estate in Kersal.
The Kenyon third was about the year 1 660 alien-
ated to the Byroms of Manchester,41 whose line
terminated in the death of Miss Eleanora Atherton
on 12 September 1870. It
had one famous holder —
John Byrom of Kersal, Jaco-
bite, hymn-writer, and short-
hand inventor ; he was born
in 1692, educated at Trinity
College, Cambridge, of which
division ; Earwaker MSS. In 1702 Samuel
Chetham of Turton and Henry Green-
halgh leased their parts of the mill for
99 years to Edward Byrom of Manchester,
linen-draper ; the parties had lately made
a brick-kiln ; ibid.
In 1 704 land called Dauntesey's Warth
was sold by Christopher Dauntesey and
others to Henry Greenhalgh ; Piccope's
notes. Another piece of this land, called
Gooden's Warth, was in 1703 sold by
Thomas Gooden of Little Eolton (in
Eccles) to Otho Holland of Pendleton ;
Manch. Free Lib. D. no. 53. The fields
took their name from a ford across the
Irwell to Whit Lane in Pendleton.
The Dauntesey interest in Kersal, in-
dicated by the last paragraph, arose from
a zi-years* kase in 1539 from Henry
VIII to John Wood, one of his ' Ois-
tringers,' of the site of Kersal cell and
its lands, including Redstone pasture,
Danerode meadow, with sufficient house-
bote, firebote, &c. to be taken from
the king's woods adjacent ; a rent of
^i I 6s. %d. was to be paid ; Agecroft D.
no. 109. The lease was at once trans-
ferred to Robert Langley of Agecroft ;
ibid. no. no. Disputes arose between
the lessee and the owners in 1560 —
James Chetham, Edward Siddall, and
George Kenyon — which were submitted
to arbitration ; ibid. no. 126.
89 The Greenhalgh estate in Kersal
appears to have come into the hands of
the Hopwoods of Hopwood by a fore-
closure, and was in 1775 sold as the
' lands, messuages, and tenements late be-
longing to Anne Greenhalgh' to Joseph
Matthews, who at once sold them to
Samuel and John Clowes for ,£4,260, as
* one undivided third part of the manor
or lordship of Kersal, and the whole of
the capital messuage called Kersal Hall,
with the appurtenances belonging,' with
third parts of the moor and mill. Samuel
Clowes at the same time conveyed a
moiety of an undivided third part of the
manor to Elizabeth widow of John
Byrom, M.A. ; Piccope's notes.
40 See the accounts of Crumpsall and
Turton for this family. James Chetham
died in 1571, holding a messuage in
Kersal, a third part of the water-mill,
and various other lands, &c. ; also of the
third part of a rent of 145. $d. from Ash-
ton under Lyne ; and six messuages or
burgages in Manchester. A settlement
made in 1567 of Kersal Hall, &c., is re-
cited in the inquisition, which states that
Kersal and the rent from Ashton were
held of the queen by the third part of the
fourth part of a knight's fee and a rent
of 1 31. yearly. Henry the son and heir
was twenty-eight years of age ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. xfii, 19. For Henry
Chetham's inquisition, showing the same
estate, see Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 2. He was suc-
ceeded by his son James, who from 1613
to 1619 made further purchases in Ker-
sal ; Clowes D.
41 This was agreed upon by the parti-
tion of 1772 between the sisters and co-
heirs of Edward Chetham of Nuthurst ;
Mary the wife of Samuel Clowes re-
ceived the third part of Kersal, together
with Broughton ; Axon, Chetham Gen.
(Chet. Soc.), 63. To this was added a
moiety of the third part purchased in
1775, as above stated, so that a moiety
of Kersal descended like Broughton.
4a No record of the transfer has been
seen, but Edward Byrom, who died in
1668, was the earliest described as 'of
Kersal.'
For this family see the Byrom Pedigreest
with notes by Canon Raines (Chet. Soc.
xliv). The earliest known member of it
is Alice widow of Ralph Byrom, whose
will (1524) mentions her sons Adam,
Robert (a priest), Ralph and Thomas ;
Pkcope, Wills, ii, 180. Adam Byrom of
Salford died 25 July 1558, holding twelve
burgages, &c., in Salford, houses and lands
in Little Lever, Bolton le Moors, Man-
chester, and Ardwick ; the tenements in
Salford were held of the queen as of her
duchy in free burgage by a rent of 2 is. T,d.
and the burgage in Manchester of the
executors of Lord La Warre. The heir
was his grandson Ralph, sop and heir of
George son of Adam, then three years of
age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, 65.
Adam's will is printed in Piccope, Wills
(Chet. Soc.), i, 44 ; it mentions his three
sons, George, Henry, and Adam. George
Byrom was living in 1554, when he pur-
chased a house in Manchester from Adam
Holland ; Manch. Ct. Lett Rec. i, 9. He
died very soon after his father, before
Mar. 1559; ibid, i, 43. The inventory
of his goods is preserved at Chester.
Margaret Byrom, daughter of George, was
a victim of witchcraft ; Byrom Fed. 23.
Ralph Byrom, the heir, came of age in
1577 ; Manch. Ct. Lett Rec. i, 183, 187.
He died in 1598, holding much the same
estate as his grandfather, and leaving a
son and heir Ralph, twenty years of age ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii, 71 ; see
also Wills (Chet. Soc. new ser.), i, 206.
Ralph died at Salford the year after his
father, without issue ; his brother Adam,
fourteen years of age, was the heir ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii, 39.
There are numerous references to
Adam Byrom in the Manch. Ct. Lett Rec.
(see ii, 141, 152), from which it appears
that he came of age in 1608 (ii, 234).
He recorded a pedigree in 1613, showing
that he married a daughter of Edmund
Prestwich of Hulme, and had then four
children — Adam, Ralph, Ellen, and Mar-
garet ; Visit, of 1613 (Chet. Soc.), 35. In
1619 he sold a messuage in Hanging
Ditch, Manchester ; Ct. Leet Rec. iii,
11; and in 1641 conveyed all his lands
in Manchester to his son Adam ; ibid, iii,
333. The younger Adam died about this
time, and the father in 1 644 at Chester ;
a younger son, John, an active Royalist,
succeeding. His estates were sequestered
in 1646, but he compounded in 1651,
paying a fine of £201 ; in 1661 he was
described as 'that worthy and valiant
gentleman Major John Byrom, whose
fidelity hath been sufficiently testified by
his great sufferings in his Majesty'*
service' ; Ct. Leet Rec. iv, 282 and
note ; Royalist Comf. Papers (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 267. He recorded
2 2O
* canton a*ure.
a pedigree in
,664, having BYROM of Manchester<
then by his ^ ,
., ,:,, Arsrent a che-veron be-
wife Mary
T. . . . a- F pween tnree
Radcliffe of
Foxdenton a
son Adam,
nine years of age ; Dugdale, Visit. 68.
John Byrom died in 1678 and his son in
1684, when the heirs at law were John's
sister Penelope Hey, and his nieces Mar-
garet Ainsworth and Elizabeth Jenkinson ;
Byrom Ped. 26, 27. The estate was pur-
chased in 1703 by Edward Byrom of
Kersal 5 ibid. 39.
The Kersal family decended from
Henry younger son of Adam Byrom of
Salford (1558) already mentioned ;
Henry's will, dated and proved in 1558,1$
printed in Piccope, Wills, ii, 113 ; his
brother Adam and sons Robert and
Lawrence are named in it. The son
Lawrence (wrongly called son of Adam)
heads the visitation pedigree ; see Lanes,
and Cbes. Antiq. Notes, ii, 140, and Byrom
Ped. 30, 31. Robert Byrom of Salford
held burgages there of the queen by a rent
of 5*. 5<£ a year ; he died in 1586, leaving
his brother Lawrence as heir ; ibid, xiv, 45.
Edward the son of Lawrence comes
intonoteabout 1620, andin i6z6purcliased
lands in Hanging Ditch ; Manch. Ct. Leet
Rec. iii, 112. He adhered to the Parlia-
ment's side in the Civil War ; Byrom Ped.
32 ; Civil War Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 233.
One of his sons, John, was accidentally
killed in 1642 while serving with the
Parliamentary forces, and the eldest son,
William, was active on the same side,
being a member of the Manchester
classis j Byrom Ped. 33 ; Ct. Leet Rec.
iv, 14, 282. William married Rebecca
daughter of Captain John Beswick, and
left issue 5 he recorded a pedigree in
1664 ; Dugdale, Visit. 67. For his will
see Byrom Fed. 34.
It was his younger brother Edward
who acquired Kersal ; his will is given
in Byrom Ped. 37. For his widow see
ibid. 37, 38 ; by her second marriage she
was an ancestor of the Clowes family.
He is frequently mentioned in the Ct.
Leet Rec. and dying in 1688 left two
sons, Edward of Kersal, who purchased
the estate of the Byroms of Salford, and
Joseph, who acquired that of the Byroms
of Byrom. Edward's son was the John
Byrom noticed in the text ; he married
his cousin, Elizabeth daughter of Joseph
Byrom, and their son Edward by the will
of his uncle Edward (son and heir of
Joseph) received Byrom Hall. Edward
Byrom the younger was a banker in
Manchester, residing in Quay Street, and
built and endowed St. John's Church
there. Ann, his daughter, married Henry
Atherton, and their daughters and co-
heirs were Eleanora, unmarried, and
Lucy wife of Richard Willis of Halsnead,
who had no issue. Miss Atherton founded
and endowed Holy Trinity Church,
Hulme, founded an almshouse at Prescot
in memory of her sister Mrs. Willis, and
in other ways showed herself pious and
munificent. She was also a liberal patron
of the Chetham Society.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
he became a fellow, and died at Manchester in 1 763."
Like the manor of Byrom it was bequeathed to
Mr. Edward Fox, who took the name of Byrom.
The house now called Kersal Cell occupies the site
of the old religious house. It is a small two-story
building of timber and plaster, much altered from
time to time, but probably dating from the middle
or end of the i6th century. It stands on low ground
near a bend of the River Irwell, facing south, with
the heights of Broughton and Kersal Moor imme-
diately to the north and east. In more recent times
a large brick addition has been made on the north,
and extensions have also been made on the east in a
style meant to harmonize with the timber front of
the older part. The original house, which possibly
is only a fragment of a larger building, has a frontage
of about 56 ft. and consists of a centre with a projecting
wing at each end. The west wing has a bay
window in each floor, but the east wing has an
eight-light window and entrance doorway on the
ground floor and a slightly projecting bay above.
Both wings have gables with barge boards and hip
knobs, but the timber construction is only real up
to the height of the eaves, the black and white work
in the gables being paint on plaster. This is also
the case with the east end and the whole of the front
of the later extension on the same side. The roofs
are covered with modern blue slates, and the west
end is faced with rough-cast. The general appear-
ance at a distance is picturesque, but at close view
the house is too much modernized to be wholly
satisfactory, and it is dominated by the brick build-
ing on the north, whose roof stands high above that
of the older portion.
In the interior, however, Kersal Cell preserves
some interesting features, many of the rooms being
panelled in oak and some good plaster-work remain-
ing. The ground floor is now below the level of the
garden, the ground apparently having risen something
like 3 ft. The plan has been a good deal altered to
suit modern requirements, but preserves a centre
apartment or hall about i8ft. long with a seat against
its west wall, which is oak-panelled for 6 ft., and has
an ornamental plaster frieze. The lower room in
the east wing has oak panelling all round to a height
of 7 ft., and in one of the upper lights of the window
is a circular piece of heraldic glass with the arms and
name of AVNESWORTHE. The lower room in the
west wing has a bay window 8 ft. 8 in. across and
5 ft. 6 in. deep. The lead lights in this and in
other rooms of the house are of good geometrical
patterns, and in one of the upper lights of the bay
is an interesting glass sundial so fixed that the
shadow is visible from the inside. The staircase
is of Jacobean date with square oak newels and open
twisted balusters, now varnished. It goes up to the
top of the house, which in the centre has an attic.
The most interesting room, however, is that usually
called the chapel, on the first floor at the west end.
It is a small room about 1 8 ft. long and 1 3 ft. wide
with a five-light window facing west. It occupies
the rear portion of the west wing, the room in
front with its bay window being sometimes known
as the priest's room. What authority there is for
these names does not appear, and at present the only
indication of the back room having been used for
religious purposes is a small square of 17th-century
glass in the window depicting the crucifixion. The
two side lights of the window are plain, but the
three centre ones contain fragments of 16th-cen-
tury heraldic glass. In the second light is a shield,
with the arms of Ainsworth, with helm, crest, and
mantling. The centre light has two small diamond
quarries in brown stain, over the crucifixion already
mentioned. On a beam in front of the window is
an elaborate plaster frieze with three shields of arms,
somewhat similar to those at Slade Hall, Rusholme.
The centre shield bears the royal arms (France
quartered with England) with crown and supporters,
dexter a lion, sinister a dragon. The left-hand shield
is of six quarterings, encircled by a garter, and
originally with crest and supporters, but the dexter
support and the crest have been cut away, when
the plaster panel over the angle fireplace was inserted.
The arms are those of RatclifFe, Earl of Sussex, who
quartered FitzWalter, Burnel, Botetourt, Lucy, and
Multon of Egremont with his paternal coat.
The right-hand shield has the arms of Stanley,
Earl of Derby, encircled by a garter, with crest (eagle
and child) and supporters. There is a frieze in the
south wall apparently of the same date with Tudor
roses and fleurs-de-lys. Over the angle fireplace is a
plaster panel of later date, with a shield bearing the
arms of Byrom (a cheveron between three hedgehogs)
with crest (a hedgehog), and the initials E. B. over.
On each side of the shield is a fleur-de-lys, and below
is the date 1692. The south and part of the north
wall are panelled to the height of 6 ft. in oak, and
the door is set across the south-east angle, balancing
the fireplace.
There is a tradition that Dr. Byrom wrote
' Christians, Awake ' in Kersal Cell, and that it was
first sung in front of the house on Christmas Eve
1750, but both events are more likely to have taken
place at Byrom's house in Manchester.
North of Kersal Cell, facing west towards the road,
is Kersal Hall, a two-story gabled timber building,
the front of which has been rebuilt in brick and
painted black and white. The back of the house,
however, shows the original timber construction
above a lower story of brick with stone mullioned
windows. The house preserves the central hall type of
plan with passage and porch at the north end, and has
north and south wings. It is a picturesque building
with stone slated roof and brick chimneys. The hall
has three windows to the front, and in the lower room
of the south wing is some good 1 7th-century panelling.
William Ravald purchased land in Kersal in I 548."
43 His Diary and other Remains have
been published by the Chet. Soc. There
is a life in Diet. Nat. Biog.
44 The Ravald family can be traced
back in Manchester to the middle of the
1 5th century. In 1473 William Ravald
•was tenant of a parcel of land near Irk
Bridge at a rent of qd. ; Alamecestre, iii,
491. This or an adjacent parcel was
granted to him by Thomas West, lord of
Manchester, by charter in 1474 ; Lanes,
and Cbei. Antiq. Soc. iii, 109 (from an
abstract of title of Sir Watts Horton and
others, 1792). William son and heir of
John Ravald in 1530 agreed with his
brother Robert concerning a burgage in
Manchester and a piece of land called the
Cockpit at the south end of Irk Bridge'jibid.
In 1548, before the sale of Kersal
Manor, William Ravald purchased a
messuage, 22 a. of land, &c., in Kersal
from Baldwin Willoughby, Joan his wife,
Ralph Sacheverell and Philippa his wile
(daughter and heir apparent of Baldwin) ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. I3,m. 158.
He died in April 1560, holding the
messuage &c. in Kersal of the queen by
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
About 1619 this, or part of it, was sold to James
Chatham of Crumpsall.45
Apart from the families named, little is known of
the early landowners.46 Allen of Broughton recorded
a pedigree in i665.46a In 1798 Samuel Clowes paid
three-fifths of the land-tax, and a small additional
sum in conjunction with Elizabeth Byrom, whose
separate estate was but small.47 The Protestation of
1641 found eighty-three adherents.48
In 1836-9 St. John the Evangelist's was built for
the worship of the Established Church ; 49 St. Paul's,
Kersal Moor, followed in 1852 ; M and to these have
been added the churches of the Ascension, Lower
Broughton, in 1869 ;" St. James, Higher Broughton,
in 1879 ;M and St. Clement, Lower Broughton, in
1 88 1 ,8J The residence of the Bishops of Manchester,
known as Bishop's Court, was fixed in Broughton by
Bishop Fraser.
The Wesleyan Methodists have four churches in
Higher and Lower Broughton,44 the Primitive
Methodists one, and the Methodist New Connexion
also one, called Salem. The Baptists have a church
in Great Clowes Street, 1868 ; and the Congrega-
tionalists one in Broughton Park, an oflshoot of
Richmond Chapel, Salford, in 1874-5." The
Presbyterian Church of England has a place of
worship in Higher Broughton, founded in 1874.
The Unitarians have a school chapel. The Sweden-
borgians have a New Jerusalem Church in Bury New
Road.
For Roman Catholic worship there are the churches
of St. Boniface in Lower Broughton, and St Thomas
of Canterbury in Higher Broughton. The latter
mission, which includes Cheetham, was founded in
1879 ; the present church dates from 1901.
There is a Greek church in Bury New Road,
founded in l86o.M
A Jewish synagogue was opened in 1907 in
Duncan Street.
MANCHESTER
Mamucium, Mancunium, Anton. Itin. ; Mame-
ceaster, Manigeceaster, A. S. Chron. 923 ; Mame-
cestre, Dom. Bk. ; this and Mamcestre were the
usual spellings till about 1450, when Manchester
appears.1
The township of Manchester, bounded on three
sides — north, west, and south — mainly by the Irk,
Irwell, and Medlock, has an area of 1,646 acres, in-
cluding 27 acres of inland water. Formerly another
small brook ran westward to join the Irwell to the
south of the church ; * and two others, the Tib 3 and
Shooter,4 flowed south-west, the former through the
knight's service ; also three burgages &c.
and a house called a Cockpit place in
Manchester, of Lord La Warre by a rent
of 22d. His son and heir William was
nineteen years of age ; Duchy of Lane.
Inq. p.m. xi, 53 ; Court Leet Rec. i, 52 ;
Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxix, App. 558. A
settlement of the estate in Kersal and
Manchester was made by William Ravald
in 1566 ; the remainders were to his
wife Katherine for life, to his issue, to his
sister Elizabeth wife of Edward Siddall,
and to Robert Ravald of Kersal ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 28, m. 236.
William Ravald of Kersal died in 1587,
holding lands in Kersal and Manchester
and leaving a son and heir William, eight
years old ; the Kersal lands were held by
the hundredth part of a knight's fee ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, no. 23 ;
Court Leet Rec. ii, 8. The son came of
age in 1600 ; ibid, ii, 155. He died in
1623, holding the same estate and leaving
a son William, aged sixteen ; ibid, iii,
77 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), iii, 409. This son about
1635 sold part of his property in Man-
chester, and more in 1 660 ; Court Leet
Rec. iii, 223, 228 ; iv, 260.
Robert Ravald of Kersal, mentioned in
the remainders of 1566, died in 1578,
leaving a son and heir Robert, aged
fifteen ; he held a messuage and land in
Kersal of the queen by knight's service ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, no. 15. His
will is printed in Piccope, Wills, iii, 43-
45. Robert Ravald died in June 1629
holding messuages and land in Kersal
by the 2OOth part of a knight's fee ;
Margaret his wife survived him at Ker-
sal ; Robert his son and heir was twenty
years of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
xxvii, 41.
The Protestators of Kersal, 28 Feb.
1641-2, included William Ravald,William
Ravald (son), Richard Ravald, Robert
Ravald, William Ravald (Pal. Note Bk. iv,
125) ; and Mr. J. E. Bailey notes that
the first-named William was baptized in
1607, married in 1632 Elizabeth Bale,
and in 1633 (on the occasion of the birth
of his son George) and subsequently was
styled 'gentleman.' Richard his son
was buried i Feb. 1641-2, being described
as a yeoman of Broughton. Another
branch of the family lived in an adjoining
farm and comprised Robert Ravald senior,
his son Robert whose wife was Alice, and
a servant ; ibid, iv, 1 24.
In 1642 the will of Richard Ravald of
Broughton, yeoman, was proved at Chester;
and in 1725 the will of Robert Ravald of
Kersal, yeoman, was proved for effects
under £40.
The Broughton manor court records,
which are only extant from 1707, show that
Robert Ravald was then a tenant ; Samuel
Ravald was a juror in April 1711, when
he and ' Mr. Oswald Ravald ' were re-
turned as ' teneants newly found.'
The surname long continued known in
Manchester and the neighbourhood. The
will of Robert Ravald, linen-draper, 1718,
mentions his wife Mary, his sons John,
Thomas, and Robert, his brother Oswald,
and others.
Elizabeth wife of John 'Raffald' of
the Exchange Coffee House published
the first Manch. Dir. in 1772 ; she also
wrote a book of cookery, The Experienced
Engl. Housekeeper, which went through
many editions. She died in 1781. See
Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Harland, Manch. Coll.
i, 119 ; ii, 144-73 5 Pd. Note Bk. i, 141.
John Raffald is said to have been a
Cheshire man, and not related to the
Manchester Ravalds.
45 Clowes deeds.
46 In 1322 Matthew de Abram and
Joan his wife obtained a messuage and
lands in Broughton from Thomas son of
Roger del Green ; Final Cone, ii, 46.
John son of Richard de Radcliffe com-
plained in 1332 that Adam and Richard
sons of Henry de Broughton and their
wives had carried off his goods and
chattels at Broughton ; De Banco R.
291, m. 235.
In 1396 Hawise de Castlehill owned
lands in the centre of Broughton called
222
the Knolles and Kyperfield, which along
with Ouse Croft were described as 'in
Manchester' and were by her granted to
Robert Collayne, chaplain, who thereupon
conveyed to Sir Richard de Holand, for
life. One of the witnesses was Henry de
Strangeways ; Harl. MS. 21 12, fol. I46d. ;
Mamecestre, 422 m. 465.
John Bradshaw in 1595 purchased a
messuage &c. in Broughton from John
Oldham and Anne his wife ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 57, m. 57 ; see Ducatus
Lane. (Rec. Com.), iii, 309.
The Bent family had an estate at
Kersal ; a valuation of it exists in the
Clowes deeds. In Manchester Cathedral
is a monumental inscription of Edward
Bent of Kersal, who died in 1719.
463 Dugdale, Visit, z.
4? Returns at Preston.
48 Pal. Nole Bk. iv, 123.
49 A district was assigned in 1 840, and
reformed in 1854; Lond. Gam. 15 June
1854.
60 For district see ibid. Edwin Waugh
is buried in the churchyard.
61 Ibid. 7 June 1870.
82 Ibid. 22 Aug. 1879.
88 Ibid. 29 July 1 88 1.
84 That in Lower Broughton was built
in 1869.
85 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. v, 195.
86 A church in Waterloo Road, Strange-
ways, had been opened in 1849.
1 On the ancient name see Engl. Hist.
Rev. xv, 495.
a See a former note on Hanging Bridge.
8 An official description of the course
of this concealed stream is given in
Manch. Guardian N. and Q. no. 413 ;
roughly its course is parallel to Mosley
Street on the east side. It joins the
Medlock to the west of the Gaythorn
Gasworks. It was covered over in 1783.
4 This brook forms part of the boundary
between Newton and Ancoats ; then
flows south-west, crossing London Road
at the junction of Store Street, and join-
ing the Medlock near the west end of
Granby Row.
MANCHESTER: THE MARKET PLACE, ABOUT 1825
(From an old Print)
MANCHESTKR : CHETHAM'S HOSPITAL, 1797
(From a Drawing by T. Girtin, after i Sketch by W. Orme)
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
centre and the latter to the east, to join the Med-
lock ;5 but all have long been covered over. The
physical features have been greatly obscured by the
buildings which cover the surface, which is in general
level, though rising steeply from the Irwell. The
portion of the town between Shooter's Brook and
the Medlock is called Ancoats. The north-east
corner of the township, on the bank of the Irk, is
Collyhurst ; half-way between this and the cathedral
lies Newtown. The population in 1901 numbered
132,316.
In the north-west corner, at the junction of the
Irk and the Irwell, stands Chetham's Hospital and
Library, with Hunt's Bank to the west. The church,
now the cathedral, stands in its cemetery, immediately
to the south, the western tower overlooking the
Irwell. At its south-west corner lies Victoria Bridge,
representing the ancient bridge over the river to Sal-
ford. In the open space stands the Cromwell statue,
erected in 1875. From the same point start Deans-
gate, leading south to Alport and Campfield near the
Medlock, which river Deansgate crosses at Knott
Bridge ; and Victoria Street, a new thoroughfare,
leading south-east to the Market Place. On the
south side of the Market Place another main street
of the city runs west to Blackfriars Bridge over the
Irwell — being there called St. Mary's Gate and
Blackfriars Street — and east and south-east towards
Stockport — being called in turn Market Street,
Piccadilly, and London Road. The Exchange Build-
ing stands in Market Street over against the old
Market Place. From its west end may be seen St.
Ann's Square, with the church to the south and a
statue of Cobden in the centre ; its east end stands in
Cross Street, which leads past the old Nonconformist
chapel and the Free Library to Albert Square, domi-
nated by the new Town Hall. In the square are
statues of Prince Albert, Bishop Fraser, W. E. Glad-
stone, John Bright, and Oliver Heywood. Piccadilly
has the site of the infirmary on its southern side ; in
front are statues of Queen Victoria, Watt, Dalton,
Wellington, and Peel.
From the infirmary Mosley Street, in which is the
Art Gallery, runs south-west to St. Peter's Square, a
little south of the Town Hall, and continues as
Lower Mosley Street till it crosses the Medlock into
Hulme at Gaythorn. From St. Peter's Square, Peter
Street, in which is the Free Trade Hall, goes west to
Deansgate ; and Oxford Street, another great
thoroughfare, goes south-east into Chorlton. Opposite
the infirmary Oldham Street and Oldham Road"
lead north-east towards Oldham.
In 1666 there were as many as 1,368 hearths liable
to the tax ; the largest dwelling was that of Mrs.
Ruth Greene, which had eighteen hearths ; the war-
den's house had fourteen.6*
A great improvement in the appearance of the
town was made in 1833 by the opening out of
Hunt's Bank.6b Some of the older streets remain
comparatively unchanged. Cateaton Street and Todd
Street lead from Victoria Bridge east and north to a
bridge across the Irk near Victoria Station, encom-
passing the plot of land on which stand the cathedral
and Chetham's Hospital. Between these buildings
Fennel Street goes eastward and is continued as
Withy Grove, Shude Hill, and Rochdale Road, which
leads north through Collyhurst. The wide straight
way called Corporation Street, formed about 1850,
goes north from Market Street in continuation of
Cross Street, to the former Ducie Bridge over the
Irk, and thence continues as Cheetham Hill Road.
There are a large number of bridges over the
rivers ;7 the Irk at Hunt's Bank has been covered over
by the railway station.
Two of the principal railway stations 7a — Exchange
and Victoria, first opened in 1844 — are just outside
the township, in Salford and Cheetham. The London
and North Western Company has London Road
Station in Ancoats, opened in 1 840, the terminus of
the line from Euston ; 8 from this a branch line, made
in 1849, runs near the southern boundary, crossing
the windings of the Medlock and having stations at
Oxford Street (named Oxford Road) and Knott Mill ;
it forms part of the separate Manchester and Altrin-
cham Railway, but has a branch joining the line from
Manchester to Liverpool at Ordsall Lane in Salford.
The line just mentioned, the pioneer railway opened
in 1830, originally had its terminus at Campfield ;
the station is used for goods traffic, and connected
with Ordsall Lane. The Lancashire and Yorkshire
Company has two lines — to Leeds and to Rochdale —
passing through the northern part of the township,
with what is now a branch line to Oldham Road
goods station ; this station, opened in 1839, was l^e
original terminus of the Manchester and Leeds Rail-
way,8* one of the principal constituents of the present
6 The bed of the Medlock is stated to
be 14 ft. higher than its old level ; Manch.
Guard. N. andQ. no. 527.
8 At the entrance of Oldham Road
(formerly Newton Lane) stood New
Cross, taken down in 1821. Suicides
used to be buried there ; ibid. no. 1051.
63 Subsidy R. 250/9. Among the larger
houses — some of them being inns — were
those of Jonas Ridge fifteen hearths, Philip
Stampe thirteen, Mrs. Mary Halliwell
and John Lightbowne twelve each,
Edward Mosley, Mrs. Isabel Mosley,
John Holbrook, George Venables, Samuel
Dickenson, and Nicholas Mosley, ten
each ; there were also five houses of nine
hearths, seven of eight, nine of seven,
twenty-four of six, thirty-four of five,
fifty-eight of four, and seventy-five of
three.
6b Before the change the Irk ' was
crossed by a narrow bridge, leading to a
street sufficiently wide for only two carts
to pass, having tall grimy buildings at the
left or College side, and a series of cottages
and workshops at the right, with here
and there an opening by means of which
a glimpse of the Irwell could be obtained.
The buildings along the river were con-
tinued, and piled step above step from
the stream to the churchyard above, and
reached quite to the then existing Old
Bridge. At the north-west corner of the
present churchyard, or a little north of it,
a flight of steps gave access to a flagged
pathway leading round the churchyard, a
portion of which still [1865] exists on
the east and south sides ; and foot
passengers from Broughton could reach
the Exchange by this path, either by way
of Hanging Ditch and the narrow con-
fined lane called Smithy Door, or by
Churchgates, Short Millgate, and the
Market Place, both these routes being
almost completely blocked up on market
days. Carts and coaches from Broughton
had then to turn abruptly to the left at
the upper end of Hunt's Bank, and to
223
proceed by way of Fennel Street and
Long Millgate to the market place,
following a narrow and tortuous course
throughout the whole distance ' ; Reilly,
Manch, 346.
In 1869 the corporation obtained an,
Act authorizing the alteration of Deans-
gate ; this has accordingly been widened
and made straight, and the old Smithy
Door destroyed, bringing Victoria Street
to its present condition.
7 See p. 182 above.
"a An account of the Manch. Railivayt by
W. Harrison, reprinted from the City
News, 1882, has been made use of in the
text.
8 It was known as Bank Top Station.
From 1837 Manchester passengers had
been able to go to London by way of
Warrington an_d Birmingham.
8a Opened as far as Littleborough in
1839, and to Leeds in 1841 ; the Old-
ham Road Station waa superseded by
Victoria.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
company's system. The Great Central Company,
originally the Manchester and Sheffield Railway, has,
since its partial opening in 1841, had a share of
London Road Station ; the Midland Company has a
goods station close by, named Ancoats, opened in
1870. The Great Northern has a goods station at
Alport, close by the Central Station, which was opened
in 1877 as ^e terminus of the railway of the
Cheshire Lines Committee of the three companies
last named ; from it lines run to Liverpool and to
Stockport.
The Bridgewater Canal has a wharf at Castlefield
on the north bank of the Medlock. At the same
point begins the Rochdale Canal, which proceeds
east and north-east through the township. The Man-
chester, Ashton, and Stockport Canal begins near
London Road Station and goes through Ancoats.
The Corporation Electric Tramways run through
most of the principal streets, and on the west side
are supplemented by the Salford tramways.
The open spaces in Manchester proper are com-
paratively few and small, with the exception of
Queen's Park in Collyhurst. This was formerly
known as the Hendham Hall Estate,9 and was
acquired by the Corporation in 1845. Adjoining is
a cemetery, opened in 1837. Near the Irwell is the
old St. Mary's Churchyard, called the Parsonage, and
there are recreation grounds at Newtown, Collyhurst,
Oldham Road, and Holt Town in Ancoats.
Chetham's Hospital, originally the college of
Thomas La Warre, stands north of the cathedral
on the site of the old hall of the lords of Manchester,
at the north-west corner of the inclosure within
which the ancient town was contained, and at the
junction of the rivers Irk and Irwell. The situation
was originally a strongly defensive one, the plateau
upon which the buildings stood being upwards of
40 ft. above the ordinary levels of the rivers. Of the
baron's hall, the predecessor of the present building,
nothing is known, and attempts to prove that parts
of the existing structure are earlier than the founda-
tion of the college in 1422 have not been successful,
though it is quite possible that some of the old stone
and timber may have been used in the new 1 5 th-
century building. The hospital as it now stands is,
roughly speaking, f~« shaped in plan, the longer
arm facing north to the River Irk with a frontage of
about 250 ft.9a The shorter west wing consists of a
rectangular block of buildings erected round a small
cloistered quadrangle with a frontage to the Irwell on
the west side of about 105 ft. The living-rooms
were arranged on the north, west, and south sides of
the quadrangle, with dormitories over, and the great
hall and warden's rooms occupied the east side. The
long northern range of buildings contained the kitchen
and offices, together with the guest-house, and has a
short wing at the end running south-east, with a gate-
house to Long Millgate. The change in the sur-
roundings of the hospital in recent years has been so
great that it is now difficult to realize its original
aspect, though the structure itself, apart from restora-
tion, has undergone less change than might have been
expected. Formerly standing high above the river
bank, it presented a very picturesque appearance when
approached from the north-west, but the growth of
Manchester has surrounded it with tall buildings,
altered the configuration of the ground around it by
the making of new streets, and robbed it of all its
external picturesqueness by the covering over of one
river and the hiding of the other. The original
character of the site is now no longer discernible,
though some idea of the ancient appearance of the
north side of the building may yet be gained from
the narrow street on that side called Walkers Croft,
which preserves in some measure the line of the
path on the north side of the Irk. The buildings,
which are of two stories, with walls of dressed red
sandstone about 3 ft. thick, and roofs covered with
stone slates, when seen from the playground on the
south side have a low and rather undistinguished
appearance, the line of the roofs being unbroken, and
the walling having assumed the black hue so charac-
teristic of Manchester. On this side the height of
the walls to the eaves is only about 20 ft., but on the
north the wall is 35 ft. high, the cellar being well
lighted by windows towards the river. Apart from
its greater height, however, the north front is archi-
tecturally more interesting from the fact of its being
well broken up by projecting chimneys 9b and garde-
robes, and by a raised platform at the north-west
corner with a flight of stairs descending to the river.
The plan of the building would possibly be deter-
mined in some measure by that of the formerly-
existing baron's hall, the line of which would most
likely be fixed by the course of the two rivers. The
northern range of buildings follows exactly the course
of the Irk, lying rather north-west and south-east and
not parallel with the church, which is set accurately
east and west. The position of the main building
round the quadrangle being once decided on, the
length of the north wing would seem to have been
determined by the gatehouse, which position was fixed
by the street to which it opened — Long Millgate,
then the principal thoroughfare from Manchester to
the north. In the many changes which have taken
place in recent years this street has lost its former
importance, and the gatehouse, now overshadowed on
both sides by the modern grammar-school buildings,
is almost forgotten, the approach to the hospital being
always from the south across the playground. Origi-
nally approached from the east, the chief entrance to
the building proper was by the porch in the angle at
the junction of the north and west wings ; the door
by which visitors now enter the library, if then in
existence, being of minor importance.
The architectural evidence is not of itself sufficient
to determine precisely the dates of the erection of the
different parts of the building, but it is safe to say
there is nothing earlier than 1422. How much was
completed before the death of Thomas de la Warre in
1426, however (at which time he is recorded to have
spent £3,000 on the buildings), it is impossible to
say. It is likely that building operations were in
progress for many years after this date, probably
throughout the second quarter of the I5th century,
and that one part was finished before another was
begun, thus accounting for what are undoubtedly
additions to the original building, but additions
which appear to have been carried out within a
comparatively short time of the foundation. Un-
9 For the builder of Hendham Hall
(William Dinwiddie, 1789), gee Lanes,
and Ches. Antiq. Notes, i, 24.
91 Another description with plan may
be seen in Pal. Note Bk. iii, 160.
224
9b The great kitchen chimney wa«
entirely rebuilt in 1902.
PLAN OK CHKTHAI
lH 162 CENTURY
E*£l \7% CENTURY
MODERN
SCALE orrEET
JO 20 30 40 50
AL, MANCHESTER.
MANCHESTER : CHETHAM'S HOSPITAL, THI-: CLOISTER
\James Watts. f>hnto
MANCHESTER : CHETHAM'S HOSPITAL, THE GREAT HALL
[James Walts, pltoto.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
fortunately many of the documents relating to the
early history of the college perished in the Fire of
London, and the feoffees' minute-book does not
contain any records of alterations of importance
during the earlier occupancy of the college as a
hospital, though it is clear that considerable recon-
struction must have then taken place.
After the dissolution of the collegiate body in 1547
the buildings were used by several members of the
family of the Earl of Derby, into whose hands they
passed, as a temporary residence, and that work was
done at that time is evidenced by the presence of the
Stanley badges in different parts ; but after the seques-
tration of the Derby estates the buildings were allowed
to fall into a dilapidated state, and were probably in
a more or less ruinous condition when taken over
by Humphrey Chetham's executors in 1654. The
restoration at that time, however, besides putting the
place in repair, involved considerable alterations in
adapting the old college to its new use as a hospital
and library. The chief of these changes — the stair-
case in the north-east of the quadrangle and the con-
version of the dormitories into a library — are clearly
evident. The gateway in Long Millgate was rebuilt
in 1816, and in recent years (1883-95) the buildings
have been thoroughly restored.
The work done between these latter dates included
the restoration of the dining-hall, reading-room, library,
kitchen, dormitories, cloister, stairs, house, governor's
room, the rebuilding of the ingle-nook in the hall.
The cost was borne by Oliver and Charles James
Heywood. ,
The chief feature of the building is the quadrangle
round which the fellows' rooms and the great hall
are grouped, which measures 40 ft. in length from
north to south. Its width is 20 ft., but was probably
in the first instance more, a good many changes having
apparently taken place on the east side where the
hall is situated. The cloisters themselves have been
thought to be an addition, the supposition, however,
being chiefly based on a portion of what appears to
be an older plinth at the north-east corner, now
partly hidden by the 17th-century staircase, which is
of different height, and chamfered instead of being
moulded. This plinth, but hollow-chamfered, recurs
at the south-east corner at the end of the south wall,
and is returned as far as the present east wall of the
quadrangle, supporting the theory that the stone
stairs from the hall to the reading-room are part of
the first building. The difficulties of assigning dates
to the various parts of the building round the quad-
rangle, however, are great, and it is, perhaps, safest to
assume that the work was more or less continuous,
but that changes were made from time to time in
the originally-planned arrangement. It is unreason-
able to suppose that the doors to the living-rooms
were meant to open straight on to the quadrangle,
and unless we assume some such proposition the cloister
on the north, west, and south sides must have been
part of the original intention. The rooms are 1 6 ft.
square, with windows facing outwards, and each with a
separate door to the cloister. Those on the north,
three in number, are now used as offices or servants'
rooms in connexion with the hospital, while the three
rooms on the west are in use for various purposes
connected with the library. The room in the south-
west corner has been altered by the erection in part
of it of a new staircase to the library over, this stair-
case being that used by visitors to the reading-room.
The larger room on the south side is now divided
into two, one of which is called the teachers' and
the other the muniment room. The cloister walk is
6 ft. 6 in. wide with stone-flagged floor and oak ceiling,
and has an upper walk giving access in a similar way to
that below to the separate dormitories. If the cloister
had been an afterthought, as is sometimes stated, this
would mean that the dormitories could have had no
separate entrances; and though this in itself is not
unlikely, it at the same time makes the upper door-
ways of the rooms to be of later date than the wall, of
which there is no evidence. It seems reasonable to
believe, therefore, that the upper cloister, like the one
below, was part of the original plan. On the west side
the cloister consists of six bays, each with a three-light
window under a plain four-centred arch without a
label, the lights having cinquefoiled heads. The win-
dows are separated by buttresses of two stages running
up to within 3 ft. of the eaves, and in the upper story
there is a window of two trefoiled lights in each
alternate bay. The south side of the cloister consists
of three similar bays, but on the north the introduc-
tion of the staircase has reduced the number to two,
the destroyed bay being probably that in which the
entrance to the quadrangle was situated. The present
entrance is by a modern doorway cut through the
second window from the south on the west side.
The east side is occupied by the projecting ingle-
nook and recess of the great hall with the staircase
adjoining, leading over the cloister walls to the
warden's rooms. There seem to have been a good
many alterations on this side of the court from time
to time, and the ingle-nook has been entirely rebuilt
in recent years ; but it is not at all certain that the
west wall of the hall originally ran right through and
that the staircase is a later addition, although the
manner in which the buttress of the cloister finishes
against it suggests an alteration of some sort. The
staircase, however, and the room over it, belong to
the days of the college, though they may be con-
siderably later than 1422. The quadrangle with its
cobble-stone pavement and old well-head, though
small, is a very charming feature of the building, its
walls not having been so thoroughly restored as those
of other parts, though some portions of the stonework
of the windows have been renewed. Some of the old
wooden lattices with which the windows were once
filled are yet in existence.
The great hall, which is paved with stone flags, is
43ft. 6 in. long by 246. wide, 22ft. in height
from the floor to the wall-plate, and about 35 ft. to
the ridge. The roof is open-timbered and divided
into three bays by two principals, between which are
solid framed spars, and the walls are of dressed stone
their entire height. The screens are at the north
end, entered through the porch on the east, with the
usual two doorways and buttery and pantry on the
north, and at the south end is the dais with a fine
panelled and battlemented canopy over. The oak
screen is simple in detail, and only 7 ft. in height,
of contemporary date with the hall, but with a later
embattled cresting. It is a very good early example,
consisting of two speres set against the walls, and a
movable middle length. There are no remains of a
gallery over it, and in the first instance it probably
had none. The room is lit by three two-light mul-
lioned and transomed windows on the east side, and
225
29
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
has a small dole-window at the end of the high table
on the same side. The opposite wall is almost wholly
occupied by the ingle-nook, about 1 1 ft. wide and
1 2 ft. deep, forming an irregular octagon, curiously
twisted to the south, possibly to allow room for the
former doorway at the north-east of the quadrangle.
The fireplace was originally on the west side, but in
the recent rebuilding it has been changed to the
north, and the roof of the ingle vaulted in stone.
The ingle-nook recess has a deep stone lintel 5 ft. 10 in.
high, over which is a relieving arch, and is lit by two
small windows to the quadrangle. Above on either
side is a two-light pointed window with cinquefoiled
heads and wide splays placed high in the west wall,
and immediately adjoining it on the south close to
the dais is the bay window, 7 ft. wide and 6 ft. deep,
forming a kind of alcove between the ingle and the
adjoining stone staircase and the warden's room.
This staircase leads immediately from the west end of
the high table, and is carried on a stone vault over
the east end of the south cloister ; it has already
been mentioned.
South of the great hall, and originally gained from
it by a door from the dais, is a room now called the
Audit or Feoffees' Room, originally, perhaps, a kind
of great chamber or minor hall, or more likely the
common room. It is 23 ft. by 246. and 12 ft. high,
and has a square bay window on the east side 5 ft. 6 in.
wide by 6 ft. deep. The ceiling is crossed each way
by two well-moulded beams with carved bosses at
the intersections, forming nine panels, having diagonal
mouldings, and apparently of 1 5th-century date. The
walls are panelled in oak, 8 ft. high, above which is a
deep floriated 17th-century plaster frieze, and the
room contains a good deal of interesting furniture.
The arrangement of the kitchen and offices at the
north end of the hall follows no accepted type of
plan, though the pantry and buttery, opening imme-
diately from the screens, are in their usual place.
The exigencies of the site, however, and the deter-
mining factors already alluded to, are presumably
responsible for the disposition of the kitchen and
other offices, which lie almost detached in the north
range of buildings with no other way of communi-
cation to the hall than through the porch. The posi-
tion of the kitchen, if it is the original one, and there
seems to be no other part of the building where it
could have been situated, is certainly unusual, but
there is scarcely sufficient warrant to allow of the
suggestion sometimes put forward, that it formed an
older great hall, or that it was ever put to any other
use than at present. It is 29 ft. long by 17 ft.
wide, with walls of stone, and is open to the roof, with
a wide open fireplace on the north side (now fitted
with modern appliances) and lighted by two tiers of
windows on the south. High up in the west wall is
a hole, apparently for inspection, opening into a room
on the upper floor, now the house-governor's bedroom,
while at the opposite end in the south-east corner is a
series of arches forming the covering to a narrow
staircase now blocked up, but which formed the only
access to a cellar, and to a small room on the same
level as the kitchen beyond it eastward. On the
floor of the cellar east of the kitchen is a stone with
the outline of a snake cut on it, in memory of an
encounter with a formidable serpent, related in the
novel, The Manchester Man, the scene of which is
laid here. Between the pantry and the kitchen a
door leads from the porch by a broad flight of stone
steps to the cellars, which, as before stated, owing to
the fall of the ground are amply lighted along the
north side, and whose ceilings are supported by
massive oak beams. Beyond the kitchen eastward
is a passage through the building, the width of
which is here only 23 ft., to a raised platform on
the north side, which now forms an approach to a
modern addition originally a schoolroom, but now a
workshop and gymnasium. The platform, however,
which is about i 5 ft. above the ground on the north
side, appears to belong to the ancient building, and
had a flight of steps leading from it down to the river.
Beyond this to the east were apparently the hos-
pitium, bakehouse, and wayfarers' and servants' dor-
mitories, rooms now used on the ground floor for
various school purposes, and above as the boys'
dormitories. The roofs of these latter rooms, which
extend the whole length of the eastern range,
from the kitchen and the gatehouse, are fine and
massive, the arrangement at the skew angle on
the north-east being very well contrived by means
of an angle principal. Adjoining the gatehouse on
the ground floor on the north side is a small porter's-
room with a narrow slit window facing the street.
The room over the gatehouse, now approached by
a later flight of outside steps as well as from the
dormitory, may have served as a hospital, but it has
been suggested that it may have been a chapel, and
the angle at which the room is built being about east
and west, lends some likelihood to the supposition.
Before the erection of the staircase in the north-
east corner of the quadrangle, the way to the dormi-
tories in the upper floor seems to have been by stairs
at the opposite or north-west corner, in the space now
forming the west end of the long corridor which runs
along the whole length of the main building through
the hall screens and the north cloister. The framing
of the ceiling beams at this point indicates such an
arrangement, and beyond the staircase at the end of
the passage a door led on to a garden or small court
where the fish-pond was formerly situated. The
1 7th-century staircase, erected after the building had
been acquired by Humphrey Chetham's executors, is
a handsome piece of Jacobean work with flat pierced
balusters against the walls, lit by windows to the
quadrangle, and with one of the upper windows of
the great hall on its east side. The upper rooms on
the north side of the cloister and hall are now oc-
cupied by the house-governor and librarian, the
house-governor's room being a charming apartment
with two windows facing north and an open timbered
roof lately laid bare. From the bedroom beyond a
door gives access to a small room over a porch, and on
the north side is an old garderobe projection. There
is another in front of the librarian's rooms, and at the
extreme north-west angle of the building opening
from the corner room (now part of the library) is an
external door with pointed head leading on to a
platform raised some 25 ft. above the river bank,
forming the roof of a small north-west wing from
which on the ground floor a flight of steps led down
to the lake. The dormitories, which originally were
separate rooms with divisions stopping short of the
roof, which was continuous and open, are now thrown
into two long rooms facing respectively west and
south, forming the library proper. This consists of a
series of reading recesses or compartments formed by
226
[James Watts, photo.
MANCHESTER : CHETHAM'S HOSPITAL, THE GATEHOUSE
SALFORD HUNDRED
the bookcases standing at right angles to the external
walls, and entered from a corridor on the inside by
latticed doors. The bookcases originally stood only
about 7 ft. high, or the height of the doors, but were
raised in the 1 8th century. The series of wide
square-headed three-light windows which light the
library recesses are of late date, but the original open
timber roof, similar to that of the hall, remains. At
the north end of the west library corridor there
is a piece of late 14th-century glass representing
St. Martin of Tours and the beggar, in a frame in
front of the window, together with a 17th-century
fragment, the subject of which is Eutychus falling
from the window. The south wing of the library is
sometimes styled the chapel of St. Mary, but
there seems to be no reason to suppose that it
was ever so used in college times, and if a
chapel was ever situated there it must have
been during the Derby occupancy, or after-
wards, when the buildings were put to various
uses, including those of a Presbyterian and In-
dependent meeting-house. The east end of
the room, however, shows a portion of a I jth-
century altar-rail and a bracket in the wall
above, which, if they belong to the building
at all, would seem to indicate the latter part of
the Derby residence. The upper cloister is
now used on the west and south side for storing
books, and the north side forms a corridor. At
the east end of the south cloister is a doorway
opening on to the landing at the top of the
stone steps from the great hall to the warden's
room (now the reading-room of the library),
which is situated immediately over the audit-
room. There is also a later door to this room
from the end of the library corridor adjoin-
ing, by which it is now usually entered. The
room is the same shape as that below, with
a similar square bay window on the east side,
but has an open timbered roof of framed spars
divided into two bays by a single central prin-
cipal. During the Derby occupancy the spars
were plastered over and a plain elliptical-shaped
ceiling inserted, closely following the line of
the spandrel over the fireplace at the north
end of the room, which is of slightly later date,
having been erected in honour of Humphrey
Chetham by his executors, probably in the early
years of the reign of Charles II. The wall
plate, which is about 10 ft. high, is moulded
and of oak, and apparently of the time of la
Warre's foundation, but it is ornamented with
the Derby badge of an eagle's claw and with port-
cullises, and the panelling which goes all round
the room to the wall-plate is of lyth-century date.
Over the mantelpiece is a portrait of Humphrey
Chetham, and in the plaster spandrel above are
displayed his arms with helm and mantling. The
bay window has an elaborately vaulted plaster ceiling,
with bosses ornamented with the Derby badges, but
apparently of comparatively modern date, and the
room contains a good deal of 17th-century furniture,
and makes, perhaps, the most charming apartment in
the whole building. In the bay is a table at which
Harrison Ainsworth is said to have written several of
his novels ; 9c the connexion with Sir Walter Raleigh
which is claimed for it must unfortunately be ruled
MANCHESTER
out. A tall clock case with a barometer dated 1695,
and given by an old scholar of the hospital, Nicholas
Clegg, is a more genuine relic. In the north-west
corner a door in the wainscot leads by a second outer
door of two thicknesses (2 £ in.), under a four-centred
stone arch, through a passage in the thickness of the
wall to a small room, about 12 ft. long by 5 ft. wide,
built over the stair and bay window of the hall with
a range of windows on the west side to the quad-
rangle. The opposite or east side seems to have been
originally open to the hall, a heavy oak beam, with
wall posts and curved brackets, being still in position,
the posts cut away about 4 ft. from the floor, prob-
ably giving the height of a rail or balustrade. At a
POETS' CORNER
later time the opening has been filled in with a narrow
stone wall pierced by two quatrefoil openings, but
what purpose the gallery or room originally served is
not at all clear, and the date of the stone filling is
equally a matter of conjecture, but it seems most
likely that it was in the first instance a gallery open to
the hall and was later turned into a private room, at
which time, perhaps, the range of windows to the
quadrangle assumed their present aspect. These
window*, so noticeable a feature from the outside,
preclude the idea that the room was intended as a
hiding-place.
In 1878 a new school building was erected on the
9c Ainsworth lived and worked in London after 1824.
227
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
west side of the open space (playground), south of the
hospital buildings, from the design of Mr. Alfred
Waterhouse.
The original foundation was for forty boys, but as
the endowment became more productive the number
was gradually increased till 100 was reached. Lately,
however, in consequence of the decline in the value
of land and the increased cost of education the foun-
dation boys have numbered only seventy-five.
The growth of the town has caused the destruction
of nearly all the old gabled timber-and-plaster houses
which were characteristic of Manchester streets at
the beginning of the I9th century. Up to 1822,
when the first widening took place, Market Street was
chiefly composed of houses of this description, erected
mostly in the iyth century, with here and there a
later 1 8th-century brick building. One or two of
such timber houses still remain, however, notably that
in Long Millgate, formerly the Sun Inn, but now
known as ' Poets' Corner,' which bears outside the
date 1647 and the initials wAF ; and the Seven Stars
have been turned into offices or even common
lodging-houses. These houses, plain in detail but
of good proportion, generally have well-designed
doorways, and often contain fittings belonging to
better days.
Of the many handsome buildings which Man-
chester possesses the majority are either civic or
commercial, but as a rule they are seen to less
advantage than in most towns of similar size owing
in a large measure to a certain lack of plan in the
city itself, which is very wanting in wide and open
spaces.11 The atmosphere of the city, also, which
turns all stone black in the course of a few years, is
antagonistic to architectural work of the best kind.
The older public buildings of modern Manchester
belong to the classic style, and are exemplified in the
old Town Hall in King Street, now the Free
Reference Library (F. Goodwin, architect, 1825), a
characteristic specimen of the Greek Ionic of the
period ; the Royal Institution, now the City Art
Gallery, in Mosley Street (Sir Charles Barry, archi-
THE SEVEN STARS INN
Inn, Withy Grove, which preserves its old timber gable
to the street. Further up, in Shudehill, the Rover's
Return Inn 10 also retains an old gable, but the front
has been modernized by the insertion of a large bay
window on both floors. In the Market Place, at the
corner of the Shambles, is a picturesque old timber
house with a gable on each elevation, now completely
overshadowed by adjoining buildings.
A fair number of good 1 8th-century brick houses
yet remain, more especially in the district between
Deansgate and the River Irwell,10a many of them in
the vicinity of St. John's Church being little altered
and still used as residences, but in other parts less
removed from the business centre of the town they
tect, 1823), a fine design in which the same order is
used, but with more refinement ; the Athenaeum (Sir
Charles Barry, architect, 1838) in Princess Street, a
broad, simple and refined building now grievously
damaged by the addition of a high attic with slate
roof; and the Bank of England in King Street
(C. R. Cockerell, architect, 1846), a heavy specimen
of mixed Greek and Roman Doric.
To this period also belonged the old Royal In-
firmary in Piccadilly (R. Lane, architect), in which
the Ionic order was used in the portico.113 The build-
ing occupied the finest site in Manchester, and despite
its lack of architectural distinction, had a certain
monumental quality that gave scale and dignity to
10 The ' Rover's Return ' is said to have
formed a portion either of Withingreave
Hall or of one of its outbuildings.
lOa There are also some good houses of
this description in Marsden Square, Can-
non Street, and vicinity, now turned into
offices and business premises, and outside
the township in Ardwick Square.
11 Piccadilly is an exception, but no
adequate architectural advantage has as
yet been taken of it. Albert Square, a
new creation to show off the Town Hall,
is not large enough for the purpose for
which it was designed.
228
lla The original Infirmary building wa»
erected in 1755, and consisted of a central
block flanked by two small wings. After
several additions and extensions a new
front was added in 1832. The dome was
a later addition, in 1853.
SALFORD HUNDRED
the open space in which it stood. It was pulled
down in 1910.
A new infirmary is now completed in Oxford
Road (Chorlton township).
The Free Trade Hall in Peter Street (E. Walters,
architect, 1856) is a good example of Renaissance
design, now much spoiled by the addition of a glass
veranda in front of the open arcade on the ground
floor. The front consists of two well-marked stories
about 70 ft. high with a heavy cornice, and the
interior contains a great hall which has seats for
3,236 persons.
In later years a Gothic tradition was set up by the
erection in Strangeways (in Cheetham township) of
the new Assize Courts (A. Waterhouse, architect,
1864), a ^ne building of its kind, standing back from
the road on an uncontracted site of which full ad-
vantage was taken. The elevation is rather florid,
with little of the restraint of the architect's later
work, but much of the best work is in the interior,
not only in the matter of planning, which is ad-
mirable, but of general design and ornamental detail.
The City Court House, in Minshull Street (T.
Worthington, architect, 1871), is a brick building
of a pronouncedly Italian Gothic style, set in a region
of tall warehouses at the junction of two narrow
streets, but saved from insignificance by the fine tower
which rises from the pavement at the outer angle.
The Town Hall (A. Waterhouse, architect, 1868-
77), in Albert Square, described as * one of the very
few really satisfactory buildings of modern times,' la
is purely Gothic in style, but less elaborate and far
more dignified than the Assize Courts, being based
rather upon early English and French precedents
than upon those of Italy. The ashlar facing is of
brown sandstone, now black, but in remarkably good
condition after thirty-five years' exposure, disposed in
blocks varying in size but regularly laid in courses of
deep and very narrow stones alternately. The chief
external feature of the building is the clock tower,
which is carried up over the principal entrance facing
Albert Square, and is 280 ft. in height. The plan is
an irregular triangle, all three sides facing important
thoroughfares, with a truncated angle or short front
opposite to the state entrance. The building is
widely known and generally admired as a masterly
feat of planning, the offices and rooms being arranged
round three internal courts, and corridors running in
unbroken lines round the building on every floor
following the inner sides of the main triangle. The
great hall, which occupies the centre of the block on
the first floor level, is 100 ft. long by 50 ft. wide,
with a hammer-beam roof 5 8 ft. high, and the lower
part of the walls is enriched by a series of twelve
paintings by Ford Madox Brown, illustrating events
in local history, each painting occupying the width of
one bay beneath the windows.1**
Albert Square, which is somewhat narrow for its
length, shows the Gothic influence in buildings on
its south side and in the canopy for the Albert Statue,
but it is otherwise architecturally uninteresting. The
Royal Exchange (Mills and Murgatroyd, architects,
1871) indicates a return to the classic tradition, the
MANCHESTER
Corinthian order being used, but it is a building
without particular distinction, and is set too near to
the pavement on every side to be effectively seen, and
has no direct line of approach to its main entrance.
The dome, its chief constructional and architectural
feature when seen at a distance, is effectually anc1
deliberately concealed by a high blank upper story.
The John Rylands Library, built in memory of her
husband by Mrs. Rylands (Basil Champneys, archi-
tect, 1890-99), is a fine structure in the Gothic style,
built in red sandstone with a boldly original exterior
to Deansgate, set back at a peculiar angle to the
building line of the street. The library proper is
placed on the upper floor, and on the ground floor
the whole of the front part of the building is taken
up with a spacious vaulted vestibule, and a wide
staircase. The library consists of a centre corridor,
125 ft. long and 20 ft. wide, terminating in an apse,
and has a groined stone roof 44 ft. high. It is
divided into eight bays used as reading recesses, and
each with a bay window, and a gallery runs com-
pletely round the central space, giving access to other
book recesses above. The fittings throughout are
of the most lavish character, and the interior is
decorated with a series of portrait statues ranged
in niches along the gallery front, as well as with
carving and stained glass. The library contains
over 80,000 volumes, including the famous Althorp
Library purchased from Earl Spencer in 1892, and
additions are being constantly made. It is particu-
larly rich in early printed books and in Bibles.
The older warehouses were plain structures built
in brick, but about the middle of last century a
number of such buildings, which, in addition to
being ordinary warehouses, were also the head offices
of the firm, were erected in the centre of the town,
possessing no little architectural merit. Many streets
are composed almost entirely of these buildings,
which, being constructed of stone, are now black,
but their large scale and long frontages give them
great dignity, Portland Street in this respect offering
a very fine vista of unbroken line. The later ware-
house buildings are chiefly constructed in brick and
terra cotta, and steel construction has now largely
superseded the older methods.
In addition to these and a number of churches
and schools, there are many important and useful
structures. The Corporation provides libraries, tech-
nical schools, markets, and other public buildings.
There is a Central Post Office off Market Street ; the
Inland Revenue Office is in Deansgate. Besides
the infirmary there are numerous hospitals and chari-
table institutions.13 The Nonconformists' Memo-
rial Hall in Albert Square, intended to comme-
morate the steadfastness of various ministers ejected
from benefices in 1662, and the Young Men's Chris-
tian Association building in Peter Street — about to be
rebuilt — may also be mentioned. There are many
theatres and music halls.
The woollen and cloth trades and the manufacture
of smallwares appear to have been the original staple
business of the town. There were also collieries at
Ancoats and Collyhurst.14 An iron foundry was
la The Builder, 7 Nov. 1896, 'The
Architecture of our large Provincial
Towns ; Manchester.' The writer further
•tates, ' In after years it will probably be
accounted one of the most excellent works
which the iQth century has bequeathed
to its successors.'
12a W. E. A. Axon, Archit, Descr. of the
Town Hall, 1878.
229
13 See the list given in the general
account of Manchester.
14 Manch. Guardian N. and Q. no. 173,
217.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
established in the i8th century.15 The first calico
printer occurs in lj6^.K A sugar refinery existed in
I758.17 There was a silk weaver in the town in
1637." A tobacco-pipe maker in Todd Lane was
in 1785 ordered to remove his works, as being a
nuisance.19 Manchester is the centre of the cotton
manufacture, with its immense number of factories,
bleach and dye works, and calico-printing works ;
smallwares continue to be an important part of the
trade of the district, while iron foundries, engine and
machine and tool-making works are numerous and
important. Some of these factories and works are
within the township of Manchester itself along the
rivers and canals and in Ancoats, but the distinguish-
ing feature is the large number of great warehouses
for the exhibition and storing of the manifold pro-
ducts of the district.
The history of the barony of Man-
B4RONT chester from its foundation in the early
part of the I2th century until its
gradual dissolution in the I7th has been related in
detail in an earlier portion of the present work.*0
Before the Conquest MANCHESTER
MANOR was one of the dependencies of the royal
manor of Salford.*1 Its position in 1086
is not quite clear, but shortly after, as the head of
the barony,2* it came into the possession of the
Grelley family." Descending in the male line till
1311, it passed on the death of Thomas Grelley to
his sister Joan and her husband John La Warre.*4
GRELLEY. Or three
bendlets enhanced gulet.
DE LA WARRE. Gulet
a lion rampant bet-ween
eight cross-crossletsjitchy
argent.
For over a century it continued in this family, but
in 1426, on the death of Thomas, Lord La Warre,
became by his dispositions the property of his
nephew Sir Reginald West, son of Thomas's half-
sister Joan la Warre by her husband Sir Thomas,
third Lord West.85 The manor and its dependencies
15 Procter, Manch, Streets, 44 ; the pro-
prietor, John Fletcher, died in 1785.
18 William Jordan ; see Pal. Note Bk.
iv, 140.
1" Manch. Constables' Accts. iii, 92.
18 Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. iii, 260.
19 Ibid, viii, 247.
80 V.C.H. Lanes, i, 326-34. The court
leet records show that as late as 1734 the
constables of townships within the ancient
barony were summoned to attend at Man-
chester, but they paid no attention to the
summons ; Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. vii, 25,
27. The practice of summoning the
constables appears to have begun about
1625 (ibid, iii, 99), perhaps in consequence
of the claims of the Salford Court for the
attendance of the constables of Man-
chester ; ibid, iv, 126, and a note below.
81 In the present account advantage
has been taken of Prof. James Tail's
study of the barony, manor, and borough
in his Mediaeval Manch. published in
1904.
22 The 'manor' in the narrowest sense
included the townships of Manchester,
Harpurhey, Blackley, Bradford, and Bes-
wick. At Blackley was the lord's deer-
park ; at Bradford was a wood, and
another wood was at Alport (within Man-
chester). The manor was usually under-
stood in a wider sense, the extent of
1322 mentioning seven or eight hamlets —
Ardwick, Openshaw (Gorton), Crumpsall,
Moston, Nuthurst, Ancoats, and Gothers-
wick ; Mamecestre (Chet. Soc.), ii, 371.
23 The extent of the manor made in
1282, soon after the death of Robert
Grelley, gives an account of the manor-
house of Manchester with its orchard,
the small park called Aldparc and
Litheak, the park of Blakeley with its
trees and eyries of sparrowhawks, plats
of demesne land at Bradford, Brunhiil,
Greenlawmon, Openshaw Cross, the
Hules, Kepirfield, Millward Croft, Sam-
land, and Kipirclip ; rents from Denton
and Farnworth, from the water-mill,fulling
mill, and oven of Manchester, from the
burgages, market, and fair there, from the
ploughings near the vill, from Openshaw,
the bondsmen of Gorton, the Hall land
and mill of the same place, the bondsmen
of Ardwick, a plat called Twantirford,
and the bondsmen of Crumpsall ; from
the free foreign tenants, sake fee and
castle guard, farm of the bailiwicks (five
foot bailiffs), perquisites of the borough
court and of the manor court, and the
value of the Withington ploughing. Of
all these the value was £84 121. 6J</., the
corn-mill alone paying more than one-
fifth, and the burgage rents and market
and fair tolls nearly one-sixth. In addi-
tion the lord of Manchester drew revenues
from Heaton Norris, Barton, Cuerdley,
and Horwich Forest. The clear annual
value of the whole was £ 1 24 us. %\d. ;
Lanes. Inqs. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 244-48.
84 Though Thomas Grelley was styled
lord of Manchester till his death, he had
in 1309 transferred to Sir John La Warre
and Joan his wife the manor of Man-
chester with its appurtenances, the advow-
sons of the churches of Manchester and
Ashton, all homages, rents, fisheries,
chases, liberties, &c., at a rent of 100
marks to Thomas during his life ; Mame-
cestre, ii, 248-52.
An elaborate extent made in 1320-2
has been preserved. It gives the bounds of
the lordship of Manchester, showing that it
included the whole of the parishes of
Manchester and Ashton except Salford,
with its dependencies of Broughton and
Cheetham ; Reddish, Stretford, and Traf-
ford. It is noticeable that the small
portion of Manchester which projects
into Cheetham north of the Irk was then
within the manor ; the present North
Street seems to be that called the Causey.
The manor-house and appurtenant land
occupied about two acres ; outside the
gate was a house formerly a dog-kennel,
and beyond the stable wall was a plot of
pasture bounded by the Irk and the
Irwell. There were a mill by the Irk at
which the tenants of the vill and adjacent
hamlets were bound to grind their corn to
the sixteenth measure ; a common oven ;
and a walk-mill. The fisheries were
those of the Irk, Medlock, and Gore-
brook, and half of the Irwell.
The free tenants within Manchester
were John Bibby, Robert son of Hugh,
230
Adam de Radcliffe, and Richard son of
Clement,holding in all 16 acres of land.
Full details are given of the arable land
(being seventy-one oxgangs), heath land,
meadow, and pasture ; also the woods,
moors, and mosses, mostly situated in the
surrounding hamlets.
The lord had ten villeins in Ardwick,
Gorton, and Crumpsall ; none in Man-
chester itself, where the burgesses were
relieved of agricultural services. In addi-
tion to money rents the villeins had to do
a day's ploughing on the lord's demesne
with their own ploughs, a day's harrow-
ing, a day's reaping in autumn, and a
day's carrying of corn in their own carts j
they had also to carry mill-stones, when
needed, from the quarry to the mill. At
death the lord had a right to a third of the
villein's goods, and in certain cases took a
fine on the marriage of a daughter. Cus-
tomary services were also required from
the tenants of Withington, though this
was a distinct manor.
The manor was held of the Earl of
Lancaster by five- and-a-quarter knights'
fees, paying ^4 zs. 6d. for sake fee and
£z 1 2s. 6d. for ward of Lancaster Castle ;
suit to the county and wapentake courts-
had to be compounded for by fines of zos.
and 131. 4</. The Manchester court
baron, held from three weeks to three
weeks, was attended by judges from Child-
wall, Harwood, Pilkington, and the other
subordinate manors of the fee ; the lord
claimed toll, team, infangenthief and out-
fangenthief ; and ' be it known that the
pleas there are impleaded according to the
custom nearest to the common law.'
The value of the whole barony to the
lord seems to have been about ^440 a
year ; Mamecestre, ii, 273—421.
The liberties of the manor (or barony)
were in 1359 declared to include, besides
infangenthief, peace-breach, &c., those of
the gallows, pit, pillory, and tumbril ; ibid,
iii, 449.
25 Among the lands of Thomas La
Warre were Hall field and Hardecroft,
specially settled in 1411 ; also John de
Hulton's Field and Ingelfield, the bounds-
of which began at Barlow Cross in the
highway from Manchester to Stanedge,
SALFORD HUNDRED
were in 1579 sold for ^3,000 by th
Wests to John Lacy, citizen and cl
London ;26 and Lacy in 1596
sold them to Nicholas Mosley,
Lord Mayor of London in
heir of the
thworker of
The new lord of the manor
was knighted in the same year
and settled at Withington, ac-
quiring this manor also and
building the hall at Hough
End."
The manor descended regu-
larly to his great grandson, Sir
Edward Mosley, who, dying
childless in 1665, bequeathed
his manors to a cousin.28 His widow, however, con-
tinued to hold Manchester till her death in i68o,89
when, as the disposition made by Sir Edward had
been set aside owing to litigation, and a division of
the estates had been made, the manor went to a
cousin Edward, who was succeeded in 1695 by his
daughter Lady Bland. After her death in 1734
this manor passed to a second cousin, Sir Oswald
WEST, Lord La Warre.
Argent a Jesse dancetty
sable.
MANCHESTER
Mosley, descendant of Sir Nicholas's younger bro-
ther, Anthony Mosley.30 Sir Oswald was succeeded
by his two sons, Oswald and
John, and on the death of the
latter in 1779 the manor
went by bequest to a cousin,
John Parker Mosley, created
a baronet in 1781. Dying in
1798 he was followed by his
grandson Sir Oswald, who in
1 846 sold the lordship to the
Corporation of Manchester for
.£200,ooo.31 (Pedigree, p. 232.)
A grant of free warren in
all Thomas Grelley's demesne
lands of Manchester was made
by the king in 1249."
The date of
BOROUGH borough— if
grant — is not known ; in 1282 there
MOSLEY of Manches-
ter. Sable a cheveron
between three pickaxes ar-
gent.
creation of the
any formal
the
there was
-is not known ; in
were nearly 150 burgesses in the town, which had a
borough court.83 A market every Saturday and an
annual fair on the eve, feast, and morrow of St. Mat-
thew had been granted by the king in I227.34 The
•went by that highway to the lane to Bes-
wick Bridge as far as Shootersbrook,
thence to the head of Dogsfield, and by
the boundary as far as the lane from An-
coats to Manchester, and so to Barlow
Cross ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 5 Hen. VI, no.
54. The uses for which these and other
lands were committed to trustees are not
stated. The jury declared John Griffin
to be heir general of Thomas La Warre,
ignoring the half-sister's issue. A number
of notices respecting the lands of Thomas
La Warre may be seen in Dep. Keeper's
Rep. xxxii, App. 337-9, 346 ; xxxiii,
App. 27-9.
The inquisition after the death of Sir
Reginald West in 1450 has some particu-
lars of the manor, which included the
hamlets of Withington, Denton, Open-
shaw, Clayton, Ardwick, Crumpsall,
Moston, Nuthurst, Gotherswick, and
Ancoats, as well as a borough commonly
called Manchester of which each burgess
paid \^d. yearly for a whole burgage and
in which there was (or ought to be) a
common oven at which all the burgesses
and residents ought to bake. The fishery
of the Irk, Medlock, and Gorebrook was
the lord's, as well as the Manchester half
of the Irwell. There were two mills, one
a fulling-mill, the other for grain ; at the
latter all the burgesses and tenants of the
borough and hamlets ought by custom to
grind to the fifteenth grain. Richard
West, the son and heir, was nineteen
years of age ; Lanes. Rec. Inq. p.m. no.
41, 42 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvii, App.
177.
The rental of 1473, printed in Mame-
testre, Hi, 477-91, shows the sums for
castle ward and sake fee received from
the tenants by knight's service, the chief
rents, tolls, and other rents and dues from
the whole barony, the net total reaching
£131. From Manchester proper the
principal receipts were the burgage rents
£8 os. 3^., the fair and market tolls
£3 6s. 8</., corn mill £6, fulling mill
£2, rents of Over and Nether Alport
£4 1 31. 4^-
In 1503 the manor with its hamlets
was restored by the king to Thomas Lord
La Warre for a year ; Duchy of Lane.
Misc. Bks. xxi, p. 32 d. The will of
Thomas (son of Richard) Lord La Warre,
dated 1 505, is printed in N. and Q. (Ser. 8),
iv, 382 ; it names his sons Sir Thomas,
William, and Owen. .
Thomas West, Lord La Warre, was in
1498 called upon to show by what
warrant he claimed to hold Manchester
as a free borough and market town, with
amends of the assize of bread and ale, in-
fangenthief, peace-breach, gallows, pillory,
and tumbril, market and fair, free warren,
and other liberties ; Pal. of Lane. Writs
Proton. (20 Aug. 1 3 Hen. VII).
An Act of Parliament was passed in
1552 settling the manor of Manchester on
Thomas, Lord La Warre, with remainders
to his half-brother, Sir Owen West, and
to the heirs male of Sir George West,
&c.
26 Mamecestre, iii, 523. Lacy was
mortgagee of Sir Thomas West, Lord La
Warre, and his son William West ; and
his loan not being repaid he foreclosed
and obtained possession in 1581 or 1582,
being recognized as lord of the manor at
the court leet of April 1582; Manch.
Ct. Leet Rec. i, 225.
It was while the sale was imminent
that Sir John Radcliffe, as deputy steward
of the hundred or manor of Salford,
began to amerce inhabitants of Over
Hulton, Rumworth, Los took, Aspull,
Harwood, Pilkington, Heaton, Halliwell,
Chorlton, Withington, Heaton Norris,
Westhoughton, and Ashton under Lyne,
in the view of frank pledge held in Sal-
ford, on account of their non-appearance.
Thereby Lord La Warre was not able
to pay the rent due to the queen for the
town and manor of Manchester, the in-
habitants being illegally compelled to
appear at the Salford leet. Sir Edmund
Traffbrd, as seised of the town of Chorl-
ton, made complaint about the matter in
1578, and Lord La Warre at the same
time stated that the inhabitants of Fails-
worth, Droylsden, Ashton under Lyne,
Gorton, and Moston had refused to pay
amercements for absence from the Man-
chester leets at Michaelmas and Easter ;
Duchy of Lane. Plead. Eliz. cviii, W. i.
^Mamecestre, iii, 523, 524; Ct. Leet
Rec. ii, no.
a? See further in the accounts of With-
231
ington and other townships. The history
of the family is given in the Baronetage,
in Sir Oswald Mosley's Family Memoirs,
and in E. Axon's Mosley Fam. Mem. (Chet.
Soc.).
Sir Nicholas Mosley died at Withington
on 12 Dec. 1612, holding the manor <.f
Manchester of the king as of his duchy
of Lancaster by three knights' fees ; its
clear value was £40 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 4. His
son Rowland, then over fifty-four years of
age, died on 23 Feb. 1616-17, holding the
manor as before, and a capital messuage
called Alport Lodge by the twentieth part
of a knight's fee. Edward, his son and
heir, was not six months old 5 ibid, ii,
66-70.
28 See the account of Withington.
29 Mancb. Ct. Leet Rec. v, 78, Il6;
the dispute over Sir Edward's will lasted
until 1669, so that the first court held in
his widow's name was in 1670. The
courts were held in the names of Charles
(Lord) North and Katherine his wife till
1679, and thence till 1683 in Lord North's
name alone. From 1683 Edward Mosley
was lord of the manor ; cf. Axon's
Mosley Fam. Mem. and Earwaker's intro-
duction to Cf. Leet Rec. vi.
80 See the account of Ancoats.
81 Mamecestre, iii, 530 ; Sir Oswald
had in 1815 offered to sell the manor to
the inhabitants for £90,000, and rejected
the counter offer of £70,000 made by
them. He died in 1871.
82 Printed in Mamecestre, i, 90 ; Cal,
Chart. R. 1226-57, P- 342>
88 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 245, 246.
The burgage rents amounted to £7 31. ^d.
or 143 J burgages. The perquisites of the
court of the borough were reckoned as
worth 8*., while those of the court baron
were worth loos,
84 Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, P- 56 »
Mamecestre, i, 45 ; the grant was made to
Robert Grelley, who had obtained a pre-
liminary grant in 1222, ' until the full age
of the king ' ; ibid. 46.
The tolls levied on both buyers ana
sellers in 13 20 are printed ibid, ii, 316-25.
Besides cattle and poultry, grain and pro-
visions, honey, wax, fish (herring and
salmon being named), and pottery there
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
MOSLEY OF MANCHESTER, &c.
(From E. Axon's Mosley Memoranda)
Jenkin Mosley
James
Edward
I
(2) Elizabeth = * Sir Nicholas = (i) Margaret
Rookes
(Hough End, 1568;
Manchester, 1596)
d. 1612
Whitbroke
Francis
(London)
Anthony
d. 1607
Oswald
(Garrett, 1595)
Oswald
Rowland
Samuel
Francis
(2) Anne = *Rowland = (i) Anne
Sutton
(Withington
1598)
d. 1617
Haughton
Sir Edward
(Rolleston)
Oswald = Anne
(Ancoats Lowe
1609)
d. 1630
* Sir Edward = Mary
(Rolleston, Sec.)
Bart. 1640
d. 1657.
Cutler
Nicholas = Jane * Sir Edward = Meriel
d. 1672
* Sir Edward = * Katherine Grey
(Hulme,i66i) of Wark ; d. 1695
d. 1665 s.p. = * Sir Charles (Lord)
North ; d. 1690
Mary = Joseph
Maynard
Lever
(Hulme)
d. 169$
Saltonstall
d. 1697
*Ann
d.
= Sir John
A Bland
Francis
(Collyhurst)
d. 1662
Nicholas
d. 1659
Anne = Robert
H. 1710 Lever
I
Oswald
(Ancoats and
Rolleston)
d. 1726
= Mary Yates
Nicholas = Elizabeth
(London)
d. 1697
* Sir Oswald
Bart. 1720
d. 1751
= Elizabeth
Thornhaugh
Nicholas = Elizabeth
(Manchester) Parker
d. 1734-
* Sir Oswald
d. 1757
unm.
I
* Rev. Sir John
d. 1779
unm.
* Sir John Parker
youngest son
(Rolleston, &c.)
Bart. 1781
d. 1798
= Elizabeth Bayley
Oswald = Elizabeth Tonman
(Bolesworth)
d. 1789
*Sir Oswald
(sold the manor of
Manchester, 1846)
A
* Lords of Manchester.
232
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
borough perhaps arose about the same time, but the
earliest charter extant is that of 1301, by which
Thomas Grelley granted and confirmed to ' his bur-
gesses of Manchester ' certain privileges and liberties.
The burgesses v/ere to pay izd. a year in lieu of all
services, but no land in the town fields seems to have
been attached to a burgage. From this it may perhaps
be inferred that the townsmen were traders and
artisans, as in modern times. Provision was made for
the sale of a burgess's land, burgage and goods.30
The heir, on succeeding, was to give the lord some
arms as relief. The reeve was to be elected and re-
moved by the burgesses ; it was his duty to be a
witness of all acquisitions of land within the vill.
Certain pleas were to be heard in the borough court,
called the portman mote or law mote ; but charges
of theft were reserved to the lord's court. Suit to
the lord's mill was required, and pannage for swine in
the lord's woods ; 36 the swine were, however, excluded
from the park of Blackley. The fines payable to the
lord for various offences were limited by the charter,
in most cases to small sums ; an exception was the
fine of 2os. for wounding on Sunday.37
Beyond this the town did not advance, no royal
confirmation of its position as a borough being
obtained. Hence in 1359, after a ^u^ inquiry, it was
decided that Manchester was a market-town, but not
a borough.38 The duty or privilege of sending a repre-
sentative to Parliament and the additional taxation
imposed on boroughs were avoided. In one respect,
perhaps, it declined in liberty, for its special portmote,
once held four times a year under the lord's bailiff,
had by the i6th century become amalgamated with
the court leet.39 It may, however, be urged that the
court leet, instead of governing the ancient barony,
had become nothing more than the borough court of
the town of Manchester.40
The records of the court, extant from 1552, have
been printed,41 and afford a lively picture of the
government and progress of the town. The courts
were held twice a year ; in October, when the officers
were appointed for the twelve months, and at Easter.
The number of the officers increased from time to
time with the development of the town ; new duties
being found for them, and the increase of streets
requiring more supervision. Those elected in 1552
were the borough-reeve, catchpoll, two constables,
market-lookers for corn, for fish and flesh and for
white meat ; mise-layers and gatherers, sealers of
leather, ale-conners, burleymen and scavengers for
different portions of the town, affeerers and appraisers;
fifty-nine in all.41 A swineherd was appointed in
1567 ;4S a beadle44 for rogues appears in 1573, and
in 1578 are found officers for wholesome bread, for
fruit, for the conduit, for seeing the orders as to ales
and weddings being executed, and for seeing that hats
were exported linen cloth, coals, bake-
stones and iron. A burgess was by the
charter free of tolls, unless he used the
stall or shop of a stranger. The profits
of the tolls and stallage were £6 131.4^.;
Mameccstre, i, 287.
85 A burgess might freely sell land which
he had not inherited, but his heir had a
right of pre-emption ; inherited land could,
as a rule, be sold only with the heir's con-
sent. A burgess might sell his burgage
and buy another, or transfer it to a neigh-
bour ; if he sold it, wishing to leave the
town altogether, he must give the lord $d.
He could transfer his personal chattels to
anyone within the fee without the lord's
interference, and in case he had no heir
could bequeath his burgage and chattels to
anyone.
In 1312 Sir John La Warre, lord of
Manchester, granted Thomas Marecall
and John Bibby plots of land in the market-
place ' for a half-burgage ' — ad dimidium
burgagium — measuring 40 ft. by 20 ft., at
rents of 6d. sterling each ; Manch.
Corp. D. One burgage was called the
Kennel ; it was opposite the gates of the
lord'* manor house ; ibid, dated 1333,1340,
1345-
86 The swine were allowed to go into
the woods freely during summer time, but
not in mast -time.
•7 A small facsimile of the charter is
printed as a frontispiece to Mamccestre }
the text and a translation are printed in
the same work, ii, 212-39. Professor
Tail has printed the text so as to show its
agreement or otherwise with the charters
of Salford and Stockport, and has given a
commentary and translation, in Mediaev.
Mancb. 62-119.
The borough portmote was in 1 320 held
four times a year. To its meetings every
burgess was bound to come, either in
person or by his eldest son or his wife ; the
burgess, being usually a trader, might often
be absent from the town on business. If
necessary a law mote might be held between
the hall motes for the more speedy ad-
ministration of justice. The profits of
the port motes and law motes were esti-
mated at 131. 4</. a year; Mamecestre, ii,
287,315. The customs of the charter
seem to have been in full force.
88 In 1341 it was declared that there
was no city or borough within the wapen-
take of Salford ; Inq. Non. (Rec. Com.),
39-
The record of the inquiry of 1359 is
printed in Mamecestre, iii, 447-50 ; see
also Dtp. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 339,
346. It appears that the officers of the
Duke of Lancaster had fined certain per-
sons in Manchester for breach of the assize
of bread and ale, also for breach of the
peace ; whereupon Sir Roger La Warre
put forward his claim to hold the vill of
Manchester as ' a borough and market
town* with amends of the aforesaid
breaches and with various other liberties,
particularly those to ' a borough and
market-town' appertaining. The jury,
after due consideration, reported that Sir
Roger did not hold the vill as a * borough,'
nor had his ancestors so held it ; but they
had, from time without mind, held it as a
* market-town,' enjoying all the liberties
claimed by Sir Roger both in the vill and
in the manor of Manchester. Afterwards
an agreement was come to between the
duke and the lord, the latter agreeing to
pay 50 marks ; but this sum was remitted
on 8 Jan. 1359-60, Sir Roger La Warre
having justified his claim.
The names of the burgage-holders in
1473 are printed in Mamecestre, iii, 487—
91. About ninety burgages are accounted
for, and the rents, together with the rents
for the lands in the town, amounted to
£8 os. 3</. The market tolls were leased
for £3 6s. &d.
89 Tait, Mediaev. Mancb. 57.
40 The usual heading of the record is
Curia cum -visufranci p legit, but in Sept.
1562 it is in English, 'The Portmouthe'
&c. ; Mancb. Ct. Leet. Rec. i, 75.
41 Edited by the late J. P. Earwaker,
and published at the expense of the cor-
233
poration in 1884 and later years. The
printed series, in twelve volumes, extends
from 1552 to 1687, and 1731 to 1846.
The records from 1642 to 1646, 1666 to
1669, 1688 to 1730 are missing. The
Manchester Constables' Accounts from
1612 to 1647 and from 1742 to 1776 have
also been printed in three volumes. Atten-
tion may be directed to the lists of un-
common or provincial words added to
each volume.
48 Ct. Leet Rec. i, 1-4. Three sets of
burleymen were appointed for the districts
of (i) Marketstead Lane, (2) Deansgate,
(3) Withy Grove, Hanging Ditch, Mill-
gate, and so to Irk Bridge. Seven sets ot
scavengers were appointed to look after the
cleansing of the following streets : — (i)
Marketstead Lane, (2) Deansgate and St.
Mary's Gate, (3) Old Marketstead, (4)
Smithy Door, (5) Fennel Street, (6) Mill-
gate and Hunt's Bank, and (7) Hanging
Ditch and Millgate. The growth of the
town is shown by the increase in the
number of these districts, and the modifi-
cations of their arrangement.
Only fifty-four officers were appointed
in 1562, but sixty-six in 1572 and seventy
in 1582 ; ibid, i, 75, 147, 229. The
number had sprung up to ninety-three by
1 60 1, to 117 in 1 66 1, and to 135 in
1761.
Two or three officers were specially
appointed * for the making clean of the
market-place ' ; in 1 570 two of them were
women ; ibid, i, 1 34. The same catch-
poll was usually re-elected from year to
year ; but this officer disappears before
1731.
48 Ibid, i, 112. He had to collect the
swine every morning, blowing his horn as
a signal, and take them to Collyhurst ;
ibid, i, 114, 117. For an anticipatory
order see i, 15.
44 Ibid, i, 158 ; a fresh order was made
in 1614 ; ibid, ii, 293 ; also iii, 163. As
time went on he had assistants provided.
There are many particulars as to his dress;
e.g. iii, 242.
30
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
and caps were used on Sundays and holydays 45 ; but
these special officers were not appointed every year.
The juries of the courts leet were constantly occu-
pied with the sanitary conditions of the town.46 The
water supply was regulated.47 Offensive trades were
checked.48 The streets were kept clear,49 householders
being required to repair the pavements, and encroach-
ments by steps, porches or horsing-stones forbidden.60
The markets and traders needed constant supervision ";
regrators and forestallers were punished," standards
for weights and measures provided and enforced,58
improper qualities of provisions and goods noticed.**
The morals and amusements of the inhabitants re-
ceived attention ;** rules were made for alehouses,5*
for the residence of unmarried women in the town,57
for limiting the expenses of wedding-feasts 58 ; for
stocks, dungeon, pillory and cucking stools i9 ; also for
the public waits,60 the practice of archery,61 and the
games of tip-cat and football.61 An endeavour was
made to prevent fires by ordering the stock of fuel te
be kept at a distance from the dwelling.63 A special
night watch was appointed for the winter.64 Swine
45 Ct. Leet Ret. i, 199, 200. Butter
and suet were forbidden to be put into
bread or cakes ; ibid, i, 69, 259. Later,
butter and eggs were forbidden in ginger-
bread ; ibid, iii, 320. Breadmakers in
1639 were ordered to sell to innkeepers
and others at thirteen to the dozen, not
at sixteen as they had begun to do. Ibid,
iii, 289.
46 In the 1 6th century, judging from
the regulations for dunghills, privies, pig-
sties and gutters, the town was unsavoury.
Casting carrion and other offensive matter
into the Irwell and Irk was forbidden ;
ibid, i, 67, 80, 122 ; iii, 60.
*1 In 1573 collectors were appointed to
gather money for the repair of the con-
duit, a ' special ornament of the town,'
and bring water to it from fresh springs ;
ibid, i, 1 60. The conduit was in 1586
ordered to be unlocked in the winter
from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., and in the summer
from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., and from 3 p.m.
to 6 p.m.; this was the revival of an order
made in 1536 ; ibid, i, 259. Washing at
the conduit was forbidden in 1586 ; ibid.
', 257.
48 See, for example, the order to a skin-
dresser, ibid, i, 117.
49 In 1461 it was allowed that each
burgage plot should have a clear space of
ground from the house front to the middle
of the channel ; to this the lord had no
claim, but the burgess could lot build
upon it or close it up, and had ro keep it
clean ; De Trafford D. no. 49.
60 The first presentment recorded is
4 that Lawrence Langley hath encroached
upon the king's highway with building of
a house ' ; Ct, Leet Rec. i, 4 ; see also 1 1 8,
185. Erecting a porch in front of a house
was a favourite practice, but was often
forbidden as obstructing the pathway ; i,
185. Stiles were ordered to be erected at
the ends of byways ; ibid, i, 22. Leaving
baulks of timber about the streets appears
to have been a common offence ; e.g. i,
103.
41 See the regulations made in 1 568 for
keeping the market-place clean. Horses
were not to be tied there to be fed ;
coopers and apple dealers were to pay a
small fee to the scavenger ; fish-dealers at
Smithy Door must fix their boards over the
channel; ibid, i, 121. The standing
place of dealers in turnips, besoms, and
straw hats was regulated in 1578 ; ibid,
i, 201.
By 1593 a second weekly market had
grown up, so that Saturday and Monday
were market days ; and ten years later a
smallwares market on Friday was forbid-
den, but had at last to be allowed ; ibid,
ii, 78, 189, 295.
82 The law in this matter was kept in
force. In 1582 John Birch alias Crook,
miller, was forbidden to buy any malt,
grain, or corn within the market, and sell
it again in the said market; ibid, i, 232.
The offences were guarded against as late
as 1771; Mancb. Constables' Accts. iii,
206.
58 An order was made in 1566 that
lawful weights of brass should be provided
and sealed with the town seal ; Ct.
Leet Rec. i, 104. The lord of the manor
was requested to provide a standard set for
use in Manchester; ibid, i, 126, 154.
The market-lookers had charge of them ;
ibid, i, 256. In later volumes of the
Records will be found numerous lists of
persons fined for using wrong measures.
44 See the injunctions to tanners ; ibid.
i, 184, &c., and as to wet rug or cotton
in the streets ; i, 129.
65 Thus, an angry woman was punished
for calling someone ' no honest man ' and
'a recetter (receiver) of thieves.' Two
women who had stolen 'chips' from a
house ' contrary to honesty and civil order,
and to the evil example of all good peo-
ple,' were sent to condign punishment ;
afterwards they were to kneel down and
ask mercy from God and the person de-
frauded. An eaves-dropper was expelled
from the town in 1573 ; ibid, i, 24, 70,
'55-
58 The jury ini573 expressed the opinion
that thirty alehouses and inns were enough
for Manchester; ibid, i, 153. In 1588
complaint was made of the number of
alehouses and bakers in the town ; Local
Glean. Lanes, and Cbes. i, 127. It had
been ordered in 1560 that no one should
brew or sell unless he had ' two honest
beds ' for travellers ; in which case he
must hang out a hand as a sign. Those
who had a larger number of beds were also
to show * a fair and commendable sign '
for the benefit of strangers ; Ct. Leet
Rec. i, 60. Further regulations were made
from time to time ; no drink or food was
to be sold, except to passengers, during
time of divine service ; drunken men were
to be punished by a night in the dungeon ;
ibid, i, 151, 161, 185.
57 Single women were not to be 'at
their own hands ' and bake, brew or
otherwise trade for themselves ; nor might
they keep any house or chamber in the
town; ibid, i, 241. 'Inmakes' and
strangers were not to be received as lodgers
unless they had appeared before the con-
stables of the town and given an account
of themselves : this was to prevent the
settling of beggars and idle persons ; ibid.
i, 226.
48 No one was to pay more than $d. at
a wedding dinner ; ibid, i, 84. This order
was frequently renewed.
49 In 1569 the lord of the manor was
requested to make ' a pair of stocks ' ;
ibid, i, 126.
The dungeon was the old chapel on the
bridge. It appears to have had an upper
and a lower chamber ; ibid. It remained
in use until 1778, when on the bridge
being widened it was removed. A cage,
or temporary place of confinement, was
also in use in 1590; ibid, ii, 47. The
234
cross, stocks, and cage are mentioned as
standing near each other in the market
place in 1600; ibid, ii, 163. A House
of Correction existed in 1615; ibid, ii,
335. The Cucking-stool Pool is named
in 1586, and the cuckstool was 'in great
decay* in 1590; ibid, ii, 6, 47, 178.
This instrument of punishment remained
in use till 1775 or later. The pillory or
gallows ordered in 1625 were in use in
the Civil War ; ibid, iii, 80, 93, ; iv, 64.
Whipping was a punishment used for both
men and women ; ibid, ii, 333, 334.
60 Two waits were appointed in 1563 ;
ibid, i, 83. They were to 'do theirduties
in playing morning and evening together,
according as others have been heretofore
accustomed to do ' ; ibid, i, 115. There
were four waits in all, and in 1588 and
later it was found necessary to protect
them from the competition of 'strange
pipers and other minstrels ' who came to
play at weddings, &c.; ibid, ii, 29, 163,
164.
61 The butts were erected at different
times in Marketstead Lane, and at Colly-
hurst, also at Alport and in Garrett Lane ;
ibid, i, 55, 177, 196; iii, 142. Each
burgess was in 1566 ordered to provide an
'able man' armed with bill, halberd or
other weapon to attend the steward upon
fair days ; ibid, i, 100. This entry wss
marked out. There is an essay on Man-
chester Archery in Lanes, and Chts. Antiq.
Soc. xviii, 61.
62 No one over twelve years of age was
allowed to play 'giddy-gaddy or the cat's
pallet '; Ct. Leet Rec. i, 205. Football in the
streets was forbidden in 1608 because of
the ' great disorder ' it caused, and the
charges incurred by the inhabitants in
'making and amending of their glass
windows, broken yearly and spoiled by a
company of lewd and disordered persons ' ;
ibid, ii, 239. The word 'yearly' should
be noticed.
63 Stocks of firewood, gorse and ' kids,'
or bundles of brushwood, were in 1590
ordered to be removed to a distance from
each dwelling-house ; ibid, ii, 50, 51 ; see
also 83, 288. A dangerous fire led the
jury in 1616 to order a lay for providing
ladders, buckets, hooks, and ropes to be
ready in case of any like casualty; ibid, ii,
308. In 1636 the watchmen were en-
gaged to walk the town from 10 p.m. to
4 a.m. in order to discover or prevent out-
breaks of fire ; ibid, iii, 248.
64 The watchman of 1568 had to pro-
vide himself with a jack, a sailer., and a
bill at least ; ibid, i, 123. It was suspected
in 1578 that the watchmen had been
bribed by gamesters and other evil-doers,
and the constables were exhorted to
appoint none but 'honest, discreet and
sober men . . . favourers to virtue and
enemies to vice' ; ibid, i, 195.
The night-watch for protection against
fire and burglary was appointed in 1636 ;
ibid, iii, 248.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
were no longer allowed to wander about the streets ;
nor were fierce dogs to go unmuzzled.64 As time
went on it became necessary to pay deputy constables
to see to the watching of the streets,66 and in the
1 8th century a voluntary association existed for police
purposes.67 More trifling matters occasionally amused
the jury.68
Thus without any great inconvenience or difficulty
the government of the town was provided for by the
manorial system 69 until the great increase of the popu-
lation in the latter half of the i8th century made
changes necessary. In 1792 a Police Act70 was ob-
tained for the better lighting, watching, and cleansing
of the town ; a rate of is. ^d. in the pound upon the
rent of houses met the expenses, and the authority was
vested in commissioners, including the borough reeve
and constables for the time being, the warden and
fellows of the collegiate church, and all owners and
occupiers of houses of £30 a year value who chose to
qualify.71 Salford was joined with Manchester in this
Act, but the meetings for the two townships were
held separately. A special Act for the township of
Manchester was obtained in 1790 for the better ad-
ministration of the poor relief.7* These Acts were
followed by others for improving the water supply,'3
the streets and bridges,74 and the administration of
justice.75 A town hall in King Street was built in
1822-5. % the Reform Act of 1832 Manchester
was made a parliamentary borough,76 and six years
later the charter making it a municipal borough was
granted.77 A coat of arms was allowed in 1842.
The new borough included
the townships of Manchester,
Hulme, Chorlton-upon-Med-
lock, Ardwick, Beswick, and
Cheetham. After the pur-
chase of Sir Oswald Mosley's
rights as lord of the manor
in 1 846 the council was able
to proceed unhampered in the
improvement of the town,
which became a city in 1 8 5 3 78 BOROUGH OF MAN-
and a County borough in l888. CHESTER. Gules three
The boundaries have several be"dl'ts enh"™d °r, *
• . j ra • i chief argent therein on
times been enlarged,79 with ^^ 0J the iea a ship
corresponding additions to the under sail proper.
64 Those persons who did not send their
•wine to Collyhurst in charge of the
swineherd were ordered to keep them
safely in their back premises ; Ct. Leet. Rec.
i, 1 5. Pigsties were not to be placed near
the street ; ibid. 50.
Mastiffs and great ' ban dogs ' or bitches
were not to go abroad unmuzzled ; ibid.
72, 241. This order was frequently
renewed.
66 Ibid, iii, 266 (1638). An earlier
payment is recorded in 1613 ; Mancb.
Constables' Accts. i, 9.
67 A list of the * Committee for the
detection and prosecution of felons, and
receivers of stolen or embezzled goods ' is
printed in the first Manchester Directory of
1772 ; see also Procter, Bygone Mane ft. 99.
68 A find of twenty-two ' old Halfaced
groats called "crossed groats" 'was recorded
in 1575 ; Ct. Leet Rec. i, 171. A stray
mare having remained in the pound a
year and a day became the property of
the lord ; three proclamations had been
made ; ibid, i, 253.
89 Dr. Aikin, writing about 1790,
thought that Manchester's being an ' open
town ' was ' probably to its advantage ' ;
Country round Mancb. 191. The reason
was that there were no 'such regulations
as are made in corporations, to favour
freemen in exclusion to strangers ' ; Ogden,
Description.
70 32 Geo. Ill, cap. 69. An earlier Act
(5 Geo. Ill, cap. 81) had been obtained
for cleansing and lighting the streets.
An abstract of the contract of 1799 for
lighting the town is given in the Direc-
tory for 1800; spermaceti and seal oils
were to be used 5 the lamps were to be
lighted for seven months in the year, and
twenty dark nights were reckoned in each
month.
71 The Act was several times amended.
In 1829 the commissioners for the two
townships were definitely separated, and
those for Manchester became a limited
number elected by the different police dis-
tricts. The following was the method
of government immediately preceding in-
corporation : The borough reeve and two
constables were elected at the court leet
by a jury of the most influential inhabi-
tants summoned by the deputy steward
of the manor. The duties and precedence
of the borough reeve were similar to those
of the mayor of a borough ; the constables
took cognizance of the policing of the
town, having a paid deputy who superin-
tended the day police. The night force
was under the rule of the police commis-
sioners, who also superintended the fire
police, hackney coaches, lighting and
scavenging. The commissioners, 240 in
all, were elected in varying number by the
fourteen districts into which the town had
been divided for watch purposes ; the
borough reeve and two constables were
added ex off do. The voters were occupiers
of entire tenements rated at not less than
£16 ; persons occupying tenements rated
at £28, or owning premises of ,£150
yearly value, were eligible as commis-
sioners. Eighty commissioners retired
yearly. They were empowered to levy
rates not exceeding is. 6d. in the pound.
See Wheeler's Manch. 305-23.
72 30 Geo. Ill, cap. 81.
78 The waterworks company obtained
an Act in 1809 (49 Geo. Ill, cap. 192)
for supplying Manchester and Salford.
The powers were enlarged in 1813 and
several times subsequently.
74 This work had been begun in 1777
under an Act for widening several streets
in the centre of the town and opening
new streets ; 1 6 Geo. Ill, cap. 63. The
highways were regulated by an Act of
1819 (59 Geo. Ill, cap. 22), each town-
ship being thereby made responsible for
its own roads.
75 In 1 8 1 3 a paid stipendiary magistrate
was appointed under a local Act (53
Geo. Ill, cap. 72), William David Evans,
afterwards knighted, being the first.
A court of requests, for the recovery of
small debts, was established in 1808 ; 48
Geo. Ill, cap. 43.
76 The town had returned members to
the Parliaments of 1654 and 1656.
The Parliamentary borough of 1832
included not only the township of Man-
chester but the adjoining ones of Harpur-
hey, Newton, Bradford, Beswick, Ardwick,
Chorlton-upon-Medlock, Hulme, and
Cheetham. Of these the first three were
not included in the municipal borough of
1838. Two members were allowed by
the Act, and the first were Mark Philips
and Charles Poulett Thomson, elected
235
13 and 14 Dec. 1832 ; both belonged to
the Liberal or reforming party.
A third representative was allowed by
the Act of 1867, and at the ensuing elec-
tion (17 Nov. 1868) a Conservative and
two Liberals were returned. Under the
Redistribution Act of 1884 the boundaries
were enlarged, but the area was divided
into six constituencies, returning one
member each, and called North- west,North,
North-east, East, South, and South-west
Manchester. At the election on 26 Nov.
1885 five Conservatives (including Mr. A.
J. Balfour) and one Liberal were returned.
77 The charter is dated 23 Oct. 1838.
For some time there was a dispute as to
its legality. The borough was divided
into fifteen wards, of which New Cross,
St. Michael's, Collegiate Church, St. Cle-
ment's, Exchange, Oxford, St. James's,
St. John's and St. Ann's were in the
township of Manchester ; All Saints' and
St. Luke's in Chorlton ; St. George's and
Medlock Street in Hulme ; Ardwick ward
included both Ardwick and Beswick, and
Cheetham coincided with the township of
that name. Each ward had an alderman
and three councillors, except New Cross,
which had a double representation.
The police force was handed over to the
corporation in 1842, and in the following
year the commissioners' powers were trans-
ferred to it ; 6 & 7 Viet. cap. 17.
78 By Letters Patent 29 Mar. 1853.
79 No change was made between 1838
and 1885, in which year Bradford, Har-
purhey, and Rusholme were added to the
municipality by the City Extension Act,
1885. In 1890 Blackley, Moston, Crump-
sail, Clayton, Kirkmanshulme, Newton
Heath, Openshaw and part of Gorton
were included ; City of Manchester Order
1890. Lastly, in 1904, Moss Side, With-
ington, Chorlton with Hardy, Burnage
and Didsbury were added.
In 1896 the townships then in the
borough were consolidated into three —
Manchester, North Manchester, and South
Manchester — the old township boundaries.
being obliterated. The first was the
old township of Manchester, the second
was formed of the old townships of
Beswick, Bradford, Clayton, Kirkmans-
hulme, Newton Heath, Harpurhey,
Blackley, Moston, Crumpsall and Cheet-
A
number of councillors, there being at present thirty
wards with thirty-one aldermen and ninety-three
councillors.80 The mayor was entitled Lord Mayor
in 1893. The area governed measures 19,893 acres,
nearly two-thirds that of the ancient parish.
The lord's mills had been secured to the grammar
school by its founder in 15 15," and though the lord
of the manor himself tried to break through the
monopoly82 it was maintained until 1758, when an
Act of Parliament was passed allowing free corn
milling.8* The malt-grinding monopoly was retained,
but the charge was limited to is. per load of six
bushels ; a sum which, owing to the rise in wages,
eventually caused the privilege to be a loss to the
school." The tax upon grinding, though small,
caused brewers to settle in Salford, Cheetham, and
other adjacent townships outside the lordship of
Manchester.84
The regulation of the markets and the profits of
the tolls remained with the lord of the manor
until the sale to the corporation. Though Sir
Oswald Mosley built an exchange in 1729 with the
design, in part, of providing better accommodation
for traders, the markets continued in the open spaces
accustomed until I78o,87 when a determined effort
was made by two merchants, Thomas Chadwick and
Holland Ackers, to overthrow the lord's monopoly.
They purchased Pool Court and Hyde Park, collec-
tions of poor and old cottages to the south-east of the
exchange, and after clearing and preparing the ground,
erected and opened a market there, which was at once
utilized by the butchers. The lord of the manor, Sir
John Parker Mosley, brought a suit, won it, and then
compromised the matter with the projectors, as he
desired to study the interests of the town.88 The
friction about the markets and other matters89 which
could only be dealt with satisfactorily by the in-
habitants was the reason why Sir Oswald Mosley de-
sired to sell his rights.90 A Market Act obtained by
the corporation in 1846 is considered to have
abolished the old manorial markets,91 though there
have been attempts to enforce the ancient rights. In
1883 it was decided that the corporation must not
charge tolls on goods sold, in addition to rent for
stallage.91 New market buildings have been erected,93
a foreign animals wharf has been established at Old
Trafford, and abattoirs in Water Street and other
parts of the city.
A new town hall was begun in 1868 and opened
in 1877 ; that of 1822 is now used for the reference
library.
The gas,94 water,95 and electricity supplies are in
ham ; the third, of the old townships
of Ardwick, Chorlton-upon-Medlock,
Hulme, Rusholme (including parts of Moss
Side and Withington), Openshaw and
West Gorton. Two of these townships
were modern, created in 1894, Clayton
having been the western part of Droyls-
den and West Gorton of Gorton.
80 The present wards are : Collegiate
Church, from the church north-eastwards
and south to Lever Street and Piccadilly ;
Exchange, south of the former, including
the old market-place but not the Exchange
building ; New Cross, between Oldham
Road and the Medlock, including the
eastern part of Ancoats ; St. Michael's,
between Oldham Road and the Irk ; St.
Clement's, between Piccadilly and Great
Ancoats ; Oxford, touching the Medlock,
and including Gaythorn ; St. James's, in-
cluding the Town Hall, Infirmary and
Central Station ; St. Ann's, including the
church of that name, the Free Library and
Exchange building ; St. John's, the corner
between the Irwell and Medlock. The
above nine are all within the township of
Manchester, part of which (Collyhurst) is
included with the old township of Har-
purhey to form the Harpurhey Ward.
Medlock Street and St. George's Wards
are the east and west portions of Hulme ;
St. Luke's and All Saints' of Chorlton-
upon-Medlock. Ardwick coincides with
the former township ; Bradford includes
Beswick, Bradford and Clayton ; Chorlton
with Hardy, Withington, and Didsbury
are formed from the townships so named
and Burnage, with certain adjustments of
boundaries ; Moss Side East and West are
the divisions of Moss Side ; Openshaw
and Rusholme coincide with those town-
ships ; Longsight is formed from Kirk-
manshulme and part of West Gorton, the
rest of the latter township being St. Mark's
Ward ; Newton Heath and Miles Platting
are the east and west portions of Newton;
Blackley and Moston includes those town-
ships and pan of Prestwich (added in
1 903) ; Crumpsall and Cheetham coin-
cide with the old townships.
Each ward has an alderman and three
councillors, except New Cross, which has
six councillors. There is also an alder-
man not attached to any particular ward.
81 Hibbert-Ware, Manch. Foundations,
iii, 8, &c.
82 Mosley, Fam. Mem. 43 ; the feoffees
of the school prosecuted Sir Oswald
Mosley in 1732 for having erected a
malt mill in Hanging Ditch, and won
their case. See Axon, Annals, 82 ; Hib-
bert-Ware, op. cit. 35-42, where particu-
lars of many suits may be seen.
88 32 Geo. II, cap. 61.
84 In 1783 the three mills were em-
ployed thus : The upper one, by Scotland
Bridge, used for grinding malt ; the cen-
tral one, let as a corn mill ; the lower
one, near the college, let as a frieze and
fulling mill, with a snuff manufactory
attached ; Ogden, Description.
85 There was formerly (1766 onwards)
a windmill in Deansgate, Windmill Street
denoting its position ; Procter, Manch.
Streets, 131.
87 See Ogden' s Description.
88 Mosley, Fam. Mem. 60-63 ; Axon,
Annals ,• Manch. Guardian N. and Q.
no. 1276. The market was discontinued
in 1803.
89 In 1790 and 1791 the lord of the
manor brought actions to establish his
claim to a Saturday market for flour, oat-
meal, Sec. ; Axon, Manch. Annals, 117
118.
In 1806 he sought to compel two
persons to undertake the office of con-
stable ; they pleaded that they had ob-
tained the conviction of someone for a
capital offence — such offences were then
very numerous — and judgement was given
in their favour. Such certificates as they
exhibited were called ' Tyburn tickets ' ;
ibid. 136.
90 Mosley, Fam. Mem. 77.
91 9 & 10 Viet. cap. 219 and 10 Viet,
cap. 14. ' Butchers and fishmongers were
empowered to sell in their private shops
upon taking out an annual licence from
the corporation ; and by the schedules to
the Act the maximum rates of tolls, stall-
age, and rent to be paid in respect of
236
goods sold in the market and for space
occupied therein were definitely fixed ' ;
Axon, Annals. It was afterwards held
that the Act had created an entirely new
market; ibid. 391. M Ibid. 398.
98 Smithfield Market, Shudehill, built
in 1822, was covered over in 1854. A
wholesale fish and game market wai
opened in 1873. Knott Mill Market, on
the old fair ground, was begun in 1877.
For a notice of the older market-placet
see Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1868), i, 389;
also Manch. and Salford Official Handbook.
94 The lighting of the town by oil
lamps was not always satisfactory ; see
Aikin, Country round Manch. 192. The
commissioners of police, it is stated, first
established gas works in Water Street,
near St. Mary's Church in 1817, and soon
afterwards built additional works in St.
George's Road (Rochdale Road) ; Baines,
Lanes. Dir. (1825), ii, 155. Gas Acts
were passed in 1824, 1830, &c. ; 5 Geo.
IV, cap. 133; 9 Geo. IV, cap. 117.
The works have thus always been in the
hands of the town authorities.
95 The water supply, until a century
ago, was derived from wells, the rivers,
and the conduit. In 1 8 1 6 there was only
one draw well, and that was kept locked
except when in use ; two springs in Castle
Field had the best reputation for their
water ; next came the water from a pump
in College Yard. Ordinary dwelling-
houses had cisterns for rain water ; Aston,
Manch. 3, 4.
A company was formed in 1809 to
supply Manchester and Salford. It pur-
chased the lord of the manor's rights and
formed a reservoir at Beswick, and in
1826 two others at Gorton and Auden-
shaw. Stone pipes were used at first but
about 1817 iron pipes replaced them ; ibid.
Baines, Lanes. Dir. ii, 155. Acts were ob-
tained for further powers in 1813, 1816,
&c. In 1847 the corporation obtained
power to supply the borough with water,
and in 1853 *ne °^ company was dis-
solved. The great Woodhead reservoirs
were then constructed ; Bateman, Manch.
Waterworks.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
the hands of the corporation, which also provides
hydraulic power. The great scheme by which water
is brought from Thirlmere, 96 miles distant, was
)tarted in 1890 ; the first instalment of 10,000,000
gallons daily was opened in 1894; the second in
1 904, and three more, each of the same quantity, may
be added as needed.96
A commission of the peace and separate quarter
sessions were granted in 1839. The police force and
fire brigade, as in other cities, are in charge of the
corporation.
The Lord Mayor's charities have an income of
over .£3,500 and from those under the control of
the council another £300 is distributed annually.
Street improvements, begun a century before the
charter, have made continual progress. The sewer-
age of the district has been attended to, and for
sewage disposal there are works on the Irlam and
Chat Moss estates producing 4,000 tons of concen-
trated manure annually. The water-carried sewage
is dealt with in bacterial beds at Davyhulme. Baths
and washhouses have been provided, and the Monsall
Fever Hospital in Newton. Two cemeteries, at
Chorlton with Hardy and adjoining Philips Park,
Newton, are managed by the corporation.
An elaborate and far-extending electric tramway
system has been established.97 The ship canal has
received the support of the council from the beginning,
and is now subsidized and partly controlled by it.
Numerous parks and recreation grounds have been
opened, Heaton Park, 660 acres, purchased in 1902,
being a magnificent addition to them.
Libraries,98 museums,99 art gallery,100 schools of art
and technology 100a have been liberally provided ; the
education committee has secondary schools as well as
elementary ones under its charge ; and Victoria Uni-
versity has been actively encouraged. A school board
was established in 1870. The local acts and bye-
laws to 1898 have been printed ; they fill six volumes.
ALPQRT, an ancient park of the lords of Man-
chester,101 was in 1430-6 given by Sir Reginald West,
Lord La Warre, to John Huntington, warden of the
collegiate church,102 and by the latter's trustees was
after a long interval assigned to the support of a
chantry priest.103 On the confiscation of the college
and chantry estates the Crown granted the land to
Edward, Earl of Derby,104 and it was sold in 1599 to
the Mosleys.105
4NCOJTS was considered a hamlet in I32O.106
Robert Grelley about 1200 granted two oxgangs of
his demesne to Ralph de Ancoats, to be held by a
rent of 6s. 8</. yearly.107 Afterwards it was divided ;
one half was held by the Byrons of Clayton,108 and
was sold to Oswald Mosley at the beginning of the
98 The area now supplied by the cor-
poration includes the old parishes of Man-
chester (except one or two townships),
Eccles, Flixton, and part of Prestwich.
Thirlmere water may also be supplied to
Wigan, Chorley, Preston, and Lancaster.
»7 The first tramways were opened
in 1877.
98 The first free library was opened in
1852 in a building previously known as
the Hall of Science, Campfield, erected
in 1839. The reference department was
transferred to the old town hall in King
Street in 1878. There are in Manches-
ter branch libraries in Deansgate, opened
1882; Ancoats, 1857; and Livesey
Street, 1860; also a reading-room at
Queen's Park, 1887. A History of the
libraries by W. R. Credland was issued in
1899. A quarterly Record is published.
99 There is a municipal museum at
Queen's Park, Collyhurst, opened in
1884. The Manchester Museum at the
University receives an annual grant from
the corporation.
100 The building and contents of the
Royal Manchester Institution were in
1881 acquired by the corporation in trust
for the public ; there is a permanent col-
lection of pictures and works of art, and
yearly exhibitions also are held.
uoa The school of technology was be-
gun in 1895 and opened in 1902.
101 In 1282 a 'small park' called Aide-
pare and Litheak was valued at 331.4^. a
year for herbage and pannage ; Lanes. Inq.
and Extents, i, 244. In 1322 there were
at Alport 30 acres of heath, worth 301. a
year ; 2 acres of meadow and 20 acres of
pasture, worth 1 3*. \d. ; the wood there,
a mile in circumference, might be made
pasturage at the lord's will, and was worth
only 6s. %d. a year in pannage, honey,
eyries of hawks, &c., but the gross value
of the timber was ,£300 ; Mamecestre, ii,
363, 3«7> 368.
There were timber trees in Alport Park
in 1 597 ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), iii,
.382.
103 In 1430 Lord La Warre granted
Over Alport to Master John Huntington
and Thomas Phillip at a rent of 305., in-
creasing to 401. ; Hulme D. no. 97. Six
years later he and the feoffees granted
Nether Alport to Huntingdon ; ibid. no.
80. A new feoffment of both parcels
was made by Huntington's trustees in
1463 ; ibid. no. 85, 86. In 1473 Nicholas
Ravald, chaplain, held the pasture called
Over Alport at a rent of £2 ; and the
warden of the church held the park called
Nether Alport at a rent of £2 135. 4</.;
Mamecestre, iii, 484.
103 See the account of St. James's
chantry.
104 Pat. 3 Edw. VI, pt. 1 1. The family
had previously held lands at Alport of Lord
La Warre ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, 68.
Henry, Earl of Derby, lived at Alport
Lodge in 1579 ; Ct. Lett Rec. ii, 75.
MS it appears that William, Earl of
Derby, in 1599 granted to Sir Randle
Brereton for a term of 2,000 years the
lodge in Alport Park, the park itself, or
impaled land, and the remainder of his
estate there. The lands were in the same
year transferred to Thomas Ireland of
Gray's Inn, and by him to Edward Mosley
of the same inn, Adam Smith, and Oswald
Mosley of Manchester. The joint pur-
chase was afterwards divided, for Oswald
Mosley's son Samuel in 1626 sold his
portion to George Tipping ; deeds copied
by J. Harland. Another portion was by
Oswald's will held by Rowland Mosley ;
Mancb. Ct. Lett Rec. iii, 129.
Rowland, the son of Sir Nicholas Mos-
ley, lord of Manchester, perhaps acquired
his brother Edward's share, for he died in
1617 seised of Alport Lodge, with land,
meadow, and pasture in Alport Park, held
of the king by the twentieth part of a
knight's fee ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 66, 69. Edward Mos-
ley, a successful lawyer, attorney-general
for the duchy, was made a knight in 1614,
and purchased the manor of Rolleston in
Staffordshire; he died in 1638, and left
his estates to Rowland's son Sir Edward;
Mosley, Fam. Mem. 13, 14.
237
Adam Smith, the other purchaser, was
in 1600 ordered to make a ditch along
the nearer Alport field ; Manch. Ct. Leet
Rec. ii, 156.
In 1620 the jury found that John
Gilliam had purchased lands at Alport of
Thomas Owen ; ibid, iii, 23.
Robert Neild of Manchester, attorney,
whose chief estate was at, Warrington,
held lands in Deansgate and Alport in
Manchester at his death in 1631. He
left four infant daughters as co-heirs —
Anne, Mary, Ellen, and Katherine ; ibid,
iii, 179 ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxv,
29.
106 Mamecestre, ii, 371. It has never
been a separate township.
107 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 56 ; the
name is spelt Einecote. The charter giv-
ing 'the whole land of Ancoats,' with
common of pasture and other easements
of the vill of Manchester, and right of
way beyond Staniford to Green Lane, is
copied in the Black Book of Clayton
(Byron Chartul.) no. 79/237. AJohnde
Ancoats occurs before 1 182 ; Final Cone.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 219.
Ralph de ' Hanekotes ' was living in 1242;
Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 153. John de
Ancoats, son of Robert de Manchester,
also is named ; Booker, Birch, 186.
Most of the deeds referred to will be
found in Harland's account of Ancoats in
Manch. Coll. i, 69.
IDS The Byron lands seem to have been
derived partly from the Chadderton family,
and partly from the Ancoats family. In
the Byron Chartulary referred to are
grants from Henry de Ancoats to Robert
son of Simon de Manchester (no. 87/242),
to Alexander the Dyer of Manchester
(no. 14/313), to Geoffrey de Chadderton
and Joan his wife (no. 26/315), to Ellen
his sister with remainder to Geoffrey and
Joan (no. 30/243), and to Henry de Traf-
ford (no. 31/245); these are dated between
1295 and 1305. Adam son of Richard,
the son-in-law of Roger de Manchester,
gave half of Broad Green to Geoffrey de
Chadderton and Joan (no. 25/314), while
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
1 7th century, while the other half was held by the
Traffords,109 and sold about 1610 to a Kenyon.110
Anthony Mosley, father of the purchaser of Ancoats,
was the younger brother of Sir Nicholas, and associated
with him in the cloth business, looking after the Man-
chester trade when the other removed to London.
He died in 1607, and is commemorated by a monu-
mental brass in the cathedral.111 Oswald, his son and
heir, the first Mosley of Ancoats, died in 1630 ; he
also has a brass in the cathedral.111 His heir, his
eldest son Nicholas, was still under age, but came
into court in 1633 to do his suit and service to the
lord of the manor.113 He took the king's side during
the Civil War, deserting Manchester for the time. His
lands being thereupon sequestered by the Parliament
he compounded in 1646 on a fine of £120, his estate
in Ancoats, Clayden, and Beswick being of the clear
annual value of _£6o ; he had taken the National
Covenant and the Negative oath.114 He took a con-
spicuous part in the Manchester rejoicings at the
Restoration,11* but though an Episcopalian and a
justice of the peace he did not join in the subsequent
persecution of the Nonconformists.116 He had three
sons ; from Nicholas, the youngest, the present Sir
Oswald Mosley descends.
Sir Edward Mosley, who died in 1665, had directed
that £7,000 should be invested in land for the benefit
of his cousin Nicholas ; but this had not been done
in 1672, when Nicholas died, leaving his eldest, son
Oswald as heir. A division of Sir Edward's estates
being agreed upon, Oswald received in lieu of the
£7,000 the reversion of the manors of Rolleston and
Manchester, and in 169 5, on succeeding to the former
on the death of Sir Edward's widow, he went to reside
there, and died in I7z6.lir His son and heir, Oswald,
was created a baronet in 1720, and in 1734, on the
death of Lady Bland, succeeded to the lordship of
Manchester. This involved him in many disputes. In
1693, acting for Lady Bland, he had claimed a duty
of zd. per pack on all goods called Manchester wares,
but was defeated ; and a later claim to set up a malt
mill was defeated by the feoffees of the grammar
school.118 His eldest son Sir Oswald succeeded in
1751, and wished to sell the manor of Manchester,
but was unable to do so owing to a settlement he had
made.119 On his death in 1757 the manor, with
Ancoats, passed to his brother John, a clergyman of
eccentric habits, who died unmarried in 1779, when
the baronetcy expired.180
In accordance with the dispositions made by the
last Sir Oswald the estates then went to a second
cousin, John Parker Mosley, created a baronet in
1781. He was the youngest son of Nicholas Mosley,
a woollen draper of Manchester, who was son of
Nicholas Mosley, an apothecary in London, already
mentioned as the youngest son of Nicholas Mosley of
Ancoats. The new lord of Manchester, Ancoats, and
Rolleston had been established as a hatter in Man-
chester, but a passion for cockfighting and other dissi-
pations almost ruined him. Steadied by his danger
he entered on a new course of life and prospered.
He was about forty-seven when he succeeded to the
Robert son of Simon de Manchester gave
all his land in Ancoats to Henry son of
Henry de Trafford (no. 27/244), and
Robert son of Robert son of Simon de
Manchester made a grant to Alexander
the Dyer (no. 82/312). Geoffrey and Joan
received other land from Thomas son of
Geoffrey son of Simon Cocks of Man-
chester in 1305 (no. 28/216), and in 1317
Geoffrey de Chadderton of Chadderton
granted all his land in Ancoats and Man-
chester to his son Richard (no. 4/317).
This Richard was tenant in 1320, but his
rent was only qd. ; Mamccestre, ii, 278.
The lord of Ancoats had at that time
common of turbary in Openshaw ; ibid,
ii, 291.
It does not appear how this portion
came to the Byrons, but in 1331 Henry
son of Robert de Ancoats leased all his
hereditary holding to Sir Richard de
Byron, and in the following year sold it
outright, together with the reversion of
the dower lands held by his mother
Agnes ; Byron Chartul. no. 3/238, no.
4/239-
In 1473 John Byron held a moiety of
two messuages and two oxgangs in An-
coats in socage by a rent of 3*. \d. — a
moiety of the rent of 1212 — and was
bound to grind his corn at the Manchester
mill ; Mamecestre, iii, 482.
Thomas de Hollinworth the elder seems
to have been a Byron tenant in 140$,
•when he made a grant to Hugh his son ;
Hugh made a feoffment of his estate in
Ancoats in 1433 ; Byron Chartul. no.
3/318, 22/319.
109 Some grants to the Traffords have
Seen mentioned in the preceding note.
Henry de Trafford in 1320 had land in
Ancoats, joined with his holding of five
jxgangs in Chorlton ; its separate rent
appears to have been gd.; Mamecestre, ii,
178. He and Richard de Chadderton
were bound to grind at the mill of Man-
chester.
In 1373 Sir Henry de Trafford granted
in fee to John son of Nicholas de Traf-
ford all the lands, &c., which John then
held for life ; and a release was given in
1402 ; De Trafford D. no. 84, 85.
In 1473 Bartin Trafford held messuages,
apparently in Ancoats, by a service of
31. 4</. ; Mamecestre, iii, 482.
110 It was found in October 1610 that
Ralph Kenyon had purchased of Sir Ed-
ward Trafford a messuage within the
town of Manchester called The Ancoats,
for which an annual service of 31. q.d.
was due to the lord ; Manch. Ct. Leet Rec.
ii, 256. The purchaser was still living at
Ancoats in 1631 ; ibid, iii, 180.
111 There is an account of the Mosleys
of Ancoats in Mosley Memoranda (Chet.
Soc. New Ser.). For Anthony see also
Mosley, Fam. Mem. 22, 23 ; and
Manch. Ct, Leet Rec, ii, 225, where an
abstract of his will is given. He several
times acted as a constable of the borough.
For the Mosley brasses see Lanes, and
Cbes. Antiq. Soc, xi, 82.
113 Mosley, op. cit. 25. He purchased
Ancoats from Sir John Byron in 1609 ;
Mosley Mem. 1 6. He acquired lands in
Cheshire through his marriage with Anne
daughter and co-heir of Ralph Lowe of
Mile End near Stockport. A rental of
Ancoats in 1608 shows a total of
£39 i6s. 6d. Adam Smith and John
Ashton appear to have had an interest in
a fourth part of the fields, which measured
48 acres. The field-names included the
Hollin Wood, the Eyes, the Banks, &c.
Other surveys, &c., will be found op. cit.
31, &c.
Oswald Mosley was steward of the
Court Leet from 1 6 1 3 until 1 6 1 8 ; Manch.
Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 278, &c. The inquisi-
tions taken after his death describe his
238
estate as a messuage called Ancoats, held
of the lord of Manchester in socage by a
rent of 31. 4.0". yearly ; a capital messuage
in Millgate, held of the same by a rent of
31. ii/.; two messuages in Clayden ; also-
two in Beswick, lately belonging to Bes-
wick's chantry. Nicholas was his son
and heir. Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxv,
27 ; xxviii, 83.
118 Manch, Ct. Leet. Rec, iii, 1 97. He
was borough reeve in 1661-2 ; ibid, iv,
327.
114 Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), iv, 199, 200 ; Civil
War Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 16.
115 At the Coronation rejoicings in 1661
Nicholas Mosley, ' a sufferer for his late
Majesty,' as captain of the auxiliaries,
raised in the town marched into the field
with his company, numbering above 220
men, ' most of them being the better sort
of this place, and bearing their own arms,
in great gallantry and rich scarfs ' ; Manch.
Ct. Leet Rec. iv, 282. He had in 1653
published Pfychosophia ,• ibid. note. In.
1664 a pedigree was recorded by him ;
Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 213. There
is a notice of him in Diet, Nat. Biog.
116 Mosley, Fam, Mem, 39.
U7 Ibid. 40, 41. A number of refer-
ences to disputes between Oswald Mos-
ley and the Blands will be found in
Exch. Dep. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
94, &c.
113 Family Mem. 4.1-9. Here is recorded
a tradition that the Young Pretender had
early in 1 745 stayed incognito at Ancoats,
visiting Manchester every day in order to
see Jacobite sympathizers and arrange for
the invasion.
119 Ibid. 49-50. The would-be pur-
chaser of Manchester was Mr. Egerton
of Tatton.
120 Ibid. 51-4; many examples of hi*
peculiarities are narrated.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
estates, and was speedily involved in the disputes
as to the markets already described, but established
his right. In 1786 he was High Sheriff of Lanca-
shire, and on this occasion was accompanied from his
seat at Ancoats by an immense retinue of his friends
and neighbours. After this, however, the house was
deserted, its owner returning to Staffordshire ; m and
it was sold to George Murray.
Ancoats Hall is described by Aikin in 1795 as 'a.
very ancient building of wood and plaster, but in some
parts rebuilt in brick and stone.' It stood at the end
of Ancoats Lane (now Great Ancoats Street) facing
north-west, and at the back of the house the grounds
sloped down to the banks of the River Medlock in a
series of terraces, from which there was a lovely view
over green well-wooded country. The house was of
two stories with attics, and the front consisted of
three gables with a square tower in the centre, con-
structed also of timber and plaster, and with a hipped
roof. Aikin further remarks that it was the back
part of the house that was chiefly rebuilt, but some
rebuilding of the west wing had been done before the
end of the i8th century. Britton, writing in 1807,
speaks of Ancoats Hall as a venerable house, the
oldest part of which consisted of timber and plaster,
' the first, disposed of various figures, forms a sort
of skeleton, and the latter is employed to fill up
the interstices. The upper stories overhang the
ground floor, and the great windows project before
the face of the building.' The house was built early
in the iyth century by Oswald Mosley,ma and it
stood till the beginning of the last century, when it
was taken down in or about 1827 by its then owner,
Mr. George Murray, and the present structure
erected. It is a rather interesting brick building of
an early type of igth-century Gothic, and since 1877
has been used as an art museum. In 1895 it became
the head quarters of a university settlement, which
was amalgamated with the museum in 1901. The
hall now stands in squalid surroundings, and the gar-
dens at the back, which existed for many years after
the rebuilding of the house, have entirely disappeared.
The Mosley leases for 9,999 years were a pecu-
liarity of the district.12*
With Ancoats was connected the family of Old-
ham,123 from which sprang Hugh Oldham, Bishop of
Exeter, who as founder of
the grammar school is justly
considered one of Manches-
ter's chief benefactors. He
was educated at Oxford, gra-
duating also at Cambridge,124
and became chaplain to Mar-
garet, Countess of Richmond,
mother of Henry VII, re-
ceiving numerous dignities and
benefices and being made
Bishop of Exeter in 1504.
He died on 1 5 June 1519,
and was buried in the chantry
chapel he had built for him-
self in Exeter Cathedral.115 A pedigree was recorded
in 1664, at which time one branch of the family had
an estate in Crumpsall.126
OLDHAM. Sable a
che-veron or between three
oivls argent, on a chief
of the second at many
roses gules.
131 Fam. Mem. 54-75. The heir was,
as previously stated, his grandson Sir Os-
wald Mosley, the compiler of the Memoirs
cited, who sold the manor of Manchester
to the corporation. His father Oswald,
eldest ton of Sir John Parker Mosley,
purchased Bolesworth Castle in Cheshire
in 1785, where he died in 1789.
121a Axon, Mosley Mem. 31.
IM N. and Q. (Ser. 5), v. 138.
128 Among the grammar school deeds
are the following concerning the family : —
1428, Feoffment by John Oldham of
Manchester of a burgage in the Mill-
gate, received from William the
Goldsmith of Manchester.
1462, Purchase of various messuages
and lands in Ancoats by Roger Old-
ham from William son and heir of
John Dean ; Alice the widow, and
Roger (chaplain) and Henry, the other
sons of John Dean, released their right,
as did John son of John Talbot, esq.
1471, John son and heir of Henry
Chadkirk sold a burgage in Millgate
to Roger Oldham (endorsed, « Usher's
house ').
1472, Roger Oldham having died in-
testate, administration was granted
to Ellen his widow, Peter and Ber-
nard his sons. (Ellen was no doubt
a second wife, for the obits to be
kept by the appointment of Bishop
Oldham included those of Roger
Oldham and Margery his wife).
1473, William Dean released to James,
son and heir of Roger Oldham,
all his right in the Ancoats estate ;
in 1477 he gave a similar release to
the widow Ellen. (In the rental of
1473 a burgage in Manchester was
held by ' the heir of Roger Oitiham' ;
Mamecestre, iii, 490.)
1475, James Oldham granted all the
lands in Ancoats to his brother Hugh,
who at that time was living at Dur-
ham. (From all the circumstances
it is clear that this was the future
bishop and benefactor. The Bishop
of Durham at that time was Law-
rence Booth, of the Barton family,
and Hugh would probably be one of
his clerks or chaplains.)
1494, Lease of a walk mill and the
Walker's croft near Millgate in
Manchester from Lord and Lady La
Warre to Hugh Oldham, clerk ; also
a field called the Heath, in the occu-
pation of John Bradford.
1495, Giles Hulton of Manchester re-
leased to Hugh Oldham, clerk, a par-
cel of land on the east side of the
Irk, adjoining the Hopcroft (which
he had received on lease in 1487).
1 505, William Oldham, clerk, granted
to Adam Oldham all his lands in
Lancashire.
1514, Bernard Oldham, archdeacon of
Cornwall, made a feoffmcnt of his
lands in Manchester and Ancoats for
the fulfilment of his will. (He was
no doubt trustee of his brother the
bishop, and in the following year the
lands were granted to the school
then founded).
The estate, a third part of Ancoats, has
proved a most valuable portion of the
endowment. A partition of the land was
made early in the 1 7th century ; Axon,
Mosley Mem. 31.
134 In 1493 the university allowed five
years in arts and four in civil and canon
law at Oxford to suffice for Mr. Hugh
Oldham's entry in laws at Cambridge ;
Grace Bk. B. (Luard Mem.), 54, 55.
125 Hugh Oldham's first known prefer-
239
ment was a canonry at St. Paul's in 1475 ;
Le Neve, Fasti, ii, 418. Many others
followed. In addition to Manchester
school he was a great benefactor to Corpus
Christi College, Oxford, and desired to be
buried there in case he should die at a
distance from Exeter. His will (19 Ay-
loffe) is chiefly concerned with the endow-
ment of his chantry and other religious
and charitable bequests ; among others he
wished his obit to be kept at Durham
College in Oxford and at the college church
of Manchester, where the warden or his
deputy was to receive 3*. 4</., each vicar
1 ^d., each priest and clerk of the church
8i/., and each chorister 4</.
Bernard Oldham, his brother, was made
Archdeacon of Cornwall in 1509 ; Le
Neve, op. cit. i, 399. In his will(P.C.C.,
24 Hodder) he styles himself not arch-
deacon but 'Treasurer and canon residen-
tiary of the Cathedral Church of Exeter.'
He names his brother ' my lord and bro-
ther* Hugh, Bishop of Exeter. Several
kinsmen are named, but only the bishop
was an Oldham. He does not refer to
any landed estate ; note by Mr. E. Axon.
Biographies of the bishop may be seen
in Wood's Athenae ; Cooper, Atbenae
Cantab, i, 21 ; Diet. Nat. Biog. ,• Hibbert-
Ware, Manch. Foundations, iii, 3-7, where
there is a refutation of the statement that
he died excommunicate.
126 Dugdale, Visit. 224 ; it gives the
generations thus : — Adam —s. Robert
(aged 80 in 1664) -s. Adam (d. 1652) -s.
Robert (aged 29) -s. Adam (aged 3).
Probably descended from this family was
Charles James Oldham of Brighton, who
in 1907 left the grammar school ^10,000,
only because of his kinship with the
founder.
In a preceding note will be found men-
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Edmund Entwisle of Entwisle, who died in 1544.,
had some land in Ancoats."7
GARRETT was formerly the seat of a branch of
the Trafford family,"8 and was sold in 1595 to
Oswald Mosley, a younger brother of Sir Nicholas
and Anthony.119 His son Samuel sold it, but it can
be traced in the records down to i683.130 Soon
afterwards it was acquired by the Minshulls of Chorl-
ton, and again sold in 1775. A curious story is told
of the place."1
Garrett Hall stood on the north bank of the River
Medlock close to where it is joined by Shooter's
Brook. The house was a black and white timber
mansion on a stone base, said to have been similar in
style to Hulme Hall, and built on four sides of a
quadrangle. The principal front faced south towards
the Medlock, which here flowed in a series of curves
through a large meadow, and is described as 'ex-
tremely picturesque with numerous gables and tall
chimneys.' The house, whose position was origin-
ally one of defence at the junction of two streams,
was surrounded by a park through which Shooter's
Brook ran on the north side. It appears to have
fallen into decay and to have been let in tenements
before the end of the i8th century, but is said to
have been standing entire in 1824. One wing was
in existence forty years later, and a fragment of the
house which could till recently be seen at the back
of the north side of Granby Row was not demolished
till May 1910. Long before the hall disappeared it
was closed in by other buildings, and all traces of the
park and original surroundings had long been lost."1
CLATDEN appears to represent the four oxgangs
of demesne land bestowed about 1 1 60 on Wulfric de
Manchester by Albert Grelley senior, at a rent of
5/.lss In later times it was held by the same rent by
a family surnamed Clayden, perhaps descendants of
Wulfric.1*4 A portion was owned by the Hopwoods
tion of an Adam Oldhatn living in 1505 ;
he was probably the heir of James Old-
ham, eldest brother of the bishop. Robert
and Hugh Oldham are frequently men-
tioned in the Ct. Lett. Rec. of 1552 and
later; Robert died in 1578 or 1579,
leaving a son Adam, of full age (ibid.
i, 204), no doubt the Adam who heads
the recorded pedigree, in which his kin-
ship to the bishop is asserted. He died
22 June 1588, holding a messuage, &c.,
in Manchester of the queen by the hun-
dredth part of a knight's fee ; he left a
ton and heir Robert, aged four years, and
daughters named Elizabeth, Cecily, Ellen,
and Margaret ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
xiv, 31. His will, proved in July 1588,
mentions his ' brothers ' John and Francis
Wirrall, Robert and Hugh Oldham, cousins
Robert, Edmund, Roger, and Hugh Old-
ham, sister Elizabeth Oldham, and mothers-
in-law Isabel Oldham and Elizabeth
Wirrall (the former would be his step-
mother) ; see Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 222.
1*7 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vii, 30 ;
the tenure is not stated. It was held
with lands in Chorlton and Ardwick.
128 Garrett appears always to have been
closely connected with Chorlton-upon-
Medlock, as will be seen in the account
of Robert and John Grelley's estate in
the latter township.
Sir Henry de Traffbrd, after purchasing
the estate just named, appears to have
granted part at least to a younger son
Thomas ; the gift of Gatecote field in
1373 has been preserved 5 Ct. of Wards
and Liveries, box 14.60/8 ; the seal of the
grantor shows three bendlets.
Thomas died in 1410 holding lands in
Chorlton, probably including Garrett ;
and leaving a son and heir John, whose
wardship and marriage were granted to
Sir Ralph de Staveley, in the mistaken be-
lief that the lands were held of the king ;
Lanes. Inj. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 96, 97.
Margery, the mother of the heir, was
living.
John died in 1412 being only twelve
y ears of age, and his heir was his brother
Henry. Henry likewise dying young,
another brother, Thomas, became the
heir. The estate was (in part at least)
six messuages, 100 acres of land, &c., in
Chorlton ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.),
ii, 16 ; see also Dtp. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii,
App. 27, 34. Thomas proved his age in
1433 ; he was born in 1408 ; Lanes. Inq.
p.m. ii, 37. The descent Thomas -s.
Thomas -s. Henry (living 1461) is given
in Ct. of Wards and Liveries, box
i3A/FDio.
Ellen widow of John Traffbrd of An-
coat* in 1418 granted to Anne wife of
Sir John Ashton and to Ralph Ashton
all her lands in Lancashire ; Dods. MSS.
cxlii, fol. 1 6 1, no. 2.
Henry, as son and heir of Thomas
Traffbrd, held the estate in 1473 > **
included Eleynfield, Dogfield, and Gate-
cotefield, held by the ancient rents of 41.
and zs. ; Mamecestre, iii, 482 ; Manch. Ct.
Leet Rec. i, 109.
The family were related to Bishop
Oldham, as may be inferred from the
direction in the foundation deeds of his
grammar school that the souls of Henry
Trafford and Thomasine his wife, George
Trafford of the Garrett and Margaret his
wife, were to be prayed for after the
founder and his relatives.
George Trafford of the Garrett (living
1525, dead in 1542) married in or before
1509 Margaret daughter of Ralph Hulme,
and had a son Ralph, who died about the
end of 1555, leaving five sisters as co-
heirs : (i) Jane, represented (probably by
purchase) by Gilbert Gerard, afterwards
Master of the Rolls ; (2) Isabel wife of
Thomas Legh of High Legh ; (3) Alice,
unmarried ; (4) Anne wife of Richard
Shallcross, then of Hugh Travis, and later
of John Marler ; (5) Thomasine wife of
Randle Clayton ; see Mancb. Ct. Leet.
Rec. i, 22, 25, 44, and Mr. Earwaker's
notes ; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), ii, 155 ; iii, 195 ; also Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 19, m. 106, for
the division. Several of the charters are
among the Anct. D. (P.R.O.) A. 13472,
A. 13478, &c.
A settlement of the Garrett, among
other estates, on his heirs male was made
by Gilbert Gerard in 1565; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. xvi, 2.
189 Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 83, 103 ; Anct. D.
(P.R.O.) A. 12529 ; the vendor was Sir
Thomas son and heir of Sir Gilbert
Gerard. The purchaser is usually de-
scribed as eldest son of Edward Mosley of
Hough End, but in Nicholas Mosley 's
will he is called 'my youngest brother.'
Possibly the Oswald who was ' son and
heir' in 1571 was not the purchaser of
the Garrett in 1595 ; ibid, i, 138. Os-
wald Mosley died in 1622.
180 In 1627 Samuel Mosley was or-
dered to attend the court and do his suit
and service for the Garrett estate, which
by his father's will had been given to a
240
younger brother Francis (who had died
in 1625) ; ibid, iii, 129, where an ab-
stract of the will is printed. For this
branch of the family see Mosley, Fam.
Mem. 4 ; Axon, Mosley Mem. 24, 25.
By 1631 the lands had been sold to
Ralph Hough ; Ct. Leet Rec. iii, 179.
In 1657 it was found that Ralph Hough,
merchant, was heir to his father Ralph
Hough, deceased, for Garrett Hall and
demesne lands thereto appertaining ; ibid,
iv, 185. Daniel Hough of London, mer-
chant, was the heir of his father Ralph in
1683 ; ibid, vi, 168. The hall at this
time was perhaps tenanted as an inn ;
ibid, vi, 125.
Walter Nugent had lands in the Gar-
rett, and by his will of 1614 directed
them to be sold for the payment of his.
debts ; ibid, ii, 291 ; iii, 94.
181 Household Words (1851), iii, 249, in
Manch. Guardian N. and Q. no. 510.
Ma There are views of Garrett Hall in
Philips' yieivs of Old Halls of Lanes, and
Ches. 1893 ; James, Ftews, 1825 5 Lanes.
Illus. 1831. There is also a drawing in
the Binns collection, Liverpool, probably
the origiaal of Philips, and a sketch by
T. Dodd, 1850, in Owens College, Man-
chester. See paper by C. W. Sutton, in
Philips, yie<wst 1893.
188 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 56.
184 Richard de Clayden in 1320 paid a
rent of 5*. a year for Clayden ; Mame-
cestre, ii, 278. It is called a 'manor' in
1473, when another Richard Clayden held
it in socage by the same rent ; ibid, iii,
482.
Robert Clayden was defendant in 1541
in a suit respecting Clayden ; Ducatut
Lane. (Rec. Com.), i, 168.
Robert Clayden of Clayden Hall died
in 1558 or 1559, and was succeeded by
his son Richard ; Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. i,
43 > S3- The next in possession was
Robert Clayden, who died 8 Mar. 1578-9,
holding a messuage in Manchester, mes-
suages and land in Clayden by the rent of
5*., and also in Tongton and Middlewood
in Ashton ; having no son his estate de-
scended to his four infant daughters,
Bridget, Alice, Cecily, and Margaret, the
eldest of whom was four years of age ^
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, no. 84, 12.
Bridget died in Sept. 1588 and her mother
(Alice daughter of Ralph Costerden) was
living at Tongton in 1591 ; the heirs
were Bridget's sisters — Alice wife of
Richard Houghton, aged eleven in 1588 ;
Cecily wife of Lawrence Langley, ten j
SALFORD HUNDRED
of Hopwood, and derived from them the distinguish-
ing name of Hopwood Clayden.1343 The district was
sometimes considered as partly in Newton.135 The name
is perhaps preserved in Gleden Street, Holt Town.
Grants by Albert Grelley to Robert de Brace-
bridge 1I6 and by Robert Grelley to Ace the clerk are
on record.137
The origin of the name Gaythorn is obscure. The
place seems to have been owned formerly by the
Chethams.138
COLLTHURST was part of the waste.139 The
MANCHESTER
townsmen had various rights of pasturage there,140 and
when the Mosleys acquired the lordship took care to
assert them, Rowland Mosley, the son of Sir Nicholas,
compounding the disputes by a payment of £10 a
year to the poor of Manchester,141 payment being
made till a century ago.14* Francis Mosley, a younger
son of Anthony of Ancoats, was settled on an estate
at Collyhurst,143 which descended on his death in
1662 to his granddaughter Anne, daughter of his son
Nicholas, who died in i6$<).lt4 Both Nicholas and
his father had had their estates sequestered for their
and Margaret, nine ; ibid, xv, no. 28. A
few further details are given in the Ct.
Leet Rec. ii, 59, 246, 290 ; from these it
appears that Margaret Clayden married
Thomas Holcroft and her share was in
1609 sold to Lawrence Langley.
The whole or a large part of Clayden
was about 1640 in the possession of the
Mosleys of Ancoats ; Great Clayden and
Shipponley had been bought of Mr. Char-
nock ; Kilnebank, Green Lee, Copley,
Blew Field, and Coal Pit Field were other
field names; Axon,Mosly Mem. 34, 39,
&c. It was held by a rent of 31. 6d. with
is. 6d. more for the portion formerly
Charnock's ; ibid. 35. Combined these
rents amount to 5*., the ancient rent paid
by the Clayden family.
iS4a Thomas de Hopwood in 1320 held
the place of a kiln (corellus) in Clayden at
\d. rent; Mamecestre, ii, 279. In 1331
John son of Henry de Hulton granted to
Adam son of Thomas de Hopwood all his
lands in the hamlet of Ancoats, held by
demise of Adam son of Robert de Rad-
clifFe ; they had belonged to Robert de
Gotherswick and Hugh his brother ; De
Banco R. 290, m. I d.
Thomas Beck in 1546 made a settle-
ment of messuages in Manchester, Mons-
halgh, Salford, and Newton, in favour of
his son Robert ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 12, m. 219, 265. Robert purchased
the Hopwoods' estate in Manchester,
Clayden, and Newton in 1549 ; ibid. bdle.
13, m. 29. He died about the end of
1556, leaving a son and heir Thomas,
who came of age in 1574; Ct. Leet Rec.
i, 32, 1 68 ; Piccope, W"illst i, 184.
( Thomas Beck of Hopwood Clayden was
in 1588 succeeded by his son Randle ;
and the latter in 1599 by his brother
Robert, then fifteen years of age. The
estate included burgages in Manchester
(Broadlache, Marketstead Lane, and
Deansgate) and in Salford ; see the in-
quisitions in Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
xiv, 19; Jtvii, 8 ; Manch. Ct. Leet Rec.
ii, 147, 217. In the Chetham Library
are deeds by Robert Beck of Hopwood
Clayden dated 1626 and 1636 ; the latter
is a grant to Thomas Beck, his son and
heir apparent.
A pedigree was recorded in 1 664 (Dug-
dale, Vhit. 29) stating that Robert Beck
and Thomas his son, both ' of Hopwood
Clayden,' died in 1 644 ; the latter was
succeeded by his son Thomas, aged thirty-
four in 1664, who had a son John, aged
twelve, and other children. Thomas
Beck died in 1678, and his son and heir
at once sold or mortgaged Hopwood Clay-
den and other lands to Thomas Min-
shull ; Ct. Leet Rec. vi, 65, and deeds
quoted in the note. William Beck, a
brother of John, sold lands in 1684 ; ibid,
vi, 214.
The Becks' land in Hopwood Clayden
was held by Nicholas Mosley of Ancoats
in 1665 ; Axon, Motley Mem. $3.
The Hopwood family retained an es-
tate in Manchester ; see Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 206,
207.
185 John son of Richard de Legh, of
West Hall in High Legh, as heir of John
son of Robert Massey of Sale, in 1426
granted to Elizabeth daughter and heir
of Richard (son of Robert) de Moston,
all his lands in the vill of Newton,
viz. that place called Clayden ; West
Hall D.
186 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 56 ; it
was a grant of two oxgangs of the demesne
at a rent of 41. yearly. (Sir) Geoffrey de
Bracebridge's name frequently occurs as a
witness to 13th-century charters. It is
probable that Elayn field and Dogfield,
held by Robert Grelley in 1320 by the
same rent, constituted that estate ; Mamc-
cestre, ii, 279 ; see Ct. of Wards and
Liveries, box 1 3 A/FD 36. Robert Grelley
also held Gatecoterfield by a rent of zs. ;
ibid. All three as ' Eleynfield, Dogfield,
and Gatcotefield in the vill of Manchester '
were granted by John Grelley (the son of
Robert) to Sir Henry de Trafford in 1359;
De Trafford D. no. 15. The grant was
confirmed ten years later ; ibid. no. 18,19.
As already stated they became part of the
Garrett estate.
In 1564 Thomas Nowell, who married
Alice daughter of George Trafford of
Garrett and co-heir of her brother Ralph,
held ' Dugfildes and Claredenfeld,' owing
41. rent, and for Gatecotefilde 21., and
Gilbert Gerard (by purchase from the
Traffords), Yelandfildes, owing 21. ; Ct.
Leet Rec. i, 44, 86, and notes ; see also i,
109, where Gerard's land is called Gladen
fields alias Claredenfieldes, and mention
is made of Gatte couts fields and Dodge
meadows.
U7 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 59 ; this
was * a land,' for which 3*. rent was pay-
able. No such rent appears in the survey
of 1320, so that the land had escheated
to the lord, or had been divided among
several heirs. The following rents may
be mentioned : — John de Beswick for
Borid-riding, i8</. ; Henry Boterinde for
Ben-riding, i8</. ; Henry Boterinde and
Robert Rudde for Ashley, i %d. ; Mame-
cestre, ii, 277-9.
188 Mr. H. T. Crofton says : This is
not, so far as I know, an ascertained
ancient district, like Garrett. I believe
it took its name from a former owner or
occupier. On Green's map, 1787, works
of some sort occupy the spot, bridging
over the River Tib, which is formed into
a dam above for water power, and ' Messrs.
Cheetham ' were named as the owners,
but I cannot name the occupier, as Gay-
thorn is not mentioned in Raffald's Dir.
1772. Part of the same works were on
the banks of the adjacent Medlock, and
lines drawn on Green's map are apparently
tenters for bleachworks. No whitster is
named for Gaythorn or Knott Mill (which
241
is close by) in the whitster list, and
'Robert Kitchen (will proved 1776) fus-
tian dyer, Knott mill,' is the only likely
one I can find in the Dir. The map
calls it 'Gaythorn,' and 'Gaythorn St.'
led to it from Alport Lane (Deans-
gate), while ' Gaythorn Row ' was at the
Alport Lane end of Gaythorn Street,
as if the whole intervening area was
once known as ' Gaythorn.' The family
usually spelt their name Gathorne (see
Manch. Ct. Leet Rec.). Feasington Wood
skirted the Medlock somewhere about
Gaythorn, ' between Knott mill and Gar-
rett.'
Shootersbrook, as the name of a dwell-
ing or estate, occurs in 1564; Ducatus
Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 280.
189 In 1322 the 80 acres of land in
Collyhurst were valued at z6s. %d. a year,
but had been leased to Sir Roger de Pil-
kington and his son for life at £4 rent j
Mamecestre, ii, 363. A moiety of Colly-
hurst was in 1361 given to William (son
of Thurstan) de Holland and Otes his son ;
Dods. in Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii,
136.
140 The Manchester jury in 1554
ordered that the townsmen's swine should
be sent to ' a common called Collyhurst '
in charge of a swineherd ; Ct. Leet Rec. i,
15, 144. Persons who did not dwell in
the town were in 1561 ordered to take
their cattle from Collyhurst unless they
could prove a right of pasturage ; ibid, i,
63. Encroachments were noticed ; ibid.
i, 26, 117.
141 A protest against encroachments
was made in 1602 ; it was stated that the
burgesses had free common of pasture
there ' without stint or number ; ' ibid, ii,
179.
The final settlement was made in 161 6,
confirmed by a decree of the Duchy Court
on 12 Feb. 1616-17. This states that
Sir Nicholas Mosley had inclosed part of
the waste, and that some 50 acres re-
mained, which Rowland his son wished
to inclose. In return for the consent
of the burgesses and others he agreed
to allow them to erect cottages and
cabins for the shelter of infected persons
in times of plague ; also the annual rent
of £10 for the use of the poor ; ibid,
ii, 328-32. There are frequent no-
tices of the 'Collyhurst money' in the
Records.
143 It was included in the borough reeve's
charities in 1792, and apparently in 1825;
Baines, Lanes. Dir. ii, 145-6.
148 Anthony Mosley had purchased land
in or near Collyhurst in 1577 ; Ct. Leet
Rec. i, 182. His son Francis in 1610
bought a messuage and lands ' near adjoin-
ing unto Collyhurst ' from his elder brother
Oswald ; ibid, ii, 257. Part of Collyhurst
was held on lease ; E. Axon, Mosley Mem.
13-
144 Mosley, Fam. Mem. 23 ; Piccope
MS. Pedigrees (Chet. Lib.), i, 182.
31
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
fidelity to Charles I.146 The heiress carried the
estate in marriage to Robert Lever of Alkrington.146
Various districts of Manchester are named in the
rentals of 1322 and 1473, some of which are now
forgotten, e.g. Ashley, Choo, Clements Croft, Dan-
croft, Hobcroft, Kyperfield, and Riding Brook.147
Many of the neighbouring gentry held burgages and
lands in the township of Manchester,148 and there were
also a number of the townsmen who acquired wealth
and distinction. Some of them are noticed in the
accounts of estates they acquired elsewhere ; 149 of the
rest may here be named Barlow,150 Beck,151 Beswick,161
145 Royalist Comp. Papers, iv, 2OI.
Nicholas Mosley and Francis his father,
clothiers, had deserted their dwellings and
lived for some time in the king's quarters.
The son took the National Covenant and
Negative Oath in 1646. The statement
of his property in Manchester showed it
to be worth £40 a year, and that in Col-
lyhurst, ' before the troubles,' £24. ; the
£10 to the poor was charged on it ; the
father and son were creditors for £1,338
and debtors for £2,490. A fine of £200
was fixed.
146 Booker, Prestwicb, 206. Robert
Lever was fined icu. in 1677 for not
cleansing his ditch in Collyhurst Lane, by
the Long Causeway, and in Wilkin Hills ;
Ct. Leet Rec. vi, 42. Some of the family
resided at Collyhurst, for John Revel
Lever, son of John Lever, esq., was born
there about 1707 ; Scott, Admissions to St.
John's Coll. Camb. iii, 50.
147 Mamecestre, ii, 362 ; iii, 482-4. The
position of Ashley is indicated by Ashley
Lane, leading north from Long Millgate.
Choo is believed to have been in Brough-
ton, near the Irwell and on the border of
Cheetham ; in Broughton also was Ky-
perfield, another detached portion of the
manor of Manchester ; Information of
Mr. Crofton.
For Ashley Henry Boterinde and Ro-
bert Rudde in 1320 paid a rent of i8<£ ;
Mamecestre, ii, 279. Alice daughter of
Henry Boterinde in 1351 gave her son
Robert half a burgage in the Millgate and
5 acres in Ashley ; Lanes, and Ches. Hist,
and Gen. Notes, \, 54. The land was soon
afterwards claimed by Agnes widow of
Robert Rudde ; Duchy of Lane. Assize
R. 2 (July), m. 8. The Buldre family,
whose heirs were the Hulmes of Man-
chester and Reddish, next appear in pos-
session ; Thomas son of Thomas Buldre
occurs in Manchester in 1338, and Thomas
Buldre in 1361 (Hulme D. no. 4, 5),
and in 1381 Agnes widow of Henry Dob-
son granted to William Buldre for her life
all her lands and tenements in ' Asshen-
legh ' and Tuefield near Manchester, for-
merly her husband's ; ibid. no. 6. In
1421 an agreement was made between
Lawrence Hulme and Robert Rudde, who
owned ' a field lying in the town of Man-
chester called Ashley, lying together and
in divers parcels,' as to a division of the
land and chief rent ; ibid. no. 10. Geof-
frey Hulme held Ashley in 1473 a* IO<^
(or id.} rent ; Mamecestre, iii, 482, 499.
The heir of James Barlow was probably
the other tenant (for ' Estley ') at a rent of
6d. ; ibid, iii, 483. In 1615 Ralph Hulme
of Outwood in Pilkington mortgaged the
three closes called Nearer, Middlemost,
and Further Ashley, containing by esti-
mation 5 acres of land ; Hulme D. no. 62.
In the 1 7th century it was at least in part
owned by the Becks ; Ct.Leet Rec. vi, 65,
214.
148 Among the burgage holders in 1473
(Mamecestre, iii, 487) are found the names
of many of the neighbouring esquires, the
list beginning with Sir John Trafford, who
had land near the Booths, on which a shop
had recently been built.
The earliest acquisition of the Traffbrds
seems to have been a burgage granted
before 1320 by Olive daughter of Richard
de Bolton to Thomas son of Sir Henry de
Traffbrd ; it lay between the tenement of
Manchester Church on the north and a
burgage formerly Geoffrey de Manches-
ter's on the south ; on the east side it had
the burgage of Matthew the Tailor, and
on the west the highway from the church
to Hulme. A rent of izd. was payable
to the lord at the four terms ; De Trafford
D. no. 3. Further property was purchased
by Geoffrey son of Sir Henry Trafford in
1333 and 1334 ; ibid. no. 9-12.
Lists of the outburgesses in 1648 and
later years are printed in Mancb. Constables'
Accts. ii, 198, 218, 244.
The inquisitions show the following,
among others, to have held burgages and
lands in Manchester : —
Thomas Ashtonof Ashton-under-Lyne;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, no. 80 ; see
also Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 138.
Edward ButterworthofBelfield ; Duchy
of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiii, no. 2, 14 ; Lanes.
Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
iii, 379.
William Holland of Clifton ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, 16 ; v, 49.
Edward Holland of Denton ; ibid, ziii,
no. 20 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.(Rec. Soc.), ii, 141.
Ralph Assheton of Great Lever ; ibid.
ii, 286.
George Chadderton of Oldham ; ibid, i,
63. Christiana de Hoton in 1292 granted
to Geoffrey de Chadderton and Joan his
wife a burgage in Manchester which she
had received from Herbert Grelley, rector
of Childwall ; a rent of p. at the four
terms was due to the chief lord ; Kuer-
den fol. MS. (Chet. Lib.), 189, no. 220.
A settlement was made in 1307 ; Final
Cone, ii, i.
Richard Chadwick of Spotland held of
the warden and fellows ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Rec. Soc.), ii, 273.
William Dauntesey of Agecroft ; ibid,
iii, 349. The Agecroft deeds show that
in 1318 Robert son of Hugh de Milngate
released to his son Richard a half burgage
in Manchester (no. 319). Probably it
was the same burgage, ' with a mese and
a wine tavern, a high chamber thereupon,
a garden and a barn, lying at the east end
of the Kirkyard of Manchester,' which
was owned by the Hulme family in 1469
(no. 320), and sold to Hugh Burdman,
who sold to Robert Langley in 1544 (no.
328).
George Hulton of Farn worth (35*.
rent) ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.), iii,
468. In the deeds of Over Hulton is a
grant of J acre upon the Millgate crofts
by Richard son of Hugh de Milngate in
1315 to Adam de Hulton. In 1328
Adam acquired part of Dobscroft and of
Coldherse (afterwards Coldhouse), and
other property. The Hulton of Farn-
worth estate seems to have begun with a
sale by Adam son of Robert de Radcliffe
to John son of Henry de Hulton in 1331, of
lands in Millgate crofts acquired in 1320.
149 For instance, Byrom of Salford and
Kersal, Hulme of Reddish, Percival of
Royton, Ravald of Kersal, and others.
Particulars of these and many others may
be gathered from Ct. Leet Rec. and the
accounts of the different townships.
242
iso Several families of this name lived
in Manchester in the i6th century; see
Ct. Leet Rec. (e.g. i, 39). Barlow Cross,
which stood near the boundary of An-
coats, may have been named from them ;
Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xxii, 95. The
New cross, at the corner of Oldham React
and Great Ancoats, marked on the plan
of 1793, seems to have taken its place 5
See Ct. Leet Rec. i, n, 43 ; iii, 73 ; iv,
330. Three closes called Barlow Crosi
Fields are mentioned in 1615 ; ibid, ii,
300. The bounds of ' Jonesfield de Hul-
ton' about 1420 began at Barlow Crosi
in the road from Manchester to Stanegge
(apparently Newton Lane), and ended at
the same cross in the lane from Ancoats
to Manchester ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 5 Hen.
VI, no. 54. Suicides were buried at
Barlow Cross ; Manch. Constables' Accts.
iii, 14, 32.
There was another Barlow or Barley
Cross near the north end of Long Mill-
gate ; see Procter, Manch. Streets, 38.
151 In 1571 it was found that Stephen
Becke or Beche — occurring in 1546;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 12, m. 238
— had died, and that his son George — or
William — was heir and under age ; Ct.
Leet Rec. i, 137, 142. Another Beck
family has been noticed under Clayden.
189 John de Beswick held the Borid-
riding in 1320, paying i8</. rent; but
James Radcliffe of Radcliffe held it in
1473 5 Mamecestre, ii, 278 ; iii, 482. In a
suit of 1347 respecting a messuage and
24 acres in Manchester, Geoffrey son of
John de Beswick was plaintiff; De Banco
R. 352, m. 3 d. Richard son of Geoffrey
de Beswick was defendant to a charge of
assault in July 1354; Duchy of Lane.
Assize R. 3, m. 3. The same or another
Richard de Beswick had been convicted
of an assault — having in 1350 attacked
Henry the Baxter ' with swords, bows and
arrows and mayhemed his left hand' —
and the damages were assessed at £10;
Assize R. 431, m. i d.
Richard Beswick or Bexwick, a wealthy
merchant, has been mentioned in the ac-
count of the parish church, to which he
was a liberal benefactor.
Roger Beswick, another successful tra-
der, was brother-in-law of John Bradford,
and took a prominent part in the affairs
of the town. He died in 1599, making
partition of his estate by the will of which
an abstract is printed in Ct. Leet Rec. ii,
156. His grandson William Malone,
born at Manchester, entered the Society
of Jesus in 1606, laboured on the mission
in Ireland (where he challenged and re-
plied to Archbishop Usher), and at the
Irish College in Rome. He was expelled
from Ireland by Cromwell, and died at
Seville in 1656 ; Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Gillow,
Bibl. Diet, of Engl. Cath. v, 399.
John Beswick of Manchester and John
his son were in 1657 bound to Nicholas
Mosley of Collyhurst in £280 ; another
bond of 1664 describes the Beswicks as of
Drogheda and of Lifford in Donegal re-
spectively ; while two years later John
Beswick gave to Margaret Bowker a bur-
gage, &c., in St. Mary Gate, on condition
that Margaret maintained his mother
Anne ; Earwaker MSS.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
Bibby,1" Bowker,154 Boterind,155 Gee,156 Goodyear,157 Hunt,158 Laboray,159 Pendleton,160 with several note-
158 This family appears early both in
Manchester and Salford. Sir John La
Warre in 1313 granted John Bibby two
plots of land, and in 1320 the grantee
paid 21. for 2 acres of land on the heath
at Manchester; Mamecestre, ii, 293, 350.
William Bibby and Cecily his wife in
1348 made a feoffment of their lands;
Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 198, no. 42. Eleven
years later Richard Bibby gave his bur-
gages and lands to William and Robert le
Hunt ; ibid. no. 45.
John Pouston and Margery his wife
in 1361 gave to Robert Bibby all their
hnds, &c., in Salford ; Hopwood D.
William Bibby died in 1577 or 1578, his
heir being his brother James ; Ct. Leet
Rec. i, 194, where is printed an elaborate
settlement made in 1564.
154 Edward Bowker died about the end
of I $86, leaving a son and heir Geoffrey ;
Ct. Leet Rec. i, 258. The heir was of age
in 1589 ; ibid, ii, 32.
John Bowker, apothecary, in 1623 pur-
chased from Thomas Chadderton of Lees
a burgage and smithy in Deansgate ; his
mother Alice was then living ; ibid, iii, 72.
Peter Bowker of Manchester and Adam
Bowker of Salford, chapmen, had their
estates — tenements in Salford — seques-
tered by the Parliamentary authorities,
they having adhered to and assisted the
king's forces. They compounded in 1651 ;
Royalist Camp. Papers, i, 214, 215.
lss Henry Boterind, 1 320, has been men-
tioned. Henry son of Henry de Boterind
was one of those killed at Liverpool in
1345 with Adam de Lever ; Coram Rege
R. 348, m. 22.
Richard son of Henry de Boterind in
1349 made a feoffment of a burgage in
the Middlegate by Todd Lane, which he
had acquired from Adam son of Robert
the Dyer ; De Trafford D. no. 14. This
burgage had in 1331 been granted by
Adam son of Robert de Manchester to
Robert the Dyer and Joan his wife, daugh-
ter of the grantor ; ibid. no. 6. It appears
that Richard son of Henry Boterind became
a monk; De Banco R. 435, m. 346 d.
See also the account of Ashley above.
156 John Gee appears prominently in
the Ct. Leet Rec. iof the third quarter of
the 1 6th century. In 1559 his mother
Elizabeth came into court to confess that
he was her eldest son, and that she had
granted him all her lands in Manchester
and Salford ; i, 41. He died at the
beginning of 1589, holding lands in Man-
chester and Salford, and leaving as heir
his son John, of full age; ibid, ii, 31 ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvi, 46. The
son also is frequently mentioned ; either
he or his father was the deputy-receiver
for the lord of the manor ; Ct. Leet Rec.
i, 200. The younger John Gee seems to
have died in Oct. 1629, leaving sons Ed-
mund and Joseph and four daughters ;
ibid, iii, 168, where an abstract of his
will is printed. The inquisition taken
after John's death states that Edward was
his son and heir, and forty years of age ;
Towneley MS. C, 8, 13 (Chet. Lib.), p.
463. Joseph Gee died in or before 1655;
Ct. Leet Rec. iv, 143.
Two members of the family distinguished
themselves in the I7th century as contro-
versialists, viz. John Gee, who was prob-
ably a Devonshire man by birth, but
grandson of Ralph Gee of Manchester (died
1598), brought up a Protestant, reconciled
to the Roman Church, reverted to Pro-
testantism, and wrote his experiences in
The Foot out of the Snare (1624), and died
as Vicar of Tenterden in 1639 ; also Ed-
ward Gee, born in Manchester in 1659,
educated at St. John's College, Cambridge,
author of the Jesuit's Memorial. See N.
and Q. (Ser. 6), ii, 71 ; Local Glean.
Lanes, and Cbes. ii, 300 ; Wood, Athcnae;
Diet. Nat. Biog.
15? In 1574 Thomas Goodyear was ad-
mitted to be burgess in right of Ellen his
wife, paying to the lord 8</. a year ; Ct.
Leet Rec. i, 168. He was borough-reeve
in 1579-80, and one of the constables in
1580—1 ; ibid, i, 207, 213. The wife
was sister of Ralph Proudlove, who died
in 1588 ; she died in 1591, leaving a son
Robert Goodyear as heir ; ibid, ii, 21,
and note. Thomas Goodyear died in
1 599, when this son was not quite of age ;
ibid, ii, 153 ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
xvii, 38. His lands were in Millgate,
Deansgate (part called a dole), Newton
Lane (' Gibbs '), and Withy Grove.
Robert Goodyear was borough-reeve in
1606, and died in April 1621, having
increased his estate, among the additions
being 6 acres called ' Bibby Fields ' ; he
left a widow Elizabeth and a son Thomas,
under age ; Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 21 1 ; iii, 36 ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvii, 46.
Thomas Goodyear died in 1638, holding
the Bibby Fields and a messuage in Mill-
gate ; his heir was a posthumous daughter
named Anne ; ibid, xxx, 25. He sold
some of his lands to Robert Neild ; Ct.
Leet Rec. iii, 179 note; and his mother
Elizabeth and her daughter Mary in 1639
sold land in Shudehill to Robert Marler ;
ibid, iii, 286.
Another Thomas Goodyear of Man-
chester died in 1607, leaving a son Henry,
ten years of age ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec.
Soc.), i, 112. Henry was in 1621 sum-
moned to do his suit and service at the
lord's court, and died in 1627, leaving as
heir his sister Margaret, wife of Thomas
I Hi ng worth ; Ct. Leet Rec. iii, 36, 136.
Margaret Illingworth died in 1634-5,
holding her father's property ; Towneley
MS. C, 8, 1 3 (Chet. Lib.), p. 708, reciting
Thomas Good/ear's disposition of it.
Thomas Illingworth died early in 1639,
leaving a son and heir Thomas, under age ;
Ct. Leet Rec. iii, 288 ; an abstract of his
will is printed in the note. The younger
Thomas died in 1671 ; ibid, v, 156.
158 Abstracts of a number of this family's
deeds were made by Dodsworth (MSS.
cxlii, fol. 161-72), being in 1635 in the
hands of John Holcroft of Marton ; they
do not suffice to give an exact account of
the descent.
The pedigree begins with two brothers,
William and Robert le Hunt, to whom in
1359 Richard Bibby granted all his bur-
gages and lands in Manchester ; Dods. ut
supra, no. 65. William son of Geoffrey
de Manchester released to them all actions
in 1367 ; ibid. no. 35. Robert le Hunt
acquired land in Salford from Thurstan de
Prestwich in the following year ; and
from John le Hare and Alice his wife in
Wood ti eld in Ashton ; ibid. no. 37, 49.
Alice was no doubt the daughter of John
de Whitwood, who had granted Robert her
lands in 1358 ; ibid. no. 57. The bro-
thers William and Robert in 1 374 made
a feoffment of their lands in Manchester
and the Ridge in Ashton ; ibid. no. 36.
There was another William le Hunt, a
chaplain, distinguished from William the
brother of Robert by Agnes widow of the
above-named William de Manchester in a
grant by which she released to the brothers
all her claim in the burgages and lands
243
which had belonged to William the chap-
lain ; ibid, no 53. About the same time
(in Oct. 1381) William and Robert grant-
ed to Agnes for her life a garden in Man-
chester, at the end of Irk Bridge, which
had formerly belonged to William the
chaplain ; ibid. no. 52. The position
named suggests that this was the land
known as Hunt's Bank.
In 1385 the trustee of the two brothers
settled their estate upon Richard son of
Robert le Hunt, with remainders to
Ralph and William, brothers of Richard ;
ibid. no. 14. Thirteen years later, Maud
widow of William le Hunt of Ashton re-
leased to Richard le Hunt her claim on
lands in Ashton ; ibid. no. 33. Richard
in 1402 had a grant of land in Salford
from his father's widow Cecily, who had
married William Clayton, son of Robert
son of Falconer 5 ibid. no. 32. He seems
to have lived at Audenshaw in Ashton ;
ibid. no. 26, 30. Ralph is not heard of
again, but William le Hunt of Manches-
ter occurs in 1421 and 1422 (ibid. no.
27-29, 58) ; and in 1423-4 Richard le
Hunt leased his Manchester burgages and
lands to his brother William at a rent of
211. ; ibid. no. 34.
At this point there arises uncertainty.
Richard Hunt, perhaps the same Richard,
in 1443 acquired a piece of land in Man-
chester; ibid. no. 31. Edmund Hunt
was a witness, and in 1447 a settlement
was made by Richard on the marriage of
Edmund's son William with Margaret
daughter of Roger Bird (or Brid) of Sal-
ford ; ibid. no. 38, 59, 39, 22. Edmund
Hunt made a feoffment of all his bur-
gages, lands, &c., in Lancashire, in 1460,
James Bird being a witness ; ibid. no. 3.
This James Bird of Salford occurs again
in 1467, and his son and heir Roger in
1513 ; ibid. no. 23, 64.
William Hunt, no doubt the son of Ed-
mund, in 1473 held divers burgages, a
grange, and lands in Manchester, and
paid js. q.d. to the lord ; Mamecestre, ill,
488.
Richard Hunt was in 151$ a feoffee
of the Oldham family ; Hibbert-Ware,
Mancb. Foundations, iii, 10. His will was
proved in London in 1523 ; Manch. Ct.
Lett Rec. i, 158 n. ; P.C.C. 15 Bod-
felde. In 1524 Agnes Hunt, widow, gave
a release to Richard Hunt and James
Radclifte, executors of the will of Richard
Hunt, deceased ; Dods. ut supra, no. 65.
Five years later Richard Hunt of Man-
chester made a settlement in favour of
his wife Margaret ; ibid. no. 66. It was
probably this Richard, or a son of the
same name, who died in 1573, leaving as
heir a son Richard of full age ; Ct. Leet
Rec. i, 158.
Richard Hunt gave the lord a dagger as
heriot ; ibid, i, 1 60. He received a re-
lease of all claims on his father's lands
from George Birch in 1575 ; Dods. ut
supra, no. 67. He died in Dec. 1585,
leaving as heir his son John, under age ;
He held 6 burgages and lands in the town
of John Lacy, lord of Manchester ; a
capital messuage and lands in Middlebrook
of the queen ; a messuage in Audenshaw ;
three burgages in Salford and lands in
Manchester, of the queen ; also the house
called the Tollbooth, with the toll and
stallage of Manchester, of John Lacy, by
a rent of £4 ; Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 19, 20,
where the inquisition (Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. xiv, 41) is printed ; for his will see
Piccope, Wills, iii, 1 1 6.
John Hunt came of age in 1597, and
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
worthy offshoots;161 Radcliffe 16> — several families, including those of the Conduit163 and of the
did fealty on admission to his father's
land ; Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 131. About 1610
he was called upon to defend his title to
the Booths, Sir Nicholas Mosley laying
claim to it ; but he was able to show that
it, with the tolls, &c., had been granted
in 1514 to his ancestor Richard Hunt;
ibid, iii, 24, 25, notes. In 1620 the jury
ordered him to repair ' the Court-house
commonly called the Booths,' and sweep
it weekly ; ibid. In 1625 Margaret his
daughter and (co-) heir married John Hoi-
croft ; ibid, iii, 76, 352 notes. They
appear to have sold their lands ; ibid, iii,
153, 246. For the Hokrofts see Local
Glean. Lanes, and Cbes. ii, 149.
Other branches of the Hunt family
occur. Among the De Trafford deeds
are grants about 1315 from Ellota Bray-
bon, widow, and William her son of two
burgages to Walter le Hunt, Margery his
wife, and David and Richard their sons
(no. 2, 5) ; and in 1 347 Richard son of
Walter le Hunt granted land in Man-
chester to Richard son of Richard Chokes
(no. 13). The two burgages, which lay
in Deansgate, opposite the Parsonage, had
by 1396 passed to Richard del Hulle (no.
23-5). Lawrence, son and heir of John
Hunt and grandson and heir of Thomas
Barker, held land in St. Mary Gate in
14.82 ; ibid. no. 56, 57.
Among the Grammar School deeds is a
grant (1337) from Roger son of Richard
de Manchester to Richard del Crosseshagh
and Dyota his wife of a burgage next the
Pirlewallgate ; from the latter Richard to
Thomas son of John le Hunt (1357) of
goods ; from John son of William del
Crosshagh of a burgage in the Millgate
(1369) ; bonds to John le Hunt (1361,
1368) ; release to the executors of Richard
le Hunt (1385), and from John son of
Richard le Hunt to Richard de Worsley
(1399) ; the will of Agnes widow of John
le Hunt (1390), mentioning Ellen daugh-
ter of Richard le Hunt, and leaving the
guardianship of John and Richard, sons of
Richard le Hunt, to Richard de Worsley
and John de Tonwallcliff, her executors ;
lease of a burgage in Millgate from Cecily
widow of Henry Chadkirk, and Joan le
Hunt her daughter, to William Bradford,
Richard le Hunt of Audenshaw being a
witness.
John le Hunt and Agnes his wife in
1371 sold a messuage to Thomas de
Whitley ; Final Cone, ii, 180.
159 Robert Laboray or Laborer, serjeant-
at-arms to Henry VII, acquired lands near
St. Mary Gate in 1511-2; Hulme D.
no. 38. He left several daughter* as co-
heirs, and his widow Isabel in 1 544 grant-
ed a burgage to their daughter Alice, who
had married with Stephen Hulme ; ibid,
no. 48. Elizabeth, another daughter,
about 1533 married William Hulton of
Donnington, Lincolnshire ; a third daugh-
ter married Thomas Greenhalgh of
Brandlesholme, who was Robert's execu-
tor ; and various disputes broke out in-
volving the customs of the county as to
the distribution of the goods of a husband
or father ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), i,
156, &c. ; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), ii, 136, 152. See also Manch.
Ct. Leet Rec. i, 26, 1 80 note. ' Labrey's
House* retained its name in 1586 ; ibid,
ii, 6. It was near the present infirmary,
and in 1580 was styled 'Laborer's house
near the end of Marketstead lane,' in the
tenure of Robert Hulme of Newton ;
ibid, ii, 1 1 1 n. and information of Mr.
Crofton, who kindly adds the following
pedigree of William Hulton : Roger Hul-
ton of Hulton — younger son William,
married Jane Everard of Southcoton,
Lines. — s. Roger, married Katherine
Anyas — s. William.
160 In the account of the chantries it
is shown that Richard Bexwick left a
daughter Isabel, who married Thomas
Beck, and that their daughter Cecily
married Francis Pendleton. He was the
son of Thomas Pendleton, who died in
15 34 and whose will is printed in Pic-
cope, Wills, ii, 187. Francis died in
1574, leaving his son Henry as heir;
Ct. Leet Rec. i, 164, 167. Henry mar-
ried Elizabeth daughter and heir of
Robert Marler ; ibid, i, 233. He died
at the beginning of 1586, leaving a son
Francis, a minor ; ibid, i, 257. The in-
quisition taken after the death of Henry
Pendleton states that his father Francis
had settled his burgage in Deansgate and
other lands with remainders to Henry his
son, to Margaret, Isabel, and Ellen his
daughters, and to his brother George ; the
messuage, &c. in Grundy Lane was held
of the queen as of her duchy of Lan-
caster, by knight's service, and the rest of
the queen by a rent of i\d. Robert
Marler' s lands were held of the queen by
the zooth part of a knight's fee. Francis,
the son and heir of Henry, was ten years
of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv,
6 1.
Francis Pendleton was of age in 1596 ;
Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 115, 166. He was thrice
married, and died in 1621, leaving as heir
a son, under age ; ibid, iii, 37, where an
abstract of his will is given. By his
second wife, Anne Holland, he had a son
Francis, who died at Manchester in 1626
without a son ; and by his third wife,
Sarah Byrestowe, had a son Edward, de-
scribed as 'son and heir' in 1627, when
he was sixteen years of age ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvi, 34. The feoffments
and will of Francis the father are fully
set out in his inquisition, Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 322-6.
The will of Alice widow of George
Pendleton of Manchester, dated 1588, is
given in Piccope, Wills, ii, 218-20 ;
they had a daughter and heiress Cecily.
161 Henry Pendleton, D.D., the most
prominent of them, is said to have been
a brother of the Thomas who died in
1534. He was of Lancashire birth and
educated at Brasenose College, Oxford,
M.A. 1544; D.D. 1552. He was a
Protestant and benefited in the reign of
Edward VI, but in the next reverted to
the old religion, having frequent disputa-
tions with Bradford and others brought
before Bishop Bonner on charges of
heresy ; he is said to have been shot at
when preaching at St. Paul's Cross. He
published some homilies, &c., and died
in 1557; see Diet, Nat. Biog.\ Wood,
Athenae, and Gillow, Bitl. Diet, of Engl.
Cath. vi, 256 ; Foxe, Acts and Monu-
ments (ed. Cattley), vi, 629 ; vii, 185.
His nephew, Edward Pendleton (son
of Thomas), became fellow of Manchester
and vicar of Eccles.
A later Henry Pendleton of Manches-
ter compounded for 'delinquency' in
1645, having taken part against the Par-
liament by going into the king's quarters.
He returned and submitted, took the
National Covenant, Negative oath, and
paid a fine of £80 ; Cat. of Com. far Com-
pounding, ii, 1270.
1(9 Adam de Radcliffe had 4 acres
in 1320, paying 41. rent ; Mamecestre, ii,
244
291. He also had part of Gotherswick.
To Adam son of Robert de Radcliffe and
Alice his daughter, for life, John La
Warre in 1324 granted a place called
Osecroft with the Brend-orchard, at a
rent of js. 6d. ; Manch. Corporation D.
See also Matnecestrc, ii, 412 ; iii, 465.
A settlement of Adam's lands was made
in 1323 ; Final Cone, ii, 55. Alice mar-
ried John de Hulton of Farnworth ; see
Harpurhey.
Margery daughter of Henry Luthare
in 1428 granted to her son, Robert Tet-
low, two burgages in Manchester ; they
lay beside the road from the parish church
to Salford bridge, abutting on the Irwell
at one end and on the road from the
church to the parsonage at the other
end ; De Traffbrd D. no. 34. Robert de
Tetlow and Elizabeth his wife made a
settlement of the same ; ibid. no. 35, 36 ;
but in 1430 sold them to Nicholas son of
Sir Ralph de Radcliffe, who acquired land
adjoining them ; ibid. no. 38, 39. Five
years later a settlement was made, the
remainders being to Ralph, Thomas,
John, James, William, and Edmund, sons
of Nicholas, and then to Sir Ralph de
Radcliffe ; ibid. no. 45. Nicholas son
and heir of Ralph Radcliffe in 1487 made
a lease of a burgage in Deansgate, and in
the same year the dowry of Elizabeth his
mother was settled ; a chief rent of zs. zd.
was payable to the college ; ibid. no. 62,
63, 61. Margery Leigh, daughter and
heir of John Marshall, made a grant to
Nicholas Radcliffe in 1490 ; ibid. no. 64.
The property had passed to the Traffords
by 1548 ; Raines, Chant, i, 13.
The rental of 1473 shows that the fol-
lowing held burgages : William Radcliffe,
divers burgages and an intake, at a rent
of zs. ^.d. ; John Radcliffe, a burgage,
izd.\ and Richard Radcliffe, the same;
Mamecestre, iii, 489—91.
Richard Radcliffe, lord of Radcliffe,
had lands in Manchester in 1501 ; Lanes.
Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 148.
Robert Radcliffe of Radcliffe, who died
in 1617, held a burgage, &c., of Richard
Holland, by a rent of i zd. ; Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 75.
John Radcliffe, alias More, purchased
messuages, &c., about 1571 ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 33, m. 98 ; 34,
m. 66 ; 43, m. 99 ; 46, m. 67.
168 A pedigree of the Radcliffes of the
Conduit was recorded in 1613 ; fisit.
(Chet. Soc.), 130. In 1511-12 James
Radcliffe and Thomas his son granted to
Robert Laboray land near the end of
St. Mary Gate ; and in 1517-18 Thomas
son of James Radcliffe made another grant
to the same, as ' my brother-in-law ' ;
Hulme D. no. 38, 39. Margaret widow
of James (son of Thomas) Radcliffe of
Manchester was a defendant in 1535 ;
Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 161, m. 2d. A
William Radcliffe and Elizabeth his wife
in 1553 had a dispute with the Hulmes,
carried on in violent fashion ; Duchy
Plead, iii, 143, 193. William Radcliffe,
said to be grandson of Thomas, occurs
frequently in the Ct. Leet Rec-, and served
as one of the constables. He was de-
scribed as ' of the Conduit.' At one time
he encroached upon Barkhouse Hill and
the Cuckstool Pool, but was in 1598 re-
quired to lay the ground open again ; Ct.
Leet Rec. ii, 6, 145. He died early in
1600, and was succeeded by his son
William, then of full age ; ibid, ii,
155. The son died in 1608, and
his heir, his son William, was of full
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
Pool ; 164 Tetlow,165 Tipping,166 and Willott.167 In
some other cases the inquisitions have been pre-
served.168 The only freeholders returned in 1600
were John Marler, Richard Haughton, Lawrence
age ; Ct. Leet. Rcc. ii, 232. It was he
who recorded the pedigree in 1613, having
then two sons — Richard (aged six) and
William — and a daughter Mary. He
took an active part in the town's affairs.
He died in 1645, when his son Richard
succeeded him ; by his will of 1641 he
desired to be buried ' within his chapel
at Manchester in the same place where
his father was buried ' ; ibid, iv, 4 ;
Wills (Chet. Soc. new ser.), ii, 216.
The will of his widow Elizabeth in 1659
(ibid, ii, 79) describes her grandson Wil-
liam as ' of Gray's Inn.'
Richard Radcliffe was an active Par-
liamentarian, being described as captain
and major, and was chosen to represent
the borough in Parliament in 1656 ; Civil
War Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 46, 51, 333;
Pink and Beaven, Parl. Repre. of Lanes.
295 ; Ct. Leet Rec. iv, 159. He died in
1657, leaving a son William (named
above) then under age ; ibid, iv, 205.
This son died in 1670, being succeeded
in turn by his brothers John (died 1673)
and James. A deed of sale relating to a
shop in the Shambles or Fleshboards,
made by William RadclifFe in 1668, is
printed in Ct. Leet Rec. v, 13611. James
Radcliffe was summoned in 1675 to do
his suit and service on succeeding ; ibid,
vi, 8. He had a son William, probably
the William RadclifFe who was steward
of the lord's court from 1734 to 1743 ;
note by Mr. Earwaker ; Ct. Leet Rec. vii,
29, 123.
164 John RadclifFe died in June 1586,
holding various burgages and lands in
Marketstead Lane and Deansgate, partly
of the queen, partly of John Lacy, and
partly of William RadclifFe. Alexander,
the son and heir, was twelve years of age ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, 44 ; Ct.
Leet Rec. ii, 4. Alexander RadclifFe did
homage in 1595, on coming of age ; ibid,
ii, 92. On 1 6 Aug. 1606 Mary daughter
of Alexander RadclifFe, Manchester, of
the Hill in Stretford [probably Coldhill
•otherwise Colddale or Cowdale near Traf-
ford is meant, see Hitt. of Stretford (Chet.
Soc.), i, 121], was baptized at Manchester,
and another daughter, Ellen, was baptized
there on 4 Sept. 1608, but Alex-
ander died 24 Mar. 1607-8 (ibid, ii,
193). He left a son John, four years
old ; Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 233 ; Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 133.
John RadclifFe did fealty on coming of
age in 1625 ; Ct. Leet Rec. iii, 89. He
was described as ' of the Pool,' and was
buried at the collegiate church 28 June
1645, two sons and three daughters being
buried about the same time, having been
•carried off by the plague ; his widow is
mentioned in 1654 ; Ct. Leet Rec. iv, 115.
In Mr. Earwaker's note is given an ac-
count of the descent of the property to
John Radcliffe's daughter Sarah, who mar-
ried John Alexander of Manchester, sil-
versmith, and had a son RadclifFe Alex-
ander, in whose will of 1701 mention is
made of his dwelling-place called the
Pool. See also ibid, v, 94 and vi, 166
(an order to cleanse the Pool, 1684).
The Didsbury registers record these
burials : 2 Oct. 1666 ; Mary the wife of
Mr. Alexander Ratlef of Stretford ; 1 1
Aug. 1 703 ; Lidie, the wife of Alexander
Ratlef of Stretford ; Hist, of Stretford, i,
216.
A large number of extracts from the
Manchester registers relating to the Rad-
cliffes were printed in Misc. Gen. et Her.
Nov. and Dec. 1891. A view and ac-
count of Pool Fold may be seen in
Pal. Note Bk. iii, 265.
166 Richard Tetlow in 1473 held a
burgage formerly John Crompton's ; Ma-
mecestrc, iii, 488.
In 1558 Thomas son of Henry son of
Thomas Tetlow claimed a messuage
against Thomas Travis ; Pal. of Lane.
Plea R. 203, m. 9. He also recovered
three messuages against Anne Tetlow,
widow 5 ibid. R. 204, m. 5 d, 6 d.
John Tetlow in 1541 claimed a tene-
ment in right of his wife Agnes, daughter
and heir of Edmund Bardsley ; Duchy
Plead, ii, 162, 163.
166 Richard Tipping is the first of the
family to appear in the Manchester re-
cords. In 1561 he had a house in Hang-
ing Ditch close to the church, formerly
occupied by Richard Brownsword ; Ct.
Leet Rec. i, 67, 92. He served various
offices, and prospered in his business as a
linen draper, purchasing houses and land ;
ibid, ii, 9 (where a deed of purchase of
1587 is printed). He died in Oct 1592,
his heirs being his grandson Richard
(son of John Tipping and a minor) and
his son Samuel ; ibid, ii, 68, where are
given abstracts of his will and inquisition.
The will of his widow Isabel, sister of
Thomas Brownsword, dated 1598, is
printed by Piccope, Wills (Chet. Soc.), ii,
149.
Richard Tipping entered Brasenose
College, Oxford, in 1 6 1 o (Foster, A lumni),
but does not seem to have taken a de-
gree ; he was later described as ' clerk.'
He came of age in 1613, and did fealty 5
Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 279. He died early, but
his uncles Samuel and George took a
prominent part in Manchester affairs.
The former died without issue, and
George Tipping (the son of Richard) was
on coming of age in 1640 found to be
his heir, and heir also of Margaret Nu-
gent ; ibid, iii, 323, 324. They had
houses and shops in the Shambles, and
George died in possession in 1685, when
his son Samuel was found to be his heir ;
ibid, vi, 234. He and his descendants
long continued to live in Manchester and
the district, and acquired the manor of
Little Bolton. See the pedigree of Gart-
side Tipping in Burke, Landed Gentry.
Another George, son of the first-named
Richard Tipping, died in 1629, holding
various messuages, &c. in Manchester —
in the Further Smithy Field, Hanging
Ditch, Millgate, Nearer Tuefield (near
Newton Lane) — and in the Old Bailey,
London ; Samuel, his son and heir, was
twenty-four years of age ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. xxv, 34. Samuel Tip-
ping died in 1641, leaving as heirs his
sister Elizabeth (wife of Richard) Haworth
and Peter Leigh, son of Peter Leigh of
High Legh by Mary, another sister ; ibid.
xxix, 10. See also Ct. Leet Rec. iii, 168.
"7 The Willotts belonged to Fenny
Stratford, and appear about 1560 at Man-
chester. Thomas Willott the younger
died in 1577; in Manchester he held
burgages, messuages, &c., of the queen in
socage by a rent of 1 8</., and other mes-
suages in the Old Bailey, London. He
married Ellen daughter of Sir Edmund
TrafFord (who for her second husband had
Thomas Cogan, master of the grammar
245
school), and left a son Edmund, ten years
of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv,
22, 78 ; Mane A. Ct. Leet Rec. i, 190. Ed-
mund Willott died in July 1590, leaving
as heirs his sisters Isabel and Mary, the
former being twenty-seven years of age
and the latter eighteen 5 Duchy of Lane.
Inq. p.m. xv, 5. Mary, eventually sole
heir, married George Tipping, mentioned
in the preceding note, and so her estate
descended to the Leighs of High Legh.
168 George Travis died in 1584, hold-
ing land in Marketstead Lane ; he left a
widow Margaret and a son George, who
was of full age ; Manch. Corp. D. ;
Ct. Leet Rec. i, 248. There was a third
George Travis holding property in right
of his wife Anne ; ibid, i, 183, 187.
Lawrence Robinson died 8 May 1587,
holding a messuage in Manchester and
another in Newton of the warden and
fellows of the collegiate church ; also
messuages near Salford Bridge and else-
where in Salford of the queen ; Robert,
his son and heir, was twelve years of
age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, 9.
See also Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 1 5.
Richard Smethurst, who had lands in
Bury and Middleton, had also a messuage
in Manchester held of the queen ; he
died in 1597, leaving a son Richard
twenty-six years of age ; Duchy of Lane.
Inq. p.m. xvii, 74. The same or another
Richard Smethurst purchased lands in
1564; Ct. Leet Rec. i, 85. Richard
Smethurst, perhaps the son, was in 1599
ordered to make a sufficient pavement so
that the water might have due course
past the Booths ; ibid, ii, 153. He died
in 1620, holding a burgage by the south
door of the Tollbooth, and his son Hugh
succeeded him ; ibid, iii, 30 ; Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Rec. Soc.), iii, 296 (where he is
called ' late of Tyldesley ').
Henry Allen died in 1598 holding mes-
suages in Manchester of Nicholas Mosley
by the hundredth part of a knight's fee
and a rent of izd. ; George, his son and
heir, was twelve years old ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii, 67. Henry Allen
was the heir (by bequest) of Edward
Janney, who died in 1553; and had an
elder brother Edward Allen, of age in
i $68, who died in 1580, and to whom
he was heir ; Ct. Leet Rec. i, 7, 121, 215.
The will of Edward Janney is printed in
Piccope, Wills, i, 157. George Allen
came of age in 1608, and in 1615 sold
a house to Henry Johnson ; Ct. Leef Rec.
ii, 238, 305.
Ralph Proudlove died in 1588 holding
various burgages, &c., in Manchester ;
his widow Margaret died in 1600 ; after
which the estate was divided, half going
to the next of kin, George Proudlove, i
and half to the issue of his sister Ellen
Goodyear (who had died in 1591), Robert
her son succeeding ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec.
Soc.), iii, 465.
George Birch of Deptford held two
burgages, &c., in Manchester of Sir N. •
Mosley, by a rent of 6s. ; he died in
1602, and his heir was his sister Eliza-
beth, wife of Christopher Brown ; ibid,
iii, 463.
James Ashton of Manchester died in
1605, holding a messuage and land in
socage by a rent of i zd. ; Joyce Ashton
was his sister and heir ; ibid, iii, 466.
Thomas Edge of Whittle died at Man-
chester in 1607, holding a burgage of the
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Langley, and William Barlow.169 A pedigree of
'Ridge of Manchester' was recorded in i66$.m
The local surname was in use in the I3th and
1 4-th centuries, but no connected history can be given
of the family or families using it.171
The parish church has been described already and
its history related. No other church for the Estab-
lished worship was erected in the township till the
beginning of the 1 8th century. In 1708 an Act was
obtained for building a new church ; in this was
erected on a portion of Acres Field, and the Act pro-
vided for the continuance of the fair on part of the
ground, while allowing the remainder of the land to
be built upon. The rector's income was to be de-
rived from pew-rents, and though baptisms, marriages,
and burials were allowed, the fees and the registration
pertained to the old church.173 The Bishop of Chester
was to appoint the incumbent ; the patronage is now
lord of the manor ; he left two young
daughters as co-heirs; ibid, i, 1 1 2. He
had purchased the lands of Henry Ains-
worth and John (son of Ralph) Sorocold
in 1602 ; Ct. Lett Rec. ii, 177, 84, 239.
Alice Edge, one of the daughters, in 1620
sold a moiety of a messuage ' at the end
of Salford bridge' to Edward Chetham ;
ibid, iii, 29.
Robert Hulton, 'whittawer,' died in
1621 holding a messuage, &c., in Man-
chester of Edward Mosley by a rent of
t)d. ; the heir was his grandson, George,
son of George Hulton, twelve years of
age ; Land. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.), ii, 244,
where the settlement made by Robert
Hulton's will is given ; Ct. Lett Rec. iii,
48.
William Newsome died in 1621, hold-
ing a messuage of Edward Mosley ; Wil-
liam, his son and heir, was thirty years
of age; Towneley MS. C, 8, 13 (Chet.
Lib.), 914; Ct. Lett Rec. iii, 52. The
younger William's executors in 1652 sold
lands to Mrs. Elizabeth Lomax ; ibid.
iv, 74.
Jasper Fox died in 1623 holding bur-
gages, &c., in Marketstead and Deans-
gate of the king ; his son and heir
Richard was seven years old ; Towneley
MS. C, 8, 13, p. 427. Jasper was the son
of Richard Fox, who died in 1622 (and
who was the son of another Richard Fox,
who died in 1587 ; Ct. Lett Rec. ii, 12),
holding lands in Deansgate and (Old)
Millgate purchased from Shallcross and
Byrom ; ibid, iii, 51, where his will is
given. The family appear to have taken
an active part in the town's affairs.
Richard, the son of Jasper, came of age
in 1637 ; ibid, iii, 251. He died in or
before 1655, leaving two sons, Richard
and James ; ibid, iv, 240 ; his will is
printed in the note.
Stephen Rodley or Radley, who had an
estate in Nottingham, held burgages, &c.,
in Manchester at his death in 1630, as
follows : One in Marketstead, bought of
Francis Pendleton ; others in Hanging
Ditch, Rawlinson's Croft, Withy Grove,
and Shudehill Lane ; also four messuages
in Blackley ; William, his son and heir,
was twelve years old ; Towneley MS. C, 8,
13, p. 1002. The surname frequently
occurs in the Ct. Leet Rec. from 1552 on-
wards, and in 1604 it was reported that
one Robert Rodley had died, and that his
grandson Robert was his heir and of full
age ; ibid, ii, 198. Stephen Rodley is
first named in 1613, when he was ap-
pointed a constable ; ibid, ii, 281. Wil-
liam his son came of age in 1639 ; ibid,
iii, 285, and see the note. Robert Rodley
was of Collyhurst in 1619; Hist, of Neiv-
ton Chaptlry (Chet. Soc.), ii, 76 ; Manch.
Ct. Leet Rec. iii, 18 ; also in 1623 ;
Newton, ii, 278.
Henry Johnson of Manchester, mercer,
held burgages and shops near the Smithy
Door, &c., of Edward Mosley by izd.
rent, and died in 1637, leaving a son and
heir Thomas, sixteen years of age ; Duchy
of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxix, 24. Thomas
probably died before coming of age, as
another son, John, entered into possession
in 1653 ; Ct. Leet Rec. iv, 104, where
there is an abstract of the father's will.
William Buckley died in 1638, holding
a messuage ; his son William was only a
year old ; Towneley MS. C, 8, 13, p. 59 ;
Ct. Leet Rec. iii, 287, where is given a
summary of the will of William Buckley,
draper.
William Butler, yeoman, held nine
messuages, &c., of the king ; his own
house was in St. Mary Gate. He died in
1639, leaving four daughters as co-heirs
— Margaret wife of Roger Finch the
younger of Chorley ; Mary, Anne, and
Elizabeth — of whom the last was nine
years of age, and the others over twenty-
one ; Towneley MS. C, 8, 13, p. 66 ; Ct.
Leet Rec. iii, 329, where Mary is called
wife of Richard Hunt ; abstracts of the
wills of William Butler, innkeeper, and
of his widow Ellen are given in the note.
Thomas Harrison died in 1628 hold-
ing two messuages in Manchester, and
others in Wyresdale and Ellel ; Edward,
his son and heir, was forty years of age ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxx, 72. They
are not mentioned in the Ct. Leet Rec.
Henry Keeley died in 1640, holding
messuages, &c., in Hanging Bridge and
Smithy Door ; Thomas, his son and heir,
was thirty-five years old ; Duchy of Lane.
Inq. p.m. xxx, 21. The father seems to
have settled in the town about 1610 ; he
and his son are frequently mentioned in
the Ct. Leet Rec. ; see ii, 259 ; iii, 329
(will). Thomas was succeeded by his
sister Mary and her (second) husband
Nicholas Hawet in 1648 ; ibid, iv, 13.
In 1659 the estate was in the hands of
the trustees of her first husband, John
Griffin ; ibid, iv, 251. Mr. Crofton says :
•The name Keeley was sometimes spelt
Caley, and Caley banks or bongs were
on the east side of Oxford Street, where
it slopes down to the Medlock from the
canal. Members of the family owned
land in Salford (Portmote Rec., indexed as
Kelley).'
William Cooke, who died in 1641,
held burgages, &c., in Deansgate, and
left several daughters as co-heirs, of whom
Mary, the eldest, wife of Leonard Egerton,
was nineteen years of age. The others
were Martha, Hannah, Jane, and Ruth ;
Ellen Mosley and Esther Halstead were
dead ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxix, 5.
William Cooke is frequently named in the
Ct. Leet Rec.; the son-in-law was Leonard
Egerton of the Shaw in Flixton ; Dug-
dale, Visit. 1 02.
The above represent only a few of the
burgesses and landholders in the town, the
inquisitions quoted having survived by
chance ; but by the aid of the Ct. Leet
Rec., wills, &c., it is probable that a
fairly complete account might be com-
piled of the householders of Manchester
in the period between 1550 and 1650.
In several cases the inquisitions not only
246
describe the situations of the various pro-
perties, but record also the names of the
occupiers.
169 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 248, 250.
li° Dugdale, Visit. 242 ; see Ct. Leet
Rec. iv, 74. Ridgefield is said to derive
its name from its former owners. The
following were also summoned by the
herald : — Beswick, John Houlden, Fran-
cis Worthington, James Lancashire, and
Thomas Illingworth ; Visit, v.
1'1 A number of references will be
found in preceding notes.
Robert de Billsbrough and Leuca his
wife in 1256 acquired tenements in Man-
chester from Simon son of Luke de Man-
chester and others ; Final Cone, i, 1 28.
Ralph son of Robert de Manchester
in 1284 successfully claimed a messuage
and 2^ acres against Robert de Braybon
and Ellen his wife ; Assize R. 1265, m. 4.
In 1292 William son of Margery de
Manchester was plaintiff and Nicholas
son of Robert son of Simon de Man-
chester, defendant, in a suit respecting a
tenement in the town ; Assize R. 408,
m. 46.
In 1333 Margery widow of Adam son
of Robert de Manchester claimed dower
against Henry son of Robert son of
Simon ; De Banco R. 295, m. 102 d.
In 1338 Henry son of Robert son of
Robert de Manchester claimed messuages
and lands in the town against Henry son
of John son of Sir Henry de Traffbrd,
Adam son of Richard de Manchester,
Henry Boterind and Richard his son ;
De Banco R. 314, m. 225.
Hugh de Manchester, a Dominican,
was in 1294 sent as ambassador to France
by Edward I ; he wrote a work De Fana-
ticorum Deliriis. It is doubted whether
he belonged to Manchester or to Man-
cetter in Warwickshire, but in the Patent
Rolls his surname is given as Mamcestre
or Maunnecestre ; Cal. Pat. 1292-1301,
pp. 85, 131. See an essay by Mr. W. E. A.
Axon in Lanes, and Cbes. Antiq. Soc. ii,
108-14.
^2 The Act (7 Anne, cap. 6) is printed
in the Rev. Charles Wareing Bardsley's
Mem. -of St. Ann's Ch. (1877), 141-8.
This work contains a full account of the
origin of the church, as well as of its in-
cumbents and their work down to the end
of the 1 8th century ; the hymn books
used in Manchester churches are noticed,
and the rise of Sunday schools is told.
Among the most noteworthy of the rectors
were Archdeacon Ward, 1745 to 1785,
who has already occurred among the vicars
of Childwall, and James Bardsley.
W The Marriage Act of 1754 stopped
the celebration of marriages at St. Ann's.
Dr. Deacon, the Nonjurors" bishop, wa*
buried in the churchyard. The last burial
there was in 1854. The gravestones are
now concealed, the churchyard being a
public garden, but the inscriptions are in
the Owen MSS. (Free Library), xiii, 201;
xxix, 3.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
enjoyed by the Bishop of Manchester as his suc-
cessor.174 It was called St. Ann's, in compliment
to the reigning monarch and to Ann, Lady
Bland, lady of the manor, who resided at Hulme
Hall, and took an active part in the work.175 The
building was begun in May, 1709, and consecrated on
12 July 1712. A district was assigned to it in i839.176
St. Ann's is a good type of the classic town church of
its day, rectangular in plan with an apsidal east end and
a west tower. It is built of red sandstone which has
weathered so badly that the exterior has had to be
almost wholly refaced in recent years.177 Externally
the building is of two stories with two tiers of large
round-headed windows on each side having moulded
sills, architraves, and keystones, but without impost
mouldings, the upper windows lighting the galleries,
and the wall being divided at half its height by a
shallow entablature supported by very flat coupled
and balustraded parapet, but originally had a curious
cupola of three stages surmounted by a vane. This
was removed in 1777, as it appeared to be in danger
of falling, and was replaced by a steeple, which, how-
ever, stood only for a short time, the tower on its
removal assuming its present appearance. Externally
the general architectural effect is one of extreme flat-
ness, hardly relieved by the apse and porches.178 The
interior preserves its galleries, but the original square
columns have been made circular, and a general restora-
tion in 1837 and subsequent improvements have made
the interior one of much dignity. There is a good
oak pulpit with inlaid panels and simple detail. The
font was the gift of Francis Lathom of London, 1711.
There is one bell, which bears the inscription, ' I to
the church the living call, and to the grave do
summon all. A. R., 1769.'
The plate comprises twenty-five pieces, eight be-
ST. ANN'S CHURCH, MANCHESTER
Corinthian pilasters. In the upper stage the pilasters
are without capitals and support a cornice only, above
which is a square parapet formerly with balusters and
ornamented with urns and vases, but now quite plain.
There are entrances at the west end of the nave facing
north and south, with pediments supported by coupled
Corinthian columns, and the apse has fluted pilasters
of the same order its full height with an entablature
of good proportions the frieze of which is enriched
with carved ornament. The tower is of three stages,
the upper having a round-headed louvred belfry win-
dow flanked by coupled pilasters on each side. Below
is a clock. The tower now terminates in a cornice
longing to the I7th century, fourteen to the i8th,
and three to the igth. The earliest is a complete
set consisting of two chalices, two cover patens, two
credence patens, a large flagon, and an almsdish of
1697, all with the mark of John Bathe. The flagon
is inscribed, ' Ex dono Johannis Sandiford,' the covei
patens, * S. Ann's Church, Manchester,' and the alms-
dish, * St. Ann's Manchester.' The other pieces are
without inscription. The 18th-century plate com-
prises a tankard of 1701, inscribed 'St. Ann's
Ch. M.' ; a plate and two tankards of 1716, all in-
scribed, ' Given to St. Ann's Church by Mr. Edward
Mosley, son of Oswald Mosley, Esq., of Ancoats in
J74 The patronage of this and other
churches held by the Bishop of Chester
was transferred to the Bishop of Man-
chester in 1859.
V6 Bardsley, op. cit. 1 2 ; the author
gives some reasons for supposing that it
was built for the Whigs or Low Church-
men of the town.
W« Land. Gam. 29 Mar. 1839.
*77 Church 1905, tower 1907.
W There is a local tradition that Wren
or one of his pupils designed the building,
St. Andrew's Holborn being the model.
247
Dr. Byrom wrote to his wife in 1752
from London, ' Mr. Hooper, Clowes, and
I went in a coach and light at Holborn
and went into St. Andrew's Church. It
•was the model, I believe, of the new church
at Manchester.' There is, however, no
evidence to substantiate the tradition.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
the parish of Manchester 1 7 1 4 ' ; 178a a small cup and
cover paten of 1743 ; and a set formerly belonging
to St. Mary's Church, consisting of two chalices, two
cover patens, a credence paten, two flagons, and an
almsdish, of 1 7 5 6. The almsdish is inscribed * The gift
of Catherine Fisher widow, 1756,' and the credence
paten has the following inscription : * Dei gloriae
et honori populi commodo et saluti ecclesia Sanctae
Mariae pro lege lata A.D. 1753. Suscepta Festo
Sancti Michaelis A.D. 1756 consecrata. Quo die hoc
argcnteum cum duobus calicibus lagenis et patinis
celebrandum guardiani et
Mancr. jure patronatus
cum
ad eucharistiis perpetuo
Socij Col. Christi in
gaudentes dederunt.'
There are also three
Elkingtons, inscribed
Chester. Rev. H. W.
chalices of 1841 made by
;St. Ann's Church, Man-
McGrath, M.A., Rector,
i84i.'179 The registers begin in I736.179a
The next church was built under an Act 179b ob-
tained in 1753 by the warden and fellows of the colle-
giate church, after the old political animosities had
decayed. It stood upon their land called the Parsonage
Croft, lying between Deansgate and the Irwell, and was
called St. Mary's. It was consecrated in 1756, and the
incumbents, styled rectors, were presented by the warden
and fellows. It was a plain classic building, with a
spire 1 86 ft. high, which in its time was greatly ad-
mired.180 There was a graveyard round the building.
This church was pulled down in 1890, and the site is
now an open grass-covered square.181 The district,
assigned in i839,18S ^as been annexed to St. Ann's.
St. Paul's, a plain brick edifice with a stone tower,
was built on the eastern border of the town at the
corner of Turner Street and Tib Street in 1765 ; 18S
it was in 1878 replaced by the present St. Paul's,.
New Cross.184 St. John's (the Evangelist) was built
in 1769 in the Gothic of the time by Edward Byrom
of Kersal, whose Manchester residence was close by ;.
a graveyard is attached to it.18s The tower was
finished in May, 1770, and contains a ring of eight
bells by Lester and Pack of London, 1768-9.
St. James's, behind the Infirmary, was consecrated
in 1787; in 1816 its congregation was 'the
most numerous of any of the Established churches,'
except the old church. This church also had
a burial ground.186 St. Michael's, Angel Street^
on the way to Collyhurst, is a plain brick building,
with burial ground attached, consecrated in 1787 ;.
the church was consecrated two years later.186* St.
Clement's, Lever Street, has now disappeared ; it
was opened in 1793 by licence.1861* St. Peter's,,
begun in 1788, consecrated in 1794, and demo-
lished in 1907, was a small classic building, near
the present town hall.186c The patronage of all these
churches, except, of course, St. Clement's, is vested in
the dean and canons of Manchester.
St. George's Church, formerly distinguished as ' in.
the Fields,' stood upon part of the site of Oldham
Road Station. It was a brick building, opened specu-
latively in 1798, but not succeeding was transferred
to Lady Huntingdon's Connexion ; it was restored to
the establishment and consecrated in l8l8.187 In
1877 it was rebuilt in Oldham Road. The Bishop
of Manchester has the patronage.
I78a The inscribed date is two years
earlier than the date letter.
*"' Bardsley, Memorials of St. Ann's
Church, 14 n. The plate formerly be-
longing to St. Mary's has been transferred
to St. Ann's (see inscriptions)
I7»a MS. transcript may be seen at the
Reference Library.
1<8b 26 Geo. II, cap. 45.
180 Aston, Manch. 76-8 ; the interior
was dark but ' solemnly handsome.' The
spire was taken down in 1854.
181 For an account of the church see
Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Sac. viii, 137.
The graveyard inscriptions are in the
Owen MSS. There is a transcript of
the registers in the Reference Library.
182 Loud. Gam. 29 Mar. 1839.
189 Aston, Mancb. 78.
184 A district was assigned in 1839 ;
Land. Gaet. ut sup.
185 Aston, op. cit. 79-82. One of the
ttained-glass windows was brought from a
convent at Rouen. The building is of
brick, with west tower, and was restored in
1874-8, when the galleries were removed.
The patronage was vested in the heirs of
the founder for one turn after the first
appointment. It was built under a special
Act, 9 Geo. Ill, cap. 60 ; Pal. Note Bk.
iv, 8 1.
The church is noteworthy as the scene
of the labours of the ' amiable, venerated
and respected ' John Clowes, M. A., fellow
of Trinity Coll. Cambridge. He was from
1773 an ardent disciple of Emmanuel
Swedenborg, and devoted his energies and
wealth to the propagation of the new doc-
trines ; it is no doubt through him that
Swedenborgianism made great progress in
the Manchester district. His zeal did not
prevent his receiving offer* of preferment
in the Established Church. He died in
1831, having been rector of St. John's
from 1769. There is a biography of him
by Theodore Compton, and a notice in
Diet. Nat. Biog. ; W. Axon, Annals of
Manch. 182. He must be distinguished
from two of the name — one, vicar of Eccles
and incumbent of Trinity Church, Salford,
the other, a fellow of the collegiate church
and heir of the Clowes estates.
There is a monument to William Mars-
den, 'who presided over the committee
which obtained for Manchester, in 1843,
the Saturday Half Holiday'; he died in
1848.
A district was assigned to this church
in 1839, as above. John Evans* history
of the parish exists in MS. in the Free
Library ; an article by him is printed in
the Mancb. Lit. Club Papers, v, 106. The
graveyard inscriptions are in the Owen
MSS.
186 Aston, Manch. 82-3; 'the church
was built (aided by the sale of the pews)
by the late Rev. Cornelius Bayley, D.D.'
in whom and his heirs the presentation
was vested till 1847. A district was as-
signed in 1839 as above. The graveyard
inscriptions are in the Owen MSS.
1863 Aston, Manch. 83-4. The church
was built by the Rev. Humphrey Owen,
whose family had the presentation till
1 849. The founder, formerly of Flixton,
became rector of St. Mary's Manchester
The cemetery was intended for the poor,
many coffins being placed in each grave or
pit before it was filled up. In 1815 a
piece of land called Walker's Croft, on the
north bank of the Irk, was purchased for
a like purpose. This is now covered by
Victoria Station. There are copies of the
inscriptions in the Owen MSS.
St. Michael's had a district granted to
it in 1839, as above,
248
I86b Aston, op. cit. 89. It was built by-
its first minister, the Rev. E. Smyth, and
was 'a handsome building of brick and
stone, with a small stone spire." One of
the incumbents, William Nunn (d. 1840),
an Evangelical of the strict Calvinist type,,
was a man of great influence ; a Memoir
was published ; see also Manch. Guardian
N. and Q. no. 1285.
The church, which was never conse-
crated, was sold by the trustees in 1875,
and three others were built — St. Clement's,.
Greenheys, 1881 (previously a school-
church in Hulme), of which the incum-
bent of the old church became rector ;.
St. Clement's Ordsall, 1878, and St.
Clement's Broughton, in 1881; informa-
tion of Mr. C. W. Sutton.
I86c This church was in its time regarded
as a ' singularly elegant piece of architec-
ture ' ; the interior was ' a model of ele-
gance and taste. The subscribers had the
good sense to reject old rules which had>
not utility for their object ; and dared to
introduce comfort, convenience and pro-
priety into the temple of God ' ; Aston,
op. cit. 86-9. The steeple was a later
addition. The patronage was vested \tu
twenty-one trustees for a period of sixty
years from 1794. The church contained
a ' Descent from the Cross,' by Annibal
Carracci ; See Hibbert- Ware, Mancb.
Foundations, ii, 292. The church was long
famous for its musical services.
A district was assigned to this church,,
as to the foregoing, in 1839 ; it has been
added to St. James's. The site has been
sold to the corporation. A memorial
cross now marks the site.
187 Aston, Manch. 90. As before, a
district was assigned in 1839. There are
copies of the inscriptions in the Owen>
MSS.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
St. Matthew's, Campfield,188 and St. Andrew's,
Ancoats,189 were built in 1825 and 1831 respec-
tively, out of the Parliamentary grant for church
building ; the dean and canons of Manchester are
patrons. They also present to All Souls', Ancoats,
consecrated in 1 840. 19° In this year another church
in Ancoats was consecrated — St. Jude's, built in 1821
by the ' Tent Methodists,' 191 and sold by them in
1835 ;19* it was rebuilt in 1866. St. Simon and
St. Jude's in Granby Row was consecrated in 1 842 ;
the Bishop of Manchester was patron of this church,193
and is still of St. Thomas's, Red Bank, i844.194 The
other modern churches are : — St. Barnabas, near
Oldham Road, consecrated 1 844 ; 19S St. Philip's,
Ancoats, i850;196 St. Oswald's, Collyhurst, l855;197
St. John, the Evangelist's Miles, Platting, 1855 —
twenty-five years ago famous for a Ritualistic con-
troversy, the incumbent, the Rev. Sidney Faithorne
Green, ultimately losing his benefice ; 19S patron Sir
A. P. Heywood ; St. Catherine's, Collyhurst Road,
i859;199 St. Peter's, Oldham Road, i860;100 the
Albert Memorial Church, Collyhurst, 1864 ; 201
bt. James the Less, near Great Ancoats, 1870 ; 202
St. Martin's Ancoats, 1873 ;m St. James's, on the
site of Collyhurst Old Hall, 1874, m patron the
representative of the Rev. C. N. Keeling, first
rector, who died in 1907 ; and St. Saviour's, not yet
consecrated, patron the Crown and Bishop of Man-
chester alternately. Where not otherwise stated the
patronage is in the hands of various bodies of trustees.
The incumbents are all styled rectors. St. Philip's
and the Albert Memorial have mission halls.
From the Revolution down to the end of the
1 8th century, a non-juring congregation — the True
British Catholic Church — existed in Manchester.
Dr. Thomas Deacon, who died in 1753, was one of
its bishops,205 and Mr. Kenrick Price, a tea dealer,
who died in Liverpool in 1 790, was the last.206
The Church Congress held its meetings in Man-
chester in 1863, 1888, and 1908.
Methodism was early introduced into the town.
Wesley was able to preach here in 1733, the Rev.
John Clayton, afterwards an opponent, having been
one of the early ' Methodists ' of Oxford.*07 Metho-
dism in the ordinary sense began to take root about
1 747, a room near Blackfriars Bridge being used for
meetings ; Wesley preached at the market cross. A
chapel was built in Birchin Lane at the back of High
Street about ly^o,*08 but was abandoned for the
larger chapel in Oldham Street, built in I78o.208i The
Conference was held in Manchester in 1765, and
sixteen times since.209 A second chapel was built in
Great Bridgewater Street in i Soo,*09* and a third in
Swan Street, Shude Hill, in 1808. The New Con-
nexion built a chapel in High Street,210 but afterwards
were content with a smaller one in Oldham Street,
opened in 1807. The Primitive Methodists built
one in Jersey Street in i824.111 Others were built
as the town developed, but some have been abandoned,
owing to the displacement of population, and the
following are those now in use : — Wesleyan Metho-
dists : Five churches for their Manchester and Salford
Mission, established in 1888, and three others in
Collyhurst, &c., in the ordinary circuits, with a
Welsh church, St. David's, in Collyhurst ; *If Primitive
Methodists : Three, in Ancoats and Collyhurst ;
United Free Methodists: Four, in the Ancoats and
Collyhurst districts ; Independent Methodists : One, in
Hanover Street.
The Baptists have long been established in the
city.lls The Particular or Calvinistic Baptist chapel
in Coldhouse, Shude Hill, was built about 1740 and
remained in use till 1890 or later.114 Another, in
Rochdale Road, was first built in I789;"5 it was
famous for the preaching of William Gadsby, min-
ister there for 38 years, who died in 1844. It was
rebuilt in 1908. There is another Baptist church at
Queen's Park, Collyhurst.
The Congregationalists are known to have had a
meeting place in Coldhouse in 1756, or perhaps
188 sir Charles Barry was the architect.
It was one of his first essays in Gothic,
and a ' subject for laughter ' in his later
days; Life of Sir C. Barry, 68. The
district was assigned in 1828; Land.
Gaz. 4 July.
189 A district was assigned in 1839.
190 The church was built for Dr. Samuel
Warren (father of the novelist), who had
been expelled from the Wesleyan Metho-
dist Connexion. A district was assigned
to it in 1842 ; Land. Gats. 19 July.
J91 For this body see Nightingale, Lanes.
Nonconf. v, 1 8 1, 182.
193 Axon, Ann. of Manch. 195.
193 The church has been closed ; the
district is added to St. James's.
194 A district was formed for it in 1844,
and altered in 1856 ; Land. Gaz. i July.
195 A district was granted in 1 844 ;
Land. Gaz. 22 Oct.
196 For district and endowment, Land.
Gaz. 22 Mar. 1850.
19" A district was assigned in 1856 ;
Land. Gaz. i July.
198 For details of the matter, which
lasted from 1879 l'11 1882, see T. Hughes,
Life of Bishop Fraser, 254-84.
i" A district was formed in 1860;
Land. Gaz. 1 6 May.
300 For district «ee Loud. Gae. 3 Aug.
1860.
*>i For district, ibid. 10 Jan. 1865.
4
303 For district, ibid. 4 July 1871.
308 For district, ibid. 10 July 1874.
The church it to be demolished, and the
district divided between St. Peter's, Old-
ham Road, and St. Barnabas'.
304 The land, church, and other build-
ings were the gift of Charles P. Stewart,
of the Atlas Works, Manchester ; Axon,
Ann. 341. For district see Land. Gaz.
i Dec. 1874.
305 See N. and Q. (Ser. i), xii, 85.
306 Axon, Ann. 117. James Ray in
his Hist, of the Rebellion thus describes
the congregation of 1745 : — 'I don't
know of what body the congregation
consists, they not allowing any to come
amongst them but such as are of their
own sort, who (like the more worshipful
society of Freemasons) are under an oath
not to divulge what is transacted there.'
307 See Everett, Methodism in Mancb.
Whitefield preached in the town in 1738.
308 ' Methodist Meeting ' appears in
Berry's plan c. 1752.
2083 Oldham Street Chapel was taken
down in 1883 ; it is represented by the
Central Hall of the Wesleyan Mission.
209 Viz. in 1787, 1791, 1795, 1799,
1803, 1809, 1815, 1821, 1827, 1833,
1841, 1849, 1859, 1871, 1887, 1902.
309a Of Bridgewater Street an account
was given in Manch. Guardian, 24 July
1888. The Barnes family, of whom was
249
Robert Barnes the benefactor, attended
this chapel. There are copies of the
gravestone inscriptions in the Owen MSS.
210 Manch. Guardian N. and Q. no. 1 247 ;
it was afterwards the Mealhouae, then the
manor court-house, and down to about
1850 was used as a Sunday school.
311 These details are from Aston,
Manch. (ed. 1816), 99—101, and Baines,
Lanes. Dir. (1825), ii, 140.
313 A Welsh Methodist chapel called
St. David's was built in 1817 in Parlia-
ment Street ; Baines, Lanes. Dir. ii, 140.
318 Their founder was the versatile
John Wigan, also considered the founder
of the local Independents. He was
minister of Birch Chapel about 1650, and
afterwards fought in the Parliamentary
army ; see Martindale, Autobiog. (Chet.
Soc.), 75. A Mr. Jones, Anabaptist
minister, is mentioned by Henry New-
come in 1659; Autobiog. (Chet. Soc.),
in. A Baptist chapel existed in 1717}
Gastrell, Notitia (Chet. Soc.), ii, 57.
314 Lanes, and Chet. Antiq. Soc. viii,
129 ; it was demolished in 1899.
315 Baines, Lanes. Dir. ii, 140 ; there
was in 1875 a third chapel in York Street,
near the Infirmary, built in 1807. In
addition, the General (or Arminian) Bap-
tists had two small chapels opened in
1824 and 182$. There was in 18579
Welsh Baptist chapel in Granby Street.
3*
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
earlier."1' The introduction of Unitarian doctrine
at Cross Street Chapel is believed to have had much
to do with the formation of this separate assembly,
which was Trinitarian. In 1762 a new building was
erected in Hunter's Croft, Cannon Street ; 217 it was
soon enlarged, and in 1828 practically rebuilt. By
1856 the congregation had been dispersed in the
suburbs, and in 1860 the building was sold, the
church in Chorlton Road, Old Traffbrd, having taken
its place. In 1 807 a new church had branched off
from Cannon Street, though not without friction, and
opened a place of worship in Grosvenor Street, near
the Infirmary.217 An earlier secession from Cannon
Street, in consequence of a dispute with the minister,
led to the formation of a church in Mosley Street in
1 788."* It was at Mosley Street Chapel that the
Lancashire Union of Independent Churches was
formed in 1 806. This building was abandoned in
1848, being replaced by that in Cavendish Street,
Chorlton upon Medlock ; Dr. Robert Halley, the
historian of Lancashire Puritanism, was minister at
that time. Grosvenor Street Church is still in use,
and there are five others, at Knott Mill, and between
Ancoats and Collyhurst. There is also at Collyhurst
a Welsh Congregational church.
The Presbyterian 219 Church of England has a place
of worship in Ancoats. It is known as Chalmers
Chapel, and was built in i854.220
The Salvation Army has four barracks on the east
and north-east fringe of the township.
The Quakers have existed in Manchester since the
time of George Fox, who visited the town in 164.7,
and again in 1657 ; on the latter occasion the 'rude
people ' from the country threw at him ' coals, clods,
stones and water,' but he remarks that ' the Lord hath
since raised up a people to stand for His name and
truth in that town.'221 Their first meeting-house was
in Jackson's Row ; it was rebuilt in 1732, but quitted
in 1795 for a new one in Mount Street ; this was
rebuilt in 1830.*** It has a library containing early
Quaker books.
The original Nonconformist chapel is that in Cross
Street, which was built for Henry Newcome in
i693~4.223 This celebrated divine had been chap-
lain of the Collegiate Church for a few years during
the Commonwealth, but on the Restoration was not
admitted to a fellowship. He then ministered in
private as well as he could during the period of pro-
scription from 1662 to 1687. He died the year after
the chapel was opened, and was buried there.2*4
The site of the chapel had been known as
Plungeon's meadow, from the owner's name.2243 The
place was damaged by the mob in 1715, but was
restored with the aid of a grant from Parliament.
It was enlarged and rebuilt in 1737. There is a
small graveyard.
The following is a list of the ministers of this
chapel, some of whom were of more than local
eminence
Henry Newcome, M.A., 1687-95
John Chorlton, 1687-1705
James Coningham, M.A., 1700-12
Eliezer Birch, 1710-17
Joseph Mottershead, 1717-71
Joshua Jones, 1725—40
John Seddon, M.A., 1741-69
Robert Gore, 1770-79
Ralph Harrison, 1771-1810
Thomas Barnes, D.D., 1780-1810
John Grundy, 1811—24
John Gooch Robberds, 1811-54
John Hugh Worthington, 1825-7
William Gaskell, M.A., 1828-54
James Panton Ham, 1855—59
James Drummond, D.D., 1 860-69
Samuel Alfred Steinthal, 1871-93
William Hamilton Drummond, B.A., 1889-93
Edwin Pinder Barrow, M.A., l 893
It was under the joint pastorate of Mottershead
and Seddon that the teaching changed from Trini-
tarian to Unitarian. A secession in 1789 led to the
formation of a second Unitarian congregation in
Mosley Street, which in 1837 moved to Chorlton
upon Medlock.226 Sunday schools are now maintained
in Lower Mosley Street, and there is also a church in
Collyhurst. The Academy for training Noncon-
formist ministers, originally founded at Warrington,
was re-established at Manchester in 1786 ; it was
transferred to York in 1803, and afterwards to Chorl-
ton upon Medlock, London, and Oxford, where, as
Manchester College, it is still flourishing.217
The Swedenborgians had a temple called, as usual,
New Jerusalem, built in 1793 in Peter Street."8 It
was sold before 1890, and churches built at Moss
Side, Broughton, and Pendleton.
The Bible Christians had Christ Church, built in
1823 in Every Street, and known as the Round
Chapel. It came into the possession of the Salvation
Army.2283
216 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. v,
107-47 ; from this account the brief sum-
mary in the text is derived. For the
Ancoats, Oldham Road, Ashley Lane, and
Queen's Park churches, see ibid. 180-8,
190.
^ The Confession of Faith, &c., of the
Church of Christ in Hunter's Croft,
Manchester, was printed in 1764.
2173 Copies of the inscriptions are in
the Owen MSS.
218 This chapel had a famous minister
in Dr. Robert S. McAll, who died in
1838.
219 The « Scots Calvinists,' or United
Secession Church, built a chapel, called
St. Andrew's, in Lloyd Street in 1799;
it was removed to Brunswick Street,
Chorlton upon Medlock, in 1858, and
now belongs to the Presbyterian Church
of England. Another Scotch Church, in
Mosley Street, was founded in 1831.
220 The cause was founded in 1837.
221 Fox, Journ. (ed. 1852), i, 60, 305.
The meeting was established about 1653
by Thomas Briggs ; information of Mr. R.
Muschamp.
222 Aston, Mancb. 102 ; Baines, Lanes.
Dir. ii, 140. In 1774 a distraint was
made on twenty Quakers who refused to
pay their tithes ; Manch. Constables'1 Accts.
iii, 297.
223 Nightingale, op. cit. v, 81-107 ;
Sir T. Baker, Mem. of a Dissenting
Chapel, containing an account of the
ministers, trustees, &c., with illustrations;
Pal. Note Bk. i, 28 ; G. E. Evans, Recs.
of Pro-v. Assembly of Lanes, and Ches.
224 Henry Newcome was born in 1627
at Caldecote, Hunts. ; educated at St.
John's Coll. Cambridge ; M. A., 1 650 ;
ordained as a Presbyterian ; rector of
Gawsworth 1650 to 1657 ; chaplain —
there were then no fellows — of Man-
250
Chester 1657 to 1662. He was buried in
the chapel 30 Sept. 1695. For fuller
accounts of him see the works cited in
the last note ; also Pal. Note Bk. i, 17, &c.
His Diary and Autobiog. have been printed
(in part) by the Chetham Society ; the
Introduction to the former of these (by
Thomas Heywood) contains a biography.
2243 For the Plungeon family see Pal.
Note Bk. iii, 249, 283. The monumental
inscriptions are in the Owen MSS.
225 Notices of several will be found in
Diet. Nat. Biog.
226 Nightingale, op. cit. v, 104.
327 Some Manchester reminiscences are
printed in Harland's Collectanea (Chet.
Soc.), ii, 232-41. The building was at
the lower end of Mosley Street (then
Dawson Street), a little north of St. Peter's
Church.
228 Aston, Manch. 103.
2288 N. and Q. (Ser. 7), xii, 323.
SALFORD HUNDRED
Mormon missionaries visited the town in 1 840.
The Welsh Calvinistic Methodists formerly had a
chapel in Cooper Street, built in I824-229
The Dutch Evangelicals or Lutherans in 1857 had
a meeting-place in John Dalton Street.
There exist a City Mission founded in 1837 and
supported by what are known as the Evangelical
denominations, and a Domestic Mission, which is
Unitarian.
The adherents of the ancient faith appear to have
disappeared very quickly after the Reformation, and
by the end of Elizabeth's reign there were probably
few known in the whole parish except the Barlows of
Barlow.230 In 1651 Richard Martinscroft, ' a poor
old man, over sixty years of age,' is found to have had
two-thirds of his estate ' sequestered for his recusancy
only ' : he had a large house in Manchester, divided
into three dwellings, but lived two or three miles
away.231 The list of 'Papists' supplied to Bishop Gastrell
about 1717 records only thirteen in Manchester and
three in Salford,131 but a later list, 1767, gives the
number as 373, principally in Manchester, Salford,
and Stretford.13* What attempts were made to pro-
vide priests in the first century of the proscription is
unknown, but soon after the Restoration one Thomas
Weedon had charge of a large district including most
of the Salford and Macclesfield Hundreds, and appears
to have resided chiefly at Manchester, where he died
in ijig.*3* Mass, it is related, was said in secret
near the present Blackfriars Bridge, in a room which
was used as a warehouse during the week.135 About
1 760 rooms were secured off Church Street in the
passage on that account known as Roman Entry.
Some fifteen years later a house containing a large
room to be used as a church was built in Rook
Street.136 It was known as St. Chad's, and is now
represented by St. Chad's, Cheetham Hill Road,
erected in 1 847. St. Mary's in Mulberry Street was
built in I794,236a and rebuilt in 1835 ; the roof fell
in soon afterwards, but the church remained in use
until 1 847, when the present one, on the same con-
fined site, was erected, being dedicated in .1848. To
these have been added St. Augustine's, iSzo;137 St.
Patrick's, i832;238 St. Anne's, Ancoats, 1847-8;
St. Michael's, 1859; and St. Alban's, Ancoats. St.
MANCHESTER
William's, Angel Meadow, 1864, is a chapel of ease
to St. Chad's ; and the Polish mission of St. Casimir,
1904, to St. Patrick's. The Sisters of Charity have a
night refuge in Ancoats.
The Jews had a synagogue, a humble room off
Long Millgate, a century ago ; about i8z6 they built
one in Halliwell Street, which has now disap-
peared.139
Among the distinguishing features of Whit-week in
Manchester are the processions of the Sunday School
children. They began in 1 80 1.
CHORLTON-UPON-MEDLOCK
Cherleton, 1196; Chorleton, Chorelton, 1212;
Chorlton, 1278. Cholerton, perhaps by mistake,
xv cent.
This township, formerly known as Chorlton Row,1
lies on the south side of the Medlock, and has an area
of 646^ acres.1 It has long been urban in character,
the plan of 1793 showing that a large number of
streets were then being laid out. It was crossed near
the centre by Cornbrook, and had Rusholme Brook, a
tributary of the former, for its southern boundary.
The district called Greenheys lies in the south-west,
in the angle between the two brooks. In 1901 there
was a population of 57,894.
The principal streets are Oxford Street and Upper
Brook Street, going south-east from the centre of
Manchester ; the latter has an offshoot called Ply-
mouth Grove, in a more easterly direction, reaching
the Stockport Road, which runs along the eastern
boundary, near Longsight. There are many public
buildings in the township, in addition to churches and
schools. On the west of Oxford Street is Grosvenor
Square, on one side of which stands the town hall,
built in 1831, with police station, dispensary, and
school of art adjacent ; the union offices are situated
on another side of the square. Further to the south,
in the same street, lie the extensive buildings of
Owens College, founded in Quay Street in 1851, and
transferred to this site in 1873 ; it is now the seat
of the Victoria University of Manchester. On the
229 Baines, Lanes. Dir. ii, 140. They
had another in Gartside Street in i8z6.
280 In the whole parish in 1626 there
were only four ' convicted recusants and
non-communicants' paying specially; Lay
Subs. R. 131/312. For presentments
of recusants at the beginning of the
1 7th century see Mane A. Constables' Accts.
i, 56, 162, 165.
281 Royalist Camp. Papers (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), iv, 122, 123.
232 Notitia Cestr. ii, 57, &c. Susannah
Reddish, widow, in 1717 as a 'papist'
registered a small estate in Salford ; Est-
court and Payne, Engl. Cath. Non-jurors,
153. In 1729 the Rev. Will. Huddle-
ston, O.S.B., publicly renounced his re-
ligion in the Collegiate Church ; Manch,
Guardian N. and Q. no. 1263; Loc. Glean-
ings, ii, 128.
238 Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), xviii,
214. The details of the chapelries were:
Manchester, 287 ; Blackley, I ; Chorlton,
i (viz. Mr. Barlow) ; Salford, 64 ; Stret-
ford, 20 (exclusive of Mr. Traffbrd, who
lived mostly at York).
284 This account is chiefly derived from
a statement prepared by Mr. Joseph Gil-
low in 1902. Thomas Weedon, a Wor-
cestershire man, was admitted to the
English College at Rome in 1658, and
was sent on the mission in 1663 ; Foley,
Rec. S.jf. vi, 395.
285 Manch. Guardian N. and Q. no. 278.
Baines, on the other hand, states that ' in
the early part of the last (i8th) century the
Catholics had a chapel in Smithy Door,
in a building now the Grey Horse public-
house, behind which there is still a large
unoccupied piece of ground, then used as
a burial ground ' ; Lanes. Dir. ii, 139.
286 'At that time toleration was not
sufficiently liberal to allow any insulated
Catholic chapel, and like all others of
that day, the one under consideration is
attached to a dwelling-house ' ; Aston,
Manch. (1816), 93. A description fol-
lows.
2863 The builder wa» one of the most
notable personages in Manchester in his
time: — Rowland Broomhead, a Yorkshire-
man, born 1751, educated at the English
College, Rome, and ordained priest in
1775. He was sent to Manchester in
251
1778, and laboured there till his death in
1820, gaining universal respect; Gillow,
Bill Diet, of Engl. Cath. i, 316.
W This is about to be closed, the site
being required by the corporation. It is
to be rebuilt in Chorlton-upon-Medlock.
238 There were stormy scenes at this
church in 1846, the priest in charge
(Daniel Hearne) having a dispute with the
Vicar Apostolic ; Gillow, Bill. Diet, of
Engl. Cath. iii, 232.
289 Aston, Mancb. 105 ; Baines, Lanes.
Dir. ii, 141.
1 This name is found in 1594 ; Ducatus
Lane. (Rec. Com.), iii, 299. It was usual
down to the first part of last century.
The name may be connected with the
Roocroft mentioned in a deed cited below.
Row is popularly supposed to have refer-
ence to a former avenue of trees from
London Road up to Chorlton Hall, but
the name is much older than any such
row of trees. The epithet was due to a
desire to distinguish the township from
the other Chorlton, now called Chorlton
with Hardy.
2 647 acres ; Census Rep. 1901.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
border of the township is Whitworth Park, in which
is an art gallery. The Royal Manchester College of
Music is in Ducie Street. On the east side of Oxford
Street is an Eye Hospital, while another hospital lies
between Oxford Street and Upper Brook Street. To
the east of the latter thoroughfare there is a Free
Library, opened in 1866 ;3 also the Rusholme Road
Cemetery, formed in 1823 for the use of Protestant
Dissenters. In Plymouth Grove is a large Home for
the Aged. There are fire stations on the Stockport
Road, and a drill shed at Greenheys.
The new Infirmary is within this township.
In 1 666 the principal residence in Chorlton Row was
that of Ellis Hey, with five hearths liable to the tax ; in
the whole township there were forty-nine.4 Chorlton
obtained a Police Act in i8224a and a Lighting Act in
1832.* It was included in Manchester borough on
incorporation in 1838, and was then divided into two
wards, All Saints' and St. Luke's, on the west and east
respectively. The township, as such, has now ceased to
exist, and forms part of the new township of South
Manchester, created in 1896.
Neolithic implements have been found.6
Thomas De Quincey, born in Manchester, lived
in his youth at Greenheys, which was built by
his father about 1791, and has recorded his memo-
ries of the place.7 John Ashton Nicholls, philan-
thropist, was born in Grosvenor Street in 1823 ;
he died in 1859." Mrs. Gaskell resided in the town-
ship, and in Mary Barton described the district as it
was in 1848. Sir Charles Halle lived in Greenheys
for about forty years.
The manor of CHORLTON, which
MsJNOR once included Beswick, or part of it, was
at the beginning of the I3th century held
of the king in thegnage by a local family ; it was
assessed as two plough-lands, and a rent of zos. was
the annual service.9 Gospatrick de Chorlton was
tenant in 1202, when his son Richard's widow
claimed dower,10 and in 1212, when the great survey
was made.11 He died in or before 1223, when his
son Brun received seisin of one plough-land in Chorl-
ton, having paid the king 2 marks as relief.11 It
probably escheated to the Crown soon afterwards, as it
became part of the possessions of the Grelleys and La
Warres, lords of Manchester, being held as one plough-
land by the old service of 2O/.13
Gospatrick had lost four oxgangs of land to Matthew
son of William [de Hathersage] by wager of battle.14
He had granted a further two oxgangs to his brother
Adam, in view of Adam's fighting for him against
William son of Wulfric de Withington.15 Four ox-
gangs of land also he gave to Henry de TrafFord, who
held a fifth in 121 2. 16
The Grelleys, on acquiring the lordship, appear to
have granted it, without exacting any service, to a
junior branch of the family, as one Robert Grelley
was in possession in 1278 17 and was succeeded by a
son John, who in 1 334 alienated his lands in Chorlton
to Henry de TrafFord.18 The Traffords thus acquired
8 The Female Penitentiary, founded in
1836, was formerly on this site.
4 Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9.
4a 3 Geo. IV, cap. 14.
5 2 & 3 Will. IV, cap. 90.
6 Lanes, and Ches, Antiq. Soc. v, 328.
7 In Autobiographic Sketches and Confes-
sions of an Opium Eater.
8 Diet. Nat. Biog.
9 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 69. This place
occurs earlier in the Pipe Rolls, for in
1177—8 account was rendered of the
^ mark of aid due from it ; Farrer, Lanes.
Fife R. 36.
There is much danger of confusion be-
tween Chorlton in Manchester and Chorl-
ton (Chollerton) in Withington, as is
shown by Booker's Chorlton Chapel, &c.
10 Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 14 ; Ellen, the widow, received
for life one oxgang of land out of two
which Austin de Chorlton held ; also four
eelions — two by Jordan's ditch and two
by Jordan's selion — in return for the
moiety of the capital messuage belonging
to her oxgang.
Gospatrick de Chorlton occurs about
the same time in the Pipe Rolls ; Lanes.
Pipe R. 152, 205.
11 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 69, 128.
19 Fine R. Excerpts (Rec. Com.), i, 103.
18 In 1324 John la Warre held it;
Dods. MSS. rxxxi, fol. 386.
14 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 69. These
oxgangs were by Matthew granted to the
father of Richard and Jordan le Norreys
of Heaton Norris, and became Jordan's by
agreement in 1196; Final Cone, i, 5.
Jordan's ditch and selion have been men-
tioned in a foregoing note.
15 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 70 ; a ser-
vice of 31. $d. was due. Gospatrick's
•charter is in Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 165 ;
and Stretford (Chet. Soc.), iii, 232. It
referred to ' an eighth part of Chorlton.'
18 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 69 ; a rent
of 6s. 3</., the due proportion for five ox-
gangs of land, was to be rendered. As to
four of the oxgangs Gospatrick's grant to
Henry son of Robert son of Ralph de
Trafford is extant ; it comprised the
whole fourth part of Chorlton, viz., four
oxgangs, two formerly held by Randle, one
by Steinulf, and one by Robert son of
Edwin — at a rent of 5*. yearly ; De Traf-
ford D. no. 122. The seal shows a con-
ventional ornament with part of the
legend: — SIGIL . . . PATI . . x CHARLTVN.
In the division of the TrafFord estates
in 1278 Chorlton was given to Henry de
Trafford ; Final Cone, i, 154.
17 The grantee was perhaps the John
Grelley who in 1275 appeared with Henry
de Chetham against Jordan de TrafFord
and Thomas Ball, alleging an assault at
Chorlton ; Coram Rege R. 18, m. 8.
Three years later Robert Grelley was
in possession, Peter Grelley demanding
•gainst him three plough-lands in Chorlton
and Cuerdley ; De Banco R. 24, m. 3 ;
31, m. 55. In 1306 Thomas Grelley
demanded a messuage and six oxgangs of
land in Chorlton by Manchester against
Robert son of John Grelley, and a mes-
suage and three oxgangs against Joan widow
of John Grelley; De Banco R. 161, m.
481 ; see also R. 179, m. i8id. ; 183,
m. 398, This statement shows that the
junior Grelleys held nine oxgangs — the re-
mainder of the two plough-lands, after
allowing for the holdings of the Trafford
(5) and Chorlton (2) families.
Somewhat earlier (in 1302 and 1303)
Henry de Trafford, Thomas son of Jordan
de Chorlton, and Amabel de Chorlton
claimed 5 acres in Chorlton against John
Grelley, but did not prosecute ; Assize R.
418, m. I5d. ; 419, m. 7. This John
Grelley was probably the successor of the
Robert of 1278 and father of the Robert
of 1 306. The suit then shows the three
252
possessors of the manor contending among
themselves. A later one shows them
uniting against the superior lord ; for in
1319 Henry de Trafford, Robert de Stani-
street, Robert son of John Grelley, and
Thomas son of Jordan de Chorlton, ap-
peared against John La Warre, Joan his
wife, John de Strickland, Alice his wife,
John de Hulton, and Jordan son of Henry
de Oldham, respecting a tenement in
Chorlton ; Assize R. 424, m. 9. This
or a similar suit was in 1324 continued
by Robert son of John Grelley, Henry de
Trafford, Robert the son and Agnes the
widow of Thomas de Chorlton ; Assize
R. 426, m. 9.
The only tenants of the La Warres
named in 1320 were Henry de Trafford,
five oxgangs, 6s. T,d. (part of js.) ; and
Thomas de Chorlton, two oxgangs, 31. 4^. ;
both were bound to grind at the Man-
chester mills ; Mamecestre, ii, 278, 279.
John La Warre in 1325 claimed 145^
acres of land in Manchester and Chorlton,
in right of his wife Joan, against John de
Strickland and Alice his wife ; De Banco
R. 258, m. 3iod.
The Grelleys of Chorlton held the
manor of Allerton in Childwall parish.
18 De Trafford D. no. 124, bearing Johr
Grelley's seal. The bounds of his lands
in the vill of Chorlton began in the centre
of Shootersbrook (aqua de Schiter), fol-
lowed the highway from Manchester to
Stockport as far as the Medlock, thenct
by the said highway to Whitacre Ford and
between Greenlow (Grindlow) Marsh and
Chorlton Heath to Greenlow Cross, and
as far as Greenlow Lache ; along the
lache between Chorlton Heath and With-
ington to Gooselache and by this lache
down to Withinshaw, and so to ' Le
Heghcres ' ; thence by the ditch between
Hulme and Chorlton to the Medlock, and
up stream to the starting point. It will
be noticed that the whole of the later
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
practically the whole manor, but part was afterwards
held by the Traffords of Garrett.19 The hall and
its demesne lands were in 1590 sold by Sir Edmund
Trafford to Ralph Sorocold of Golborne,20 who sold
it to Ellis Hey of Eccles, and in 1 644 it was sold by
the younger Ellis Hey" to Thomas Minshull,
apothecary of Manchester.2* The Minshulls also
acquired the adjacent Garrett estate, and Hough Hall
in Moston. The whole came by marriage into the
possession of Roger Aytoun of Inchdarney in Fife,
described as captain in the 7znd Regiment of Foot or
Manchester Volunteers.*3 He squandered the estates,
which were sold in 1775. Chorlton was purchased
by John Dickenson of Manchester, and settled upon
his nephew William Churchill Dickenson, who in
1793 obtained an Act of Parliament authorizing him
to let the land on building leases."
The two oxgangs of land held by the Chorl-
ton family ** afterwards came into the hands of the
Entwisles of Entwisle.16 This part was sold in the
township is included, together with the
Garrett estate in Ancoats.
John Grelley retained an interest in
the lands for his life, and in 1363 com-
plained of waste of houses, &c., in Chorl-
ton by Robert son of Sir Henry de Traf-
ford ; De Banco R. 416, m. 257.
Henry de Traffbrd in 1389 granted to
Sir Ralph de Radcliffe and Margery his
wife (widow of Henry's father), for her
life, ' two parts of his manor of Chorlton,
which lately remained to the said Henry
as his right after the death of John
Grelley,' at a rent of 4 marks 5 De Traf-
ford D. no. 125.
The tenure of this portion of Chorlton
<eems to be defined in an inquisition of
1410, where Thomas de Traffbrd's six
messuages, 100 acres of land, 20 acres of
meadow, and water-mill are stated to be
held of the lord of Manchester by render-
ing a clove gillyflower ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.
{Chet. Soc.), i, 96. For other TrafFord
inquisitions, in which the statements vary,
•*ee ibid, i, 128 ; ii, 16. Ellen widow of
Thomas de TrafFord, in 1448, claimed
•dower against Henry de Trafford (a minor)
in Chorlton and Manchester ; Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. n, m. 146.
According to the Manchester Rental
of 1473 Henry Trafford held Chorlton by
a rent of 6s. ; Mamecestre, iii, 483.
Sir Edmund Trafford, being seised of the
manor of Chorlton, with meadow, pasture,
and arable land appurtenant, leased the
same in 1507 for thirty years to Richard
Beswick and Margaret his wife. When left
a widow, Margaret was expelled by Ed-
mund Trafford and others in 1523 ; Duchy
of Lane. Plead. Hen. VIII, xvii, B. 5.
Edmund Trafford died in 1563 holding
lands in Chorlton of the lord of Manches-
ter by a rent of \zd. only, so that some,
probably, had been sold ; Duchy of Lane.
Inq. p.m. xi, n.
19 See the account of Garrett in Man-
chester.
30 The statement of the descent of the
manor is taken from Canon Raines in
Notitia Cestr. ii, 83, 84, except where
further references are given. It will be
seen that it requires some correction.
Sir Edmund Trafford was in 1578
•seised of the vill of Chorlton, parcel of
the manor of Manchester ; Duchy of
Lane. Plead, cviii, W. i. He died in
1590, and his son Edmund, who appears
to have sold various parts of his inherit-
ance, in Sept. 1590, demised or mortgaged
Chorlton Hall and its lands to Ralph
Sorocold, and followed this with further
leases, including one of the tithes of
Stretford (on lease from the warden and
fellows of Manchester). He took pos-
session again in 1598 after Ralph's death,
alleging payment of his debt ; for the
widow Katherine, who had married
Thomas Goodyear, made complaint ;
Duchy of Lane. Plead. Eliz. clxxxvi, T. 14.
Four years later Edmund Trafford, then
high sheriff, complained that Adam Hol-
land of Newton, after agreeing to pur-
chase Chorlton Hall, paying £550 and a
ground rent of zos., had refused to pay,
' to the great inconvenience of the plain-
tiff, who was in need of the money' ;
ibid, ccvii, T. 4.
21 Some part at least of the Hey lands
in Withington and Chorlton was sold to
the Mosleys before 1614 ; it was held of
the king by the hundredth part of a
knight's fee ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 4, 66, 69.
Ellis Hey is described as 'of Chorlton
Hall* in 1665, when he recorded a pedi-
gree ; Dugdale, fisit. (Chet. Soc.), 133.
22 Ibid. 1 99. The family were near akin
to Elizabeth Minshull, Milton's third wife;
Earwaker, East. Ches. i, 391. Thomas Min-
shull is frequently named in the Mancb.
Ct. Lett Rec. but is not styled ' of Chorlton.'
He was the son of Richard Minshull of
Wistaston ; he married Anne daughter
of James Lightbowne, by whom he had
several children, and died in 1698.
Thomas, the eldest son, aged twenty-five
in 1664, succeeded to Chorlton and died
in 1702, the heir being his brother Rich-
ard, who died in or about 1722. His son
Thomas died in 1749, leaving a son
Thomas Samuel Minshull, who died
without issue in 1755 ; his daughters and
his brother George's daughter also died
without issue, and by bequest the estates
passed to Barbara Nabb, the widow of
Thomas, who married Roger Aytoun in
1769, and died in 1783. This statement
is from Piccope's MS. Pedigrees (Chet.
Lib.), ii, 296.
The bequest mentioned is recited in a
lengthy abstract of the title of William
Cooper, Samuel Marsland, Peter Mars-
land, and George Duckworth to a capital
messuage called Chorlton Hall, with the
lands, &c., belonging thereto, in Chorlton
Row. By his will Richard Minshull of
the Inner Temple (1722) devised all his
lands to his wife for life, and then to his
sons Thomas and George in tail male,
and to his right heirs. Thomas the son
in 1742-3 suffered a recovery to bar the
entail, and by his will of 1744 left his
estates to his son Thomas (Samuel), sub-
ject to the dower of his wife Barbara, and
£1,500, the portion of his daughter Eliza-
beth, who afterwards married James
Rivington, bookseller, of London.
The son by his will of 1754 left Chorl-
ton Hall to his mother for life, charged
with an annuity to his grandmother
Dorothy Nabb, then to trustees for his
sister, his uncle George and daughter,
and their issue, with final remainder to
his mother (Barbara). In 1769, by the
failure of all the heirs named, Barbara
became possessed of the Minshull estates,
and in 1770 there was a fine concerning
Chorlton Hall, Garrett Hall, and other
lands, Roger Aytoun and Barbara his wife
being deforciants (Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 384, m. 8), quickly followed by
various mortgages.
253
Chorlton Hall was advertised for sale
25 Oct. 1774, and again in 1775 (Adams,
Courant, 3 Jan.), being described as ' de-
lightfully situated' and commanding an
extensive prospect in the counties of
York, Derby, and Chester, being about
a mile from Manchester, and at 'an
agreeable distance ' from the great road
from Manchester to London. A con-
siderable part of the land lay up to the
end of the town of Manchester, and
was 'very proper for building upon.' The
hall contained five rooms on a floor, in-
cluding the entrance or hall part, which
was large and elegant ; there was a very
large kitchen with brewhouse, laundry,
servants' hall, pantries, etc., all with
good chambers over ; the outbuilding*
included stabling for sixteen horses, &c.
Hough Hall and Garrett Hall were adver-
tised at the same time. In the same
year Joshua Marriott secured from Roger
Aytoun and Barbara his wife Chorlton
Hall, Garrett Hall, and various lands ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 394,
m. 1 6.
The abstract quoted shows that Roger
Aytoun's interest in the hall and various
parcels of the land did not cease with this
sale, as he went on mortgaging them.
In 1779 he was residing in Scotland, and
made a further release to Joshua Marriott
and others. His wife died in 1783.
William Nabb, probably a relative, died
between 1787 and 1789; and Roger
Aytoun's interest in the estate seems to
have finally ceased in 1792, the sum then
paid being £42,914 for the portion to
which the abstract refers. His debts in
1787 amounted to £16,900, the princi-
pal creditor being Radcliffe Sidebottom,
£\ i ,000. It does not appear for whom
William Cooper and the others were
acting.
23 The regiment was raised chiefly by
the efforts and money of Roger Aytoun ;
it took part in the defence of Gibraltar in
1781-2.
44 33 Geo. Ill, cap. 50: 'An Act to
impower William Churchill Dickinson,
esquire, to grant building leases, renew-
able leases, and make conveyances in fee,
of and upon all or any part of the estates
at Chorlton Row, devised by the will of
John Dickinson esquire deceased, situate
near the town of Manchester in the
County Palatine of Lancaster.'
25 A few particulars of this family will
be found in preceding notes.
28 The eighth part of the manor of
Chorlton was in 1420 settled upon John
Entwisle and his wife Margaret, with
remainder to the latter's heirs ; Final
Cone, iii, 76.
Ellis Entwisle in 1473 held a messuage
and lands in Chorlton of the lord of
Manchester by the (ancient) rent of
35. ifd. ; Mamecestre, iii, 482. A similar
statement is made in the inquisition after
the death of Edmund Entwisle in 1544 ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vii, 30.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
jrear 1 5 5 1 K and probably dispersed soon after-
wards **
The Miusiiulls were thus the first resident owners
of importance, and there are but few references to
Chorlton before the 1 7th cen-
tury." The land tax returns
of 1784 show that the owner-
ship was much divided ; Roger
Aytoun still had the largest
share, paying about a fifth of
the tax ; then came John Tay-
lor, the Gore-Booths, Mrs.
Piggott, Mr. Melland, Mrs.
Hyde, and John Dickenson."
Chorlton was recognized as
a separate township before
1618, when its constables ait
mentioned."
MIKSHVLL of Chorl-
ton. «4«*rr « crttctmt
Nile ii'fial.
At one time GREENLOtr HEJTH appears to
hare been considered a separate township." About
I Jto it was demised to Sir John Byron and his wife
for life at a rent of locu. a year.38 A century later
it was in the possession of Thomas la Wane, with
remainder to Sir John Byron, Robert de Langlcy,
Robert son of John del Booth, and William del
Booth ; it was held of the king as of his duchy, and
was worth 40*. clear per annum."
The township having during the last century be-
come a residential suburb of Manchester, a large
number of places of worship have been built. For
the Established Church St. Luke's was built in 1 804 ;
it was consecrated in 1858 and rebuilt in 1865 ;**
All Saints', which has a mission church called
St. Matthias', dates from iSao;* St. Saviour's,
1836 ;" St. Stephen's, 1853 ;* St. Paul's, 1861 ;»
St. Clement's, Greenheys, 1 88 1 j* and St. Am-
brose, 1884. The Bishop of Manchester collates
to the last of these ; the dean and canons present
to All Saints' ; the Rev. W. F. Birch, now rector,
to St. Saviour's, and bodies of trustees to the
others. The incumbents are styled rectors. In
connexion with St. Ambrose's is St. David's Welsh
church.
The Wesleyan Methodists have three churches and
the United Free Church one, which superseded an
older one, called the Tabernacle, in 1870. There is
a Welsh Wesleyan chapel at Greenheys.
The Baptists have Union Church in Oxford Road
and two others, one of them belonging to the Particular
Baptists.
The Congregationalists have the Octagon in Stock-
port Road and five other churches ; 4l and the Welsh
Congregationalists have one.4*
The Presbyterian Church of England has two
places of worship ; ° and there was till lately St. An-
drew's, Oxford Road.44
The Salvation Army has a meeting place, as also
have the Church of United Friends, the Christadel-
phians, and the Unitarians.
There are places of worship also for the Armenians
(Holy Trinity, Upper Brook Street) and for the
German Protestants (in Greenheys).
The Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Name,
opened in 1871, is served by the Jesuits ; * those of the
Holy Family, 1876, and St. Joseph, 1888, by secular
clergy. There are houses of the Little Sisters of the
Poor and others.
The Jews have a synagogue.
*f Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 14, m.
14~. See also the account of Entwi&le.
"Edward Tyldesler of Morleys be-
queathed ten messuages ia Chorlton, Rot-
holme, and Manchester to William his
third son for life, with remainder to
Mw*ld son and heir of testator's son
Thomas ; they were held of John Lacy
as of his manor of Manchester ia socafe
by a rent of i W. ; Duchy of Lanes.
Inq. pan. «v, 10. The reduction in
the free rent indicates that much had
beentoM.
* Humphrey Booth of Salford in 1635
held lands in Chorlton of the lord of
Manchester ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. pan.
xrvii, 44. The lands were probably pan
of the Garrett estate purchased* rom
Thomas Leigh of High Legh (East Hall)
in 1619 j MmdL O. Lett Ret. iii, 17.
Edmund Prettwich of Huhne held lands
in Chorlton at his death in 1610, and
dented tjacm for life to his younger sons ;
the tenure • not stated j Duchy of Lane,
Inq. pun. Mtrn, 74 ; Mmdk. Cfc Lttt Act.
«".«$*•
Adam Jepson, of Chorlton Row and
Moston, left his estates to hit daughter
Jane, who married the James Ltghtbowne
whose sister Anne married Thomas Min-
shull tlnifcM, ifaifcj, 191, 17* J MMC*.
C.\ Lttt Jtec. hr, i6S.
Tli nfi TfMJhj if ihiniil i in rti ii 1 1
ton is mentioned in 1677 ; ibid, vi, 36.
The estate of Thomas *fri^'"i was in
tepute in 1701 ; EJK*. Drf, (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and CfcaJ^ 99, 101.
" Land tax retwa* * Itcrtoo.
» AfeK*. Ci nlfcf Attn. i, 42 ; also
i, 20, at, 29 ; see abo Mix. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Che*.), i, i ji ; the r nriU ifcatoi
to the subsidy in 1621 was Ralph Hudson,
*in goods.' He died in 1630, leaving
lands ia Chorlton to his ton Ralph; MMCB»
Cf. Lttt Jbec. iii, 169.
a See a deed quoted under Gorton.
The name is often corrupted to Grindlow.
In 1326 the king confirmed a grant of
lands in Greenlow Heath made by John
La Warre to Robert (son of John) Grdley
and Ellen his wife ; CW. fa. 13x4-7, p.
3°4-
* MMMMft*(Clwk Soc), ii, 364. The
land measured 1 39 acres and was valued
at &£ an acre rent. It is perhaps the
same at the * Grenlaw more * of the in-
quisition of I ill ; L+mct, Imf. «•/ Extrrrs,
»»a44-
** Chan. Inq. pan. 5 Hen. VI, no. 54.
The description reads : *Three messu-
ajes, 140 acres of land, 10 acres of
meadow, aad so acres of pasture in Green-
low heath, beginning at the Roocroft, and
to following between die Roocroft and
the hedge of Whitaker up to the mete of
Chorlton Edge, thence between Choritoo
Edge and Greenlow heath up to Bal-
shagh field, and so following between the
mete of Rushohne and Greenlow heath
up to the mete of Holt, and to following
between the mete of Holt and Greenlow
heath up to the highway leading from
Stockport to Manchester, and so following
the highway up to Roocroft.'
** The district was formed in 1159 ;
LmL Gam. a Dec. The church adjoins
the old Choritoo Hall, the remaining
part of which is the rectory house. The
inscription* are in the Owen MSS.
• It has had a district chapelry from
1139, reconstituted in 1X59 ; LmJ. Gtau
9% Mar. t$39 ; a Dec. 1159.
254
*? For the district, first formed in 1837,
see ibid, t July 1856.
" The district was formed in 1856 j
ibid, t July.
** The district was assigned in 1861 j
ibid, aa July.
** This church succeeded St. Clement's
in Manchester, now demolished.
41 From Nightingale, L*xcs. N»»ci*f.
(vi, 166-74), it appears that Rusholme
Road Chapel was opened in 1826. An-
other ia Tipping Street, begun about
lit J, was given up in 1 8S i, the congre-
gation joining Stockport Road Church,
which had been formed in iS6S ; the
first building of the latter was opened in
187 1, the present tVlifM Church suc-
ceeding it in 1893. Greenheys Church
is an ofrshoot from that in Chorlton Road,
and was formed in 1870-71 ; ibid, vi,
i-S.
Cavendish Street represents a removal
from Mosley Street, Manchester, a chapel
.-i'.i-.-.f !:,-:" l-SS. V:-.r :c-:^Ti: :.-.-k
place in 1848, during the pastorate of
Dr. Halley, who in 1858 was succeeded
by the late Dr. Joseph Parker of the City
Temple, London ; ibid, vi, 142-7.
• Ibid, vi, 206. The work began in
1842 in Hulme, aad removed to Chorlton
in 1859 ; the present church was opened
in 1863.
49 That in Brunswick Street, buQt in
1857, represents the church founded ia
1798 in Ijpyj Street, Manchester ; that
ia Grosvenor Square, built in 1850, was
founded in 1830.
44 St. Andrew's was dosed in 1902,
and it now a furniture shop.
41 Services began a year or two earlier
•a Portsmouth Street*
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHKSTl-R
BLACKLEY
Blakeley, Blakclegh, xiii and xiv cents. ; this spelling
agrees with the local pronunciation. Blackleg,
c. 1600.
This, the northernmost part of the parish, lies in a
bend of the Irk, which bounds it on the north-west,
west, and south-west, A ridge over 3006. high
projects westward through the northern part of the
township, the greater part of which lies on the
southern slope of the hill. The area is 1,840 acres,
having a breadth of about a miles from north to
south, and measuring somewhat more from east to
west. In the southern part a brook runs westward
down Boggart Hole Clough.1 Barnes Green is on
the border of Harpurhey. The population of Blackley
and Harpurhey together was 14,501 in 1901.
The principal road is that from Manchester to
Middleton, going north. At Blackley village another
road branches off west towards Prestwich, and from
this latter another runs in a zigzag course through
Higher Blackley, formerly known as Crab Lane End,
to Heaton. There are various subsidiary roads, and
the township is becoming a suburb of Manchester,
though most of it remains rural.
To the north of the village is a reformatory.
The soil is sandy, overlying clay.
In 1666 there were four houses with ten hearths
each — those of Mr. Legh, Ralph Bowker, Mr. Bow-
ker, and Edward Da wson — but no other dwelling had
more than five. The total number in the township
was 107.' The old water corn-mill was in 1850
used for grinding logwood.3 The woollen and fustian
manufactures were actively pursued in Blackley ; a
fulling-mill at Boggart Hole CJttigk is •mrtJomftd in
1691.' Within the township are a match works,
chemical works, « smallware manufactory, and some
minor industries.
Blackley was included in the city of Manchester in
1 890, and six yean later became part of the new town-
ship of North Manchester. There is a free library.
BLdCKLEF was anciently a park ol
M4NOR the lord of Manchester ; its value in ia8i
was £6 1 3 j. 4«£, for herbage, dead wood,
pannage, and eyries of sparrow-hawks.* Forty yean
later its circuit was estimated as seven Itmctu, and
it had two deer leaps ; * the pasturage was sufficient
for 240 cattle, in addition to the deer and other wild
animals.7 Leases and other grants of the land and
pasture were from time to time made by the lords/
and in 1473 John Byron held Blackley village, Black*
ley field, and Pillingworth fields, with the appur-
tenances, at a rent of £33 6s. 8^., then recently
increased from £28 it. a year.* On the dispersal of
the Byron estates about the beginning of the i;th
century, Blackley was sold in parcels to a number of
owners.1* The hall and demesne were acquired by
Sir Richard Assheton of Middleton,1' and sold to
Francis Legh of Lyme in 1636." They descended
in this family till 1814, when they were sold in
thirty-four lots, William Grant of Ramsbottom pur-
chasing the hall, which was pulled down.1* It was
haunted by a * boggart ' or ghost, according to the
popular belief.14
Among those described as 'of Blackley' in the
inquisitions are Daniel Travis,1* Francis Nuttall,"
1 This name occur* prior to 1 700 ; J.
Booker, BUcUty ( Chet. Soc.), 1 1 5. The
picturesque dough has been acquired for
a pleasure-ground by the Corporation of
Manchester. The name is sometimes
derived from a deserted house, said to be
haunted, ' Boggart Hall,' but Mr. H. T.
Crofton think* it a corruption of Bowker
Hall, which stood in Motion at the upper
end of the dough ; see Al**cb. GmsrJ. N.
«M/ Q. no. 401. Oliver Clough, with
Oliver's well in it, joins the main dough
from the north.
1 Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9.
• Booker, op. cit. na.
4 Ibid. 1x5. 'Judging by the field
names this mill was either on the stream
coming from Boggart Hole Clough or its
northern tributary coming past Lyon Fold;
most probably the latter, north of which
is a farm called Dam Head.' — Mr. Crofton.
*£*««. 7*f. taU Exttntt (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Che*,), i, 244.
• Mfmtctttrt (Chet. Soc.), ii, 368 ; the
value was 53*. 4^.
• Ibid, ii, 366 ; the value was £6.
The * fence of Blackley park* is men-
tioned about 1355 ; Dtp. Kttptr's Rep.
xxxii, App. 344.
• See grants to Henry de Smethley in
1343 and to Thurstan de Holland in 1355,
quoted in Mtmtttstrt, ii, 439, 445. The
latter grant, at a rent of £5, induded the
pasture of the lord's park at Blackley, the
arable land of Bottomley with its meadow,
and an approvement of 10 acres in Ashen-
hunt.
• Ibid, iii, 484. A grant or feoftment
was made in 1430 by Sir Reginald West,
Lord La Warre, at a rent of £26 ; Byron
Chartul. 15/295. After an intermediate
conveyance the estate was transferred to
Sir John Byron in 1433 j ibid. 19/296,
21/298. See Booker's Bluklty (Chet.
Soc.), i3-»5-
10 The statements in the text are
mostly taken from the work last quoted.
The * manor ' of Blackley, seventy mes-
suages, two fulling mills, a water-mill,
1,000 acres of land, &c., in Blackley,
Blackley Fields, and Bottomley, were in
1598 sold or mortgaged by Sir John
Byron and John Byron his son and heir
apparent to Richard and William Assheton j
the price named in the fine is £1,000 ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 60, m. 68.
Blacktey is, however, mentioned among the
Byron manors in 1 608 ; ibid. bdle. 7 1, m. 2.
11 In a fine of 1611 respecting the
manor of Blackley, &c, James Assheton
was deforciant, and Sir Peter Legh, Sir
Richard Assheton, John Holt, and Rich-
ard Assheton were plaintiffs ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F, bdle. 77, m. 51. In a
later fine the dcforciants were Sir John
Byron the elder, Sir John Byron the
younger, Sir Peter Legh, Sir Richard
Assheton, John Holt, and Richard Asshe-
ton ; ibid. bdle. 79, m. 34. From the
former it appears that James Assheton of
Chadderton had acquired Blackley, and
sold it to the Asshetons of Middleton.
A feoflfment in 1 6 1 2 by Sir John Byron of
Newstead the elder, his son Sir John Byron
of Roy ton the younger, Sir Peter Legh of
Lyme, Sir Richard Assheton of Middleton,
John Holt of Stubley, and Richard son of
Sir Richard Assheton, recites a fine levied
of Blackley Manor, surrenders of all free-
holds for lives, and recovery suffered to
the intent that the manor, Ac., be sold
for the payment of debts, &c. ; Mr. Crof-
ton's note.
Richard Assheton of Middleton, who
died in 1618, held lands in Blackley of
the king as of the duchy by knight's ser-
255
vice \ L**ts. Imy. p.m. (Rec. Soc.
and Ches.), ii, 107.
M Booker, op. cit. 1 7 ; Ralph Assheton
of Middleton, Elisabeth his wife, and
Mary his mother were the vendors, over
£1,000 Waf paid. The sale induded
Blackley Hall, doses called Bottomley,
Hunt Green, Ashenhurst, Haiclbottom,
&c. ; a close called Lidbottom, of 4 acres,
was excluded.
u Ibid. 19, where there is a description
of the old building, with a view. There
is also a view in James's series, 1821—5.
14 * In the stillness of night it would steal
from room to room and carry oft" the bed-
clothes from the couches of the sleeping,
but now thoroughly aroused and discom-
fited inmates ' ; Booker, op. cit. 20. An
account is given of the destruction of the
print-shop erected on the site of the hall.
u Ltma. I»j. p.m. (Rec, Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), ii, 157. At his death in 1617
Daniel Travis held a messuage, 15 acres
of land, *c«, recently purchased from Sir
John Byron and others. The tenement
was held of the king by knight's service.
His will is given. His son and heir, also
named Daniel, was twenty-six years of
age. His wife Anne was the daughter of
Henry Chetham of Crumpsall ; MmA.
Ct. Lttt RK. ii, 194.
Of the same family perhaps was John
Travis, whom John Bradford about 1550
styles ' Father Travis.' Some later mem-
bers of the family were benefactors to the
poor, and concerned in the erection of the
Nonconformist (now Unitarian) chapel.
John Travis, a dealer in fustians, who be-
came bankrupt in 1691, had an estate of
24 acres ; one of the fields was named
the Frith field ; Booker, op. cit. no.
1( L^HCt. 7nf. p.m. (Rec. Soc), ii, 176.
Francis Nut tall died in 1619, holding
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Matthew Hopwood,17 Abraham Carter,18 John and
George Pendleton,19 Stephen Rodley,*0 Ralph Wardle-
worth,*1 William Chetham,** Patrick Edrington,**
William and John Cowper,*4 and William Heywood.25
There were small estates, in most cases resulting from
the division of the Byron estate, and held by knight's
service.
Humphrey Booth of Salford also had land in the
township,16 and it descended in the family for about
a century.27 BOOTH HALL was situated about
4 miles north of Manchester, on high ground a short
distance to the east of the old road to Middleton.
It is said to have been built during the years 1639-40
by Humphrey Booth for his son, but before demoli-
tion, about 1906-7, had undergone many altera-
tions and additions which had robbed it of most of
its original architectural features. It was a two-
storied house, the oldest portion of which is described
as having many gables, and was built of brick, but had
been stuccoed and painted over in later years. One
addition was made early in the 1 8th century and
another in the first half of the igth century. On the
front of the original part of the house on a wooden
beam was carved ' H B : A B : 1 640,' the initials of
Humphrey Booth and Ann Booth (born Hough) his-
wife. In 1855 the old part of the house is described
as having suffered much at the hands of recent tenants,
most of the original mullioned windows on the ground
floor having been built up or replaced by modern
casements, and on the first floor nothing but the
hood-moulds remained to show that such windows
ever existed.*7* The house was pulled down to make
way for the Blackley Hospital, but part of the brick
farm-buildings are still standing. The house was-
acquired by Richard Worthington of Manchester,
grocer ; from him it passed to the Diggles family, and
by descent to the Bayleys.18 Amselford or Hoozle-
forth Gate was the name of a farm in the north-east
of the township.
The land tax returns show that the principal
proprietors in 1787 were Richard Brown, Thomas
Bayley, Richard Taylor, Lord Grey de Wilton, John
Hutton, Peter Legh, and Robert Jackson.*9 About
1850 the principal proprietor was the Earl of Wilton,,
who owned a third of the land, his interest being
derived partly by inheritance from the Hollands and
Asshetons and partly by purchase.50
The most famous personage connected with Blacklejr
ten messuages, 60 acres of land, &c., in
Blackley, and land in Harpurhey and
Gorton ; the tenure was of the king, by
knight's service. John, the son and heir,
was twenty-three years of age. The will
of Francis Nuttall is given in Manch. Ct.
Leet Rec. iti, 19, zo, notes.
From deeds of this family in the Man-
chester Free Library (no. 5 5-7) it appears
that John Nuttall in 1623 leased lands in
Blackley to Edward Holland of Heaton
for 299 years ; among the field-names are
Howgate Meadow, Blackneld, and Gluden
Croft.
V Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.), ii, 210.
Matthew Hopwood had purchased the
reversion of a messuage called the ' Dey-
house,' with lands, from the Byrons, held
of the king by knight's service. He died
in 1613 leaving a daughter Mary about a
year old.
18 Ibid. 235. Abraham Carter, described
as ' gentleman,' held a messuage and lands
of the king by the hundredth part of a
knight's fee, and died in 1621, leaving as
heir his son John, nineteen years of age.
19 John Pendleton died in 161 8, holding
20 acres by the three-hundredth part of a
knight's fee ; his son John was then nine
years old ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.), ii,
258.
George Pendleton died in 1633, holding
a messuage and lands (including the
Warping House and Brerehey Field) of the
king by the hundredth part of a knight's
fee ; he left a son and heir George ; Duchy
of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxviii, 37.
In 1650 'in Blackley near Manchester,
in one John Pendleton's ground, as one
was reaping, the corn being cut seemed to
bleed ; drops fell out of it like to blood.
Multitudes of people went to see it, and
the straws thereof, though of a kindly
colour without, were within reddish and
as it were bloody ' ; Hollinworth, Man-
cuniensis, 123.
A John Pendleton of Bl.irkley married
Rhoda, daughter and heir of Robert
Clough, the son of Thomas Clough of
Blackley ; and he and his son John Pen-
dleton in 1676 sold their land to Robert
Litchford of Manchester, saddler, a bene-
factor of the old Baptist chapel at Clough
Fold. The house at Blackley, known as
Litchford Hall, and the estate went to
his nephew Litchford Flitcroft, who de-
vised it to other relatives, and it was sold
in 1783 to Thomas Braddock of Man-
chester. On the purchaser's bankruptcy
it was sold to his brother-in-law, Richard
Alsop, who already resided there, and he
gave it to his daughter Marianne wife of
George Withington. On her death in
1835 it descended to her only son, George
Richard Withington, who owned this and
the adjoining Yew-tree estate, purchased
from the Byrons in 1611 by one John
Jackson, and sold by the Jacksons in 1 809
to Richard Alsop. See the full account
in Booker, op. cit. 39-46 ; an abstract of
Robert Litchford's will is given. The
following field-names occur : Hoose Lee,
Red Hill, Moyle Hill, Hagg, Fossage
Meadow, Lockitt Croft, and Causeway
Field. A number of deeds relating to this
estate and others in the township are in
the possession of the Manchester Corpo-
ration.
30 Some notice of this family has been
given under Manchester. Stephen Rodley
died in 1630, holding four messuages with
land, moor, and moss in Blackley, charged
with a rent of 241. to the lord of Man-
chester and an annuity of £12 to Leonard
Kopwood ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
zxv, 46.
21 Ralph Wardleworth died in 1623,
holding a messuage and land of the king
by knight's service ; his son and heir,
John, was over twenty-seven years old ;
ibid, xx vi, 19.
A John Wardleworth in 1620 sold lands
in Blackley to James Hulme ; Manch.
Ct. Leet Rec. iii, 23.
22 William Chetham died in 1612,
holding half a messuage ; his son Wil-
liam was thirty-nine years old in 1630 ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxviii, 10.
28 The name is also given as Ethering-
ton. Patrick held a messuage, &c., of
the king by the four-hundredth part of a
knight's fee, and dying in 1625, left as
heir his daughter Mary, about ten years
old ; ibid. 45.
24 In 1621 William Cowper made a
settlement of his estate — including a
messuage, with garden and closes called
the Clough, the Shutt, &c. — with re-
256
mainders to his wife Dorothy, to his heir
male, to his brothers Richard and John,
to Helen and Margaret Ridgeway, and to
the heirs of Ralph Cowper. He died in
1626, holding the estate of the king by
the two-hundredth part of a knight's fee.
The heir was his elder brother John, then
over thirty years of age ; ibid. 47.
John Cowper died in May 1638, hold-
ing a messuage and lands in Blackley of
Edward Mosley 'a* of his manor of
Blackley' ; Ralph, the brother and heir,
was over fifty years of age ; Towneley
MS. C. 8, 13 (Chet. Lib.), 242.
35 William Heywood died in 1637,
holding two messuages and lands of the
king by the two-hundredth part of a
knight's fee. Hi« wife Ameria survived
him, and his heir was his son Anthony
Heywood the younger, nineteen years old j.
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxix, 17.
36 Ibid, xxvii, 44.
^ Apian of the estate in 1637 is given
in Lanes, and Cbes. Antiq. Soc. xxiii, 30.
»7a Booker, A Hist, of the Anct.
Chapelry of Blackley, 1855, p. 28, where
an illustration is also given. The writer
further adds : ' The interior presents little
to call for remark, the apartments being
for the most part small, and exhibiting an
appearance altogether modern.'
88 A full account of the descent of this
estate is given by Booker, op. cit. 22—38,
with wills and pedigree of the Diggles
family. John Diggles of Manchester (c.
1717) was a Dissenter; Notitia Cestr.
(Chet. Soc.), ii, 82.
The Bayleys were connected with Cross
Street Chapel, Manchester ; sec the ac-
count of Hope in Pendleton. Thomas
Bayley, who died in 1817, left the estate
to his sons for sale, and in the following'
year it was purchased by his son-in-law,
Dr. Henry, for £9,000. A few years
later it was sold to Edmund Taylor of
Salford, whose son Edmund resided there
till his death about 1850 ; Booker, op.
cit. 37.
29 Land Tax returns at Preston.
30 Booker, op. cit. 21. At the beginning
of the 1 8th century, Abraham Howarth
of Manchester, linen draper, purchased
many small estates in the township.
Dying in 1754 he was succeeded by his-
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
by popular association, if not by birth, is John Brad-
ford, burnt to death at Smithfield on I July 1555
for Protestantism.31 He was born about 1520-5 and
educated at Manchester. Embracing a secular career,
he entered the service of Sir John Harrington, pay-
master of the English forces in France ; a fraud in
his accounts at that time, to the hurt of the king,
afterwards caused him deep sorrow, being greatly
moved to this Sl by Latimer's preaching." He
became a Protestant, and that of the more extreme
type, studied law, and then went to Cambridge,
where he was almost immediately elected fellow of
Pembroke and made Master of Arts.34 He was urged
to preach, and was ordained deacon by Bishop Ridley,"
but does not appear to have advanced further. He
was made prebendary of St. Paul's and chaplain to
the king, and preached in London, Lancashire, and
Cheshire, without undertaking any parochial charge.36
Soon after the accession of Mary he was lodged in the
Tower on charges of sedition, preaching without a
licence, and heresy.87 His first examination took
place in the Tower, and he was again examined on
23 January 1 5 54—5, and later days ; afterwards he was
excommunicated as a heretic.38 Fresh efforts to con-
vince him that he was in error were made by various
prelates and theologians,*9 but in vain, and at last he
was delivered to the executioners, suffering a cruel
death with great courage. He was a zealous and
eloquent man, of irreproachable life, and consequently
of wide influence.40 He was not married, and the
only relatives known are his mother, his two sisters,
and his * brother Roger,' who is no doubt Roger
Beswick, husband of one of the sisters.41
The water-mill at Blackley was long in the occupa-
tion of a family named Costerdine."
A constable for the township or hamlet is mentioned
in 1618."
There was an oratory at Blackley
CHURCH as early as 1360," probably the origin
of the chapel existing in 1548." This
was rebuilt in 1736," and again in 1844 ; it is called
St. Peter's.47 In 1611 the Byrons sold to John
Cudworth, James Chetham, and Edmund Howarth
the chapel and chapel yard, and the chamber and
garden there, for use as a place of worship for the
people of Blackley.48 The stipend of the minister
was derived from seat rents and offerings. Service
was maintained there during the latter part of Eliza-
son John, who died in 1786, and whose
only surviving child, Sarah, married the
Hon. Edward Perceval. The estate was
sold in 1808 to the Earl of Wilton.
Abraham Howarth, described as of
Crumpsall, appears in the Mancb. Ct. Lett
Rec. in 1684 and 1685 (vi, 214, 235).
'Mr. Howarth's house in [Long] Mill-
gate,' is one of those depicted on Casson
and Berry's Plan.
Some particulars of the Dickenson and
Beswick estates are given by Booker, op.
cit. 47, 48. Several deeds relating to the
Beswicks of Blackley are among the
Raines deeds in the Chetham Library ;
the dates range from 1611 to 1674.
In the Chetham Library also are a few
17th-century deeds of the Sandiforth
family.
81 For biographies see Diet. Nat. Biog. ;
Bradford's Works (Parker Soc. 1848),
Foxe, Acts and Monti, (ed. Cattley), vii,
143-285 ; Cooper, Atbenae Cantab, i,
127-9.
Bradford described himself as ' born in
Manchester' (Foxe, op. cit. vii, 204), and
this probably refers to the town rather
than to the parish. The family no doubt
derived its surname from an adjacent
township, and many members of it occur
from time to time in the records. In
1473 Jonn Bradford held two closes in
Manchester at the will of the lord at 1 5*.
rent ; Mamecestre, iii, 486. Thomas Brad-
ford and Margaret his wife sold land in
Manchester in 1553 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet
ofF.bdle. 15, m. 123. Thomas Bradford of
Failsworth occurs in 1557; Manch. Ct.
Leet Rec. i, 39 ; see also Mancb. Sessions
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 57. There
was a John Bradford at Newton Heath
in 1585 and 1619; Newton Cbapelry
(Chet Soc.), ii, 65, 76.
82 On this point see N, and Q. (Ser. 2),
i, 125. The fraud did not benefit Brad-
ford himself, but his master, who was
quite unaware of it, and he forced Sir
John Harrington to make restitution by
threat of denunciation to the Council.
88 A fellow student of the Inner Temple,
Thomas Sampson, afterwards the Puritan
dean of Christ Church, Oxford, also had
great influence with him.
4
84 M.A. 1549 by special grace. The
universities were in a very low state at
that time, but Bradford had given evi-
dence of study in the previous year by
translations from Peter Artopoeus (a
Protestant divine) and St. Chrysostom,
with prefaces by himself ; Atben. Cantab.
i, 127, where a list of his works is
printed. On the other hand, at his exa-
mination before Bishop Gardiner, he was
reproved as ' ignorant and vainglorious,'
' an arrogant and stubborn boy ' ; Foxe,
op. cit vii, 150, 151. At Cambridge he
formed a close friendship with Martin
Bucer.
85 The new Ordinal was not sufficiently
reformed for Bradford, and the bishop had
to modify it till it was ' without any abuse ' ;
Foxe, op. cit. vii, 144.
86 In Lancashire he preached at Ashton-
under-Lyne, Manchester, Eccles, Middle-
ton, Radcliffe, Bury, Bolton, Wigan, Liver-
pool, and Preston.
8? A sermon by Dr. Bourne at St
Paul's Cross, soon after Mary's acces-
sion, occasioned a disturbance among the
audience, and a dagger was thrown at the
preacher. Bradford, who was present,
seems to have been at first regarded as
the real instigator of the uproar, but he
cleared himself by calling Bourne himself
as a witness.
88 The fragmentary record of the three
examinations is in Foxe, op. cit. vii, 149,
&c. The principal judge was Bishop
Gardiner, then Lord Chancellor. Brad-
ford was condemned for his rejection of
the supremacy of the pope — 'the Anti-
christ of Rome,' as he called him — and
transubstantiation.
89 Those who came to argue with him
included Archbishop Heath, Bishop Day,
Dr. Harpsfield, Dr. Harding, Fr. Alphon-
sus a Castro, Dean Weston, and (from
Manchester), Dr. Pendleton, Warden Col-
lier, and Stephen Beck. The Earl of Derby
seems to have taken a particular interest
in him.
40 It is stated that the gaoler several
times allowed him to go out merely on
his promise to return. The fraud above
mentioned was referred to at the trial,
but nothing else is known against him.
257
In prison ' preaching, reading, and praying
was his whole life.'
He was ' tall and slender, spare of body,
of a faint sanguine colour, with an auburn
beard' ; Foxe, op. cit. vii, 145.
41 Roger Beswick was present at the
burning, and had his head broken by the
sheriff for trying to shake hands with
Bradford ; ibid, vii, 148.
The children of Margaret Beswick his
wife are mentioned in the will of Henry
Bury, 1634 ; Piccope, Wills (Chet. Soc.),
iii, 177.
48 Booker, op. cit. 112, 113. The Sir
John Byron who sold Blackley was the
illegitimate son of Sir John Byron and
Elizabeth Costerdine of Blackley ; ibid.
17. The name is also spelt Consterdine
and Constantine.
48 Manch. Quarter Sessions (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 36. It was treated as a
separate township in 1620; Misc. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 150. See also
Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. iii, 74,
44 The Bishop of Lichfield on 31 Dec.
1360 granted a two-years' licence for it
to Roger La Warre ; Lich. Epis. Reg.
Stretton, v, fol. 4.
45 In the Visitation lists of 1548, 1554,
and 1563, appears the name of Robert
Fletcher ; in the last he is described as
' curate of Blackley ' and ' decrepit.' The
'Father Travis' of the Bradford corre-
spondence, called ' minister of Blackley '
by Foxe, does not appear in these lists.
Perhaps he was a layman who preached
occasionally ; ' father ' seems merely a title
of respect or affection applied to an elderly
man by a young one. A Richard Travis
of Blackley contributed to the subsidy of
1541 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 139. There is no mention of Blackley
Chapel in the accounts of the chantries
or the church goods of 1552, so that it
was probably regarded as the private pro-
perty of the Byrons.
46 Booker, Blackley, 59 ; a view is giveii
on p. 60. The cost (£245) was defrayed
by subscription.
4" Ibid. 61-4 and frontispiece. This
building was enlarged in 1880.
48 Ibid. 49-51.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
beth's reign,49 and there exists a plan of the seats
made early in the ijth century,50 from which time
can be traced a succession of curates and rectors. In
1650 the Parliamentary surveyors found the chapel
provided with a minister's house and an endowment
of ijs. 8</. ; the remainder of the stipend came from
voluntary contributions.51 The same thing was re-
ported in 1707," but soon after this benefactors came
forward, and about 1720 the income was £27 los. 8<£M
The income is now stated to be ^500.
A district chapelry was formed in 1839." The
registers begin in 1655." The patronage is vested
in the Dean and canons of Manchester, and the
following is a list of incumbents : — M
oc. 1600 Thomas Paget57
00.1632 William Rathband M
oc. 1646 James Hall69
1 648 James Walton M
1652 Samuel Smith, B. A. 61
1653 Thomas Holland, M.A. (Edin.)6*
1662 (?) James Booker63
oc. 1668 John Brereton64
1669 John Dawson, B.A.65 (Jesus Coll., Camb.)
oc. 1671 William Dunbabin M
oc. 1 674 Ichabod Furness, B.A. 67
oc. 1677 William Bray, B.A.68 (Emmanuel Coll.,
Camb.)
1683 John Morton 69 (Magdalene Coll., Camb.)
1705 Nathaniel Bann, M.A. ro (Jesus Coll.,
Camb.)
1712 William Whitehead, B.A. 71
1716 Edward Hulton, B.A." (Brasenose Coll.,
Oxf.)
1763 Peter Haddon, M.A.71
1787 John Griffith, M.A.74
1 809 Richard Alexander Singleton, B.D. 7* (St.
John's Coll., Camb.)
1838 William Robert Keeling, B.A.76 (St.
John's Coll., Camb.)
1869 John Leighton Figgins, B.A.'7 (Queens'
Coll., Camb.)
1874 William Coghlan 78
In 1865 St. Andrew's, Higher Blackley, was built,79
and more recently the district of Holy Trinity has been
formed, though a permanent church is wanting.
The first school dates from 1710, when money was
left for the purpose by Robert Litchford.80
There are six Methodist chapels. The Wesleyans
began with a Sunday school in 1801, and built a
chapel in i8o6.81 At Crab Lane Head, or Higher
Blackley, the New Connexion began meetings in
1815; Zion Chapel was built in 1830.** The
United Free Methodists opened a small chapel in
1836, rebuilt in 1853 ;83 they have two others. The
Primitive Methodists have a chapel at Barnes Green.
The Baptists had a meeting-place in i88o.M
The minister of the parochial chapel in 1662,
Thomas Holland, was ejected for nonconformity ;
many of the people also dissented from the restored
services, and as early as 1668 a congregation met at
the house of a Mrs. Travis, Thomas Pyke, ejected
from RadclifFe, occasionally ministering to them.84*
A chapel was built in 1697, and was replaced by
the present one in 1884. The congregation has
been Unitarian since the middle of the i8th cen-
tury.85
49 The warden and fellows of the col-
legiate church were responsible for the
chapels ; it is said that Oliver Carter, a
fellow, officiated at Blackley ; his son
Abraham has been mentioned already ;
Booker, Blackley, 65, 66. In 1581 Joseph
Booth was presented for teaching without a
licence. In 1 5 9 8 there was no curate, but
the chapel was served by the fellows of the
church ; Visit. Presentments at Chest.
50 Booker (57, 58) prints plans of 1603
and a little later ; the names of the seat-
holders and the amounts paid are inserted.
The pulpit stood near the middle of the
north wall ; the communion table was at
the east end, but some seats intervened
between it and the wall. In 1631 Bishop
Bridgeman authorized the allotments of
the seats and the payments for them ;
ibid. 53.
About 1610 Blackley was returned
among the chapels of ease which had
ministers supported by the inhabitants ;
H'nt. AfSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, II.
51 Common-wealth Cb. S«rf. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 9, 10. The ijs. %d.
came from a gift by Adam Chetham in
1625 : in 1838 the income from the same
property was jTj ; Booker, op. cit. 82.
53 See Warden Wroe's account (ibid.
72), which states that George Grimshaw
of Manchester had left the interest of
,£100 and the rent of a house after the
death of his servant. The house was in
Hunt's Bank, and sold in 1837 for ,£475,
the interest of which is part of the rector's
income ; ibid. 82.
58 Gastrell, Notitia Cettr. (Chet. Soc.),
ii, 81-3 ; the chief part of this sum was
^20 a year charged by Jonathan Dawson
on an estate in Salford called Ringspiggot
Hall, afterwards owned by the Bridgewater
trustees ; Booker, op. cit. 82.
44 Land. Gass, 29 Mar. 1839 ; 16 June
1854.
85 Some extracts are given by Booker,
op. "'<•. 83-92.
6 T.ie list is taken mainly from Booker.
A dispute as to the patronage took place
in 1763, particulars of which will be
found in the work referred to, p. 74-7.
67 Ibid. 66-8 ; Mite. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 54. He was a Puritan,
cited for nonconformity in 1617 and
suspended for the same in 1631. He
went over to Holland, but returned in
1646, becoming rector of Shrewsbury
and afterwards of Stockport. He died
in 1660. See also Loc. Glean, Lanes,
and Cbes. i, 275.
58 Booker, op. cit. 69. He also was a
nonconformist. See W. A. Shaw, Manch.
Classis (Chet. Soc.), iii, 444.
59 Plund. Mim. Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 256, 264.
60 Booker, op. cit. 69. In 1650 he had
' manifested disaffection to the present
government ' in various ways ; Common-
wealth Cb. Surv. 10. He was ejected
from Shaw Chapel in 1662; Manch, Classis,
iii, 449.
61 Booker, op. cit. 70 ; Manch. Classis,
ii, 199, 207.
ea Booker, op. cit. 70 ; Mancb. Classis, iii,
433. He had an allowance of ^40 from
the Parliamentary Committee ; Plund.
Mins. Accts. ii, 55, 77.
63 Booker, op. cit. 70 ; 'assistant minis-
ter.' The chapel was vacant in 1665.
64 Ibid. 71. " Ibid.
66 Visit. List at Chester.
•7 Booker. 6S Ibid.
258
" Ibid. ; two of his children left silver
communion flagons to the chapel.
7° Ibid. 72 ; he became rector of St.
Ann's, Manchester, in 1712.
71 Ibid.
73 Ibid. ; he was not ordained at the
time of nomination ; and seems almost
at once to have offended the warden and
fellows of Manchester, for they endeavoured
to expel him.
73 Ibid. 74 ; he became vicar of Sand-
bach in 1773 and of Leeds in 1786.
74 Ibid. 78 ; he established a Sunday
school ; ibid. 1 06. He was elected fel-
low of Manchester in 1793 ; Raines,
Fellow of Manch. (Chet Soc.), 290.
7s Booker, op. cit. 75.
7< Ibid. 79 ; he procured the building
of the present church.
77 He had been incumbent of Lin-
thwaite, 1835 ; St. Matthew's, Liverpool,
1837 ; and St. Clement's, Manchester,
1843.
78 Rector of St. James the Less, Man-
chester, 1870 to 1874.
79 For district see Land. Ga». 29 June
1866.
80 Notitia Cestr. ii, 82 ; Booker, op. cit.
102-7.
M Ibid. 106. "» Ibid. 108.
8» Ibid. no.
84 Land. Gaz. 20 Jan. 1880.
848 Mary Collinge's house was licensed
as a Presbyterian meeting-place in 1689 ;
Hist. AfSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 232.
85 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. v, 30—
36 ; Booker, op. cit. 92-102. The Rev.
John Pope, minister from 1766 to 1791,
was a man of some note ; he died in 1 802.
There are copies of the inscriptions in the
Owen MSS.
SALFORD HUNDRED
Roman Catholic worship in recent times began in
1851 in a chapel formed out of two cottages. The
church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, built in
1 855,** has now (1908) been replaced by a. larger
one. There is a convent of the Good Shepherd,
occupying Litchford Hall.
CHEETHAM
Chetham, 1212 and usually; Chetam, 1276;
Cheteham, 1590 ; Cheetham, xvi cent.
This township, on the western bank of the Irk,
has an extreme length of nearly 2 miles, and an area
of 9 1 9 acres. The high land in the northern part slopes
down to the Irk, and more gradually to the south,
where the Irwell is the boundary for a short distance.
The district called Cheetham Hill is partly in this
township and partly in Crumpsall and Broughton ;
Smedley is to the east of it, near the Irk ; Stocks, a
name which can be traced back to 1599, is on the
border of Manchester, north of Red Bank ; and Peel,
an old house, formerly moated, is close by.1 Cheet-
wood occupies the southern half of the township,1 in
which also lies Strangeways. Alms Hill, or Ormsell,
lies to the west of Smedley. The population of
Cheetham and Crumpsall was 49,942 in 1901.
The district is now entirely urban, being a suburb
of Manchester. The principal roads are those from
Manchester to Bury, the older one going northward
through the middle of the township, and the newer
and more direct one near its south-west border. The
latter follows the line of the Roman road from Man-
chester to Ribchester. The Lancashire and Yorkshire
Company's Manchester and Bury line runs near the
eastern border, by the Irk, and a branch to Oldham
separates from it ; Victoria Station, Manchester, the
head of the company's system, lies in this township
at the junction of the Irk with the Irwell.s
Some neolithic implements have been found.4
MANCHESTER
The hearth tax returns of 1666 show that there
were seventy hearths liable in the township. The
largest houses were those of John Hartley, John
Symon, and Edward Chetham, with thirteen, seven,
and six hearths respectively.5 A Cheetham halfpenny
token was issued in i668.6
On the incorporation of Manchester in 1838
Cheetham became part of the new borough. It
ceased to be a township in 1896, being absorbed in
the new township of North Manchester.
A workhouse adjoins the railway station. The
principal buildings in the township are the assize
courts, with large gaol adjoining, on the site of
Strangeways Hall. The other public buildings in-
clude a town hall, erected in 1855, fire police
station, free library 1878, assembly rooms, and baths,
also the Northern Hospital. There is a small modern
park. A wholesale fish-market was opened at Strange-
ways in 1867, but is now given up. The industries
include breweries, bleach and dye works, and many
smaller industries carried on by Jews. The unoccu-
pied land is utilized for brick-making. On Cheetham
Hill there are children's homes.
Maria Therlson Longworth, authoress, was born at
Cheetwood in 1832 ; she died in Natal, i88i.8
Jessie Fothergill, novelist, was born at Cheetham
Hill in 1851, and died at Berne in iSgi.9
In 1 2 1 2 Roger de Middleton held a
M4NOR ploughland in CHEETH4M of the king
in chief in thegnage by the annual service
of a mark, and Henry de Chetham held it under
Roger.10 The mesne lordship of the Middleton
family quickly disappeared,11 and in later times
Cheetham was said to be held directly of the king as
Duke of Lancaster by the Chethams lf and their
successors. Sir Geoffrey de Chetham appears all
through the middle of the 1 3th century, and was
evidently a man of consequence.13 After his time the
manor is found to be held by the Pilkingtons,14 the
86 Booker, op. cit. no.
1 For the Peel see Procter, Manch.
Streets, 281-2. By his will in 1806
John Ridings charged his tenement called
Stocks and Peel, held of Lord Derby by
lease, with £250. These notes are due to
Mr. Crofton.
2 For Miss Beswick of Cheetwood see
N. and Q. (Ser. 2), xi, 157.
* The station was opened in 1 844, and
the lines from Liverpool and from Leeds
connected there. It was enlarged in 1884.
The site was previously a cemetery
(Walker's Croft), opened in 1815.
4 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Sac. x, 2 5 1 .
5 Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9.
6 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. v, 76.
8 Diet. Nat. Biog. 9 Ibid.
10 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 66.
11 Roger de Middleton occurs again in
1226 ; ibid. 137. See a later note, and
Dods. MSS. cxxxi, fol. 38.
Henry de Chetham in 1212 also
held 4 oxgangs of land in chief; Lanes.
Inq. and Extents, i, 70. From the
accounts of Moston and other townships
it will be seen that he inherited or ac-
quired, probably by marriage, a portion of
the estates of Orm de Ashton. He at-
tested Audenshaw and Swinton charters ;
Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 329; Whalley
Couch. (Chet. Soc.), 905. In 1227 he
went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem ; Cal.
Pat. 1225-32, p. 126.
19 The evidence has been collected by
Mr. E. Axon in his Cbet. Gen. (Chet.
Soc.), 1-4.
18 He was sheriff in 1260; P.R.O.
List, 72.
In 1235, perhaps on succeeding, he
procured an acknowledgement of his right
to Cheetham from Robert de Middleton,
he paying a mark yearly at four terms ;
Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 59. A year later he complained that
Robert, as mesne, had not acquitted him
of the services due to the chief lords.
Robert thereupon resigned his mesne
lordship to Geoffrey, and as compensation
for loss granted him an estate in Ash-
worth ; ibid, i, 74. In 1241 Geoffrey
and Margaret [Grelley] his wife were
concerned in a moiety of Allerton ; ibid.
i, 91 ; and see also Abbre-v. Plac. (Rec.
Com.), 130 (1253), and Cur. Reg. R. 160,
m. 33 (1258) for other Allerton suits.
In 1254, on a certain Saturday, people
coming to the market at Manchester
were overheard by Thomas Grelley's
bailiff saying that they had heard dogs in
the park (probably Blackley) 5 the bailiff
accordingly went there and found Geoffrey
de Chetham's dog herding a number of
animals, and thereupon the bailiff ' did as
he could' ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 193.
He purchased from Adam de Windle
land in Gartside which he afterwards re-
sold to him ; Whalley Couch, i, 164. To
Cockersand Abbey he granted a rent of
259
21. from hit vill of Cheetham : Cockersand
Chart. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 725.
He died between Pentecost 1271
(Wballcy Couch. Hi, 886, 888) and 1274,
when William de Hacking and other*
made claim against his widow Margery
concerning lands in Crompton, Manches-
ter, and Sholver ; Def. Keeper's Rep. xliii,
App. 1,425.
His widow, as Margery Grelley, was in
1 27 6 acquitted of the charge of disseising
Thomas son of John de Manchester of
3^ acres in Cheetham, which Geoffrey had
demised to Master John, father of the
plaintiff ; Assize R. 405, m. 3 d.
John Grelley and Henry de Chetham
were defendants to a charge of assault at
Chorlton in 1275 > Coram Rege R. i8,m.8.
14 The precise mode of descent is un-
known. It is supposed (Chet. Gen. 2, 3)
that two sisters of Geoffrey de Chetham
married the heads of the Pilkington and
Traffbrd families. In 1278 William del
Hacking and Christiana his wife (said to
be widow of Richard de Traffbrd) ac-
knowledged various tenements in Lanca-
shire, including moieties of the manors of
Cheetham and Crompton, to be the right
of Geoffrey de Chadderton ; and it seems
clear, from the accompanying fine relating
to the ' inheritance' of Henry de Traffbrd,
that the former were the inheritance of
Christiana ; Final. Cone, i, 153—5.
Roger de Pilkington in 1291 had a
grant of free warren in Cheetham among
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
tenure being altered to knight's service,14 and on
their forfeiture in 1485 it was granted to the Earl of
Derby,16 and descended like Knowsley down to the
middle of the I yth century." There does not appear
to be any later record of a manor of Cheetham, the
estate probably having been dismembered by various
sales.18 Lord Derby, however, is still the chief land-
owner.
The principal estate in the
township, apart from the manor,
was that called STRJNGE-
WAYS? long held by the
family of that name,20 but sold
about the middle of the iyth
century to the Hartleys, who
retained possession for several
other demesne lands ; Plac. de Quo War,
(Rec. Com.), 369. His mother Alice
(living in 1302) confirmed a grant of lands
in Crompton made by him, as if they
were part of her inheritance ; Clowes
deeds. It is supposed that she was the
other sister and co-heir. Geoffrey de
Chetham's moiety of Allerton did not
descend in the same way, so that it is
probable he had no issue by his wife
Margery.
By 1312, probably by arrangement be-
tween the heirs, the whole of the manor
of Cheetham was held by the Pilkingtons;
Final Cone, ii, 9, 33, 35. In 1313 Geof-
frey de Chadderton the elder appeared in
an assize of mart <f 'ancestor against Robert
de Ashton, Margery his wife ; Alexander,
Roger, and William, sons of Roger de
Pilkington, and Alice, widow of Alexan-
der de Pilkington ; Assize R. 424, m. 4,
10. This may refer to the Crompton
estate.
Roger son of Roger de Pilkington in
1357 proceeded against various persons
for cutting his trees at Cheetham ; Duchy
of Lane. Assize R. 6, m. 7.
15 In 1346 Roger de Pilkington held
the tenth part of a knight's fee in Cheet-
ham, paying 131. 4</. ; Add. MS. 32103,
fol. 1466. From the Book of Reasonable
Aid of 1378, it appears that Sir Roger de
Pilkington paid 2J. for the tenth part of a
knight's fee in Cheetham ; Harl. MS.
2085, fol. 422. So also in the inquisition
after the death of Sir Roger de Pilkington
in 1407 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i,
86, from which it appears that the rent of
1 3 s. $d. was also paid. In the extent of
1445-6 it is stated that Sir John Pilking-
ton held one plough-land in Cheetham for
the tenth part of a knight's fee, the relief
due being 101. ; Duchy of Lane. Knights'
Fees, 2/20. Again, in 1483 Sir Thomas
Pilkington was found to hold the tenth
part of a fee in Cheetham ; Duchy of
Lane. Misc. 130.
16 Pat. 4 Hen. VII ; styled the manor
of Cheetham or lordship of Cheetwood.
J7 Cheetham and Cheetwood are named
in 1521 among the manors of Thomas,
Earl of Derby, but no particulars are
given ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, 68.
The manor of Cheetham and Cheet-
wood, together with lands there and in
Harwood and Breightmet, was sold or
mortgaged by William, Earl of Derby.
about 1596 to Sir Nicholas and Rowland
Mosley for £1,600. The purchasers
demanded further assurances, and appear
to have refused to complete the purchase,
according to a complaint by the earl in
1601 ; Duchy of Lane. Plead. Eliz.
ccii, D 10 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
58, m. 291. In 1608 Thomas Goodyer
was stated to hold lands in Cheetham of
Sir Nicholas Mosley as of his manor of
Cheetham ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 112. The later
history shows that Cheetham and Cheet-
wood were recovered by the earl, while
Breightmet and Harwood were alienated,
for in 1653 it was deposed that a
chief rent of 1 31. 4^. had been paid to
the king for the Earl of Derby's land* in
Cheetham and Cheetwood ; Royalist Comp.
Papcrt (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii,
206. At this time lands in Cheetham,
Manchester, and Salford, paying £3 8 'old
rent* were part of the life estate of
Charlotte, the countess dowager ; ibid, ii,
185. In 1653 she leased to Thomas
Bird the water corn-mill called Travis
Mill in Cheetham.
18 Some of the seventh earl's confiscated
lands were sold to Humphrey Kelsall ;
Royalist Comp. Papers, ii, 241 ; see also
Com. Pleas Recov. R. Mich. 1653, m. I.
19 It is mentioned in 1322 in the
description of the bounds of Manchester ;
Mamecestre, ii, 372. The spelling varies
considerably, e.g. Strongways, 1306 ;
Strangewayes, 1349; Strangwishe, 1473.
20 In 1304 Robert son of John Grelley
appeared against John de Strangeways,
Thomas and Geoffrey his brothers, for
the death of his brother John son of John
Grelley ; Coram Rege R. 176, m. 6 d.
Ellen de Strangeways and others were
afterwards charged with receiving the said
John de Strangeways ; Assize R. 421, m.
4. In 1345 Sibyl, widow of Geoffrey de
Strangeways, and Thomas son of Geoffrey,
were defendants in a plea regarding a
messuage and lands in Manchester ; De
Banco R. 343, m. I76d. In 1349 John
de Strangeways and Margery his wife had
a lease of a burgage in the Netheracres,
Manchester, from John de Prestwich ;
Lord Wilton's D. Thomas de Strange-
ways, a witness to this lease, was probably
the head of the family at that time, oc-
curring at various dates, down to his
death in 1386; e.g. Agecroft D.,
no. 24 (1349), no. 29 (1362); Mamecestre,
iii, 454 (1359). At his death he held
Tetlow of the Langleys of Agecroft, and
his son Geoffrey, being only five years of
age, was committed to the guardianship of
Roger de Langley ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet.
Soc.), i, 24, 50.
John de Strangeways and Alice his wife
were living in 1377 ; Final Cone, iii, 56.
John occurs as a witness in 1381, and
Henry in 1383 ; Hulme D. The
latter also in 1410; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet.
Soc. i, 94-5. In the same year James
Strangeways, the king's serjeant-at-law,
is named ; ibid, i, 97 ; see also Final
Cone, iii, 103. Other members of the
family or families occur in similar ways,
but no connected pedigree can be formed,
nor is it known how they acquired the
estate called Strangeways. Henry de
Strangeways was in 1385 in possession of
a manor in Tyldesley which he granted to
Thomas de Strangeways and Ellen his
wife and heirs male ; they had a daughter
Cecily ; ibid, iii, 25. Henry son of John
de Strangeways of Manchester had a bur-
gage in Salford in 1397 ; Dods. MS. cxlii,
fol. 165, no. 21. Nicholas son of Henry
Strangeways occurs in 1447 ; ibid. no.
22. William Strangeways of Cheetham
was in 1443 called upon to surrender a
chest of charters to Ralph de Prestwich ;
Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 5, m. 7*. There
are some interesting notes concerning
26O
them in Har- STRANGEWAYS. SabU
land, Maneh. t^o Itons passant ,n pale
Coll. (Chet. *jf °f "* ar&'nt and
Soc.), ii, 140- Zul"'
3 ; from these
it appears that William Strangeways had
a grant of the Knolls (see below) in 1408,
and that John Strangeways had land by
the Irk in 1459.
Thomas son and heir of John Strange-
ways, deceased, in 1478, enfeoffed
James and Richard Strangeways and a
number of others of his lands in Lanca-
shire ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xl, App. 540.
Then in 1518 Philip son and heir of
Thomas Strangeways, lately deceased,
granted a tenement in the Millgate in
Manchester on lease ; Philip was to re-
tain a free passage through the tenement
and garden to the Irk in order to get
water, and also to wash clothes ; High
Legh D. (West Hall).
In 1540 Philip Strangeways, described
as ' a wilful person,' and Thomas his son
and heir apparent, leased lands called the
Broad, Great Knolls, Hammecroft Bank,
&c., and the corn-mill at Strangeways to
one John Webster of Manchester, who
soon afterwards complained that they had
seized his corn ; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 156.
Philip Strangeways and Stephen Beck
in 1544 disposed of three messuages, &c.,
in Cheetham to Robert Fletcher ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 12, m. 238. Philip
died in 1556, being succeeded by his son
William (Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. i, 29),
who had already disposed of many por-
tions of the family property ; e.g. Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 14, m. 214, m. 51,
m. 40, m. 112, &c. In one of the fines
Philip Strangeways and Dulcibella his
wife are mentioned ; ibid. bdle. 14, ID.
208. A settlement had been made in
1544 by which the remainder (after
Philip and his son William and male issue)
was to George Strangeways, brother of
Philip ; the estate comprised twenty-four
messuages, twenty burgages, twenty cot-
tages, &c., a water-mill, with land, mea-
dow, pasture, wood, moor and heath, and
turbary,^ 1 31. 4^. rent, and the moiety of
a water-mill, in Cheetham, Strangeways,
Rochdale, Spotland, Oldham, Cheesden,
Manchester, Salford, Oldfield, Withing-
ton, and Ardwick ; ibid. bdle. 1 2, m.
268.
William Strangeways died in 1565,
leaving a son Thomas as heir ; Ct. Leet
Rec. i, 93. Eleanor Strangeways, widow
of William, in 1568 gave acknowledge-
ments for rents received on behalf of
her son Thomas ; West Hall D. Two
years later Thomas Strangeways, seised in
fee of the mansion house and demesne of
Strangeways, was plaintiff in an assault
case ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 400.
The fortunes of the family were probably
declining, for alienations went on ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdles. 32, m. 82 ; 34,
m. 84 ; 56, m. 4 ; Ct. Leet Rec. i, 176.
In 1571 Thomas Strangeways sold a bur-
gage in Manchester lying near the Irk,
with a garden and kiln belonging thereto,
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
generations." In 1 7 1 1 it was bequeathed by Catherine
Richards, widow, to Thomas Reynolds, ancestor of
REYNOLDS. Or two
lions passant gulet.
MORETON, Earl of
Ducie. Argent a che-ve-
ron gules between three
square buckles sable.
the Earl of Ducie, the owner in 1850." The present
earl owns land in the township.
A minor estate was SMEDLET, acquired on lease
by Edward Chetham in 1640 from Lord Strange."
He had a legacy of £2,000 from his uncle Hum-
phrey Chetham,84 and in 1659 was mortgagee of
Nuthurst,*5 which his younger son Edward after-
wards purchased. James Chetham, the eldest son,
succeeded to Smedley in i684,86 and dying unmarried
in 1692 bequeathed it to a brother George,17 whose
son James, high sheriff in I73O,*8 also dying un-
married, was succeeded by his sister Ann.*9 She
bequeathed it to her ' cousin Edward Chetham ' of
Nuthurst, son of the last-mentioned Edward.80 On
the division which took place in 1770, after his death,
Smedley passed to his sister Mary, wife of Samuel
Clowes.31
The Langleys of Agecroft held a portion of Cheetham
as part of their Tetlow inheritance ; M and a few other
families occur as having had estates in the township.*1
measuring 4 rods by z rods 3 yds. ; £20
was paid, and a perpetual rent of $s. \d.
and 4</. for ' shearing ' was due ; Ear-
waker MSS. In 1587 he had stopped an
old footway going over the Knolls into
the Walkers' Croft, to the annoyance of
his neighbours ; Ct, Leet Rec. ii, 10. He
died in 1590, leaving a son and heir John,
under age ; Strangeways Hall with the
appurtenant lands was held of the Earl of
Derby as of his manor of Pilkington (i.e.
Cheetham) in socage by a rent of four
barbed arrows ; ibid, ii, 42 ; Manch. Coll.
ii, 142.
A contemporary John Strangeways,
described as ' of London, mercer," had land
in Salford. He died before October
1598, leaving a son and heir William,
about six years old ; Salford Portmote Rec.
(Chet. Soc.), i, 9,'iJ. The Salford pro-
perty was sold in 1601 during William's
minority to George Holden ; ibid, i, 26.
Another contemporary, Philip Strange-
ways, was one of the missionary priests
imprisoned at Wisbech at the end of
Elizabeth's reign ; Misc. (Cath. Rec.
Soc.), i, no ; ii, 278, &c.
John Strangeways of Strangeways died
at the end of 1 600, leaving a son John, a
minor, as heir ; but in 1609 another son
Thomas, then seventeen years of age, was
found to be the heir ; Manch. Ct. Leet
Rec. ii, 167; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 132. A large part
of the estate, as well as property in Sal-
ford, had been disposed of, but John
Strangeways had held the messuage (i.e.
Strangeways Hall), water-mill, 40 acres of
land, &c., in Cheetham, the Knolls and
other lands in Manchester, Ardwick,
Salford, and Withington ; the tenure of
the Cheetham estate was said to be ' of
the king by knight's service.' In October
1601, at the Salford Portmote, it was
presented that John Strangeways had
died since the last court, and that Thomas
his son and heir was about twelve years
old ; Salford Portm. Rec. (Chet. Soc.), i,
27. In 1622 he sold a messuage and
garden which he and Ralph Holland
owned in Salford to George Cranage the
younger, of Salford 5 ibid, i, 167. Eliza-
beth, widow of John, recovered her dower
in 1603 against Thomas Strangeways, the
aon and heir ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 292,
m. rod. Thomas came of age in 1613,
and did his fealty at Manchester Court ;
Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 279. In the same year
he recorded a pedigree ; Vint. (Chet. Soc.),
13. In 1620, as churchwarden, he was
interested in the project of a workhouse
for the poor; Ct. Leet Rec. iii, 32. He
was living in 1646, but had perhaps already
sold his estate, being described as ' late of
Strangeways.' Deed printed in Mancb.
Guardian.
21 Richard Hartley, son of Nicholas
Hartley of Manchester, woollen draper,
succeeded his father in 1609, but did not
come of age till 1617 ; Ct. Leet Rec. ii,
251, 323 and note. He died in three
years, leaving as heir his brother John
(ibid, iii, 36), the purchaser of Strange-
ways. John, who gave a rent-charge of
401. towards the repair of the Manchester
Conduit (ibid, iii, 251-6), is described as
'of Strangeways' in 1653 ; ibid, iv, 93.
He died in 1655, leaving a daughter
Ellen as heir. She married another John
Hartley, and was succeeded in turn by her
sons John and Ralph, who died in 1703
and 1710 respectively; Ct. Leet Rec.
iv, 291 (and note) ; v, 71 ; vi, 23 ; Dug-
dale Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 131 ; Piccope,
MS. Ped. (Chet. Lib.), ii, 260. A petition
against the John Hartley who married
Ellen, as being ' a man of a contentious
and turbulent spirit,' in 1674 is printed in
Pal. NoteBk. iii, 37 ; iv, 87.
22 Raines in Notitia Cestr. ii, 68. An
abstract of Catherine Richards' will is
given in the Char. Com. Rep. for Man-
chester (1826, p. 165) ; the estate was
left to Thomas Reynolds, Mary his wife,
and Francis their son, with remainder to
the issue of Francis. A claim by James
Whittle, in right of William Hartley, was
rejected in 1721 ; Exch. of Pleas,
7 Geo. I, Hil. m. 4, &c.
Thomas Reynolds was a South Sea
director. His son Francis in 1730 married
Elizabeth daughter of Matthew Ducie
Moreton, Lord Ducie, by Arabella daugh-
ter and co-heir of Sir Thomas Prestwich
of Hulme. Her elder brother, there being
no heir male, procured a second grant of a
peerage (Ducie of Tortworth) to descend
to her sons. Thus in 1770 Thomas
Reynolds, son of Francis and Elizabeth,
born at Strangeways, became the second
Lord Ducie, and took the surname of
Moreton. In 1785 he was succeeded by
his brother Francis, and Francis in 1808
by his son Thomas, who in 1837 was
created Earl of Ducie. His son, Henry
George Francis, succeeded as second earl
in 1840, and was followed by his son
Henry John in 1853. See Collins, Peer-
age (ed. 1779), viii, 229-32; G.E.C. Com-
plete Baronetage, ii, 77 ; Complete Peerage
iii, 177-8.
Francis Reynolds was ' of Strangeways '
26l
in 1741 ; Ct. Leet Rec. vii, 102 ; his
house is figured in Casson and Berry's
plan of the town a few years later. In
1756 Thomas Reynolds was vouchee in a
recovery of the manor of Strangeways and
lands in Cheetham ; Pal. of Lane. Plea
R. 582, m. i a/d. In another recovery
in 1797 the Hon. Thomas Moreton wat
vouchee ; Aug. Assizes, 37 Geo. Ill,
R. 8.
23 This was the renewal of a lease held
by his father-in-law, Robert Wilson of
Smedley ; Clowes D. ; Axon, Cbet. Gen.
(Chet. Soc.), 57, 58, from which work
the account in the text is chiefly de-
rived.
24 See the account of Crumpsall.
25 Chet. Gen. 27, 30, 62.
26 Ibid. 57.
27 Ibid. 58. He passed his brother
Edward over, because 'he hath several
times made attempts to take away my
life, and swore he would be my death
either by stab or poison.'
28 P.R.O. List, 74.
2» Cbet. Gen. 61.
«» Ibid. 63.
« Ibid.
82 It is described as 40 acres, about a
moiety of the estate ; it was occupied by
Thomas de Strangeways and his son
Geoffrey at the end of the I4th century ;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 50.
There is an earlier reference in Final
Cone, ii, 132. It was included in the
share of the Langley estates which de-
scended to the Reddish and Coke families,
and was included in a recovery of Reddish
and other lands in 1776 ; Pal. of Lane.
Plea R. 624, m. 3.
88 Thomas Goodyer, mentioned in a
preceding note, in 1606 purchased lands
in Manchester and Strangeways from Mr.
John Haughton ; Manch. Ct. Leet Rec.
ii, 222. In 1610 Ralph Haughton of
Cheetham and George Siddall of the Slade
demised to Thomas Watson the Town-
field in Cheetham, containing 3 acres, to
mow and pasture at 6d. rent ; but if they
repaid zos. on St. Stephen's Day, between
12 and 2 p.m. in the south porch of
Manchester Church, the demise was to
be of no effect ; High Legh D. (West
Hall). Thomas Watson soon afterwards
sold the Townfield and Greater Marled
Field to George Tipping ; ibid. In 1711
Henry Newcome, rector of Middle-
ton, left to his daughter Elizabeth his
messuage or tenement called Townfield
Croft in Cheetham ; Pal. Note Bk. iv,
96.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The Brideoaks of Cheetham Hill S4 produced a Bishop
of Chichester.14a
The principal contributors to the land tax in 1795
were Lord Ducie, James Hilton, and James Heywood,
together paying more than a third.85
In connexion with the Established Church St.
Mark's was erected in 1 794, the first church in the
part of Manchester parish lying between the Irwell
and Irk ; a district was assigned to it in iS^c).36 It
was followed by St. Luke's, 1839 ;S7 St. John the
Evangelist's, 1871 ;M and St. Albans, Cheetwood,
i874.39 St. Thomas's, 1863, described as in Lower
Crumpsall, is within the township of Cheetham.
The Wesleyan Methodists have three churches ; 40
the Primitive Methodists and the United Free Church
one each. The Congregationalists have two churches,
one in Bury New Road, usually called ' Broughton
Chapel/ and one at Cheetham Hill.41 The Salvation
Army has a meeting place in Hightown.
The Presbyterian Church of England is represented
by Trinity Church, Cheetham Hill, built in 1899 ;
the cause originated in 1845." The Welsh Calvinistic
Methodists also have a chapel. The Unitarians for-
merly had a chapel at Strangeways.43
At Cheetham Hill is the convent of Notre Dame.
The southern end of the township having a large
Jewish population, British and foreign, there are nine
synagogues, some of the buildings having formerly
been used as Nonconformist chapels.44 A hospital and
dispensary have been founded, and there is a Home
for Aged Jews. A Talmud Torah school has been
opened.
CRUMPSALL
Curmisale, 1282 (copy) ; Curmesalle, Curmeshal,
1320 (copy) ; Curmesale, 1405 ; Cromshall, 1548.
This township lies to the south-west of the Irk, and
has an area of 733 acres. The surface is hilly, a ridge
which attains 280 ft. over the Ordnance datum occupy-
ing the southern side, and sending out numerous spurs
towards the Irk. The township has in the main be-
come urban ; the Manchester workhouse with its land
occupies a large part of the eastern side, in a place
formerly called the Bongs or Banks. Adjacent stands the
Prestwich workhouse. To the west is Crumpsall Green.
The population in 1901 was reckoned with Cheetham.
The Manchester and Bury road passes along the
south-west boundary, and has two important offshoots
— on the eastern side to Blackley, and on the western
to Middleton. There are numerous cross streets.
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's railway
from Manchester to Bury passes north-west through
the centre of the township, with a station.
John Blackwall, a naturalist, died at Crumpsall in
1881.
A local board was constituted in I854.1 In 1890
the township became part of the city of Manchester,
and was absorbed in the new township of North
Manchester in 1896.
A school board was formed in 1875.*
There is a Jews' cemetery at Lower Crumpsall.
In 1 666 the hearths liable to the tax numbered forty-
seven.3 Though the township is now mostly residential
a number of industries exist. Mills, print works, and
chemical works stand by the Irk ; there are also brick
works and a rope walk. In 1852 there were a cotton
mill and print, bleach, and dye works.4
In 1282 the lord of Manchester had
M4NOR ten oxgangs of land in CRUMPS4LL in
bondage, the farm of which was 40;. ; the
rent of certain assarts there amounted to IQJ. 2</.&
The more detailed survey of 1320-2 shows that
three of the oxgangs were held separately by villein
tenants at a rent of 5/. ^d. each ; 6 the other seven,
with 1 08 acres of land, appear to have been in the
lord's hand.7 There were 40 acres of moor, in which
all the tenants had common of pasture.8 The tenants
of the hamlet were bound to grind at the mill of
Manchester.9 The feoffees of Lord La Warre in 1405
released to him three messuages and 800 acres of land
in Crumpsall, lately parcel of the manor of Man-
chester.10
84 The will of Ralph Bryddocke (Bride-
oak) of Manchester, clerk, is printed in
Piccope, Will* (Chet. Soc.), iii, 142.
Richard and Geoffrey Brideoak were
among the executors.
Richard Brideoak, a tenant of the Earl
of Derby in Cheetham, asserted in 1 598
a right to common in Crumpsall Moor
against Henry Shepherd, bailiff of Alex-
ander Reddish, but his claim was re-
jected 5 PaL of Lane. Plea R. 283, m. 14.
843 Ralph son of Richard Brideoak of
Cheetham Hill was born about 1614,
entered Brasenose Coll. Oxford in 1630,
and was created M.A. 1636. After
various appointments he gained the favour
of James, Earl of Derby, and remained
loyal to that family during the Civil War
and its subsequent misfortunes ; he gained
the favour also of Speaker Lenthall, who
presented him to the vicarage of Witney
in Oxfordshire. He was made D.D; in
1660. He was rector of Standish in
1644, but kept out of his right, which he
regained in 1660 and held till his death.
In 1667 he was made Dean of Salisbury,
and in 1675 Bishop of Chichester, having,
it is supposed, bribed the king's mistress,
the Duchess of Portsmouth. He died
three years later, having (according to
Wood) ' spent the chief part of his life in
continual agitation for the obtaining of
wealth and settling a family ' ; Wood,
Athenat } Diet. Nat. Biog. ; V.C.H. Lanes.
ii, 585. Another member of the family
became rector of Sefton.
88 Returns at Preston.
88 For district see Land. Gaz. 29 Mar.
1839, i July 1856. Copies of the monu-
mental inscriptions are in the Owen MSS.
87 Land. Gaz. i July 1856 (reciting
that a district had been assigned to it in
1840).
88 For district see Land. Gais. 14 May
1872.
89 Ibid. 20 Oct. 1874.
40 The Wesleyans have a cemetery at
Cheetham Hill. There was a chapel
there in 1837.
41 The work began about 1851 ; the
former building was opened in 1857 and
the latter in 1853 ; Nightingale, Lanes.
Nonconf. v, 192-4. There was also a
meeting place in Hightown ; ibid. 196.
42 The earlier church was near Vic-
toria Station, and is now used by the
Y.W.C.A.
48 In New Bridge Street ; opened in
1838.
44 The Great Synagogue and New
Synagogue, Cheetham Hill Road ; British
Jews, Park Place ; Spanish and Portu-
guese Synagogue; Central Synagogue,
Park Street ; Roumanian Synagogue,
262
Waterloo Road ; Strangeways and Cracow
Synagogue in Strangeways ; North Man-
chester Synagogue, Bury New Road.
1 Land. Gaz. 14 Apr. 1854.
a Ibid. 15 Jan. 1875.
8 Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9. The largest
houses were those of Giles Siddall (with
six hearths), and Thomas Percival (with
five).
4 J. Booker, Blackley (Chet. Soc.), 213.
5 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 245.
6 Mamecestre (Chet. Soc.), ii, 281 ; the
names of the tenants were Richard son of
Maiot, William son of Maiot, and Rich-
ard son of Roger. The same services
were rendered as at Ardwick. The value
of the works of the natives was 5*., and
their rents amounted to 691. Si/.
7 Ibid, ii, 363 ; 3^ oxgangs were worth
1 6s. id. each ; 2 oxgangs, $s. ; i J, 8*. i</. ;
a cottage with a rood of land was worth
6d. a year. There were four bleaching
grounds (folia) worth in all 211. 6d. for
76 acres.
8 Ibid, ii, 291, 369 ; there were 18 acres
of heath, valued at ^3 6s. $d. a year.
9 Ibid, ii, 281.
10 Chan. Inq. p.m. 5 Hen. VI, no. 54.
The bounds began at the boundary be-
tween the hamlet and Thurstan Holland's
tenement in Heaton under Blackley, fol-
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
After this the lordship appears to have been granted
to the Radcliftes of Radcliffe at a quit-rent of los. a
year,11 and they held it down to 1548, when it was
sold by the Earl of Sussex to John Reddish.1* It de-
scended in the Reddish and Coke families 13 until
1789, when Thomas William Coke,14 afterwards Earl
of Leicester, sold the greater part to Lord Grey de
Wilton, who added it to his Heaton estate.15 It has
descended to the present Earl
of Wilton, who owns about
two-thirds of the land.
The remaining portion was
sold in 1 794 to William Mars-
den, a Liverpool merchant.
After his death this part was
again sold in 1819 to several
purchasers.16
For a long period a branch
of the Chetham family held
lands in the township,17 their
residence, at least in later
times, being known as Crump-
sail Hall,18 famous as the
birthplace of Humphrey Chetham, one of the most
notable benefactors of Manchester, as founder of the
hospital and library bearing his name, and in other
ways. Humphrey, the fifth son of Henry Chetham
of Crumpsall,19 was born in 1580,*° and in 1598
was bound apprentice to Samuel Tipping of Man-
CHETHAM. Argent
a griffin segreant gulet
within a bordure sable
bessanty.
Chester, linen draper.11 Afterwards he became part-
ner with his brother George, who had established a
business in London as a ' grocer ' or ' mercer.' **
In 1619 Humphrey is found managing the Man-
chester branch of the business, the joint stock being
valued at j£io,ooo.*3 Shortly afterwards Clayton
was purchased, and Humphrey resided there.*4 He
was the principal legatee of his brother George,
who died in 162 J,K and continued to add to his
lands and wealth, Turton being acquired in idzS.26
He compounded in 1631 on refusing knighthood,*7
and wished to avoid being appointed sheriff in 1634;**
he acted, however, and it became his duty to collect
the ship-money.*9 During the Civil War period he
was appointed treasurer for the county ; his wealth
and business capacity pointed him out for the office,
the choice further indicating that he was an adherent
of the Parliament.80 He showed himself a pious and
liberal man ; for many years he educated a number
of poor boys, and founded his hospital to continue the
same charitable work.31 He died at Clayton Hall on
20 September 1653,** in possession of a large landed
estate and other property.33 He bequeathed £7,000
for the endowment of the hospital, and .£500 for the
purchase of the college building, if it could be pur-
chased, as in the end it was ; he left £1,000 for
founding a library, and £100 for the building ; also
£200 for ' godly English books ' for the parish
churches of Manchester and Bolton, and the chapels
lowed the Irk on the side of Crumpsall at
far as the boundary of Chertham, and
thence along the boundaries of Cheetham,
Broughton, and Prestwich to the starting
point. The lands were held of the king
as of his duchy of Lancaster, and were
worth 661. %d. a year. After the death
of Lord La Warre, Crumpsall was to
remain to Thomas de Langley, clerk, and
Henry de Langley his brother ; Deeds in
possession of Manch. Corp.
11 It was perhaps purchased from the
Langleys. James Radcliffe held Crump-
sail at the rent named in 1473 ; Mame-
cestrc, iii, 483.
Lands and rent in Crumpsall are named
among the other Radcliffe possessions in
1500 and 1517; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 149 ; Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 148. In the inqui-
sitions the lands in Moston, Crumpsall,
and Manchester are all placed together,
and said to be held of the lord of Man-
chester by a rent of 101., viz. that due for
Crumpsall alone ; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. iii, 98 ; iv, 7.
» Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 13,
m. 194.
18 The purchaser, John Reddish, in
1 5 5 3 granted a messuage to his brother
Thomas for life, with reversion to John
and his heirs ; the rest of Crumpsall de-
scended to a grandson, John Reddish, who
died in 1569 holding it (together with
lands, &c., in Manchester) of the execu-
tors of Lord La Warre in socage by suit
of court and a rent of lot. ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. xiii, 32.
After the death of Alexander Reddish
it was stated that the lands in Crumpsall
and Manchester were held of the king by
the 2ooth part of a knight's fee ; Lanes.
Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i,
253. In 1606 Crumpsall was sold or
mortgaged to Anthony Mosley ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 70, no. 82.
Sara widow of Clement Coke was one
of the heirs of Alexander Reddish. Her
father-in-law, Sir Edmund Coke, was
seised of various farms, messuages, &c. in
Crumpsall and Heaton, ' called the manor
of Crumpsall,' with its members and ap-
purtenances, lately acquired of Sir Wil-
liam Sedley, deceased ; Duchy of Lane.
Inq. p.m. xxvi, 53. From this it would
seem that Crumpsall had been sold or
mortgaged, and then recovered by Sir
Edward Coke. It appears in later settle-
ments of the Reddish estates ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdles. 179, m. 92 ; 217,
m. 20.
Among the Manchester Free Library
Deeds (no. 107) is the transfer of a lease
(granted by Sir Edward Coke in 1694)
from James Pendleton of Crumpsall to
John Wright as security.
See further in the accounts of Reddish
and Prestwich.
14 In 1787 he paid £14 out of the total
land tax of yTig.
15 Booker, op. cit. 196.
18 Ibid. 196, 197.
l~ Thomas son of Hugh Chetham of
Crumpsall occurs in 1417 ; Final Cone,
iii, 85.
A pedigree appears in the printed Visit.
of 1613 (Chet. Soc.), 87; and cf. Life,
106, and an account of the family is given
by Mr. E. Axon in his Chetham Gen.
(Chet. Soc. new ser.), 35-56, of which
use has been made. There are further
details in the Life of Humphrey Chetham
by the late Canon Raines and Mr. C. W.
Sutton (Chet. Soc. new sen), which has
been followed in the text ; it is cited as
the Life.
18 For views see Life, 4 ; Booker, 210;
also N. G. Philips, Old Halls, 103.
w Henry was the son of James Chetham
of Crumpsall, whose will is printed in
Chetham Gen. 38—41, and who had
lands in Kersal and Manchester as well
as in Crumpsall. James died in 15715
Manch. Ct. Lett Etc. i, 142.
Henry Chetham died in 1603, holding
lands in Kersal, Ashton under Lyne, and
Manchester ; James his son and heir was
over thirty years of age ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 2 ;
Chetham Gen. 42 ; Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 1 94.
His will is printed in Piccope's Wills
(Chet. Soc.), iii, 164-6.
20 Life, 9. » Ibid. 10.
MIbid. 12. "Ibid. 14.
M Ibid. 19.
94 The will of George Chetham is
printed in the Life, 22-5. He desired
the sum of money he had yearly paid ' to
the two preaching curates in Manchester
Church ' to be continued for ever.
26 Ibid. 31.
*7 Ibid. 73. The composition was
£25 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 223.
» Life, 74 ; P.R.O. List, 73.
M A full account of the difficulties and
troubles resulting from this tax and its
collection is given in the Life, 77-89,
95-98. The sum to be raised was
£3,500, and Humphrey Chetham also
levied £96 to cover possible expenses in
collection ; this levy appears to have been
illegal, and as the actual expenses were
only ,£50 he was required to repay the
balance. He was again approved as
sheriff by the Parliament in 1648, but
contrived to excuse himself; ibid. 158,
159.
As sheriff he considered it fitting that
he should use a coat of arms ; this also
led to trouble, Randle Holme of Chester
giving wrong advice ; ibid. 98-111.
80 Ibid. 137, 150, &c.
81 Ibid. 191-202.
82 Ibid. 204 ; the funeral certificate
and charges are printed, pp. 204-7, and
the latter at length in the Appendix,
278-301.
8S He appears to have made large profits
by lending money ; many particula are
given in the Life, 112-21.
263
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
of Turton, Walmsley, and Gorton." There is a
portrait of the founder in the Chetham Library ; ss
and in 1853 a statue was erected in the cathedral as
a memorial of him,36 a stained glass window being
also placed there.
The Chethams of Crumpsall were leaseholders under
the Prestwich family, until in 1622 James Chetham,
eldest son of Henry, purchased the holding.*7 His
son George ultimately inherited not only the property
in Crumpsall, but the Clayton, Turton, and other
estates of his uncle Humphrey. These seem to have
descended like Turton,18 until the division in 1770,
when Crumpsall was given to Mary wife of Samuel
Clowes, and was bequeathed to her grandson John
Hilton.*9 It was afterwards sold in parcels.40
George Clark, another benefactor of Manchester,
was a resident in Crumpsall.41 A branch of the Old-
ham family also had an estate.43 Bishop Oldham is
sometimes said to have been born there, but the con-
nexion of his family with the township began very
much later than his time.4*3
In 1655 there were eighteen ratepayers in Crump-
sall, including George Chetham, esq., Thomas Percival,
' the wife of Old Oldham,' Thomas Oldham, Robert,
Richard, and James Bowker, four Pendletons, &c.
The number of houses in 1774 was fifty-seven.43
Among the more recent landowners and residents
of Crumpsall the Delaunays may be mentioned.
Angel Delaunay, from Rouen, in 1788 introduced
Turkey red dyeing into Crumpsall and Blackley, and
built up a great business. His sons acquired part of
William Marsden's estate in 1819, later known as the
Cleveland estate. They built a bridge over the Irk
for their coach road from Blackley to Cheetham
Hill.44
A school was built in 1850, and licensed for the
worship of the Established Church.45 In 1859
St. Mary's was built, and rebuilt in i875-46 There
is a mission church.
The Wesleyan Methodists in 1 809 opened a preach-
ing room, which was replaced in 1815 by a more
substantial building ; this was followed by a larger
one in 1837, repaired and enlarged in 1844. There
is a burial-ground attached.47 Another Wesleyan
chapel was built in Lower Crumpsall in 1838." There
is also a place of worship belonging to the United
Methodist Free church.
MOSTON
Mostun, 1247 ; Moston, 1275.
The township of Moston lies on the north side of
the Morris Brook, which flows west to the Irk ; it
measures over 2 miles from east to west and has an
84 His will is printed in full; Life, 228-
62. The private bequests include lands
in Bolton by Bowland to his nephew
George Chetham [of Turton], to his
brother Ralph's children, and £2,000 to
his nephew Edward Chetham for the pur-
chase of lands. The inventory of his
goods at Clayton, Ordsall, and Turton
follows, 263-77 5 a note on his books is
appended. The books he recommended
for his church libraries were ' such as
Calvin's, Preston's, and Perkins' works ;
comments or annotations upon the Bible
or some parts thereof,' the choice being
left to Richard Johnson, Richard Hollin-
worth (former fellows of Manchester Col-
lege), and John Tilsley (Deane).
85 Reproduced as a frontispiece to the
Life. See also pp. 226, 227 ; Land, and
Cbes. Antiq. Soc. xxii, 188, where Bishop
Nicolson (1704) says it was 'drawn at a
guess.'
36 Ibid. 224-6 ; a view is given. The
Chetham Society may also be regarded as
a memorial to him 5 it was established in
1843.
87 Chetham Gen. 47 ; it consisted of a
messuage and fourteen closes of land.
In 1478 Ellis Prestwich granted to
feoffees messuages and lands in Crumpsall
held by William Tetlow, Edward Chet-
ham, Hugh Chetham, Henry Siddall, and
Adam Pendleton, together with other
properties ; De Trafford D. no. 89.
Ralph Prestwich in 1444 had three
messuages, 90 acres of land, 12 acres of
meadow, and 6 acres of wood in Crump-
sail ; Final Cone, iii, ill. Another
Ralph Prestwich about 1504 complained
that certain persons had broken into his
close at Crumpsall and stolen three pieces
of linen cloth ; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 41.
James Chetham, who in 1631 com-
pounded for knighthood (Misc. Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches. i, 215), was twice mar-
ried and had a numerous offspring ; the
principal were his sons George (of Clay-
ton and Turton) and Edward (of Smedley);
Chetham Gen. 47-9 ; see also Ct. Lett Rec.
iv, 134, where there is an abstract of his
will.
88 See the account of Turton.
8» Chetham Gen. 60, 6 1 ; Booker, Black-
ley, 203. James Hilton, the brother of
John, had Nuthurst.
40 The following is Mr. Booker's account
(op. cit. 206): 'About this time [1775]
the hall and its adjacent lands had become
the property of John Gartside, esquire, who
some years later (in 1806) disposed of it
by sale to Thomas Blackwall, esquire, of
Manchester ; the estate thus transferred
being in extent about 60 statute acres.
. . . Mr. Hilton still continued to retain
the residue of the Crumpsall property de-
vised to him under the will of his grand-
mother and died seised thereof in the year
1814. By his will, dated 31 May 1814
(proved in the Prerogative Court of Can-
terbury 19 April 1815), he gives and
devises to his nephew Sir John Richard
Hilton, knight, a lieutenant in the royal
navy, the third son of his brother James,
all his estate called Crumpsall. Sir John
Richard Hilton was born 27 December,
1785, and is described as of the city
of Chester. He appears to have com-
pleted the alienation of this portion
of his family inheritance by disposing of
the remainder of his estate in Crumpsall
to Edward Loyd, esquire, and George
Faulkner, esquire.'
41 Booker, op. cit. 211.
George Clark, haberdasher, died 9 Jan.
1637-8, holding six burgages, five shops,
&c., in Manchester, and four messuages,
40 acres of land, &c., in Crumpsall. In
1636 he had settled his estate for the
relief of the poor of Manchester, one
moiety being reserved to his wife Alice
for her life. His nearest heir was Henry
son and heir of Henry Clark, brother of
John father of George ; Towneley MS.
C. 8, 13 (Chet. Lib.), 2585 see also Funeral
Certs. (Chet. Soc.). In 1631 he had paid
£10 on refusing knighthood ; Misc. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 216.
The deed founding his charity is printed
and an abstract of his will given in Manch.
264
Ct. Leet Rec. iii, 301-14. Accounts of
the estate may be seen in the Char. Com.
Rep. of 1826 (Rep. 16, pp. 138, &c.), and
in Booker, 211, 212. About a century
ago the land was eligible for building pur-
poses, and 88 acres were disposed of on
ground rents amounting to over £1,100.
The present income of the charity from
lands in Crumpsall and Manchester is
£3,129; it is administered by the lord
mayor of Manchester.
42 See the account of Ancoats in Man-
chester. From the Fish, of 1664 (p. 224)
it appears that Robert Oldham of Man-
chester, of the family of Bishop Oldham,
married Elizabeth daughter of Henry
Shepherd of Crumpsall ; he was eighty
years old in 1664. His sons Adam and
Thomas married daughters of Richard
Bowker of Crumpsall, and Thomas is
described as ' of Crumpsall.' ' Oldham's
tenement ' was in the part of the Reddish
estates purchased by William Marsden,
and in 1854 was in the hands of his
executors ; it was also known as the
Bongs Farm. A curious wall painting of
the time of Elizabeth was discovered in it;
and the Oldham arms, with R.O. 1662,
were also in the cottage ; see Booker, op.
cit. 197—200, where a view is given, and
Baker, Memorials of Oldbam's Tenement,
in which are photographs of the paintings.
The building was taken down in 1864 to
make way for the workhouse.
An Edward Shepherd, ' late of Crump-
sail' (1651), had a messuage in Deansgate,
Manchester, which descended to his three
daughters ; Ct. Leet Rec. iv, 60.
42a See the deeds quoted under Ancoats
in Manchester.
43 Booker, op. cit. 215.
44 Manch. City News, 1 900.
46 Booker, op. cit. 216; the building
was in Lower Crumpsall. St. Thomas's
Church there is within the boundaries of
Cheetham.
46 The district was assigned in 1860;
Land. Gats. 30 Oct.
*I Booker, op. cit. 214, 215.
48 Ibid. 215.
SALFORD HUNDRED
area of 1,297 acres.1 The surface is hilly, a height of
3 3 5 ft. being attained near the centre. Moston village
lies to the south of this, Nuthurst to the north-east,
and Streetfold to the west. On the northern boundary
lie White Moss * and the district formerly known as
Theale Moor, which are partly in Chadderton. The
residential hamlet of New Moston is in the extreme
east of the township. The population in 1901 num-
bered 11,897.
Roads from Newton Heath lead north-east and
north-west to Moston Church and to Streetfold, to join
another road going eastward from Harpurhey to Hollin-
wood in Oldham. Ashley Lane is in the south-west
portion. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's
railway from Manchester to Rochdale crosses the
eastern part of the township and has a station called
Moston near the northern boundary.
A Roman pavement was found near Lightbowne
Hall.3
There are various works, including a wire manu-
factory. In 1832 the place was * inhabited by farmers
and silk weavers.' * There are collieries at Shakerley
Green.
In 1666 the hearth tax return shows that there
were eighty-nine hearths liable.*
The Simpson Memorial Institute stands in Moston
Lane. There is a branch library in the building.
Accounts of the people and folk-lore of the place
have been issued by Mr. John Ward and others.5*
There is a Roman Catholic cemetery in the centre
of the township, opened in 1875.
Moston was included in the city of Manchester in
1890 and ceased to be a township in 1896, when it
became part of the new township of North Manchester.
Although in 1320 Moston and Nut-
MANOR hurst are called hamlets of Manchester,6 the
tenants there being obliged to grind at the
MANCHESTER
lord's mill, in some deeds they are spoken of as lying
within the township and parish of Ashton-under-Lyne.r
It may be that the plough-land in Askton given by
Albert Grelley senior to Orm son of Ailward, in
marriage with Emma his daughter, and held by a
rent of I o/. yearly, was Moston.7*
That the lords of Ashton had in early times rights
in Moston also is shown by a fine of 1195, from
which it appears that on a division Robert son of
Bernard had Moston.7b
Early in the 1 3th century the whole was in the pos-
session of Henry de Chetham ; 8 he transferred NUT-
HURST to the Eccles family, who, about 1260,
granted it to Geoffrey son of Richard de Trafford, Sir
Geoffrey de Chetham being at that time chief lord.9
The recipient, also known as Geoffrey de Chadderton,
had a son Geoffrey, who in 1340 granted to his sons
Roger and Alexander all his lands in Moston with the
homage and service of Richard de Moston, including
a rent of 3*. payable by him. The lands were then
divided between the brothers.10 There is, however,
a missing link, for as early as 1320 Alexander and
Roger de Chadderton held Moston and Nuthurst of
the lord of Manchester by homage and fealty and a
rent of ios.n The moieties descended to the Chetham
and Chadderton families, who resided at the two halls
in Nuthurst.
Alexander de Chadderton in 1356 granted to John
de Chetham and Alice his wife all his messuages and
lands in the hamlet of Moston in the town of Ashton,
together with the rent of 3*. due from the lord of
Moston.1* There is little to record of the Chethams'
long residence at Nuthurst ; they prospered, their estate,
including other lands in Crompton and Butterworth,
gradually increasing.13 Thomas Chetham, who died
in 1503, was found to have held his share of
Nuthurst of the Earl of Derby as of his manor of
1 1,299 acres, including 7 of inland
water; Census Re f. 1901.
* An outburst of this moss took place
in Jan. 1633-4; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep.
xii, App. ii, 43.
• Watkin, Roman Lanes. 57.
4 E. Butterworth, Cbron. Hist. ofManch.
22.
5 Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9. The chief
houses were those of James Lightbowne's
executors, with nine hearths; Samuel Sand-
ford, eight, and Francis Chetham, seven.
fa Ward, Moston Characters at Play ;
C. Roeder, ' Moston Folk Lore ' in Lanes,
and Cbes. Antiq. Soc. xxv. ; E. Waugh,
Sketches of Lanes. Life.
6 Mamecestre (Chet. Soc.), ii, 281. The
lord of Moston was hopper-free and paid
one-twentieth as toll instead of one-six-
teenth. The tithes in later times were
paid to the college at Manchester.
The lords of Manchester had little to
do with Moston, but in 1418 Thomas
Lord La Warre granted to his feoffees a
messuage and lands in Moston called
Brideshagh next Boukerlegh, lately held
by Thomas le Bouker ; the bounds began
at the south at the gate in the side of the
lane leading from the common pasture of
Theale Moor to Manchester, passing the
holding of Robert Shacklock, and the
bounds of Theale Moor and Blackley ;
Chan. Inq. p.m. 5 Hen. VI, no. 54. In
1322 Brideshagh seems to be reckoned as
part of Crumpsall ; Mamecestre, ii, 363.
' In charters of 1340 and 1356 quoted
below. In 1569-70 an agreement was
made between the parish of Ashton and
the people of Moston, according to which
Moston was taxed with Ashton, paying
an eighth of the sum to be raised ; Clowes
D. In the subsidies of 1541 and 1622
also Moston is joined with Ashton ; Misc.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 144, 155.
"a Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 57.
7b Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), iii, 172. Robert (or Roger) son of
Orm de Ashton is stated to have given
land at Nuthurst to Cockersand ; Booker,
Blackley, 135 (quoting Kuerden fol. MS.
214). In 1473 Sir John Ashton held
'Alt' Moston ' — either ' the other Moston'
or Alt (and) Moston ; Mamecestre, iii,
483.
8 He was possibly one of the unnamed
heirs of Orm in 1212, or may have ob-
tained it from Robert son of Bernard.
» Clowes D. no. 162. By it William
de Eccles, clerk, granted to Geoffrey son
of Richard de Trafford all the land of Nut-
hurst, received by Thomas, the grantor's
brother, from Sir Henry de Chetham ; i $d.
rent was payable to Sir Geoffrey de Chet-
ham (a witness to the charter) as chief
lord. For the Chadderton family see
further in the account of that township.
Margery widow of Geoffrey de Chetham
in 1275 claimed dower in 20 acres in
Moston and Chadderton against Geoffrey
de Chadderton ; De Banco R. 10, m. 35.
The Chetham land in 'Ashton' in a fine
of 1278 probably refers to Moston ; Final
Cone, i, 154.
10 Clowes D. no. 146. John de Chet-
ham was a witness of this charter.
265
In 1345 Alexander and Roger sons of
Geoffrey de Chadderton defended their
right to certain land against Richard de
Moston, who claimed as heir of William
de Moston his brother ; De Banco R. 343,
m. 294 d.
11 Mamecestre, ii, 279.
13 Clowes D. no. 149. John Chetham
is mentioned as early as 1331, when
he acquired lands in Butterworth ; ibid.
no. 86. In the following year he con-
tributed to the subsidy as an inhabitant
of Crompton ; Excb. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 31. Alice the wife of
John de Chetham received lands from
Adam de Belneld in 1341 ; Clowes D.
no. 63.
The pedigree of the family has been
worked out by Mr. E. Axon, in the Cbet-
ham Gen. (Chet. Soc. new ser.).
18 In 1335 John de Chetham granted
land in Butterworth to Richard his son,
with remainders to other sons, Robert and
Roger : Clowes D. no. 88. Adam, also a
son, is named in settlements of lands in
Crompton, Ashworth, Royton, and Man-
chester in 1342 ; ibid. no. 98-9. Maud,
a daughter of John, was in 1335 married
to Adam son of William de Butterworth ;
ibid. no. 87.
Richard son of John de Chetham occurs
in 1 348 ; ibid. no. 89. Thomas de Chet-
ham, described as son and heir of John
de Chetham and as near of kin to Adam
de Lever, was in 1382 defendant to a plea
by Maud widow of Hugh de Holt of Ash-
worth ; ibid. no. 93. It appears that
Thomas was slain by his neighbour,
34
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Pilkington by services unknown.14 This statement of
the tenure is repeated in the inquisitions taken after
the deaths of his descendants — John, I5I5,14 Thomas,
I546,16 John, 1573," Henry, 1577,™ and James,
i6i4.19 In practice the mesne lordship was ignored
and the Chethams paid their quit-rent directly to the
lord of Manchester.*0
James Chetham was succeeded by his son Thomas,
then a minor. During the Civil War Thomas espoused
the Parliamentary side and was a captain of infantry,
taking part in the defence of Manchester in 1642 and
being appointed a commissioner two years later.21 He
died in 1657. His son Francis" quickly mortgaged
Nuthurst ; dying without issue in 1678, he was suc-
ceeded by a younger brother, John Chetham of Linton
in Cambridgeshire, who, after encumbering the estate
still further, sold it in 1692 to Edward Chetham of
Manchester, son of Edward Chetham of Smedley.*3
The purchaser's son and heir, also named Edward,
ultimately inherited not only Nuthurst, but the estates
of various branches of the family, and dying unmarried
in 1769 his heirs were his sisters — Alice widow of
Adam Bland," and Mary wife of Samuel Clowes the
younger."
On a division Moston and Nuthurst were part of
the latter's portion. She died in 1775. Nuthurst
was by her will given to James Hilton, son of her
daughter Mary, who married Samuel Hilton of Pen-
nington. The trustees of his son Samuel Chetham
Hilton were in possession in 1 8 5 1 .*6
Roger son of Geoffrey de Chadderton in 1340
settled his lands in Moston upon his son Roger, with
remainders to younger sons.*7 The family remained
in possession until the beginning of the 1 7th century,18
Thomas de Chadderton ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Chet. Soc.), i, 54—6. His son John was
a minor, but obtained livery of his lands
in 1404 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App.
4. In 1412 John son of Thomas Chet-
ham granted to Ellis son of John Chadder-
ton all his lands in Nuthurst for the term
of thirty years at a peppercorn rent ;
Towneley's MS. DD, 2222. In 1413
John Chetham made a settlement of his
lands in Crompton, Ashton, and elsewhere,
with remainder to his son James and his
issue by Eleanor daughter of Ellis de
Buckley ; Clowes D. no. 102—3. Charles,
another son, was living in 1465 ; ibid. no.
124. John Chetham was still alive in
1442 ; ibid. no. 91, HI.
James Chetham, the son of John, mar-
ried as his second wife, about 1440, Mar-
gery daughter of John Langley ; ibid. no.
91, 115. James Chetham was living in
1475 ; ibid. no. 128.
Margery was living a widow in 1480
and 1487 ; ibid.no. 130, 138. In 1466 a
grant was made by William Heaton to
Thomas Chetham, son and heir apparent
of James, on his marriage with William's
daughter Elizabeth; ibid. no. 125. A
son Nicholas is mentioned in 1496 ; ibid,
no. 141.
By an agreement between James and
Thomas his son in 1468, the latter re-
ceived Nuthurst and Sidgreaves, paying
^4 a year to his father ; the father also
had iSd.t a moiety of the free rent of
Moston ; ibid. no. 164.
14 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, 62.
He held a messuage, 34 acres of land, 6
acres of meadow, 200 acres of pasture, and
60 acres of wood in Nuthurst, together
with messuages and lands in Butterworth,
Middleton, Castleton, and Crompton.
John Chetham, the son and heir, was
thirty-four years of age.
In 1487 John Chetham married Mar-
gery daughter of Ellis Prestwich ; Clowes
D. no. 138-9.
A Thomas Chetham left a manuscript
of the Gest Hystoriale to be an heirloom at
Nuthurst ; see note in Chetham Gen.
15 ; Lanes, and Chet. Antiq. Soc. xxiii, 62.
15 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, 6.
Thomas Chetham, the son and heir of John,
was twenty-six years of age.
Thomas married Elizabeth daughter of
John Hopwood ; Clowes D. A series of
rentals from 1520 to 1546 has been pre-
served. Nuthurst itself seems to have
been almost entirely in the hands of the
Chethams ; there was one under-tenant in
1520 who paid 35. 4^., and in 1524 a
second appears, paying 2s. In 1524
Richard Shaddock, who had made a gar-
den on the waste, agreed to give a bunch
of leeks to each of the owners of Nuthurst.
Moss Farm, with a rent of 16$. 8d.t was
added to the rental in 1535 ; ibid. no. 143,
&c.
16 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. ix, 5 ; his
son and heir John was twenty-four years
of age. The heir had livery in 1547 ;
Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxix, App. 552.
John Chetham made a settlement of
his lands in 1557 ; Clowes D. no. 165.
Among the same deeds are rentals dated
1566 and 1572.
V Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, 33.
By his will he left to Isabel his wife his
mansion house of Nuthurst, with lands
appurtenant, and a messuage in Crompton,
towards the bringing up of their children,
and the marriage of their daughters Eliza-
beth, Martha, and Anne. Henry, the son
and heir, was twenty-two years of age.
Isabel, the widow, married William
RadclifFe, and a settlement of the hall of
Nuthurst, &c., was made in 1591 ; Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 53, m. 182. Her
will, dated 3 Jan. 1596-7, is printed in
Chetham Gen. 22.
18 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, 25.
James, his brother and heir, was twentyyears
of age. The wardship was granted to Isabel
Chetham, the widow ; Clowes D. no. 1 74.
Henry Chetham was drowned at Mid-
dleton, while riding through the stream
there ; Chetham Gen. 23.
19 Lanes, Inq, p.m. (Rcc. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), ii, 1 6. Thomas, the son and
heir, was under sixteen years of age.
The father's will is printed in the inquisi-
tion and in Booker, Blackley, 152.
The king granted to Margery Chetham,
the widow, the guardianship of her son ;
Clowes D. no. 177.
20 This is seen from a list of chief rents
compiled in 1677. The total was i$s.o%d.,
including the 3*. from Moston divided be-
tween the lords of the two parts of Nut-
hurst ; i os. was paid to the heirs of Sir
Edward Mosley. The list (Clowes D.)
is as follows : L. Chetham of Moston
Hall, 41. 5 J</., James Lightbowne, 31. 4^.,
— Siddall, ii. gd., Widow Hall, -jd., Robert
Haugh for Antonies, 3^., Joshua Taylor,
6fad., William Kenyon, 6d., — Worsley,
4f </., John Gorton, 4^</., Abdy Scofield,
id., — Hartley, 3 Jrf., Hercules Chadwick,
2d., John Travis, i$d., John Whitworth,
id.t John Kenyon, id.
An early memorandum attached to a
copy of the inquisition of Edward Bowker
(1588) states that Moston was held wholly
of the lord of Manchester by fealty and
loi. rent ; Clowes D.
n Civil War Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 52, 91.
266
22 Francis caused a pedigree to be recorded
in 1664 5 Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 76.
28 This part of the account is taken
mainly from Chetham Gen. 27-31, 61-64.
24 See further under Turton.
25 See further under Broughton.
26 Booker, Blacklcy, 151, 139. The
estates included Great Nuthurst Hall,
Little Nuthurst Hall, and Moston Hall,
with 620 acres of land. T. W. Legh
Hilton, the son and successor of S. C.
Hilton, was resident in Moston in 1854.
a? Clowes D. no. 147. The remainders
were to Geoffrey, John, Henry, Robert,
and Richard, brothers of the younger
Roger. There was a limitation to male
heirs in each case.
28 There are no inquisitions relating to
them, nor was a pedigree recorded at any
visitation.
In 1446 Geoffrey son of Ellis de Chad-
derton, then under fourteen years of age,
was contracted to marry Alice daughter of
Richard Chorlton, and had an estate in
Moston settled on him, the bounds begin-
ning at one and a half acres near a ditch by
the west part of Boothclough, and so south-
wards to Theale Moor and Moss Brook,
to the lower part of Smallclough, to the
Newearth, and between Hencroft and the
Newearth to Theale Moor and so back to
the start ; Clowes D. no. 153. Ellis
Chadderton, the father, made a grant of
lands in the hamlet of Moston, the bounds
beginning at Saltergate ; ibid. no. 1 54.
Geoffrey Chadderton was in possession of
Nuthurst in 1483 ; ibid. no. 155. By
1529 he had been succeeded by his grand-
son Edmund Chadderton, who with John
Chetham had in 1537 a lease of the tithes
of Moston ; ibid, no 156-7, &c.
George Chadderton in 1552 made a
settlement of his estates in Nuthurst
and Ashton ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 14, m. 121. He again appears in
1553, and Edmund Chadderton in 1561 ;
Clowes D. Edmund in 1573 confirmed to
Henry Chetham a sale made to the latter's
father, John of the New Close in Nut-
hurst, then occupied for life by Margery,
grandmother of Edmund ; ibid. no. 172.
There is a brief pedigree in Booker's
Blackley, 147. It appears that George
Chadderton of Nuthurst (after 1529) mar-
ried Jane daughter of Lawrence Warren
of Poynton in Cheshire ; Earwaker, East
Ches. ii, 287. The will of Edmund Chad-
derton of Nuthurst, dated 1588 and proved
in 1589, is given in ff^/A(Chet. Soc. New
Ser), i, 206. He names Isabel his wife,
Edmund his son and heir, his ' dear uncle
and good lord ' the Bithop of Chester, and
others.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
producing one noteworthy man, William Chadderton,
warden of Manchester and Bishop of Chester in I 579,
afterwards translated to Lincoln.29 In 1623 Edmund
Chadderton sold his estate to John Holcroft of Lyme-
hurst,30 and he, a few years later, sold Little Nuthurst
Hall to Nathan and Samuel Jenkinson.31 The new
owners were followed by the Sandfords,32 who sold their
estate to the Chethams, so that Nuthurst was in time
united in one ownership.33
An estate called Sidgreaves in Nuthurst formerly
existed.34 It belonged to the Chethams of Nuthurst."*
The manor of MOSTON has already been men-
tioned as held of the lord of Nuthurst by a rent of 3*.
The tenants took the local surname, JS and about 1400
they were succeeded by the Radcliffes of Radcliffe,**
who continued to hold the manor until 1547, when
John Reddish, who had purchased from Henry, Earl
of Sussex,37 sold Moston Hall to Robert and Thomas
M Seethe account of Man cheater Church.
80 Clowes D. In a later deed (1625-6)
Edmund Chadderton is described as of
Wentbridge in Kirk Smeaton, Yorkshire.
See also Manch. Ct. Leet Rcc. iii, 76 ; and
Local Glean. Lanes, and Cbes. ii, 149.
81 Clowes D. dated 1626-7; Edmund
Chadderton confirmed the sale in 1629.
The purchasers were sons of a Robert
Jenkinson alias Wilson of Failsworth. In
1631 Nathan and Samuel Jenkinson of
Moston, ' gentlemen," i and Thomas Chet-
ham of Nuthurst, gent., refused knight-
hood, paying ^10 composition ; Misc.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 215-16.
In 1630 Samuel Jenkinson and Eliza-
beth his wife released their right in Nut-
hurst to Nathan Jenkinson ; Clowes D.
There are also extant a feoffment made
by Robert Jenkinson of Nuthurst in 1650,
and his will of 1654 ; ibid. From the
brief account of the family given by Booker
(op. cit. 156-158) it appears that Nathan
Jenkinson, who died in 1637, left his estate
in Nuthurst and Failsworth to his wife
Alice until his son Robert should come
of age. The inventory showed goods and
chattels worth £557 ; the house had a room
called ' the Bishop's chamber.'
sa See Booker, op. cit. 159-63. A pedi-
gree was recorded in 1664 ; Dugdale,
Vitit. 253. From various deeds it appears
that William the son of Robert Jenkinson
•old Nuthurst Hall in 1662-3 to Samuel
Sandford and that the latter was in posses-
sion in 1 664 when a fine was made ;
Clowes D. The will of Samuel Sandford
of Little Nuthurst, made in 1683 and
proved in 1684, mentions Ellen his wife,
Samuel his son, and Mary his wife, and
other sons — Theophilus, Robert, and
Daniel ; ibid. Samuel the son sold Nut-
hurst in 1694; Booker, op. cit. 161.
Daniel Sandford, of London, silkman, sold
or concurred in the sale to George Chet-
ham of Smedley ; Clowes D.
83 Edward Chetham of Nuthurst was
sole owner in 1698 ; Cher. Gen. 62.
84 It has been mentioned (in 1468) in
a preceding note.
843 Axon, Chet. Gen. 28. There are
references to it in the Clowes deeds.
In 1670 Jonathan Chad wick gave it to
James Scholes, and nine years later James
Scholes the younger, of Oldham, gave
it to Thomas Stevenson ; in 1684 Robert
Stevenson of Tetlow gave it to Alexander
Davie. It was granted in 1693-4 by
John Chetham of Nuthurst and John his
son to Mary Davie and others.
85 Richard de Moston attested the
Manchester charter of 1301 ; Mamecestre^
ii, 216. There is a complaint of his re-
garding Nuthurst in Abbrcv. Rot. Orig.
(Rec. Com.), i, 124. In 1310 he put in
his claim in a settlement of the manors of
Manchester and Ashton ; Final Cone.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 5.
In 1315 John La Warre granted to
Richard de Moston a part of the waste,
the bounds beginning at the paling of
Blackley, following the stream called
Doddithokes Clough as far down as Moss
Brook, then up to the bounds of Moston
as far as the paling up to the head of the
stream ; together with the Brodeshalgh
and 3 acres of waste between it and the
hedge of William the Harpur (Harpurhey) ;
Manch. Corp. D. Henry de Moston occurs
in Ashton in 1332 ; Exch. Lay Subs. 32.
For some further notes on the family see
Booker, op. cit. 142, 143.
In 1325 William de Moston gave to
Emmota his sister, daughter of Richard
de Moston, land in the township ; and in
1343 another brother, Richard, granted
her the manor of Moston ; while three
years later the same Emmota granted the
manor to John son of Hugh de Moston
and Margaret daughter of Richard de
Tyldesley, with remainders to Hugh and
Robert son of Henry de Tyldesley, and
William son of Robert Mascy of Sale ;
Clowes D. In the same year (1346)
Lucy widow of William de Moston
claimed dower in the manor against John
son of Hugh de Moston and Margaret his
wife ; De Banco R. 347, m. 296 d.
Light is thrown on these grants by
suits of a few years later. Emma daughter
of Richard de Moston, in Lent, 1352,
claimed the manor (except two messuages,
one plough-land, and 4 acres of pasture)
against William son of Robert de RadclifFe,
Robert (son of Roger) de Bolton and
Margaret his wife, Alice daughter of
Robert de RadclifFe, and James son of
Henry de Tyldesley. Robert and Margaret
answered as tenants, and stated that
Richard, the plaintiff's brother, had
enfeoffed her in trust that she would re-
feoff him with remainders to Adam de
Abney and his issue and to John son of
Hugh de Moston. Emma at length did
enfeoff the last-named, reserving a rent
of 5 marks for her life ; Duchy of Lane.
Assize R. i, m. vi d. It appears later
that Margaret was the widow of John de
Moston. In 1354 and 1355 Hugh de
Toft and Alice his wife, in right of the
latter, claimed against Robert de Bolton
and Margaret his wife twelve messuages,
200 acres of land, 60 acres of meadow,
80 acres of pasture, and 40 acres of wood
in Moston by Ashton. The plaintiffs
alleged that Emma de Moston had
disseised Robert de Moston, father of
Alice and brother and heir of Richard de
Moston. It appears that Robert had sons
William and Robert ; ibid. R. 3, m. vi ;
R. 4, m. 23 d. There is a further state-
ment of the matter in Assize R. 440,
m. i d.
In 1404 Robert son of Hugh de Toft
recovered the manor of Moston against
Hugh de Moston and Alice his wife ;
the jury found that one Richard de
Moston had left issue William, Richard,
Robert, Hugh, and Emma ; that William
dying without issue, his widow (Lucy de
Morley) had a third of the manor from
Richard, who gave the other two-thirds
to his sister Emma, and the whole after-
wards descended to John de Moston and
267
Margaret his wife ; that Alice daughter
of Robert de Moston, wife of Hugh de
Toft and afterwards of John de Holford,
laid claim ; that Hugh de Moston after-
wards entered ; and that Robert son and
heir of Hugh de Toft entered and was
seised thereof ; Dep. Keeper' t Rep. xl, App.
540.
86 In 1353 Emma daughter of Richard
de Moston granted to John de RadclifFe
her life interest in the lands of William
de Moston ; Clowes D.
In 1352 and 1353 John de RadclifFe
the elder secured from Hugh de Toft and
Alice his wife the reversion of a messuage,
40 acres of land, &c., in Ashton ; after the
death of Emma de Moston one William
de Moston, who held lands for Emma's
life, was present and did fealty to John
de RadclifFe in court ; final Cone, ii,
134-
The whole manor had come into the
possession of RadclifFe trustees in 1424 ;
Dep. Keeper's Rep. xl, App. 542. A
settlement of the manor was made in
1425-6 ; Sir John RadclifFe was to hold
it for life, the remainder being to James
son of Richard RadclifFe ; Clowes D.
Richard de Moston in 1 345 had made
a settlement of all his lands in Moston
with remainder to Adam son of Agnes
Allimar, and to John son of Hugh de
Moston; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 155.
Comparing this with the statement in the
preceding note it is clear that Adam was
Adam de Abney. In 1475 Nicholas Hyde
of Denton, into whose possession the
estate (or the claim) seems to have passed,
granted to Richard son and heir of William
Barlow his ' manor of Moston,' with re-
version to Nicholas ; ibid. fol. 1 54.
Richard Barlow in 1483 complained
that being in possession of the manor,
John RadclifFe of RadclifFe and Richard
is son, with many others, had put him
out by force ; Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks.
xix, 122.
The ' manor of Moston ' is named in
later RadclifFe inquisitions, but the tenure
is not separately stated ; see Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 1 2 1 ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, 98 ; iv, 7.
The Chetham rentals mentioned above
continually record the payment of the
Moston rent by Lord Fitzwalter and the
Earl of Sussex. In 1522 a special record
was made as follows : ' Rent service in
Moston per annum, My Lord Fitzwalter,
1 %d. ; which was paid at Prestwich kirk
to my father-in-law John Hopwood be-
fpre Richard Ashton of Middleton,
esquire, the parson of Prestwich, and
many others, by the hands of John
RadclifFe, then being baily in Moston, the
7 day of July anno predicto ' ; Clowes D.
no. 143.
The Radcliffes of Ordsall also had land
in Moston, as John de RadclifFe in 1394
gave his lands there to Henry de Strange-
ways ; Clowes D.
•7 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 13, m.
194.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Shacklock,38 and another part of the estate to the Bow-
kers.39 The Shacklocks held possession of the hall for
more than a century ; 40 in 1 664 it was sold to Edward
Chetham.41 The family name is commemorated by
Shacklock or Shakerley Green. The Bowkers' name
is preserved in Bowker Hall on the border of Black-
ley.4* Another family, the Lightbownes, have a
similar memorial ; 4S they succeeded the Jepsons.
HOUGH HALL was long the residence of a family
named Halgh or Hough ; 44 the last of the line,
Captain Robert Hough, took the king's side in the
Civil War and had his estate sequestered.44 It was
purchased in 1685 by James Lightbowne, and soon
afterwards passed to the Minshulls of Chorlton. In
or soon after 1774 it was purchased by Samuel
Taylor,46 by whose representative it was sold about
8S Clowe* D. William Radcliffe of
Ordsall seems to have released his claim
to the Shacklocks ; ibid. From the same
deeds it appears that the Earl of Sussex
had in 1543 made a lease of land in
Moston to Adam Shacklock.
There was some family disputing over
the acquisition. In 1542 Robert and
Thomas Shacklock complained that in the
preceding year the Earl of Sussex had
made a lease to them, but Richard Shack-
lock the elder and his sons, Adam, Hugh,
and Ellis, had expelled the plaintiffs. The
latter seem to have established their case,
but in 1 544, after the death of Richard
Shacklock, they complained that forcible
entry had again been made, this time by
Margaret widow of Richard, Ellis her
son, and others ; Duchy of Lane. Plead.
Hen. VIII, xv, Si, S 12.
89 Clowes D. To Geoffrey and Oliver
Bowker John Reddish sold 26 acres of his
purchase, and to Nicholas Bowker he sold
20 acres.
40 Thomas Shacklock died at the end
of 1570, leaving a son and heir Robert,
of full age ; Mancb. Ct. Leet Rec. i, 137 ;
an abstract of his will is printed in the
notes.
Robert Shacklock died in 1588, leaving
Edward as son and heir, of full age ; ibid,
ii, 31. For fines referring to his proper-
ties see Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 35,
m. 158 ; 49, m. 191.
Edward Shacklock died in 1618,
leaving a son and heir John, of full age ;
Munch. Ct, Leet Rec. iii, 19. The
inquisition taken after his death, em-
bodying his will (see Booker, op. cit.
181), is preserved among the Clowes D. ;
his wife was Alice Cudworth, and his son
John was twenty-two years of age. In
1621 an Adam Shacklock and Adam his
son and heir appear ; ibid.
John Shacklock the elder made a feoff-
ment of Howgate and other lands in
1628, the remainders being to his son and
heir John the younger, Edward a younger
son, and Daniel brother of John the elder ;
ibid. John the younger died before 1649,
when Edward is described as son and heir
apparent ; ibid. A further feoffment or
mortgage was made in 1655 by John
Shacklock, Mary his wife, and Edward
then his only son. Daughters Elizabeth
and Mary are mentioned ; ibid.
Edward Shacklock died in or before
1666, leaving his sister Mary as his heir,
ibid.
The will of Thomas Shacklock of
Moston, a ' cousin ' of the Edward who
died in 1618, is printed by Booker (op. cit.
179) ; he left sons Robert, Oswald, and
Henry.
41 Clowes D. Margaret the widow of
Edward Shacklock had a claim for ,£500
against the estate ; but Edward Chetham,
the purchaser, refused to discharge it until
certain deeds were given up to him. In
1669 the £500 was paid.
42 Oliver Bowker, « late of Moston,'
died in 1565, leaving a son and heir
Edward, of lawful age ; Manch. Ct. Leet
Rec. i, 93. Edward Bowker purchased
a messuage and land in Moston from
George Bowker in 1567 ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 29, m. 25. He died
20 Mar. 1585-6, leaving a son Geoffrey,
then eighteen years old ; his messuage and
lands in Moston were held of John Lacy ;
Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. i, 258 ; ii, 32 ; Inq.
p.m. in Clowes D.
Nicholas Bowker of Harpurhey and
Jane his wife in 1572 sold lands in
Moston to Robert Shacklock ; Clowes D.;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 34, m. 63.
48 See Booker, op. cit. 163-79 ; a
pedigree is given. The family began
with James Lightbowne, a successful
tradesman of Manchester, who in 1615
purchased a house in (Old) Millgate ;
Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 305. He died in
1621, leaving a son John under age ; ibid.
iii, 47, where a full abstract of his will is
printed. The son became a bencher of
Gray's Inn, and recorded a pedigree in
1664, arms having been granted to him
and his brother James in 1662. He died
in 1667, when his estates went to his
daughter Elizabeth, wife of Francis
Lindley, also of Gray's Inn. His will
with die inventory is printed in Booker's
work, 162-8; in his 'study' were
law books valued at £22 and divinity
books at j£i8. Elizabeth Lindley left a
daughter and ultimate heir also named
Elizabeth, who married George Pigot of
Preston ; their son Thomas died without
issue ; ibid. 174.
It was John's younger brother James
Lightbowne, aged fifty in 1664, who by
his marriage with Jane, daughter and heir
of Adam Jepson of Moston, acquired the
estate in the township since known by his
name.
The Jepsons can be traced back to a
Ralph Jepson of Moston, who died in
1560 or 1561, leaving a son Nicholas of
full age, as his heir ; Manch. Ct. Leet Rec.
i, 6 1. Nicholas died in 1595, leaving a
son and heir Robert of full age ; ibid, ii,
104. His will is printed by Booker, op.
cit. 189-91. Contemporary with him
was a Ralph Jepson of Manchester, often
named in the records. Robert Jepson did
not long survive his father, dying in 1601,
leaving a son and heir Adam, nine years
old. He held two messuages and lands,
&c., in Moston of Sir N. Mosley in socage,
by a rent of i&d. His will is recited in
the inquisition ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
xviii, ii ; Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 174. Adam
came of age in 1619; ibid, iii, 19. He
died in 1632 leaving seven daughters, the
eldest about twelve years old. His will
is printed by Booker (191—3) ; the
inventory of his goods, valued at ^610,
mentions the shop at Manchester and the
Yarn chamber.
In 1656 the Manchester jury found
1 that Mr. James Lightbowne is possessed
of certain lands situate and lying in
Moston, which was given by the last will
and testament of Adam Jepson of Moston
to his daughter Jane, now wife to Mr.
James Lightbowne,' and he was summoned
to do his suit and service ; he had also
purchased lands in Moston from Lawrence
268
Lomax and Richard Ashworth ; Ct. Leet
Rec. iv, 1 68, 169. He was a woollen
draper in Manchester and the friend ot
Henry Newcome ; Newcome, Autobiog.
(Chet. Soc.), i, 144. By his will (Booker,
168-71) he left his estate in Moston,
except Street Fold, to his eldest son James,
who was also to have the chambers in
Gray's Inn. Another son, Samuel, was to
have the house in Manchester (Ct. Leet
Rec. vi, 53), and the walk mill, &c., in
Blackley ; other sons and daughters were
provided for.
James, aged eighteen in 1664, in which
year he succeeded his father, matriculated
at Oxford in 1662 and became a barrister
and bencher of Gray's Inn ; Foster,
Alumni. He was steward of the Man-
chester Court in 1681 (Ct. Leet. Rec. vi,
128), and a feoffee of the Grammar
School in 1696 ; Booker, op. cit. 172.
In 1679 he married Elizabeth Hough
(Chester, Land. Marriage Lie.) and dying
in or before 1699 left a son James, who
died in 1738 without issue, his heir being
his sister Elizabeth, wife of John Illing-
worth of Manchester ; Piccope, MS.
Pedigrees (Chet. Lib.), i, 359.
In 1759 it was bequeathed by Elizabeth
Illingworth, widow, to her daughter
Zenobia Ann, widow of Benjamin Bowker,
after whose death it was to go to three
granddaughters, Ann, Elizabeth, and
Maria Bowker. These, or their heirs, in
1800 joined in the sale of the estate to
Samuel Taylor, whose grandson Samuel
in 1831 and 1848 sold Bluestone House
Farm and Lightbowne Hall to Joseph
Bleakley of Ardwick.
44 The name was usually spelt Halgh.
For an account of this family see Booker,
op. cit. 184-8. Valentine Halgh in
1613 purchased lands in Moston of
Richard Assheton of Middleton ; Manch.
Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 285. An indenture of
1611 between the parties is recited in a
deed of 1646 in Harland's transcripts.
45 Robert Halgh, son and heir apparent
of Valentine, in 1629 conveyed to Robert
Maden of Hopwood certain fields in
Moston ; Booker, op. cit. 184. He com-
pounded in 1648 (when he claimed the
benefit of the Truro articles of 1646) and
again in 1653 ; Cal. of Com. for Corn-
founding, iii, 1836; iv, 3124; Royalist
Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
iii, 171, 263. His will, dated 1678,
bequeathed all his lands in Moston to his
putative son John Dawson alias Halgh.
The will was proved in 1685, and in the
same year James Lightbowne was in
possession of the estate. He did not re-
tain it long, the Minshulls of Chorlton
owning it in the i8th century, and it was
sold in 1774 ; Booker, op. cit. 1 86, 187.
46 The purchaser by his will of 1801
bequeathed his lands in Moston and
Blackley to his wife Mary for her life,
and then to his son Samuel Taylor. The
younger Samuel died in 1820, and was
succeeded by his son Samuel Taylor of
Eccleston, who dying in 1 88 1 was followed
by his grandson Samuel Taylor of Birk-
dault near Diversion.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MAM CHESTER
1880 to the late Robert Ward, whose widow is the
present owner and occupier.
Hough Hall is a picturesque timber and plaster
house two stories high standing on the south side of
Moston Lane a little way back from the road, and amid
a wilderness of modern brick and mortar. The build-
ing has been much restored and the interior is wholly
modernized, but the outside retains a good deal of its
ancient appearance, though all the windows are new
and some of its original features have been lost. The
house appears to belong to the end of the i6th or
beginning of the ijih century, but in the absence
of any date or inscription on the building it
is impossible to determine the date of its erection.
The plan, as far as can be gathered, seems to follow
no recognized type, and if the house is now of its
original extent is probably of late date. It may,
however, be a fragment of a larger building. The
principal front faces south and consists of a block
about 48ft. long and 19 ft. deep running east and
west, with an eastern wing
1 8 ft. 6 in. wide projecting
8 ft. 6 in. and with a gable
north and south. With the
exception of the south part
of the east wing the building
is constructed entirely of tim-
ber on a stone base, but the
timbers are severely construc-
tional on the elevations and
any decorative fillings, if they
ever existed, have entirely dis-
appeared, the spaces having
been filled with brick and
cemented or plastered over.
The old north front had two
gables of unequal size side by
side at the east end, but a
third was added about 1885,
when a low lean-to build-
ing formerly in the north-west
of the house was raised and
a room built over it. These
three plain gables without barge boards now form the
most picturesque feature of the house. On the east
side is a large stone and brick chimney originally ter-
minating in diagonally placed brick shafts, but these
have given place to a modern stack, and the lower part
has been entirely covered with rough-cast. The en-
trance is in the principal or south front and part of an
original timber porch remains, but a modern front in
brick and plaster has been erected in front of it. The
south side of the east wing is faced in brick and has a
modern bay window on the ground floor. The stone
plinth, which on the north side is 3 ft. high, is here very
low, the timbers coming almost to the ground. The
roofs are covered with stone slates and the whole
appearance of the building, which has a garden on the
south side, is in somewhat strong contrast to its
surroundings. Internally the roof principals show in
the divisions between the bedrooms, the wall posts
being 1 7 ft. 9 in. apart, and the roof ceiled at half its
height. The entrance hall is centrally placed, and
has a flagged floor, but the staircase is entirely modern.
The outer door, however, is the ancient one of thick
oak, nail studded and with ornamental hinges and
ring handle. There is some oak panelling 3 ft. 3 in. high
in the dining-room, but otherwise the interior is with-
out interest. A second entrance has been made on
the east side, a lobby being taken out of one of the
HOUGH HALL, MOSTON : BACK VIEW
rooms, but this is no part of the original arrange-
ment.47
Thomas Greenhalgh of Brandlesholme died in
1576, holding messuages and lands in Moston and
' Blakelowe ' of Lord La Warre in socage.48 Among
the old families may be mentioned those of Street,49
Rodley,40 and Nugent.61
47 There is an illustration of Hough
Hall in Booker's Hisl. of Blackley Chapel
(1855), 187, showing the house as it was
before the alterations of twenty-five years
ago, with its two gables on the north, and
before the entrance was made on the east
•ide.
48 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, 10.
*9 Booker, op. cit. 188. Richard Street
of Moston died in 1582, his next of kin
being William Street, then a minor ; Ct.
Lcet Rec. i, 232. His father was perhaps
the Richard Street whose heir was of age
in 1597 (ibid, ii, 120), for in 1600 William
Street was ordered to come in to do his
•uit and service ; ibid, ii, 155, 162, 167.
In 1624 John Booth purchased a messuage
and lands in Moston from William and
John Street ; ibid, iii, 86.
George Street of Moston died in 1588
holding a messuage and land, which he
had in 1586 settled on himself and his
wife Isabel for life and then on Cecily
Ogden, a daughter of Richard Ogden of
Moston. His heir was his brother
Richard, forty years of age ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. xv, 53 ; Mane A. Ct.
Leet Rec, ii, 32. Cecily Ogden married
Robert Kenyon ; ibid, ii, 132.
10 The Radley or Rodley family has
been noticed in the account of Manches-
ter. Henry Radley in 1554 purchased a
messuage and land in Moston from George
Kenyon and Isabel his wife ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 15, m. 129.
Richard Nugent in 1589 purchased a
messuage, &c., from Ralph Radley and
Anne his wife, and four years later made
a similar purchase from Henry Radley ;
ibid. bdle. 51, m. 137 ; 55, m. 24.
61 The above-named Richard Nugent,
son of Edmund, was a mercer in Man-
269
Chester and served as constable and
borough-reeve. He died in 1609, and
left a son and heir Walter, of full age ;
Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 241, and note.
His inventory shows that he had copies
of Foxe's Acts and Monuments, Calvin's
Institutes, &c.
Walter Nugent in 1612 sold his Moston
lands to Ralph Kenyon and Robert
Wolfenden, the latter buying out his
partner in 1626 ; ibid, ii, 270 ; iii, 113.
Walter Nugent died in 1614, having be-
queathed most of his estate to his kinsman
William Wharmby ; ibid, ii, 290, and
note.
On 28 Feb. 1625-6 Margaret Nugent
of Manchester,widow, Francis Hollinworth
of the same and Margaret his wife,
Nicholas Clayton of Failsworth, yeoman,
and Alice his wife assured to Edward
Tacey of Manchester, clerk, a messuage
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The land tax returns of 1787 show that James
Hilton of Pennington was the chief landowner, he
paying £22 out of ^39 ; smaller owners were
Matthias, Boulton, and Wainman.58 In 1854 there
were fifteen landowners in the township."
For about a century there was constant disputing
regarding Theale Moor on the border of Moston,
Chadderton, and Alkrington. The Chethams were
intimately concerned in the matter, not only as
owners of Nuthurst but also as farmers of the tithes of
Moston. At last, about 1 600, a settlement was made
and a division arranged.64
In 1850 a building society was formed which pur-
chased 57 acres and laid out the land, the district
being called New Moston.55
For the Established Church St. Mary's was built
in 1869 ;M a school had been built in iS^S7 The
dean and canons of Manchester present. St. Luke's
mission district has been formed at Lightbowne.
The Wesleyan Methodists had a school chapel in
i854.58 There are also chapels of the Methodist
New Connexion and United Free Church.
Mass is said on Sunday in St. Joseph's Chapel in
the cemetery. A convent with a chapel stands near
the south-west border.
HARPURHEY
Harpouresheie, 1327.
This small township, at one time called Harpurhey
with Gotherswick,1 lies on both sides of the road from
Manchester to Middleton, extending westward to the
Irk. In 1830 it was described as abounding in
pleasant views.* It has long been a suburb of Man-
chester, and almost covered with buildings. The
area is 193 acres. In 1901 the population was
reckoned with that of Blackley.
The spinning, manufacture, and printing of cotton
were carried on in 1833;* in 1854 there were two
print works and a spinning shed. Cotton mills and
print and dye works continue to exist.
An ancient stone hammer was found near Turkey
Lane.4
Harpurhey was included in the Parliamentary
borough of Manchester from the first but was not
taken into the municipal borough until 1885. It
ceased to be a township in 1896, becoming part of
the new township of North Manchester.
HARPURHEY may derive its name
MANOR from the 80 acres demised for life to one
William Harpour by Sir John La Warre,
lord of Manchester, early in the I4th century, loco
beneficii.6 In 1327 the same John La Warre granted
24 acres of land and wood called Harpurshey, lying
next to the pale of his park of Blackley, to Adam son
of Robert de Radcliffe and Alice his daughter, wife
of John son of Henry de Hulton, and the heirs of
Alice, at a rent of 26s. 8</.6 This estate continued to
be held by the Hultons of Farnworth until the
1 6th century,7 when it passed to the Hultons of Over
Hulton.8 It was sold in 1 808-10 by William
Hulton to Thomas Andrew and Robert Andrew, the
former purchasing Boardman's Tenement and the
latter Green Mount and other lands. Thomas
Andrew's estate, as Harpurhey Hall, descended to his
son Edward, after whose death it was in 1 847 sold to
John Barratt. Robert Andrew died in 1831, having
bequeathed the estate to trustees for his daughter and
heir Robina, wife of Captain Conran.9
GOTHERSWICK, called a hamlet of Manchester
in I32O,10 was also held by the Hultons of Farn-
worth n and became merged in Harpurhey, the name
having long been lost.11
The land tax returns of 1797 show that Joseph
Barlow, Robert and Thomas Andrew, and Samuel
Ogden were the proprietors.13
For the Established worship Christ Church, Har-
purhey, was built in 1837—8." The patronage is
vested in five trustees. St. Stephen's was built in
1901 ; the Crown and the Bishop of Manchester
present in turns. There are mission churches.
The Wesleyan Methodists have a church. The
Salvation Army has a barracks. There is also a
Presbyterian Church.15
in Fennel Street, lately occupied by
Richard Nugent, deceased (Chet. Soc.
New Ser. xxi, 138, Chet. evidences penes
Dr. Renaud). For the Nugents see E.
Axon in Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xxi,
127.
82 Land tax returns at Preston.
83 Booker, op. cit. 139.
84 A list of those entitled to get turves
on Theale Moor in 1550 is printed in
Manch. Guardian N. and Q. no. 1273.
There are in the Ducatus Lane. (Rec.
Com.) many references to those disputes,
and numerous documents, with plans, are
among the Clowes D. ; see Chet. Gen.
(Chet. Soc.), 15, 21. The 'Equal' in
Nuthurst was also the occasion of a
tithe dispute, Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.),
iii, 401, 487.
85 Booker, op. cit. 139.
86 A district was assigned to it in 1870;
Land. Gaz. 12 Aug.
*7 Booker, op. cit. 141.
88 Ibid.
1 So in 1615 ; Manch. Constables' Accn.
i, 19.
8 Clarke, Lanes. Gazetteer. The hearth
tax return of 1666 shows that the
dwellings were small, and the total num-
ber of hearths was only twelve ; Subs.
R. bdle. 250, no. 9.
8 Cotton printing was begun here by
Thomas Andrew in 1788.
4 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. v, 330.
s Mamecestre (Chet. Soc.), ii, 363 ; the
land was valued at T,d. an acre rent.
8 Hulton D. There was another grant
of the same in 1332 ; ibid.
7 See the account of Farnworth.
John Hulton of Farnworth in 1473
held a messuage near Manchester called
Harpurhey in socage, by the rent of
261. 8</. ; Mamecestre, iii, 483. He died
in 1487, holding six messuages, 200 acres
of land, 40 acres of meadow, 100 acres of
pasture and 30 acres of wood called Har-
purhey in Manchester, by services un-
known ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, 26.
The estate descended to William Hulton,
who died in 1556 ; ibid, x, 32.
8 Harpurhey passed to Adam Hulton of
the Park in Over Hulton by an agree-
ment with the last-named William Hulton.
Adam died in 1572 holding Harpurhey of
William West Lord La Warre in socage,
by the rent of z6s. %d. ; Duchy of Lane.
Inq. p.m. xiii, 4 ; see also ibid, xvii, 80.
In 1613 the tenure was described as 'of
270
the king, by the two-hundredth part of a
knight's fee ' ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 267.
9 The details are given in Booker's
Blackley (Chet. Soc.), 124-8.
The Green Mount estate in 1784 con-
sisted of several farms held on lease from
the Hultons. Among the field names
occur Gutter Twigg, Great Clough, Tough
Hey, Bawhouse Field and Pingle ; there
was a stream called Moss Brook.
10 Mamecestre, ii, 281 ; the tenant*
were bound to grind at the lord's mill.
11 Adam de Radcliffe held Gotherswick
in 1 3 20 by a rent of i zd. ; Mamecestre, ii,
279. It descended like Harpurhey, and
in 1473 John Hulton of Farnworth held
it by the old rent of izd. ; ibid, iii, 483.
It is mentioned in the above-cited inquisi-
tion of William Hulton (1556).
12 It is the Gutter Twigg of a preceding
note (1784-93).
13 Returns at Preston. The landowners
of 1847 are named by Booker, op. cit. 128.
14 The district was formed in 1837 and
re-formed in 1854 ; Land. Gaz. 16 June.
15 It was founded in 1882 ; the mission
hall, known as Moston St. George's, was
built in 1902.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
NEWTON
There is no noteworthy variation in the spelling
of the name.
This township1 lies between Moston Brook on
the north and the Medlock on the south ; part of the
western boundary is formed by two brooks which
there unite to flow south-west through Manchester
as the now hidden Shootersbrook. The area mea-
sures 1,585 acres. The population of Newton,
Bradford, and Clayton was 83,501 in 1901.
The principal road is that from Manchester to
Oldham, going north-east through the northern half
of the township ; in the same direction, but some-
what to the south, goes a fragment of a Roman road.
The township is crossed by several portions of the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's railway ; the
line from Manchester to Rochdale crosses the north-
west corner, with a station at Miles Platting, where
there are extensive goods sidings, and is joined by a
branch from the west, another branch going east to
Oldham, with a station called Dean Lane ; yet another
branch from Miles Platting bends to run along the
southern border with stations called Park and Clayton
Bridge ; this last line has a junction with one from
London Road Station. The Rochdale Canal passes
through the centre of the township.
The hearth tax return of 1666 shows that there
were 113 hearths liable. The principal houses were
those of Mrs. Mary Whitworth, with nine hearths ;
William Williamson, with eight, and Thomas Byrom
with six.1
The district to the north of the canal is quite
urban ; the western portion, known as Miles Platting,
has long been a suburb of Manchester, and the
eastern portion, or Newton Heath, has more recently
become one. In the south-east corner of the town-
ship stands Culcheth Hall, and the hamlet formerly
called Mill Houses (from Clayton Mill) is now Clayton
Bridge, from the bridge over the Medlock.8
The detached portion of the township called Kirk-
manshulme4 appears to have been taken out of
Gorton. It is separated from Newton proper by
a distance of 2 miles. In its north-east corner lie
the Belle Vue Gardens, formed in 1836 ;* the
southern portion is known as Crow Croft ; Gore
Brook crosses the centre from east to west.
A local board for the whole township was formed
in 1 85 3,6 but Kirkmanshulme was separated in 1859.'
Newton was taken into the city of Manchester in
1890, and in 1896 became part of the new township
of North Manchester.
A free library was opened in iSgi.8 Philips Park
Cemetery lies on the border of Bradford. There is
another cemetery near the centre of the township.
The inclosure of the Heath was effected in 1804
under an Act obtained two years previously.9
The industries are various. There are cotton
mills, dyeing and bleach works, iron works, chemical
works, a brewery, rubber works, and a match factory.10
Coal mining was formerly carried on.11
A Marprelate press, the first printing press known
to have been worked in Lancashire, was seized in
Newton Lane, in or near the township, in 1588, by
the Earl of Derby.12
The annual rush-bearing took place on 1 8 August,
the wake being on the following Sunday."3 Stocks
were erected in 1721 ; they were placed at the west
end of the chapel.13 Two halfpenny tokens of the
1 7th century are known.14
The manor of NEWTON has from
M4NOR time immemorial been part of the en-
dowment of the parish church of Man-
chester, being, there can be no doubt, the plough-land
recorded in Domesday Book as belonging to the
churches of St. Mary and St. Michael, and then
free of all custom except geld.14 To this Albert
Grelley between 1154 and 1162 added 4 oxgangs of
his demesne, which have been identified as KIRK-
M4NSHULME,1* long regarded as a hamlet in the
township of Newton and parcel of the manor. The
manor was taken by the Crown on the confiscation
of the collegiate church estates by Edward VI in
1548 and restored about eight years later by Philip
and Mary.17 It is possible that in the interval some
portions had been granted out by the Crown, which
would account for some land not being held of the
warden and canons ; it seems, however, that the lords
of Manchester had of old some land in Newton.
The manor courts, though mere formalities, continue
to be held.18
The principal estate was that known as CUL-
CHETH,19 long the property of a family of that
name.20 It was in the I7th century acquired by the
I A full description of the ancient and
modern topography of the township is
contained in H. T. Crofton's Newton
Chapelry (Chet. Soc. new ser.). See also
Manch. Collectanea (Chet. Soc.), ii, 184-8.
a Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9.
8 Higson, Droyhden, i 8 ; the mill was
in Failsworth.
4 Kyrdmannesholm, 1292 ; Curmes-
holme and Kermonsholm are the spellings
in the copy of the 1320-22 survey.
About 1500-1600 it was frequently called
Kerdmanshulme.
5 Crofton, op. cit. iii, 420.
8 Land. Gaz. 30 Dec. 1853 5 *he dis-
trict appears to have been in very bad
condition ; Crofton, Newton, ii, 146.
7 Act 22 Viet. cap. 31.
8 Crofton, op. cit. 235.
9 Ibid, ii, 2 ; the Act was 42 Geo. Ill,
cap. 306.
10 For some particulars see ibid, i, 213,
204, 236; ii, ii ; i, 151.
II Ibid, i, 8, 9, 205.
13 Manch. Guardian N. and Q. no. 389,
4i4> 447-
12a Crofton, op. cit. i, 25. See also
Alfred Burton, Rush-bearing, 55.
18 Crofton, op. cit. ii, 23 ; i, 29.
14 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. V, 86.
« r.C.H. Lanes, i, 287.
Albert de Nevill as rector of Man-
chester granted to John de Byron a por-
tion of Newton within bounds beginning
at the Medlock and going up by Shite-
faldest Clough to Blacklade and so to the
head of Kirkshaw, thence to Failsworth
Brook, by this brook to the Medlock, and
so down to the starting point ; John was
to render 41. a year to the church and
two wax candles of a pound weight each
at the feast of the Assumption ; Byron
Chartul. no. 15/3. The date must be
about 1 200.
16 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 57. There is
practically nothing to be said of the
separate history of Kirkmanshulme.
271
In 1292 William son of Richard the
' Demer ' of Kirkmanshulme unsuccess-
fully claimed a messuage and an oxgang
in Stretford, as next of kin of Richard
son of Henry Pyryng ; Assize R. 408,
m. 70.
J7 See the account of Manchester
Church. A list of the tenants in Newton
in 1 547 is given by Raines, Lanes. Chant.
(Chet. Soc.), i, 10-19.
18 See Crofton, Newton Chapelry, ii, 30.
Copious extracts from the rolls from 1530
to the present time are given in the work
cited; ibid, ii, 36-117. Among old
subjects of complaint was ' the great
waste of ground ' by reason of the Med-
lock floods. For Kirkmanshulme, see
ibid, iii, 414-50.
19 It appears to have been part or all
of the ancient grant to John de Byron
already quoted, as will be seen by com-
paring the rents payable.
20 Richard Culcheth and Elizabeth his
wife, daughter of Richard Moston, in
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Gilliams,*1 and by an heiress conveyed to John
Greaves of Manchester, apothecary,** who was high
sheriff in I733.83 This family held it for about a
century, when it was sold ; the owner in 1862 was
named Assheton Bennett.24
A family named Holland was long resident in
Newton.*6
MONSALL was an estate which only in part be-
longed to the warden and fellows. The portion
which did not belong to them was about 1872 pur-
chased by the Manchester Infirmary for a fever
hospital building, and in 1896 was sold to the cor-
poration.*6
In 1787 the principal landowner was Edward
Greaves, who paid about a sixth part of the land
tax. — Hulme, Edmund Taylor, and — Holland were
the next contributors.*7
The chapel, now ALL SAINTS'
CHURCH CHURCH, was built on the heath per-
haps not long before the Reformation.28 In
the Visitation list of 1563 Ralph Ridde appeared as
curate of Newton.*9 There was no endowment, and
the minister in 1 6 1 o was paid by voluntary offerings.30
The Parliamentary Surveyors in 1650 recommended
that it be made a parish church ; the minister had
a stipend of £40 raised by subscription." In 1717
it was certified that * nothing belonged to it ' except
the minister's dwelling ; surplice fees and subscriptions
amounted to about £24. There were two wardens."
The chapel was then ' well and uniformly seated ' ; **
it was enlarged in I738,54 and rebuilt 1814-16.** A
separate chapelry was assigned to it in i839.S6 The
rector is presented by the Dean and Canons of Man-
chester. The following is a list of the curates and
rectors : — 3r
oc. 1563 Ralph Ridde
oc. 1598 — Medcalfe
oc. 1609 Randle Bate38
oc. 1615 Humphrey Barnett
oc. 1617 George Gee 39
oc. 1637 Humphrey Bernard*
oc. 1642 William Walker41
1649 John Walker41
oc. 1670 Thomas Lawton
oc. 1695 James Lawton
1704 Griffith Swinton4*
oc. 1729 Thomas Wroe
oc. 1734 William Shrigley
oc. 1735 William Purnell, M.A. (Oriel Coll.
Oxf.)
1 764 Richard Millward, LL.B.44
1789 William Jackson, M.A.46
1792 Abraham Ashworth, M.A. (Brasenose
Coll. Oxf.) 46
1818 Thomas Gaskell
1449 made a settlement of four mes-
suages, 90 acres of moss, &c., in Newton
near Manchester and Poulton and Wool-
ston near Warrington ; the remainders
were to Richard, Ralph, {Catherine, and
Ellen, children of Richard, and to the
right heirs of Elizabeth ; Final Cone.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 115.
A statement of title will be found in
Crofton, op. cit. ii, 269.
Ralph Culcheth paid 41. 6d. free rent
for his estate in Newton in 1547 ; Raines,
Chant, i, 16. He made a settlement of
his lands in Newton, Poulton, Woolston,
and Fearnhead in 1563 ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 25, m. 38. He died a
year or two later, holding land in Newton
of the warden and fellows of the collegiate
church by a rent of 4$. 6</. and a pound
of wax ; it was worth £4 a year ; the heir
was his daughter Grace, twenty-five years
of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, 34.
Immediately William Culcheth alias
Linaker, bastard son of Ralph, put for-
ward his claim to the estate against
Grace, and she admitted it ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 27, m. 129. In 1568
John Byron of Newstead acquired a part
of the estate from the said William Cul-
cheth ; ibid. bdle. 30, m. 140. Sir John
Byron, however, appears to have been in
possession of the remaining and greater
part of the estate in 1564 ; ibid. bdle. 26,
m. 10.
In 1574 William Culcheth granted a
lease of land in Culcheth in Newton
called the Stormcroft to Adam Holland,
for the lives of Adam, Jane his wife, and
George their son, at a rent of zos. ; it
was agreed ' that the pits made and to be
made within the said Stormcroft should
remain only to the use and commodity
for fishing to the said William and his
heirs,' as had been accustomed ; Raines
D. (Chet. Lib.). See further in Crofton,
op. cit. i, 209, 210.
31 There were several families named
Gilliam around Manchester ; they took
the Parliamentary side in the Civil War ;
Crofton, Newton, i, 153 ; Booker, Dids-
bury (Chet. Soc.), 232. There are a
number of references to them in the
Manch. Ct. Lett Rec.
Culcheth was sold in 1614 by Sir John
Byron the younger to John Whitworth
of Newton ; Crofton, op. cit. i, 210. It
must have been purchased by the Gilliams
soon afterwards, John Gilliam being de-
scribed as 'of Newton' in 1637.
22 Ibid, i, 211, 154; John Greaves
married (about 1708) Jane daughter and
heir of John Gilliam of Newton ; they
had a son Edward, who died in 1783, and
his son, also Edward Greaves, was high
sheriff in 1812. He died in 1824, and
after his widow's death Culcheth passed
to his nephew John Bradshaw, who took
the surname of Greaves.
28 P.R.O. List, 74.
** Crofton, op. cit. i, 212.
95 Ibid, i, 156-61.
36 Ibid, i, 209-41. Of the other places
of which notices are given in Mr. Crof-
ton's work may be mentioned — Baguley
Fold, Gaggs' Fields, Hall's Tenement,
Hulme Hall or Pedley's Place, Miles
Platting, Scotland, and Whitworth Hall.
27 Returns at Preston.
28 For a full account of the chapel see
Crofton, op. cit. i, 22-103. Copious
extracts are given from the earlier re-
gisters, which begin in 1656 for baptisms.
The plate, furniture, church library, &c.,
are described.
29 Chester Dioc. Reg.
so Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv,
ii. 'Bishop Bridgman in the time of
James I made an order respecting the
rents of the pews and the maintenance of
the curate ' ; Raines, in Notitia Cestr.
(Chet. Soc.), ii, 90.
81 Commonwealth Ch. Surv. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 6 ; the people, how-
ever, 'kept in their own hands [the
tithes] towards payment of the said ^40.'
An allowance of ,£40 from the tithes was
272
sanctioned in 1654; Plund. Mint. Accts.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 55.
82 Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 89, 90 ; the
chapelry then contained the townships of
Newton and Failsworth, and parts of
Moston, Droylsden, and Bradford.
88 Ibid.; see Crofton, op. cit. i, 27, 28.
84 Ibid, i, 28 ; a list of pew-holders
about 1763 is printed on pp. 35—9.
88 The old building fell down in 1808.
Briefs were issued on behalf of it in 1 804
and 1808. In 1813 it was proposed to
rebuild it, and an Act was obtained in
the following year (54 Geo. Ill, amended
57 Geo. Ill, cap. 22) ; the church was
consecrated i Nov. 1816 ; ibid, i, 29-35.
It appears that the building cost about
£7,000, and the Acts of Parliament
about ,£1,900.
86 Land. Gats. 29 Mar. 1839 ; 16 June
1854.
87 This list is taken almost entirely
from Mr. Crofton's work (i, 59-71),
where full details will be found ; a list of
the assistant curates follows.
88 Presented for not wearing the sur-
plice and for preaching without a licence.
89 See also Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 54, 66.
40 Afterwards of Oldham ; Manch.
Classis (Chet. Soc.), i, 6.
41 Ibid, iii, 448. He signed the ' Har-
monious Consent ' of 1 648, and became
fellow of the collegiate church.
42 Son of the preceding ; he is said to
have been ejected in 1662 ; ibid, iii, 448.
It appears, however, that the Noncon-
formists retained the use of the chapel
for many years ; see Nightingale, Lanes.
Nonconf. v, 40.
48 Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 90.
44 Afterwards fellow of Manchester.
45 Also minister of Denton.
46 He had an impediment in his speech,
and was suspended many years. After
the chapel collapsed in 1808 he kept
himself in office by preaching once a year
in the east end of the ruins.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
1834 William Hutchinson, B.D. (Emmanuel
Coll. Camb.) "
1876 St. Vincent Beechey, M.A. (Caius
Coll. Camb )
1885 Ernest Frederick Letts, M.A. (Trin.
Coll. Dubl. andOxf.)48
1904 James Andrew Winstanley, M.A.
(St. John's Coll. Camb.)
The following more recent churches belong to the
Establishment, the Bishop of Manchester collating to
the rectories: St. Luke's, Miles Platting, 1875 ;49
St. Anne's, 1883;*° St. Mark's, 1884, and St.
Augustine's, 1 888. St. Cyprian's is a temporary
iron church at Kirkmanshulme.51
A school was founded about i688.s>
The Wesleyan Methodists have churches at Newton
Heath, Miles Platting, and Monsall.43 The Metho-
dist New Connexion also have three, the Primitive
Methodists two, and the Independent Methodists
one, at Miles Platting. The Congregationalists have
a school-chapel at Newton Heath, built in 1893."
The Salvation Army has a barracks. The Unitarians
have a church in Oldham Road.
For Roman Catholic worship St. Edmund's was
opened in 1873, and Corpus Christi in 1889-1908 ;
both are at Miles Platting. The latter began as a
temporary church in a former glass works ; it is served
by Premonstratensian canons. The Alexian Brothers
have a house at Newton Heath, and the Little Sisters
of the Poor have one at Culcheth.
FAILSWORTH
Failesworth, c. 1200.
Failsworth has an area of 1,073 acres.1 The sur-
face slopes somewhat to the brooks which bound it on
the north-west and south-east, and rises slightly to-
wards the east. It had formerly three hamlets : Dob-
lane End, Wrigley Head, and Mill Houses. The
population in 1901 was 14,152.
It is traversed near the northern boundary by the
road from Manchester to Oldham, which is lined all
the way with houses and factories ; parallel to this
for part of the way is the Street, part of a Roman
road from Manchester, and from it branches off a
road to the east, through the hamlets called Street
End and Holt Lane End. The Lancashire and
Yorkshire Company's railway from Manchester to
Oldham runs through to the north of the high road,
with a station near the middle called Failsworth.
The Rochdale Canal crosses the north-west corner, and
the Oldham Canal passes near the eastern border.
The industries of the place are the old ones of silk-
weaving and hat-making. To these have been added
cotton-spinning, to which the growth of the place is
mainly due, and an engineering works.
Only one house had as many as four hearths liable
to the hearth tax in 1666 ; the total number was
69-'
A local board was formed in 1863.* In 1894 an
urban district council of twelve members took its
place ; the township is divided into two wards, the
Higher and the Lower. It possesses a town hall and a
cemetery.
Ben Brierley, the dialect writer, was born in the
township in 1825.* John Smethurst, Unitarian
minister, 1793—1859, was also a native.6
Clayton mill, serving for the Byron manors, was
locally in Failsworth.6
At the survey of 1212 it was found
MANOR that FAILSWOR TH, rated as four oxgangs
of land, was held in moieties by different
tenures. Two of the oxgangs were held of the king
by Adam de Prestwich in thegnage, by a rent of 4*.,
Adam's under-tenant being Gilbert de Notton, who
held by the same rent.7 The other two oxgangs were
held by the lord of Manchester as part of his fee, and
had by Robert Grelley been added to the grant of
Clayton to Robert de Byron, the tenure being knight's
service.8 The Prestwich moiety was also acquired by
the Grelleys and granted to the Byrons,9 so that this
family held the entire township. It descended like
Clayton,10 and was acquired by the Chethams ; ll but
a considerable portion of the land appears to have
been sold to smaller holders, who had perhaps been
tenants.11
4? First rector.
48 He was greatly interested in the
history of Manchester Church and New-
ton Chapelry ; several essays by him are
printed in Tram. Lanes, and Chef. Antiq.
Soc.
49 Lond. Gass. 25 July 1876, for
district.
*° Ibid, ii Sept. 1883, for district.
sl The Crown and the Bishop of Man-
chester present alternately.
*2 Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 91.
88 The Wesleyans built a chapel in
Oldham Road in 1839 5 Crofton, Newton,
i, 52.
54 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. vi, 191;
services began in 1882.
1 1,072 acres, including 15 of inland
water ; Census Rep. 1901.
2 Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9.
8 Lond. Gam. 20 Nov. 1863.
4 A book of local sketches entitled
Fails-worth Folk, by Mr. Percival Percival,
was published at Manchester in 1901.
4 Diet. Nat. Biog.
6 Crofton, Newton (Chet. Soc.), ii, 228,
265.
7 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 67.
8 Ibid, i, 56. Robert Grelley's charter
granting two oxgangs of land in Fails-
worth, and other lands, to Robert de
Byron is in the Record Office ; Trans.
Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xvii, 41. The
Byron holding was thus raised to half a
knight's fee, as recorded in 1212.
'Thomas Grelley (1230—62) granted
to Richard de Byron all his land of Fails-
worth, to wit, the whole moiety of Fails-
worth, which his father Robert Grelley
bought from Robert de Heap, being of
the king's fee, at a rent of 7*., to be
paid yearly at the four terms ; Byron
Chartul. (Towneley MS.), no 2. This
moiety must, therefore, have passed from
Gilbert de Notton to Robert de Heap
between 1212 and 1230. The Prestwich
family had no further concern with it,
though in 1292 Adam de Prestwich
claimed arrears of services from John de
Byron for a tenement in Prestwicb ;
Assize R. 408, m. 25. He was non-
suited, but the claim probably referred to
the 4*. due from Fails-worth to the lord of
Prestwich. In 1 346 the service due from
the lord of Prestwich to the Earl of Lan-
caster was 2oj., instead of 241., as in
1212 ; Add. MS. 32103, fol. 146.
273
10 It is scarcely ever mentioned sepa-
rately, but is included in Byron feoff-
ments ; e.g. Dep. Keeper's Rep. xl, App.
543 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 44,
m. 223 (being called a manor) ; 71, m. 2.
The charter quoted in the preceding note
explains the rent of js. due to the lord
of Manchester for the manor of Clayton f
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, 48.
In 1826 zs. S</. was claimed by Sir
Oswald Mosley and 5*. 8d. at Michael-
mas, as a township quit-rent ; Crofton,
Newton Chaplry (Chet. Soc.), ii, 366.
11 Humph. Cbetham (Chet. Soc.), 19,
243. Failsworth, on partition, became
part of the estate of Alice daughter of
Edward Chetham of Nuthurst, who
married Adam Bland ; see the account of
Turton, and E. Axon, Cket. Gen. (Chet.
Soc.), 63.
12 Among the Clowes deeds are a num-
ber relating to Failsworth. From these
it appears that Sir John Byron in 1610
and 1616 sold lands in Failsworth to
Edmund Chadderton of Nuthurst, who in
1619 sold to Theophilus Ashton. The
last-named had in 1609 given land in
Failsworth to Catherine widow of Francis
Holt of Gristlehurst, and she in 1623
35
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The abbey of Cockersand held land in Failsworth
by grant of the Byrons.11
The land tax return of 1787 shows that Mordecai
Greene was then the principal owner, paying nearly
a fourth of the tax. George Smith, John Birch,
Edward Greaves, and Sir Watts Horton together paid
about the same amount.14
Accounts of many of the old dwellings, as well as
of the families, may be seen in Mr. H. T. Crofton's
Newton Chapelry.1* A complete valuation of the town-
ship, made in 1794, is printed in the same work.16
In connexion with the Established Church St. John's
was built in 1846 ; the rector is presented by the
Crown and the Bishop of Manchester alternately.17
A new district, Holy Trinity, has recently been
formed ; the patronage is the same, but no church has
yet been built.
The old school, built in 1785 by subscription, is
now a Free-thought Institute.18
The Wesleyans had a chapel at Wrigley Head, built
in 1787 ; it is now a workshop.19 The Methodist
New Connexion, which appeared in 1797, has a
chapel called Bethel, built in 1 8 1 1 .*° The Sweden-
borgians opened a cottage for services in 1841 ; the
present church, the fifth used, was built in I889-21
In 1662 John Walker was ejected from the chapel
of Newton, and he and his successors ministered to
the Nonconformists in the neighbourhood. Newton
chapel itself seems to have been the usual meeting
place, but about 1698 Dob Lane Chapel, on the
Failsworth side of the boundary, was erected. It
was sacked in 1715 by the * Church and King '
rioters. The present chapel was built in 1878—9 on
the site of the old one. The congregation has been
Unitarian for more than a century.11
The Roman Catholic church of the Immaculate
Conception was opened in i865.23
BRADFORD
Bradeford, 1332.
This township,1 which has an area of 288 acres,
lies between the Medlock on the north and Ashton
Old Road on the south, and is crossed about the
centre by Ashton New Road. It is now almost
covered with streets of dwelling-houses. The Man-
chester and Stockport Canal crosses the northern end.
To the north of the canal lies Philips Park, opened
in 1 846, in which are open-air baths ; a recreation
ground has been formed near the border of Ardwick.
There is a small library, opened in 1887. The popu-
lation in 1901 was reckoned with that of Newton.
The hearth tax return of 1666 gives a total of
twenty-seven hearths ; the largest house was that of
Edward Charnock with five hearths.*
The industries include large ironworks, a mill, and
chemical works ; the coal-pits have long been worked.3
There was a water-mill in the I4th and 1 5th centuries.*
Though Bradford was included in the Parliamentary
borough of Manchester in 1832 it was left outside
the municipal borough in 1838. A local board was
formed in 1857,* enduring till the township was
included in Manchester in 1885. Its existence as a
separate township ceased in 1896, when it became
part of the new township of North Manchester.
A schoolboard was formed in 1876.'
sold to John Hardman of Heywood.
John Shacklock of Moston in 1632 sold
land to John Hardman ; Henry Hard-
man, who had sons, John and William,
sold to Sandford in 1665, and Samuel
Sandford soon afterwards sold to Edward
Chetham. The Jenkinsons of Nuthurst
had land in Failsworth. Some of these
families are noticed in the account of
Moston.
The Byrons in 1615 sold land to John
Dunkerley of Failsworth, including closes
called Oldham Field, Brown Knoll, Yarn-
croft, Little Pingot, &c., with freedom of
turbary in a moss room or moss dale on
Droylsden Moor. These lands seem to
have been acquired by Nathan and Samuel
Jenkinson not long afterwards. See
Manch. Free Lib. D. no. 59, 64-9.
William Clough died in 1639, holding
a messuage, &c., in Fails-worth of Edward
Mosley as of his manor of Manchester ;
John, his son and heir, was thirty years
of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxx, 27.
The following are from the inquisitions
in Towneley'sMS. C 8. 13 (Chet. Lib.): —
Charles Beswick died in 1631, holding
a messuage and land of the lord of Man-
chester ; John his son and heir was thirty
years of age in 1638 ; p. 78.
Hugh Clayton, who died in 1635, had
a similar tenement : Richard his son and
heir was fifty-two or more ; p. 260.
Adam Holland of Newton (d. 1624)
had lands in Failsworth also ; p. 502.
Nicholas Kempe, who died in 1621,
held a messuage and lands of the lord of
Manchester ; Henry, his son and heir, was
fifty-one years of age in 1638 ; p. 723.
John Thorpe, who died in 1633, held
a similar tenement ; Ralph, his son and
heir, was forty-three years old in 1638;
p. 1190.
Thomas Turner held similarly ; he
died in 1635, leaving as heir his brother
John, who was thirty years old in 1638 ;
p. 1191.
18 Robert de Byron granted the abbot
and canons the place of his ' herdwick '
upon Mossbrook, lying between two
cloughs going down to the said brook, for
the souls of himself and his wife ;
Cockersand Chartul. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 708.
Cecily, the wife of Robert, added all the
land of the clough coming from Mossden
between the aforesaid land and Ralph's
assart, as far as another clough on the
eastern side, up to the oxgangs of the
vill (i.e. the town fields) 5 ibid. Robert
the son of Robert and Cecily confirmed
the grants ; ibid. 709. The date of the
charters is about i 200.
Roger, Abbot of Cockersand, gave this
land to John son of Robert de Byron, at
a rent of I2d. ; Byron Chartul. no. i.
Nicholas Byron held it by the same rent
in 1461 ; Cockersand Chartul. iv, 1238.
14 Returns at Preston.
18 The second part of vol. ii deals with
Failsworth ; Chet. Soc. (new ser.), liv,
213-95. The houses are arranged in
alphabetical order ; among the chief are :
Booth Fold (p. 21 5), Fletcher Fold (p. 233),
Hardman Fold (p. 234), Lime Yate
(p. 241), Lord Lane (p. 244), The Pole
(p. 250), Wrigley Head (pp. 261, 263,
381), which is named in the Manchester
boundaries in 1320 ; Mamecestre, ii, 277.
16 Newton Cbapelry ii, 367-78 ; the
names of owners, tenants, and fields are
given.
17 For district and endowment see
Land. Gam. 22 Oct. 1844, 21 Aug. 1874,
3 Aug. 1877. Also Crofton, op. cit.
204-8.
18 Ibid. 212, 213.
274
19 Ibid. 210. A new chapel was built
in Oldham Road in 1867 in place of it;
ibid. 353.
80 Ibid. 210, 352.
21 Ibid. 210-12, 361.
22 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. v, 38—50;
a view of the old building is given. It is
stated that ' long before the highway from
Manchester to Oldham was made, Dob-
lane was only reached by a bridle path
through the fields, the chapel itself lying
secluded among the trees, and the lane, a
very narrow one between hedges, con-
tinued up to Watchcote, Failsworth '
(p. 46). Depositions respecting the 1715
riots are printed ibid. 43. The Rev.
Lewis Loyd, afterwards a banker, father
of Lord Overstone, at one time was
minister. There is a History of Dob Lane
Chapel by the Rev. Alex. Gordon. See
also Crofton, op. cit. 185-204.
28 The mission was begun in 1846 by
Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The
community appears to have dissolved,
but one priest remained as a secular.
Building began in 1855, and the church
(not completed) was opened in 1865 ; it
has since been finished ; Crofton, op. cit.
208-10.
1 For a descriptive account see Crofton,
Newton Chap. (Chet. Soc.), iii, 283, &c.
2 Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9.
8 See the account of the manor and
Crofton, op. cit. iii, 394. Otes Board-
man of Bradford and James Barker of the
same, colliers, occur in 1630 ; Salford
Port Mote Rec. i, 231.
4 Crofton, op. cit. 398. Disputes as to
the Bradford Mill occurred in 1561 and
1 60 1 ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii,
247 > >», 436.
5 Load. Gaz. 2 Jan. 1857.
• Ibid. 27 Oct. 1876.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
In 1282 BRADFORD and Brunhill
MANOR formed part of the demesne of the manor
of Manchester, and were worth 40*.
yearly.7 A century earlier the Norreys family claimed
two oxgangs of land in Bradford, but nothing further
is known of their title.8 The lords of Manchester
had in 1322 a wood in Bradford a league in circuit ;
also meadow and pasture land and heath ; a grange
and shippon had been built there.9 Ten years later,
at the request of his wife Joan, John La Warre
granted his estate in Bradford to John de Salford of
Wakerley and Alice his wife for life, £20 being paid
down and a rent of £10 being due.10 In 1357
Roger La Warre granted the manor of Bradford to
Thomas de Booth of Barton in Eccles,11 who at once
bought out the Wakerley family,12 and Bradford
descended like Barton until the latter part of the
1 6th century, when it became the portion of Dorothy,
youngest daughter and co-heir of John Booth of
Barton.13 By her first husband, John Molyneux of
Sefton, she had a daughter Bridget," who married
Thomas Charnock of Astley in Chorley.1* The
manor was still in Bridget Charnock's possession in
i654,16 and descended to the Brookes of Astley, a
branch of the Mere family." On the death of Peter
Brooke in 1787 the estates went to his sister Susannah,
who married Thomas Townley Parker of Cuerden.18
Her son, R. Townley Parker, died in 1879, leaving
this estate to his second son, Robert (d. 1894), whose
granddaughter, a minor, is the present owner.
George Chorlton of Bradford had land in Man-
chester in 1613, and John Fletcher of Bradford in
i6i9.19
A constable of Bradford is mentioned in 1 6 1 6.*°
Christ Church was built in 1862 for the Established
worship.21 The rector is collated by the Bishop of
Manchester. St. Aidan's, at the southern end of the
township, begun as a mission church, was consecrated
in 1899 ; the Crown and the Bishop of Manchester
present alternately. The same patronage is exercised
in the case of St. Paul's district, recently formed.
The Wesleyan Methodists, Independent Metho-
dists, and United Methodist Free church have each a
place of worship. The Unitarians have a chapel, built
in 1900. The congregation was formed in 1894.
St. Bridget's Roman Catholic church was opened
in 1879.
GORTON
Gorton, 1282 (copy), and usually; Goreton, c.
1450-1
This township1 lies to the north and south of
Gore or Rush Brook, which flows west to the Mersey.
7 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Chcs.), i, 244.
8 Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 6 ; the date is 1196. The land
no doubt reverted to the chief lord, for
Bradford is not named in the survey of
1212, though Heaton Norris is.
* Mamecestre (Chet. Soc.), ii, 368, 363.
The wood, with pannage, honey, and bees
was worth 6s., the ' vesture ' of the wood,
£10 ; the 2 acres of meadow, 2*., the
54 acres of pasture, 271., and another
12 acres, which could not be ploughed
because within the wood, 41. ; the 70
acres of heath, 331.
10 Manch. Corp. D. ; the grant was
made at Wakerley. See also Dods. MSS.
cxlix, fol. 157.
11 The charter is recited in the Inq.
p.m. of Sir John Booth of Barton in 1514;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, 15. The
grant included the manor of Barton, the
manor of Bradford, the hamlets of Open-
shaw and Ardwick, a plot of land in Man-
chester called Flowerlache, and another
plot called Marshal Field ; a rent of
£10 141. 2iL was to be paid during
Thomas's life, and id. afterwards. The
manor of Barton was Thomas's patri-
mony ; the remainder was a fresh grant.
Thomas de Booth in 1363 granted
Bradford, with its lands and water-mill,
to his son John for life ; Dods. MSS.
cxlix, fol. 1 60.
12 A fine between Roger de Wakerley
and Margery his wife, plaintiffs, and John
de Wakerley and Alice his wife, defor-
ciants, was made in 1355 respecting a
messuage, 1 60 acres of land, and 10 acres
of wood 'in Manchester' ; Final Cone.
ii, 146. In 1358 Roger and Margery
sold the same lands, described as 'in
Bradford and Manchester,' to Thomas de
Booth ; ibid, ii, 158. Sarah de Wakerley
also released her right; ibid, ii, 162;
see also Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 6,
m. 2 d.
John de Wakerley was the John de
Salford of 1332, and Roger was his son,
as appears from Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol.
1 60. Sarah sister of John Clerk of
Wakerley, and Amita daughter of Roger
de Wakerley, released their rights in the
lands of John and Roger by charter ; ibid.
Roger La Warre also concurred in the
transfer ; ibid.
18 Bradford is mentioned in the Booth
inquisitions. John Booth of Barton died
in 1576, leaving four daughters as co-
heirs ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, 8 ;
Manch. Ct. Lett Rec. i, 1 80.
14 John Molyneux died at Dalton in
Furness in Nov. 1596, his daughter
Bridget being nine years old. Dorothy,
the widow, soon afterwards married
Edward Dukinfield at Bradford ; Duchy
of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii, 24. The Booth
estates had not then been divided.
Settlements respecting coal mines in
Bradford, also the manors of Bradford,
Over Ardwick and Lower Ardwick, with
houses, lands, water-mill, dovecotes, and
rents in the same places and in Manches-
ter, were made in 1607 and 1608 by
Edward Dukinfield and Dorothy his wife ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 72, no. 10,
73. It thus appears that a division had
taken place, and that these manors, &c.,
had been assigned to Dorothy ; lands in
Barton were added later. A further set-
tlement was made in 16175 'bid. bdle.
92, no. 5.
15 A settlement of the manors of Brad-
ford, Over and Lower Ardwick, and West-
leigh, with lands, &c., in these townships
and in Manchester, Ikrton, and Penning-
ton, was made in 1626 by Thomas Char-
nock, Bridget his wife, and Robert the
son and heir of Thomas ; ibid. bdle. 108,
no. 14. In 1632 Bradford was joined in
a settlement with Astley, Heath Char-
nock, and Charnock Richard, the defor-
ciants in the fine being Thomas Charnock,
Bridget his wife, Robert Charnock, Anne
his wife, and Roger and John Charnock ;
ibid. bdle. 12 1, no. 46. For a note of
the Charnocks see Manch. Ct. Lett Rec.
ii, 1 80.
16 She and Charles Walmesley with
Mary his wife were deforciants in a fine
275
respecting the manor of Bradford, with
messuages, &c., and land in Bradford and
Manchester, and coal-mines in the former
township ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
156, m. 139. Mary Walmesley was a
daughter of Thomas Charnock ; there
was no issue of the marriage ; Burke,
Commoners, iii, 231.
17 Richard, second son of Sir Peter
Brooke of Mere near Altrincham, married
in 1666 Margaret daughter and heir of
Robert Charnock ; Ormerod, Ches. (ed.
Helsby), i, 464. A settlement of the
manor of Bradford, with lands, &c., there
and in Manchester was in 1678 made by
Richard Brooke and Margaret his wife ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 200, m. 31.
There was a recovery of the manor of
Bradford and a moiety of the manor of
Charnock Richard in 1716, the vouchees
being Margaret Brooke, widow, Peter
Brooke, and Bernard Francks ; Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. 502, m. 4. Peter Brooke
was the sole landowner in 1786, accord-
ing to the land tax return.
18 Burke, Commoners, i, 117, and Landed
Gentry (Townley Parker).
19 Manch. Ct. Lett Rec. ii, 285 ; iii, 18.
20 Mancb, Sessions (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), 8. This seems to be the first
indication that Bradford was considered a
township ; see also Manch. Constables'
Accts. i, 20, 91, 93, &c.
21 A district was assigned to it in 1862;
Land. Gats. 5 Sept.
1 Out of Gore-ton and Red-ditch, with
the help of the intervening Nico Ditch,
popular fancy has made the story of a
great battle in the neighbourhood ; Har-
land and Wilkinson, Traditions of Lanes.
26.
2 In 1852 John Higson published the
Gorton Hist. Recorder, containing a full
account of the state of the township, with
numerous memoranda of the events and
families connected with it. The author
(1825 to 1871) was born at Yew Tree
Farm in the north of the township ; an
account of him and his family is given in
Crofton, Newton Chap. (Chet Soc.), i, 4.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The boundary on the west is irregular, Kirkmans-
hulme, a detached portion of Newton, lying on that
side, with a small detached triangle of Gorton to the
west of it. There is evidence that the Stockport
Road, on the line of the old Roman road from
Stockport to Manchester, was not taken as the western
boundary till the I7th century, the portions known
as Grindlow Marsh and Midway, lying to the north
and south of Kirkmanshulme, having been considered
as within Rusholme.5 The southern boundary is
defined by the ancient Nico Ditch.4 Fifty years ago
there were four hamlets in the township — Gorton
village in the centre, Abbey Hey 6 to the east, Gorton
Brook or * Bottom of Gorton ' to the north-west, and
Longsight ; the last name seems to belong properly
to the small detached triangle already mentioned, but
is popularly used for the surrounding district.6 The
surface is comparatively level, rising a little towards
the east. The area is 1,484^ acres.
The principal road through Gorton is that from
Manchester to Hyde ; almost the whole township to
the north of this has become urban, and there are
many streets and cross roads. A branch of the Great
Central Railway runs along the northern boundary
and has a station called Gorton, 1 842-8. A branch
line going south-east crosses the western part of the
township, with a station called Belle Vue, while
another branch passes south through the eastern part
and has a station called Hyde Road. The Man-
chester and Stockport Canal goes south through the
centre of the township.
On the south-eastern boundary is a large reservoir
of the Manchester Waterworks.
The government of the township was formerly
vested in the constables appointed at a town's meet-
ing and confirmed by the Manchester Court Leet.7
A local board was constituted in 1863.® About a
fifth of the township was incorporated in the city of
Manchester in 1890, under the name of West
Gorton; this portion in 1896 became part of the
new township of South Manchester. The remainder,
known as Gorton,9 is governed by an urban district
council of fifteen members. An agreement has now
(1908) been made for its incorporation in Manchester.
The population of this part numbered 26,564 in
1 90 1 . The place gives a name to one of the county
Parliamentary divisions.
In 1666 there were forty-four hearths in all contri-
buting to the tax ; none of the houses had as many
as six hearths liable.10 The Maidens' Bridge replaced
stepping stones over the brook on the road from
Gorton to Den ton in 1737." Longsight or Rushford
Bridge, over Gore Brook, was built in 1751." The
stocks were erected in 1743." Some amusing stories
are told of the conduct of the people in 1745." A
case of body-snatching occurred in i83i.14 There
were formerly several places reputed haunted.16 The
township was famous for its bull-dogs.17
The annual rush-bearing took place on the Friday
before the first Sunday in September ; the rush cart
was accompanied by morris dancers in its tour of the
village. The event was usually celebrated by the
baiting of bulls, bears, and badgers.18 Horse-races
were established in i844,19 but have now ceased.
Bleaching was carried on in the early years of the
1 8th century.20 Power-loom weaving was about to
be introduced in 1790"; the Gorton cotton mills
were started in 1 824, and after a failure were restarted
in 1844.** There are now a cotton factory, chemi-
cal works, iron works, and tanyard.
There was an old custom, discontinued in 1841,
of * giving an heraldic peal or ring on the bell at the
conclusion of divine service.' n
Though a manor of GORTON is
MANOR named in the I7th century the term
seems to have been used improperly. In
1282 the place was held in bondage of the lord of
Manchester, being assessed as sixteen oxgangs of land
and paying 64^. rent ; a plat called the Hall land
paid 2OS. a year ; and the mill 26^. Sd.u A more
detailed account is given in the survey of 1320,
according to which Henry the Reeve, a * native,' held
a messuage and an oxgang of land in villeinage, paying
8/. 4«/. rent ; he ploughed one day for the lord, re-
ceiving a meal and ^d. as wages ; harrowed one day,
receiving a meal and id. wages, or for half a day
without the meal ; reaped one day in the autumn,
receiving a meal and \d. ; and carried the lord's corn
one day, having a meal and ^d, wages. He and all
others owing suit to the mill at Gorton were bound
to quarry millstones and take them to the mill, for
each pair of stones receiving \d. for loading them and
3/. for the carriage. He paid a fine on his daughter's
marriage, and on his sons being placed at a free
handicraft. On his death a third of his goods went
to the lord, and the remainder to his widow and son ;
if either the widow or the son were dead, half went
to the lord ; if he left neither widow nor son the
lord took the whole ; a posthumous son or daughter
must make a special agreement as to succession. He
had to carry as far as Chesterfield. Five other
tenants are named.25
3 See the boundary settlement quoted
within.
4 See V.C.H. Lanes, ii, 554.
6 The origin of this name is unknown ;
it will be seen that Abbey was a surname
in Gorton in 1320.
6 ' Longsight ' may mean the ' long
shot ' (Mr. Crofton), or a place giving a
distant view along the straight road from
Manchester to Stockport ; Manch. Guard.
N. and Q. no. 189, 425.
7 Constables are known to have been
appointed in 1623 ; Mancb. Ct. Leet Rec.
iii, 74.
8 Land. Gam. 16 Oct. 1863.
9 It has an area of 1,147 acres, includ-
ing 45 of inland water ; Census Rep. 1901.
10 Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9.
11 Higson, Gorton Rec. 87 ; the bridge
wat widened in 1810. 12 Ibid. 95.
18 Ibid. 89 ; their position was changed
several times.
14 Ibid. 90-3. The Pretender's army
passed through Longsight on its way to
and from Derby. w Ibid. 169.
"Ibid. 1 6, 1 1 6. "Ibid. 148.
18 Ibid. 131, 165 ; a description of the
rush-bearing in 1874 is given in Manch.
Guard. N. and Q. no. 456.
19 Higson, op. cit. 192.
20 Ibid. 82. The people of the district
combined the labours of tilling the land,
weaving at home, and bleaching in the
' crofts.'
31 Ibid. 1 19 ; this first attempt was
abortive, owing to intimidation.
MIbid. 156, 192. »Ibid. 187.
34 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 245.
85 Mamecestre (Chet. Soc ), ii, 279,
276
280. The other five were Geoffrey del
Abbey, Thomas del Oilers, Hugh del
Abbey, Emma the widow, and Hugh son
of Richard. Each held a messuage and
an oxgang of land, except the last, who
held only half an oxgang ; the rents varied
from 41. 5</. up to 131. 4</.
The tenants who held for a term of
years, who were not free, were subject
to the same customs as the natives ; ibid,
ii, 281.
The mill of Gorton, on Gore Brook.
was worth 40*. a year ; all the tenants of
the hamlet were bound to grind there
to the sixteenth measure ; ibid, ii, 282.
The right of fishing in Gore Brook be-
longed to the lord ; ibid.
The tenants had the right to get turves
in Openshaw ; ibid, ii, 291.
A small piece of land on Gorton Green
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
By one of the lords of Manchester Gorton seems
to have been granted or leased to the Booths, for in
1433 Sir Robert Booth and Douce his wife enfeoffed
Sir John Byron and William Booth, clerk, of his lands
in the hamlets of Gorton, &c., described in a fine as
twenty- four messuages, 500 acres of land, 40 acres of
meadow, and 500 acres of pasture, also ^s. 6d. rent,
in Manchester.26 In 1473 John Byron held the vill
of Gorton with the appurtenances, paying a rent of
£30 i is. to the lord of Manchester.27 It descended
like Clayton till 1612-13, when the manor of Gorton
with messuages, lands, water-mill, and horse-mill in
Gorton, &c., appears to have been sold by Sir John
Byron and the trustees to the tenants.18 Thirty-three
of the purchasers were in 1614 summoned to pay
their shares of the rent of £30 I is. due to the lord
of Manchester ; 29 it was agreed to levy it at the rate
of gd. for each Lancashire acre, the estates called
Grindlow Marsh and Midway being exempt.30
The township having thus been parted among a
large number of proprietors it becomes impossible to
give their history in detail.31 Among the new owners
were some bearing the local name.31 One of the
family, Samuel Gorton, went to America in the lyth
century and founded a religious sect there, which died
out about 1770."
Among the earliest landowners recorded was Adam
the Ward of Sharpies.34 An estate called the Forty
Acres was long held by one of the Bamford families.3*
Catsknoll was at one time owned by the Levers of
Alkrington.36 The Taylors of Gorton were bene-
factors.37
At GREENLOW, or Grindlow, Marsh or Cross
appears to have been the land called Withacre or
Whitacre, granted by Albert Grelley to the abbey of
Swineshead in alms about 1 1 6o.38 In the 1 6th cen-
tury it was held by the Strangeways family,39 and
remained an integral part of their estate.40 There
was by Thomas La Warre given to the
college he founded at Manchester ; it
appears to have been the site of a tithe
barn ; Higson, Gorton Recorder, 48, 2 1 8,
219 ; Hibbert-Ware, Manch. Foundations,
i» 38-
26 Byron Chartul. (Towneley MS.), no.
34/281, 28/284.
37 Mamecestre, iii, 484. Lands in Gor-
ton were among those held in 1489 by
Sir John Byron by knight's service and a
yearly rent ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
iii, 48.
The rent of £30 1 1*, appears in the
inquisition after the death of Sir Nicholas
Mosley as due to him from lands in Gor-
ton and Greenlow or Grindlow Marsh,
lately held by Sir John Byron ; Lanes.
Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 4.
38 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 81,
no. 57..
Various documents from the town's
chest are printed in Higson's Gorton
Recorder. In 1581 there was a surrender
by forty-nine tenants, whose names are
given ; op. cit. 213. In 1608 there was
another surrender by twenty-seven
tenants for lives ; ibid. 56, followed by
the agreement for the fine above cited,
in which the plaintiffs were James Chet-
ham, Oswald Mosley, and Edward Black-
lock, perhaps acting for the numerous
purchasers.
89 Ibid. 213, 57, 58. Rowland Mosley
of the Hough, as lord of Manchester, was
the plaintiff. The tenants again refused
to pay in 1650, 1657, 1666, and 1675,
but judgement was given in favour of the
lord. »<> Ibid. 134.
81 In the grant of a cottage on Green-
low Marsh in 1708 for the use of the
poor the following signed as ' the free-
holders, charterers, and proprietors of the
waste lands in Gorton ' : Samuel Worth-
ington, Gerard Jackson, Ralph Shelmer-
dine, Robert Andrew, James Taylor, John
Corfe, John Graver, and Richard Taylor.
Edward Siddall purchased 17 acres in
Gorton from John Byron in 1571 ; Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 33, m. 163.
The land was at Longsight ; Higson, op.
cit. 54, 58.
Nicholas Peake, who died in March
1625-6, held a messuage, &c. in Gorton.
He left a widow Isabel, and his heir was
his brother John, forty years of age ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxv, 42.
Roger Unsworth, who died in 1638,
held land in Gorton of Nicholas Mosley
as of his manor of Manchester ; Roger
his son and heir was thirty-nine years of
age ; Towneley MS. C. 8, 1 3 (Chet. Lib.),
1288.
No landowners are mentioned in the
Subsidy Roll of 1 541, nor in that of 1 622,
although by the latter year Gorton had
become a separate township ; Misc. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 139, 150.
Thomas Pyecroft of Gorton was a free-
holder in 1600 ; ibid, i, 249.
A family named Asmall or Aspinal
appear to have held the Green and Green-
head in the 1 7th century ; these passed
to the Travis family, who also held lands
called the Alderstone, Debdale Clough,
Chew, Redlache, &c. ; Mr. Earwaker's
notes and Higson, op. cit. 83.
The Hultons of Farn worth and
Nuttalls of Blackley held lands in Gorton ;
Mancb. Ct. Lett Rec. i, 33 ; Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Rec. Soc.), ii, 176.
Some other landowners named in Hig-
son's work are Samuel Harmer, 1685
(p. 76) ; Kenyon, 1786 (p. 115) ; Woodi-
wiss, 1830 (p. 167), and Clowes. 'Wil-
liam and Thomas Clowes, merchants of
Manchester, became possessed of large
estates in Manchester, Cheetham, Gorton,
and Droylsden, by marriage with Eliza-
beth and Margaret Nield, only daughters
and co-heiresses of Miles Nield, merchant
and chapman of Manchester,' in 17385
ibid. 218 ; (bis) ; see also 85, 203.
88 William and Nicholas Gorton are
named in 1614; ibid. 213. William
Gorton died in 1618, holding a messuage
and land of the king by knight's service ;
Francis his son and heir was fifteen years
of age ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), ii, 175.
John Gorton, said to have come from
the Fylde, purchased the Gorton Hall
estate early in the 1 8th century ; Higson,
op. cit.
88 Ibid. 214 ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
84 He complained in 1369 that certain
persons had broken into his close at
Gorton and had ill-treated his servant ;
Coram Rege R. 434, m. 7.
85 It is described as ' in Rusholme ' in
1473 when Bertin Bamford was the
holder ; he paid a rent of izd. to the
lord of Manchester ; Mamecestre, iii, 482.
John Bamford, who died in 1558, held
the Forty Acres in Gorton of the executors
of Lord La Warre in socage, by izd.
rent ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, 61,
38. His daughter and heir, Anne Dukin-
firld, died in possession in 1619, leaving
Thomas Birch as her grandson and next
277
heir, a minor; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec.
Soc.), ii, 178. The Birches still held an
estate in Gorton in 1726, as appears by
the land tax returns. George Birch of
Gorton in 1770 made a new road, now
called Gorton Lane ; he owned the land
through which it passed and the Gorton
Brook estate ; Higson, op. cit. 105. The
latter estate was sold in lots in 1851 ;
ibid. 212.
86 Ibid. 1 10. Part of Catsknoll was
in 1777 owned by John Hague ; ibid.
109. All or most of the estate came
into the hands of John White of Park
Hall, Derbyshire, who was in 1850 the
largest landowner in the township ; ibid.
95, 160.
8' James Taylor and James his son are
mentioned in a plea of 1676 ; Exch. Dtp.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 53. Samuel
Taylor, webster, was bound to Thomas
Taylor in 1653 ; and in 1693 Hannah
Taylor leased a messuage in Gorton to
Richard her son and James her grandson ;
Mr. Earwaker's notes.
Sarah Taylor was a benefactor in 1680;
Gastrell, Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 89.
See her will in Higson, op. cit. 74.
88 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 58, 59 ;
from the charter there printed it appears
that Ralph Grelley had held the land, and
that a Richard de More and his heirs
were to hold it of the abbey at a rent of
i zd. The land was held by the abbey in
1320; Mamecestre, ii, 274. A rent of
2s. due to the abbey from Manchester
was by Henry VIII granted to Harold
Rosell ; Pat. 31 Hen. VIII, pt. 3.
The identification of Withacre with
Grindlow Marsh rests on the facts that a
Withacre certainly existed close by (see
the account of Chorlton-upon-Medlock),
that the abbey had land in « Rusholme '
(see next note), and that Grindlow Marsh
was free from the rent due to the lord of
Manchester.
89 Thomas Strangeways of Strangeways
(see Cheetham) died in 1590, holding
land in Rusholme which had belonged to
the dissolved monastery of Swineshead
in socage by a rent of a pair of gloves ;
Mancb. Collectanea (Chet. Soc.), ii, 142.
Thomas Strangeways, described as ' of
Gorton,' was an elder of the Manchester
Classis in 1 646 ; Baines, Lanes, (ed.
1868), i, 226.
40 Higson states that the Reynolds of
Strangeways held Greenlow Marsh ; G»r-
ton Recorder, 107, 114. Lord Ducie held
I»nd in 1787 ; Land Tax Ret.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
was in 1322 a considerable amount of land in that
part of the township in the possession of the lord.41
It was in 1609 decided that Greenlow Marsh lay in
Gorton and not in Chorlton or Greenlow Heath.41
An ancient chantry endowment was situated at the
same place.43
From the land tax returns of 1787" it appears
that the most considerable owners were : — Richard
Gorton, paying about a sixth of the tax, Robert
Grimshaw, John Hague's heirs, and Richard Clowes.
The origin of ST. JAMES'S CH4PEL
CHURCH is unknown. It existed in 1562, when
Ambrose Beswick bequeathed 3*. \d.
to the chapel reeves.45 It was probably used for
service, a lay ' reader ' being employed,46 and one
of the fellows of Manchester preaching occasionally.
There was no endowment, but the people seem to
have contributed according to an assessment.47
Ministers and people were Puritan, and in 1634 ^
was stated that the surplice had never been used.48
The minister had an endowment of 26^. 8</. in
1650, besides the voluntary offerings ; 49 but changes
were frequent.*0 The minister in charge in 1662,
William Leigh, is said to have been ejected ; but the
chapel appears to have been used indifferently by
Episcopalians and Presbyterians for some time after-
wards." A library was given by Humphrey Chet-
ham.M In 1 706 the fixed revenue was £8 1 5^. and
the contributions about £iS ; at that time a quarter
of the population was avowedly Nonconformist.55 In
1755 the chapel was rebuilt,54 and again in 1871. A
district chapelry was assigned to it in 1839." The
registers date from 1570. The monumental inscrip-
tions are copied in the Owen MSS. The Dean and
41 Heath land of 223 acres, -worth
1 131., was held ; 14 acres were let at 8</.,
and the rest at 6d. Thomas de Chorlton
had 7 acres there ; Mamecestret ii, 363.
43 Note by Mr. Earwaker. Greenlow
Heath appears to have been considered a
separate township, or at least a con-
spicuous hamlet of Chorlton. The ham-
let of Gorton was at the same time bound
to maintain 'one half of the highway in
the High Street so far as Gorton and
Greenlow Marsh alias Greenlow Cross
lay to the said High Street, beginning at
the bridge near to Edmond Percival's
house and so downward to Ardwick,
with the one half of the said bridge
also.'
48 Mamecestre, iii, 483 ; a rent of 20*.
was due to the lord of Manchester. The
chantry was that of St. Nicholas, or the
TrafFord chantry, as will be seen in the
account of the parish church.
It was probably in respect of this land
that disputes arose among the lessees.
Sir Edmund TrafFord had had a lease of
two tenements there, and in 15 88 Thomas
Windbank secured from the queen a lease
for fifty years from the end of TrafFord' s
term. Roger Kenyon — in another plead-
ing John Kenyon and Robert his son —
and Thomas alias James Gredlow were
occupiers ; and for each tenement
261. Sd. rent was due to the Crown.
Thomas Pyecroft and George Ashton
acquired an interest in part of the land
about 1600, but their title was questioned;
Duchy of Lane. Plead. Eliz. clxxxi, F. 1 1 ;
clxxxix, P. i ; cxcvi, B. 5. Roger Kenyon
and Thomas Greenlow were the tenants
of the chantry lands in 1547 ; Raines,
Chant. (Chet. Soc.), i, 35.
44 At the County Council Office,
Preston.
45 Higson, op. cit. 52 ; quoting Raines
MSS. Pike-house Deeds. The chapel is
marked in Saxton's map of 1577.
46 George Wharmby was licensed as
'reader' in 1576; Pennant's Acct. Bk.
(Chest. Reg.). He was buried at the
collegiate church in 1588 as 'minister at
Gorton.'
At the bishop's visitation in 1592 it
was found that the curate was unlicensed ;
he christened in a basin or dish, there
being no font ; he also taught a school.
Jewell's Reply and Apology were wanting ;
Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xiii, 63. As
he baptized probably he was ordained.
47 Thomas Beswick and Mary Bes-
wick, widow, were summoned before the
consistory in 1604 for not paying the
' accustomed wages ' to the minister ;
Higson, op. cit. 55. See also Hist. MSS.
Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 1 1 .
48 Humphrey Chetbam (Chet.Soc.),5o,5i.
49 Commowuiealth Ch. Sur-v. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 8. An addition of
£40 out of sequestrations was ordered in
1648 ; Plund. Mim. Accts. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 63, 65 ; ii, 55.
60 Thomas Norman was curate in
1619 ; it was reported that he 'did not
read the whole service ' ; Visit. P. at
Chester. He was called the ' lecturer ' in
1622; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i. 66 ; Manch. Classis (Chet. Soc.), iii,
443. Henry Root is stated to have
been there in 1632 ; Robert Watson,
curate in 1639, was excommunicated for
contumacy ; Mr. Norman reappeared in
1641 ; Higson, op. cit. 59, 60. 'Corne-
lius Glover of Gorton, .preacher of the
Word of God,' was buried at Manchester
in 1635. John Wigan, an Independent,
was there in 1645-6, and moved to
Birch ; his appointment was an incident
in the strife between the Independents
and the Presbyterians ; see Adam Martin-
dale (Chet. Soc.), 61.
Adam Martindale followed ; he gives
an interesting account of the 'wasps'
nest' in which he found himself. He
had the cordial invitation of the people ;
his principal promoter was 'an ancient
professor that had formerly driven a
great trade, and after borne a considerable
office as a soldier in the wars, but at
that time was out of all employment,
only gave himself much to reading and
Christian converse,' and was a zealous
Presbyterian ; others of the people ' were
downright for the Congregational way,' to
which Martindale himself inclined, and
* one honest gentleman, of better parts
and greater interest than he that drove
on so eagerly, was against ruling elders
as unscriptural and strangers in antiquity.'
In consequence of these bickerings, and
his salary being in arrears, Martindale
left in 1648 ; ibid. 60-76.
David Dury succeeded, 1 649-50 ; he
was 'a painful and godly minister' ;
Commonwealth Cb. Sari/. 8. Thomas
Norman, son of the earlier minister of
that name, was there 1650-51 ;
Zachariah Taylor, 1651 to 1653 ; Robert
Seddon, 1654 to 1656 ; William Leigh,
1657. Notices of all of these will be
found in W. A. Shaw, Manch. Classis; see
also~Plund. Mins. Accts. ii, 183, 289.
51 John Jollie, an ejected minister,
preached at Gorton in 1669 ; on one
Sunday a minister sent from the warden
of Manchester found him in the pulpit
278
and had to retire ; Booker, Denton (Chet.
Soc.), 85. Yet a Caleb Stopford appears
as 'minister of Gorton" in 1662, and
other names are given ; Higson, op. cit.
71, 72. There is a tradition that 'at
one period two difFerent modes of wor-
ship, Episcopal and Presbyterian, were
conducted in Gorton Chapel, one in the
morning and the other in the afternoon ' ;
ibid. 76. Thomas Dickenson, who left
for Northowram in 1702, is said to have
'preached at Gorton chapel,' so that the
arrangement may have been in force so
late as his time ; Nightingale, Lanes.
Nonconf. v, 55. The state of matters at
the chapel was a scandal to the more
zealous Anglicans, who wanted the laws
enforced against offenders ; Hist. MSS.
Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 85.
63 Humphrey Cbetham, 209. The bene-
factor is stated to have attended the
chapel, and on the south side of the old
building, near the chancel, was a gallery
called the 'Chetham loft,' used by the
family and servants of Clayton Hall ;
Higson, op. cit. 66. Other books were
given in 1730 ; ibid. 85. See also Old
Lanes. Libraries (Chet. Soc.), 62 ; many of
the books are still preserved.
58 Gastrell, Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.),
ii, 88. The house, garden, and little
meadow brought in £z i $s. There were
two chapel wardens, chosen by the
minister and inhabitants.
84 Higson, op. cit. 97-100, where the
faculty is printed ; this states that the old
chapel and its furniture were 'very old,
ruinous and decayed,' and that a larger
building was needed. A petition in 1753
states that the inkabitants had repaired
the pillars and supports of the timber
roof ; that the building measured 60 ft.
by 40 ft. ; that the estimated cost of a
new chapel was £1,171, which the in-
habitants were unable to raise, for though
the township was populous it was but small,
and the people mostly 'cottagers and
labourers and common workpeople in the
linen and cotton manufactures,' who
could not give much ; Hist. MSS. Com.
Rep. xiv, App. iv, 493.
A ballad referring to a church incident
about 1800 is printed in N.andQ. (Ser. 4),
», 555-6.
According to Higson (op. cit. 101) the
new chapel was called St. Thomas's instead
of St. James's, but the change does not
appear to have been permanent. The in-
terior remained unfinished until i775>
when it was properly fitted ; ibid. 108.
55 Land. Gay.. 29 Mar. 1839 ; 16 June
1854.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
Canons of Manchester present the incumbents, who
are styled rectors. The following is a list : —
1671 Robert Dewhurst56
Joshua Wakefield," M.A. (Queens' College,
Cambridge)
1704 John Harpur, B.A. (Brasenose College, Ox-
ford ; Jesus College, Cambridge)
1715 William Burkitt 58
1764 John Whittingham, B.A.59 (St. Edmund
Hall, Oxford)
1801 John Darby, M.A.60 (Corpus Christi College,
Oxford)
1808 James Gatcliff61
1831 Richard Basnett, M.A. (Trinity College,
Oxford)
1864 George Philpot, M.A. (Caius College, Cam-
bridge)
1902 John Worsley Cundey, M.A. (Magdalen
College, Oxford)
More recently other churches have been added :
St. Mark's, 1865 ;6J and All Saints', West Gorton,
I879;63 t'ie rectors are collated by the Bishop of
Manchester. St. George's, Abbey Hey, was conse-
crated in 1903 ; and the district of St. Philip's has
been formed, but no church has yet been built ; the
Crown and the Bishop of Manchester present alter-
nately. At Longsight St. Clement's was consecrated
in 1876 ;64 the patronage is vested in trustees.
A school existed in 1 7 1 6.M
Methodism appeared in the township about the
end of the 1 8th century ; a school chapel at Brooke's
Green was built in iSog.66 The Wesleyans now have
churches at Gorton, Hyde Road, and Longsight ; the
Primitive Methodists two, at Gorton Brook and Belle
Vue ; and the United Free Church one.
The Baptists have three churches. The Particular
Baptists had a school in Gorton as early as i828.67
The Congregationalists have churches at Gorton M
and Longsight. The latter began as a Sunday school
in 1834 ; the present chapel was opened in 1842 on
land purchased from Lord Ducie.69 The Salvation
Army has meeting-places at Gorton and Longsight.
At Longsight there is also a Presbyterian Church of
England, founded in 1871.
The Unitarians have two places of worship at
Brookfield, Gorton, and at Longsight. The former
represents the old Protestant Dissenters' chapel, built
in 1703 and now taken down ;69a the congregation
became Unitarian about a century later. The pre-
sent church was built in 1 87 1.70
The Roman Catholic mission of St. Francis of Assisi,
West Gorton, was opened in 1872. It is in charge
of the Franciscans, whose monastery adjoins it. The
church of the Sacred Heart was opened in 1901."
ARDWICK
Atheriswyke, (copy of) Inq. of 1282 ; Ardewyke,
1357-
The bounds of Ardwick extend from the Medlock
on the north to somewhat beyond the Cornbrook
on the south. The south-west boundary is for the
most part the Stockport road, but at one point in-
cludes land to the west of the road. From this road
Hyde Road runs eastward ; and to the north of it
Ashton Old Road also crosses the township in an
easterly direction. There are numerous cross streets,
the greater part of the area being urban ; the centre
and east are occupied by railway land and various
works. The township contains 509 acres. The
population of Ardwick, West Gorton, and Rusholme
together was 113,843 in 1901.
Proceeding from Manchester by the London road,
Ardwick Green is soon reached ; the open space on
the north side, transferred to the corporation in 1867,
is called Ardwick Green Park ; the area is about 5
acres. The town hall stands at the north-east
corner. Beyond Ardwick Green the road is called
Stockport Road. On the north side of Hyde Road
is Nicholls' Hospital, behind which is the cemetery,
opened in 1838. On the south side a public reading-
room was opened in 1888 in a building formerly a
Primitive Methodist chapel. Further to the east is the
Manchester City Football Ground. To the south of
Ashton Old Road is a cricket ground, while some
little distance to the north is a public recreation
ground. The Mayfield Baths are by the Medlock,
and there are other baths on Hyde Road. There are
two drill halls in the township.
The London and North Western Company's line
from London Road Station to Stockport crosses the
township in a south-east direction. From it the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Company has a branch going
north to Miles Platting. The Great Central Com-
pany has a line running parallel with the first-named
till Ardwick Station is reached, when its line runs east
and has a second station called Ashbury's, just on the
township boundary. The Midland Company has
lines connecting with the former and with the An-
coats Goods Station.
There are many factories, including india-rubber
works and dye works, by the Medlock, and saw mills,
boiler works, iron foundry, chemical works, and pot-
tery in the south-east. The corporation has its
tram<:ar sheds and works here.
To the hearth tax of 1666 thirty-four hearths were
liable. The largest house was that of Samuel Birch,
with seven hearths.1 A dispensary was founded in
1829. Ardwick Green was in 1830 described as 'a
pleasant approach to Manchester, being well planted
56 Visitation list of 1671. From Hig-
son's work the names of the incumbents
have in general been taken. In Strat-
ford's visitation list, 1691, the date of
Dewhurst's licence is given as 1686 ; he
had been ordained in 1663. He died in
1697.
57 Also curate of Didsbury ; Mr. Ear-
waker's note.
5S He was called perpetual curate.
09 He was blind for the last twenty-
three years of his life ; Higson, op. cit.
127.
60 He was what was then called a High
Churchman ; ibid. 24.
61 The benefice was sequestered and
the incumbent absent for some years ;
ibid. 143-50, 160. See Raines, Fello-ws
of Manch. ii, 305.
62 Land. Gam. 27 July 1866, for dis-
trict. The patronage was vested in the
Rev. G. Philpot, St. James's, for his life.
68 Ibid. 4 July 1879.
64 Ibid. 25 July 1876.
65 Gastrell, op. cit. ii, 89.
66 Higson, op. cit. 23-8.
07 Ibid. 38-41.
68 There was an older Congregational
interest in Gorton, but it expired ; Night-
ingale, Lanes. Nonconf. v, 199.
69 Ibid.v,i58-62;Higson(op.cit. 34-6)
states that it effected much good in a vil-
lage which about 1 8 30 was ' disgraced by ag-
gravated scenes of intemperance and fight-
ing both with men and dogs ' on Sundays.
69a The inscriptions are in the Owen
MSS.
70 Nightingale, op. cit. v, 56-62. The
Grimshaw family were members of this
congregation.
51 Higson states that a Sunday School
was opened at Little Droylsden (in Open-
shaw) in 1843, and a chapel near Seven
Thorns Well in 1849 ; Gorton, 189, 206.
1 Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
and ornamented with elegant houses on the border of
a canal.' ' It was then a fashionable residential dis-
trict for Manchester merchants.
James Heywood Markland, an antiquary, was born
there in 1788 ; he died in 1828.* Another native
was Martha Darley Mutrie, a flower painter, born in
1824; she died in 1885.* Samuel Reynolds Hole,
Dean of Rochester 1887-1904 and famous as a rose-
grower, was born at Ardwick in 1820.
In 1825 an Act was obtained for the better govern-
ment of the township.* On the incorporation of the
borough of Manchester in 1838, Ardwick was in-
cluded ; together with Beswick it formed a ward. It
was merged in the new township of South Manches-
ter in 1896.
A mock corporation held its meetings from 1764
onwards, a mayor and other officers being elected.
There was, properly speaking, no manor
M4NOR of ARDWICK, which was a hamlet in
the demesne of Manchester. In 1282
the farm of I o oxgangs and 9 acres of land in bond-
age amounted to 43-f., and there was a plat of land
there called Twantirford, rendering 6s. 8d.s The
tenants had turbary on I oo acres of moor in Open-
shaw, and were obliged to grind at the Irk Mills to
the sixteenth measure.7 In 1320—2 Richard Akke, a
' native,' held 2 messuages and 2 oxgangs of land in
villeinage at a rent of 8/., performing also certain ser-
vices;8 the other land, 8f oxgangs, was valued at
451. 6</.9 The hamlet was, with Bradford and other
lands, given by Roger La Warre in 1357 to Thomas
de Booth of Barton,10 and descended in this family
till the partition at the end of the i6th century,
when, like Bradford, it became part of the share of
Dorothy, youngest daughter of John Booth. The
' manors of Over and Lower Ardwick,' with messuages,
lands, and common rights, were in 1636 sold by
Thomas Charnock and others to Samuel Birch."
BIRCH of Ardwick.
Assure three Jkurt-de-lis
argent, a canton or.
A Birch pedigree was recorded in 1 664 " in which
it is stated that Samuel was the son of Ambrose Birch
of Openshaw. He was a friend of Henry New-
come's,11 and, dying in 1668-9, ^e^ a^ lands to his
son John, of Whitbourne in Herefordshire." John
Birch, born in 1616, was a
carrier and trader of Bristol ;
afterwards he entered the army,
and was a colonel in 1644,
when he was serving for the
Parliament against the king,15
and greatly distinguished him-
self in the war. He was a
Member of Parliament,16 show-
ing himself a moderate Presby-
terian, and being in December
1648 excluded by 'Pride's
Purge,' was for a time impri-
soned. He was thereafter one
of Cromwell's opponents, and took part in the nego-
tiations for the restoration of Charles II.17 He con-
tinued to represent Weobley till his death in 1691.
His association with Lancashire is slight ; but he
acquired Ordsall, which remained in his family for
some time.18
Ardwick appears to have been acquired by the
colonel's younger brother Samuel, who also took part
in the wars and was known as Major Birch.19 He
died in 1693, leaving a son and heir John, who by
his will left a messuage and lands in Upper and Lower
Ardwick to his wife Elizabeth, with remainder to his
son Thomas ; a younger son, Samuel, also had lands
in Lower Ardwick.*0 Thomas Birch, on succeeding in
1728, rebuilt the manor-house, but died without issue
in 1753 ; by his will he divided his estates, Ardwick
lands going to his brother George, with remainders to
his nephews Samuel and George, sons of his brother
Samuel. He left money for a school at Ardwick.11
9 Clarke, Lanes. Gazetteer.
8 Die t. Nat. Biog. The family occurs
in Pemberton and Foxholes near Rochdale.
* Ibid. * 6 Geo. IV, cap. 5.
6 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 245. The total
assessment was probably lof oxgangs.
7 Mamecestre (Chet. Soc.), ii, 291, 371,
from the survey of 1320-22.
8 Ibid, ii, 280 ; his services were the
same as those of Henry the Reeve of
Gorton, except that he had to carry mill-
stones, not to Gorton Mill, but to that at
Manchester, at a gross payment of \d. for
loading and 6s. %d. for carrying, which he
shared with others.
* Ibid, ii, 364 ; each oxgang was valued
at 5*. dd., except one, worth only 4$.
From the total amount it appears that the
fraction also was valued at the lower rate.
There were eight messuages on the land ;
ibid, ii, 365.
In 1357 Roger La Warre leased to
John son of Adam son of Richard 10 acres
in Ardwick which Thomas de Beswick
had held for fifteen years past, at a rent of
5*. $d. ; Manch. Corp. D.
10 See the account of Bradford. From
an earlier charter it seems that ' the ham-
let of Ardwick ' had been leased to Thomas
de Booth and John his son in 1352 at a
rent of 57*. i id. ; Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol.
1 60 ; see also Close R. 42 Edw. Ill, m.
20 (19). Ardwick is regularly mentioned
in the Booth inquisitions, but is not called
a 'manor.'
The distinction of Higher and Lower
Ardwick appears in 1576; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, 8.
11 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 129,
no. 1 2 . The vendors were Thomas Char-
nock, Bridget his wife (the daughter and
heir of Dorothy Booth by her first hus-
band John Molyneux), Robert Charnock
son and heir of Thomas, John Charnock,
Humphrey Chetham, Francis Mosley, and
Ralph Pycroft — the last three probably as
mortgagees.
13 Dugdale, Vhit. (Chet. Soc.), 34 ;
there is a more extended pedigree in
Misc. Gen. et Herald, i, 307. The account
in the text is mainly from Booker, Birch
Chap. (Chet. Soc.), 106-20.
A Ralph Birch, perhaps predecessor of
Samuel, had disputes in 1600 and 1602
with Thomas Shelmerdine, the queen's
constable of Ardwick ; Hugh Beswick
was also concerned ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec.
Com.), iii, 495, 475, 454.
18 Samuel Birch of Openshaw was ap-
proved as a ruling elder of Gorton in
1650; Mancb. Classis (Chet. Soc.), 138.
Henry Newcome preached his wife's fu-
neral sermon; Autobiog. (Chet. Soc.), i, 134;
the Diary, 174, speaks of 'old Captain
Birch.'
14 The will is printed by Booker, op.
cit. 1 06, 107. A younger son, 'Thomas
Birch, clerk,' was father of the John
Birch who, by marriage with his cousin
Sarah, acquired Ordsall.
Ji In 1645 he was in command of the
280
Kentish regiment at Plymouth ; later he
took part in the siege of Bristol and sur-
prised Hereford, of which city he was
appointed governor. Next year he de-
feated and captured Sir Jacob Astley,
received the surrender of Ludlow, and
captured Goodrich Castle. In the same
year he took the Covenant. See Booker,
op. cit. 108-10 ; Diet. Nat. Biog. ; Mili-
tary Memoirs of Col. John Birch (Camd.
Soc.). He is mentioned in Henry New-
come's Diary (p. 203), and Autobiog. ii,
298, &c.
16 He sat for Leominster in 1646, and
was returned also in 1654 and 1658 ; for
Penryn in 1661-78, and afterwards for
Weobley.
^ Booker, op. cit. 111-13.
18 See the account of Ordsall. He de-
scribed himself in 1683 as owning the
manors of Upper and Lower Ardwick ;
Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. iv, 94. His lands
there appear to have descended to John
Peploe Birch, son of his niece Elizabeth
Peploe ; Land Tax Return of 1787.
19 Booker, op. cit. 114; Manch. Classis,
3,1.
30 Booker, op. cit. 115. Samuel Birch
was vouchee of the manors of Upper and
Lower Ardwick, &c., in a recovery in
1712 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 495, m. 5.
31 His will of 1746, with codicils of
1748 and 1753, is printed by Booker, op.
cit. 115-20. Considerable changes were
made by the codicil, his nephew Thomas
Birch becoming the principal legatee.
SALFORD HUNDRED
Samuel Birch of Lower Ardwick promoted the build-
ing of Ardwick Chapel, giving the site in 1 740 ; he
was high sheriff in 1747." He died in 1757, leaving
three sons — Thomas, who died without issue in 1781;
Samuel, who served in the American War and died in
1811 ; and George, of Ardwick, who died in 1/94,
leaving issue Thomas and Maria.23 The manors of
Upper and Lower Ardwick were left by the will of
Thomas Birch, dated 1780, to his brother, Major-
General Samuel Birch, who sold them in 1795 to
William Horridge.24 They changed hands several
times, and in 1869 were purchased by Alderman
John Marsland Bennett of Ardwick.*5
A considerable portion of Ardwick was sold by
Thomas Charnock to the Mosleys.26
Other families formerly had estates in the township
— Byrom,27 Booth,28 Entwisle,29 and Strangeways.30
The land tax return of 1787 shows that the prin-
cipal contributors were named Birch, Hyde, Ackers,
and Tipping."
Ardwick was recognized as a township in 1622,
when Richard Hudson contributed to the subsidy
for goods.32
For the Established Church St. Thomas's, Ardwick
Green,33 was built in 1741, as above-mentioned, and
has been enlarged ; St. Silas's, a century later, in
1842 ;" St. Matthew's, 1868 ;35 and St. Benedict's,
i88o.36 The patronage of the first of these churches
is vested in the Dean and Canons of Manchester, of
the others in different bodies of trustees. The in-
cumbents are styled rectors. There are mission rooms
in connexion with St. Thomas's and St. Matthew's.
The Wesleyan Methodists, the Primitive Method-
ists, and United Free Methodists, also the Welsh
Calvinistic Methodists, have places of worship. The
Presbyterians have a preaching station, opened in
1904. The Congregationalists formerly had a chapel
in Tipping Street.37
MANCHESTER
The Roman Catholic church of St. Aloysius was
opened in 1885 ; the mission was begun in 1852.
BESWICK
Bexwic, xiii cent. ; Bexwick, usual.
This small extra-parochial township lies to the
south-east of the Medlock. It has an area of 96^
acres. The principal road is that called Ashton New
Road, leading from Ancoats eastward. The Lanca-
shire and Yorkshire Company's Ardwick and Miles
Platting branch line crosses the township, and the
Manchester and Stockport Canal passes through the
northern corner.
Among the industries are a fustian mill and a
cotton works.
Beswick was included in Manchester on the incor-
poration in 1848, being joined with Ardwick to form
a ward. In 1896 it was absorbed in the new town-
ship of North Manchester.
Originally a detached part of the de-
M4NOR mesne of Chorlton, BESWICK was early
in the 1 3th century granted by Gospatrick
de Chorlton to Cockersand Abbey in pure alms.1 Of
the abbey it was in 1461 held by John Trafford at a
rent of 4/.2 In the 1 7th century it was held by the
Mosleys of Ancoats.3 Beswick does not seem to have
been regarded as a manor. Its extra-parochial
character may be due to its having belonged to
Cockersand.
Thomas Booth of Barton had land here in 1 46 1 .*
In connexion with the Established Church St.
Mary's was built in 1878 as a memorial to Bishop
Lee.* The Bishop of Manchester collates to the
rectory.
The Wesleyan Methodists and Methodist New
Connexion have churches in Beswick.
83 P.R.O. Litt. 74.
88 Booker, op. cit. 120.
84 The estates had become very much
encumbered. 'On 9 March, 1795, pur-
suant to a decree in chancery in a cause
Watson <v. Birch, several freehold estates
in the township of Ardwick and a moiety
of a limestone quarry, late the property of
Thomas Birch, esq., deceased, were offered
for sale ; a purchaser was found, but dis-
putes having arisen as to the validity of
the sale, the estates were directed to be
resold, and they finally passed into other
hands on i February, 1796 ;' ibid. 120.
85 The information as to the descent of
the manors is derived from Mr. J. Armit-
age Bennett (i 876), who stated : ' William
Horridge sold them on 20 August 1803
to Jacob Wood, who by will dated 2 June
1826 left the aforesaid manors to his
daughter Elizabeth Wood ; she sold them
by indenture of 9 May 1835 to Henry
Weech Burgess of Burgess Hill, London,'
who sold to Alderman Bennett.
86 Mosley Mem. (Chet. Soc. new ser.),
51 ; the estate comprised 248 acres, and
small chief rents were due from Ralph Ken-
yon, Adam Byrom, and Thomas Smith.
V Adam Byrom of Salford (see the
account of Kersal) in 1558 held a mes-
suage, &c., in Ardwick of John Booth in
tocage ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, 65.
The property is named in later inquisi-
tions of the family, but no further par-
ticulars are given.
88 Humphrey Booth of Salford in 1637
held messuages and lands in Ardwick and
Chorlton of Edward Mosley as of his
manor of Manchester ; the annual value
was 401. ; ibid, xxvii, 44.
89 Edmund Entwisle in 1 544 held some
land in Ardwick, together with his Chorl-
ton estate ; ibid, vii, 30.
80 Philip Strangeways had lands in
Manchester and Lower Ardwick, which
appear to have been sold to Thomas Beck
in 1544 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F, bdle. 12,
m. 265. John Jopson in 1551 purchased
a messuage and lands from William the
son and heir apparent of Philip Strange-
ways ; George Strangeways was tenant
for life ; ibid. bdle. 14, m. 250. Thomas
Strangeways made a settlement of a mes-
suage and lands in Ardwick and Withing-
ton in 1580; ibid. bdle. 42, m. 130;
Manch. Collectanea (Chet. Soc.), ii, 141 ;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 132.
81 Returns at Preston.
88 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 150.
88 The township was formed into a
district chapelry in 1839, and reformed
in 1856 ; Land. Gats. 29 Mar. 1839, i
July 1856. The monumental inscrip-
tions in the church are copied in the
Owen MSS.
84 A district was assigned in 1856 ;
ibid. I July.
84 For the district see ibid. 14 May 1869.
88 For the district see ibid. 9 July 1880.
•7 This originated with John Smith, a
28l
Manchester merchant, superintendent of
the Sunday school of Rusholme Road
Church. In 1835 he began preaching in
Lower Temple Street, Chorlton, and soon
afterwards built and opened Tipping
Street Chapel, preaching there till 1851.
Thirty years later the congregation was
amalgamated with that of the Octagon in
Chorlton, and the building was sold to the
City Mission in 1889 ; Nightingale,
Lanes. Nonconf. vi, 170, 171.
1 Cockersand Chart. (Chet. Soc. new
sen), ii, 707. 8 Ibid, iii, 1238.
8 In 1631 Oswald Mosley of Ancoats
was found to have held two messuages, a
cottage, two gardens, 30 acres of land, 10
acres of meadow, and 20 acres of pasture
in Beswick, of the king as of his manor
of East Greenwich ; the clear value was 301.
a year ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxv, 27.
In Axon's Mosley Memoranda (Chet.Soc.)
are numerous references to this estate ;
see pp. 33, 38, etc. The field names in-
clude How riding, Tongue sharps, Blake
butts, Eyes, Hulme, Peddie croft, Goat's
foot, Fitch field, and Bridge croft.
Sir John Parker Mosley was the only
landowner in 1786 ; land tax return at
Preston.
4 He gave a rood of land there to Hugh
Scholes, chaplain, apparently as a further
endowment for St. Nicholas's chantry in
Manchester Church : Raines D. (Chet.
Lib.).
8 A district was assigned to it in 1879 ;
Land. Ga». 7 Feb.
36
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
DROYLSDEN
Drilesden, 1502.
This township,1 on the south side of the Medlock,
has an area of 1,62 1^ acres. The surface is compara-
tively even, rising towards the eastern boundary, and
falling on the north, towards the river. Droylsden
proper l forms the eastern half of the township, and is
parted from Clayton, the western half, by Edge Lane,
running south from Newton to Openshaw ; Little
Droylsden 3 is a detached area of 2 acres in extent in
the extreme east of Openshaw. In the south-east
corner of Droylsden lies the hamlet of Fairfield.
The principal road4 is that called Ashton New
Road, leading east from Manchester to Ashton ; *
another road leads north-east from Openshaw near
the eastern boundary of Droylsden ; it is along this
road chiefly that the houses are built, though at
Clayton there is another group, forming an extension
of Bradford. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Com-
pany's Manchester and Ashton railway cuts through
the northern part of the township, and at Droylsden
station 6 has a junction with the London and North
Western Company's line from Stockport. The Man-
chester and Ashton Canal winds along near the
southern boundary ; at Clayton it has a junction with
the Stockport Canal, coming from the south, and
near Fairfield one with the Oldham Canal, from the
north.
At Greenside, to the west of the village of Droyls-
den, is a cemetery.
A stone celt, some Roman coins, and an axe have
been found in the mosses at the eastern end.7
There were coal-mines at Clayton ; potter's clay
has been found on the moss. In 1859 the older
people still clung to farming and the hand-loom, and
a few to hatting ; oats were the principal crop.8
Bleaching was introduced as early as the time of
James I ; 9 hat-making 10 and linen and cotton weav-
ing " were ancient industries ; but the first factory of
the modern type was erected in 1785.'* There are
now several cotton mills, print and dye works, chemi-
cal works, and a rope walk in Droylsden ; with
similar industries, iron foundries, printing, and brick-
making in Clayton.
In 1666 the hearths liable to the tax numbered
ninety-three. The largest houses were Clayton Hall
(James Chetham), with eighteen hearths, and John
Gilliam's with six.13
The government of the township was formerly in
the hands of the constables elected annually at the
town's meeting An Act for lighting Droylsden with
gas was passed in i86o.1Ja A local board was formed in
1863 ;" but in 1890 the Clayton moiety was taken
into the city of Manchester, and became part of the
new North Manchester township in 1 896. The popu-
lation of the remaining part, the present Droylsden, was
11,087 in 1 90 1.15 It is governed by an Urban Dis-
trict Council of twelve members. The institute, built
in 1858, is now used as a school and council office.
The wakes, or rush-bearing of the Newton wakes,
had a singular custom called Threedy wheel, intro-
duced in 1 8 1 4-.16 The stocks disappeared long ago.
Clayton Hall and other places were supposed to be
haunted by * boggarts.' " f Rocket,' for frock, occurs in
the old township accounts.
Although a « manor ' of DROTLSDEN
MANOR is spoken of in the i6th century the word
seems to have been used improperly. The
only manor in the township
was that of CL4TTON, for
four centuries the seat of the
Byron family.18 To Robert
de Byron the elder Robert
Grelley, between 1 1 94 and
1 2 1 2, granted fourteen oxgangs
of his demesne of Manchester
to be held by the service of
half a knight.19 The original
grant was of Clayton and
Barnetby ; this was increased
by land in Tunstead and two
oxgangs of land in Failsworth, but Tunstead was soon
afterwards surrendered.80
Robert de Byron married Cecily, and had several
sons ; ll in 1212 Robert's heirs were in possession of
BYRON. Argent three
bendlets enhanced gulet.
1 A valuable account of the township
was published in 1859 by John Higson, a
resident, under the title of Droylsden Past
and Present. It contains (p. 57, &c.) an
interesting description of the condition of
the people in the early part of last century.
2 This portion had in 1859 four ham-
lets— Fairfield, Edge Lane, Greenside, and
Castle ; the last name was derived from
a dwelling built about 1790, and nick-
named Netherlands Castle ; Higson, op.
cit. II, 15. 'The boundary line across
the moss [at the east end] before its re-
clamation and allotment to adjoining
estates, was indicated by long oaken poles,
fixed upright at distances of from zo to
30 yards apart' ; ibid. 10. For the
tenants' moss rooms see ibid. 160.
8 The local legend respecting it is given
by Higson, op. cit. 12. It was added to
Openshaw in 1889.
* The condition of the roads in former
times is described by Higson (op. cit. 19) ;
they were repaired in short sections by the
owners of the land, some well, some ill ;
ibid. 25.
6 It was formed under a turnpike Act,
1825-6 5 ibid. 20.
6 The line was formed in 1846 ; the
station was at first called Lum.
' Higson, op. cit. 29, 30.
8 Ibid. 33, 71, &c.
9 Ibid. 82-5.
10 Ibid. 86. In 1832 the village was
' chiefly inhabited by hatters ; ' E. Butter-
worth.
11 Higson, op. cit. 86-8.
12 Ibid. 89-100.
13 Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9.
13a 23 & 24 Viet. cap. 4.
14 Land. Gaz. 20 Nov. 1863.
16 The area of this part is 1,010 acres,
including 18 of inland water.
16 Higson, op. cit. 63—6.
W Ibid. 66-71.
18 The name is said to be derived from
the village of Buron in Fresnoy le Vieux.
Two of the family — Erneis and Ralph de
Buron — appear in Domesday Book, hold-
ing lands in the counties of York, Lincoln,
Derby, and Nottingham. The Byrons of
Lancashire, ancestors of the Lords Byron
of Newstead, are supposed to have de-
scended from them, but the connexion, if
any, is unknown.
In Lancashire documents the prefix
varies between de and le, and is sometimes
absent ; the surname has a great variety
of spellings — Buron, Burun, Byron, Biroun,
Byrun, &c.
282
19 Lana. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 56. It seems to
have been made up thus : — Clayton, i
plough-land ; Droylsden, 4 oxgangs ; Fails-
worth, 2 oxgangs.
20 Albert Grelley about 1175 gave land
in Tunstead, Norfolk, to Albert son of
Robert de Kent, Robert de Byron being a
witness ; then Robert Grelley granted to
Robert de Byron the same land in Tun-
stead, 'which his (Byron's) brother,
Robert de Kent, had formerly held,' adding
the Failsworth land, in order to make up
the lands in Clayton and Barnetby to half
a knight's fee ; the surrender of Tunstead
follows ; the three deeds are tied together.
Duchy of Lane. Anct. D. LS. 187; see also
the account of Failsworth. The relation-
ship between Robert de Byron and Robert
de Kent may have been by marriage.
21 See the account of Failsworth, where
Robert, Cecily, Robert their son, and John
another son are mentioned. From the
terms of Cecily's grant to Cockersand it
might be supposed that she had an inde-
pendent or hereditary title to the land in
Failsworth, but this seems excluded by
the terms of Robert Grelley's charter con-
cerning it.
Margery de Byron, widow (probably of
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
his lands ; but one son, Robert, who appears to have
been the eldest, afterwards surrendered all his rights
to his brother Richard,** and it was this Richard who
had a grant of the king's moiety of Failsworth.
Richard de Byron's name occurs as early as 1203 ;*s
several grants by and to him are known.*4
The next known*4* in possession of Clayton was John
de Byron, later a knight, who appears all through the
latter part of the I3th century.*5 He was son of
Richard,26 probably a second bearer of the name.
Sir John married Joan, with whom he had lands
in the parish of Rochdale.*7 He acquired also
the estate of Royton.*8 He and his wife Joan
were still living in 1298.*' He had a son John.30
Sir John de Byron died before Easter, 13 18,31 and
his widow Alice afterwards married John de Strick-
land.32 Sir Richard, son of Sir John, succeeded ; in
1308 he had obtained a grant of free warren for his
demesne lands of Clayton, Butterworth, Royton, and
other manors ; S3 by his wife Agnes he had sons, James
and' John,34 and he died about 1347. Sir James, the
succeeding lord of Clayton, who died about five years
Robert the elder), in 1213 claimed dower
against Gilbert de Notton ; Curia Regis
R. 59, m. 3. There was perhaps some
dispute as to the bounds of their moieties
of Failsworth.
Geoffrey de Byron and his descendants
appear in connexion with Eccles during
the 1 3th century. In a deed of not much
later than 1200 there appear among the
witnesses Robert de Bur' and Geoffrey his
brother ; Hulme D. no. i.
Another branch of the family a little
later had an interest in Melling and other
manors in West Derby Hundred.
22 The Byron Chartulary, usually called
the ' Black Book of Clayton,' was com-
piled about 1450, and seems to be the
MS. now in the Bodleian Library, Raw-
linson B. 460. A transcript of it, re-
arranged by Christopher Towneley in
1665, in the possession of W. Farrer, is
that quoted in the following notes. The
charters preserved in it relate mostly to
Butterworth and other lands in Rochdale.
Robert de Byron released to Richard
his brother his whole right and claim in
Clayton, Failsworth, and Droylsden,
Richard paying 30 marks; Byron Chartul.
no. 3/n. He further released to Richard
' the whole vill of Droylsden, to wit, that
which I hold of him and the homage and
service of Jordan Ruffus,' in return for 22
marks ; ibid. no. 24/4. The said Jordan
Ruffus (le Rous) granted to Richard de
Byron the site of a mill ; ibid. no. 25/5.
A Robert de Byron occurs a little later
in Ashton charters ; possibly he was the
brother of Richard.
28 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 167.
M William de Notton, Alward de
Awnley, and William de Werneth demised
to Richard de Byron their claim to a
parcel of waste near the Redebrook, and
another ; in future there should be free
common up Harestoneshurst syke to the
higher part of Bradley, and up Bradley
syke between Wrigley and Bradley to
Mossbrook ; also in the higher moiety of
Bradley ; Byron Chartul. no. 22/29. The
date is earlier than 1220; among the
witnesses were Robert and Geoffrey de
Byron. The land was apparently near
the north-east corner of Failsworth.
A supplementary grant, by Thomas son
of Orm de Ashton, of the moiety of the
land between Red Brook and Stony Brook,
and the bounds of Werneth and the Med-
lock, provided that part should lie in com-
mon between the men of Ashton and
Richard and his men of Failsworth and
Clayton ; ibid. no. 7/19.
About 1 220 Richard had some dispute
with Thomas de Ashton respecting waste
and destruction of land ; Curia Regis R.
72, m. 21.
Richard de Byron had the king's pro-
tection on going abroad in 1230 with the
Earl of Chester ; Cal. Pat. 1225-32, p. 360.
To Robert Grelley Richard de Byron
surrendered his common pasture right in
the manor of Manchester, securing for
himself and the men of Clayton common
of pasture with the men of Ardwick with-
in bounds which seem to include whole
or parts of Ardwick and Bradford, thus :
From the ford of Medlock by Saltersgate
to the head of the hedge of Clayton which
is set upon Saltersgate, by the hedge,
ditch, and brook to Cornbrook, by Corn-
brook to the hedge of Ardwick, by this to
the bounds of Beswick and Bradford to
Saltersgate ; but Robert Grelley and his
heirs had the right to inclose, &c., within
these bounds ; De Traffbrd D. no. i.
Saltersgate, Mr. Crofton thinks, is the
present Mill Street, Bradford.
*** Alice de Byron, mother of Roger,
had granted Royton to her son before
1246 ; Assize R. 404, m. lod.
K He was a juror in 1282 ; Lanes. Inq.
and Extents, i, 244. He was described as
knight in 1270 ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 216.
26 Richard son and heir of John, son
and heir of Richard de Byron, in 1335
claimed the manor of Kirkby near Liver-
pool ; Maud was the name of the grand-
father's wife ; De Banco R. 303, m. 205.
27 Joan was the daughter of Baldwin le
Tyas (Teutonicus) and widow of Sir
Robert de Hoyland ; Byron Chartul. no.
71/152, 13/70, 72/153. Sir Robert died
at the beginning of the reign of Edward I.
28 This was in or before 1 260 ; Final
Cone, i, 132. About the same time John
de Byron attested a feoffment by Thomas
Grelley ; Trans. Hist. Soc. (new «er.),
xvii, 54.
29 A number of grants of land to Sir
John de Byron and Joan his wife are
contained in the chartulary ; those that
are dated lie between 1288 and 1298.
An undated one (no. 34/9) concerns Droyls-
den— Robert son of Robert de Manchester
releasing to Sir John and Joan all right in
his father's land in that vill.
The executors of Robert Grelley were
non-suited in a claim of debt against John
de Byron in 1292; Assize R. 408, m.
15 d.
80 Sir John de Byron and John his son
were witnesses to a Farnworth charter
in 1292 ; Lord Ellesmere's D. no. 142.
Ellen widow of James Banastre in 1291
stated that she held lands in Hindley of
the inheritance of Alesia wife of John
son of John Byron, which Alesia (grand-
daughter of Robert Banastre) was under
age ; De Banco R. 9i,m. 157. (See the
account of the Banastre family.)
81 In 1311 Adam de Oldham granted
his waste in Oldham and Werneth to Sir
John de Byron, lord of Clayton ; Byron
Chartul. no. 1/33. John de Byron and
Alice his wife, by charter dated at Clay-
ton, 1312, gave to Sir Richard de Byron,
kt., and Agnes his wife, their manor
of Farlington, a rent of 70 marks being
due to Sir John de Farlington ; the re-
mainder was to the right heirs of Sir
Richard ; ibid. no. 3/162. The manor of
Farlington had been acquired by Sir John
de Byron and Joan his wife in 1295 ; ibid.
no. 33/163.
In 1321 (but there is an error in the
date) Adam de Oldham gave all his right
in the waste of Oldham and Werneth (as
in 1311) to Sir John de Byron, lord of
Clayton ; ibid. no. 12/33 5 an<^ shortly
afterwards Richard son of Adam de Old-
ham released to Sir Richard son of the
late Sir John de Byron all his right in the
said waste ; ibid. no. 10/27.
82 At the date named in the text Alice,
widow of John de Byron, claimed dower
against Richard de Byron, in Withington,
Clayton, Butterworth, and Royton. Rich-
ard declared that Alice was detaining a
number of his charters, and that as to the
manor of Butterworth the deceased had
nothing except for the term of his life by
the law of England ; De Banco R. 222,
m. 229. The charters said to have been
detained related to the lands of one James
de Byron, whose kinsman and heir the
said Richard was ; which lands lay in
Walesby,Croxton, &c. That the deceased
John de Byron held Butterworth by the
law of England shows that Alice was his
second wife and that his first wife had
been the heiress, yiz. Joan.
Richard de Byron and John son of
Robert de Byron were in 1319 executors
of the will of John de Byron ; De Banco
R. 231, m. 141.
In 1321 (and later) Alice, then wife of
John de Strickland, was claiming dower
against Richard de Byron ; ibid. R. 240,
m. 192 ; 276, m. 159.
88 Collins, Peerage (ed. 1779), vii, 124 ;
the date is given as 1308, which is un-
likely. There is no record of it in the
Patent Rolls.
84 In 1310 Thomas de Goldsbrough,
archdeacon of Durham, probably a trustee,
granted to Sir Richard de Byron, Agnes
his wife, and James their son, his manor
of Armeston in Northants; Byron Chartul.
no. 2/103.
Sir Richard acquired various lands in
Oldham, Rochdale, &c. from 1319 on-
wards ; ibid.no. 7/228 ; no. 8/30 ; no. 2/20^.
In 1333 he gave the manor of Hudders-
field to his son John, with right of re-entry
should John be promoted to an ecclesias-
tical benefice worth 100 marks or more ;
ibid. no. 5/137.
In 1 342 he, as Richard son of Sir John
de Byron, granted his manors of Cadenay,
Husum, and Walesby, to his sons Sir
James and John ; ibid. no. 12/45.
Sir Richard de Byron had a settlement
made in 1338 in favour of himself and his
wife Elizabeth ; Alice widow of his father
Sir John was then living ; ibid. no. 7/42.
Grants to Sir Richard are recorded down
to 1347; ibid. no. 11/36; no. 19/188,
&c. Other references are Coram Rege R.
Mich. 8 Edw. Ill, m. 162 ; L.T.R. Mem.
R. 117.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
later, left two sons, Sir John " and Sir Richard ; and
the former, who took part in the battle of Crecy and
the siege of Calais,36 dying without issue, was followed
by his brother in i^Bo.31
Sir Richard by his marriage with Joan de Colwick
increased the family estates.38 He died in June 1397,
holding the manor of Clayton, and lands in Royton,
Butterworth, Woodhouses in Ashton, and others out-
side Lancashire ; John, the son and heir, was then
only ten years of age,89 and his wardship was
granted to Sir John Ashton.40 A settlement of lands
in Droylsden was in 1415 made on the occasion of
the marriage of Sir John Byron's daughter Elizabeth
with Thomas son of Sir John Ashton.*1 Sir John is
stated to have married Margery daughter of Sir John
Booth of Barton, by whom he had three sons and five
daughters.42 He acquired lands in Blackley from
Lord La Warre and in Gorton from Sir Robert
Booth ; 4I in 143 5 he did homage to Nicholas Thorley,
one of the feoffees of Lord La Warre ; 44 and in 1440
he made a settlement of his lands in the counties of
Lancaster, Lincoln, and Northampton.45 Two years
later he made a grant to John Byron, said to be the
son of his younger son Nicholas, who ultimately
became heir to the whole of the Byron manors and
lands.46 Sir John was sheriff of the county from
1437 to 1449 ;47 when he was succeeded by his son
Nicholas, a grant of the reversion having been ob-
tained in I444.48
Nicholas Byron remained sheriff till I46o.49 He
CLAYTON HALL FROM THE SOUTH-WEST
86 Sir James appears to have been in
possession in 1 348 ; Byron Chartul. no.
21/189 ; an<l bis son John in 1354 ; ibid,
no. 27/10.
Robert the Smith of Ashton in 1353
demanded a messuage and lands in Man-
chester against Elizabeth widow of Sir
James de Byron and against John de
Byron ; Assize R. 435, m. 8.
86 Wrottesley, Crecy and Calais (W. Salt
Arch. Soc. xviii), 13, 115. Sir John de
Byron had licence for divine service in his
oratory at Clayton in 1365 ; Lich. Epis.
Reg. Stretton, v, fol. n£.
8? The writ of Diem Clausit extr. was
issued on 1 8 July, 1380; Def>. Keeper' t
Rep. xxxii, App. 353.
Sir John de Byron was plaintiff in 1377
respecting lands on the borders of Man-
chester and Ashton ; Byron Chartul.
no. 1/285.
88 For Colwick see Byron Chartul.
no. 32 (1362); no. 2/300 (1415); no.
5/305 (after 1426). Joan the widow
of Sir Richard de Byron died in Dec.
1426 holding various manors and lands ;
Chan. Inq. p.m. 5 Hen. VI, no. 41. In
1415 she complained to the Lord Chan-
cellor that her son Sir John Byron had
forcibly carried her from Colwick to
Lancashire, and made her promise not to
alienate her lands ; Early Chan. Proc.
bdle. 6, no. 294.
89 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 65.
40 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xl, App. 528.
41 Byron Chartul. no. 1/23 ; no. 8/24.
The feoffment included all Sir John Ash-
ton's lands in Droylsden except the
Pighill by Lumlache.
48 The remains of what is believed to be
his memorial brass in Manchester Cathe-
dral are described by the Rev. E. F. Letts,
in Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. i, 87.
The Bishop of Lichneld in 1420 granted
Sir John Byron and Margery his wife
licence for their oratories at Clayton and
Begerworth ; Lich. Epis. Reg. ix, fol. 3*.
Sir John was knight of the shire in
1421 and 1429 ; Pink and Beaven, Parl.
Repre. of Lanes. 51, 53.
In 1424 there was an arbitration as to
the boundary between Droylsden and
Ashton ; the limits fixed were — from
Lumlache Head, by the most towards
284
Audenshaw, by the ditch to Hardhill next
Oselache in Droylsden, eastward by the
end of Overmost Ditch in Sinderland,
across the Little Moss north to the far
edge and by the bound of this moss to the
starting point ; Byrcn Chartul. no. 1/286;
no. 2/287 5 no- 3/288.
In 1429 there was a settlement of the
disputes respecting the moorlands in Ash-
ton and Droylsden between Thomas son
and heir of Sir John Ashton and Sir John
Byron; ibid. no. 9/289; no. 11/291, 13.
In 1439 and 1441 settlements were
made by Sir John Byron and Margery his
wife of the manor of Clayton, and lands
in Clayton, Manchester, Ashton, With-
ington, Heaton, Oldham, Crompton, But-
terworth, Spotland, Edgeworth, and Tur-
ton ; Final Cone, ill, 104, 106.
48 See the accounts of the townships.
44 Byron Chartul. no. 40/332.
45 Ibid. no. 39/331.
48 Recited in the later John Byron's
Inq. p.m. (1498).
4? P.R.O. List, 72.
48 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xl, App. 538.
« P.R.O. List, 72.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
was made a knight the year following at the corona-
tion of Edward IV,60 but died in 1462," when he
was succeeded by Sir John Byron, above mentioned.
Sir John, made a knight by Henry VII as he came
from York in 1486," died 3 January 1488-9, holding
the manor of Clayton of the lord of Manchester in
socage, by js. rent, also the manor of Blackley, with
lands there and in Gorton, Royton, Butterworth,
Ogden, and Ashton. His heir was his brother
Nicholas, who in 1498 was stated to be thirty years of
age.53 Nicholas was made a Knight of the Bath in 1501
at the marriage of Prince Arthur,54 and died three years
later.55 It would appear that before this Colwick had
become the principal residence of the family,56 and
John, son and successor of Sir Nicholas,57 is usually
described as 'of Colwick'; he was ' not at home' at
the Heralds' Visitation of Lancashire in I533-58 In
1 540 he procured a grant of Newstead Priory, Not-
tinghamshire,59 which afterwards became the chief
seat of the family. He had no issue by his wife, and
his connexion with Lancashire led to his living in
adultery with Elizabeth daughter of John Costerdine
of Blackley and wife of George Haugh. He had
several children by her and afterwards married her.60
In 1547 he made a settlement of his estates in favour
of his bastard son John,61 and died in 1 5 67, ex-
pressing penitence in his will,6* which contained his
open profession of adherence to the old religion, as in
his desire that an honest priest be hired to sing or say
mass for his soul in Colwick Church,63 and confirmed
the grant of all his manors, lands, 'leases, &c., to his
' base son ' John, whom he appointed executor.
This son, who was made a knight in I579,64 died
in 1603, leaving as heir his son, a third Sir John
Byron,65 who, having many children and being en-
cumbered with debts, sold the Lancashire estates, so
that the connexion of the family with the county
almost ceased. The manor of Clayton, with the
appurtenances in Droylsden and Failsworth, was pur-
chased by the brothers George and Humphrey
Chetham in I62I.66 By a settlement made in
1625 it was agreed that the survivor should take
the whole in fee.67 George Chetham died at
Clayton about the end of 1626, without issue,68
and Humphrey seems to have lived there for
some years,69 afterwards granting the hall on lease.70
He died at Clayton on 20 September 1653, un-
married, and by a settlement he had made this manor
passed to his nephew George, son of James Chetham
of Crumpsall.71 George Chetham died at the hall
in 1664," but the family do not seem to have resided
there afterwards. Clayton descended, like Turton, to
the heirs of Alice Bland, who is now represented by
the Freres and Hoares.73 Clayton Hall became part
of the share of Peter Richard Hoare, as husband of
Arabella Penelope Eliza Greene, great-granddaughter
of Alice Bland.74
Clayton Hall stands in an open space on the north
side of the new road from Manchester to Ashton-
under-Lyne (Ashton New Road). It is entirely
surrounded by a moat, about 100 yds. square, still
filled with water, the inclosed space measuring about
2 acres, the south-east portion of which is occupied
by the house. The approach is from the south by a
stone bridge of two arches across the moat.
The present building is but a fragment of the
original house, and consists of a two-story block of
timber construction measuring about 336. in length
from north to south and 20 ft. in width, to which has
been added on the north a brick building probably
of early 18th-century date, and on the west a cor-
ridor 6 ft. wide with a projecting staircase and gable
over, which appears to be of 17th-century date.
There are no traces of the rest of the building, which
must have been considerably larger than at present,
probably quadrangular, or of three wings. It is said
that the north-west corner of the inclosure was the
site of the chapel which was standing till the beginning
50 Metcalfe, Bk. of Knights, 3.
81 The writ of Diem Clausit extr. was
issued in 14.62 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvii,
App. 176; see also Cal. Inq. p.m. iv, 319
(he held no lands in Nottinghamshire and
and Derbyshire).
sa Metcalfe, op. cit. 13 ; the arms are
given.
53 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, 48,
61, 70 ; for livery to Nicholas see Dep.
Keeper's Rep. xl, App. 544. The inscrip-
tion on Sir John Byron's monument at
Colwick states that he died 3 May 1488 5
Collins, Peerage (ed. 1779), vii, 126.
The descent is given in a pleading in
1547, reciting a settlement made by Sir
John Byron about a century before in
favour of his son Nicholas, with remainder
to another son named Ralph ; it pro-
ceeds : — Sir John-s. Nicholas (who had
a brother Ralph) -8. Sir Nicholas -s. Sir
John (1547); Pal. of Lane. Plea R.
183, m. 48*.
54 Metcalfe, op. cit. 35.
56 Collins, op. cit vii, 127.
58 Sir John Byron had a monument in
Colwick Church and his brother Nicholas
put a window in the church, with a
petition for prayers for himself and his wife
Joan $ ibid.
67 He was a minor m ward to the
king, as appears from a complaint by one
of his tenants at Clayton ; Duchy Plead.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 31. De-
«cribed at ' squire of the body ' he was in
1518 made chief steward of the lordship
of Stoke Bardolph, Nottinghamshire ; L.
and P. Hen. VIII, iii, g. 55 (29). He was
a knight two years later ; ibid, iii, 2267,
and p. 1546.
88 Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 55.
» L. and P. Hen. VIII, xv, g. 733 (66).
80 Booker, Blackley (Chet. Soc.), 184 ;
the wife's name is given as Ann.
81 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 13,
m. 303. The remainders in default of
issue were in succession to Thomas Wim-
bish ; to Richard Townley and Frances
his wife, Francis Norton and Habrea his
wife, and the heirs male of Francis and
Habrea ; to Sir William Radcliffe of Ord-
sall, Sir Henry Sutton of Aram, Notting-
hamshire, John Booth of Barton, Sir John
Savage of Croxton, Leicestershire, Sir Ed-
mund Molyneux, king's serjeant-at-law, Sir
Richard Assheton of Middleton, and Ed-
ward Griffin, solicitor-general.
A pedigree was recorded in 1567;
Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 4.
82 Printed in Wills (Chet. Soc. new
ser.), ii, 133-6.
88 ' If the said stipend by any law or
laws heretofore made and hereafter to be
revived be made to cease, it [is] to go to
the poor and needy people, amending and
repairing of highways and bridges, or
other charitable deeds' ; ibid. 136.
84 Metcalfe, op. cit. 1 34.
A settlement was made in 1582 of the
manors of Clayton, Droylsden, Failsworth,
285
&c. with lands, mills, dovecotes, &c. in
those places and many others in the Man-
chester and Rochdale district, view of
frankpledge in Clayton and Royton, and
free warren in Clayton, Royton, Droyls-
den, Failsworth, and Butterworth ; Sir
John Byron, Alice his wife, and John his
son, were among the deforciants ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 44, m. 223.
A further settlement of Clayton Hall
and Newstead was made in 1600 after the
marriage of John Byron the younger (son
of John Byron the elder, and grandson of
Sir John Byron of Newstead) with Anne,
eldest daughter of Sir Richard Molyneux
of Sefton ; Chet. Papers.
86 He was made a knight in 1603 ;
Metcalfe, op. cit. 140.
66 See the account in Humph. Cbetham
(Chet. Soc.), 1 8-21. «7 Ibid. 21.
88 Ibid. 22 j his will is printed.
M Ibid. 30.
70 In 1635 the hall was leased to James
Jollie, afterwards known as Major Jollie,
a clothier, at the rent of £300 ; a few
rooms and part of the demesne were re-
served ; Higson, Droylsden, 40. The lessee
was afterwards provost-marshal for the
Parliamentary forces, and died in 1666 ;
two of his sons were ministers, ejected in
1662 ; ibid. 48, 49.
71 Humph. Chetham, 204, 242-4
72 Chet. Gen. (Chet. Soc.), 50.
73 Ibid. 63.
74 Higson, Droylsden, 44.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
of the 1 8th century. A licence for an oratory dated
1400 probably gives the date of its erection, and frag-
ments of masonry said to belong to it have been dis-
covered from time to time, and are lying about in
front of the present house.
The timber building already referred to consists of
two rooms on each floor divided by timber partitions
which are not at right angles to its outer walls. This
may be accounted for by the supposition that the
south wing of the building, which must have abutted
near this point, was not set at right angles to the east
wing, and that the internal divisions of the east wing
followed the lines of those which adjoined them in
the south wing. The south wall, however, which is
now of brick with a central stone chimney, is at right
angles to the outer walls, having superseded a timber
end which followed the line of the partitions.
The east front is the most interesting portion of
the building with its projecting wooden bays forming
an almost continuous line of mullioned and transomed
windows. The added corridor on the west front is
of timber and plaster on a lower stage of brick, the
gable of the staircase being filled in with half-timber-
work, while on the roof is a cupola containing a bell.
The newer northern part of the building has
Scale of Feet
PLAN OF CLAYTON HALL
little interest, being built entirely of brick, with
a central entrance doorway and windows on each side.
At the back (east side) it stands about 8 ft. in front of
the older structure, but the length of its frontage is
about the same. By reason of the skew in the cross
walls already mentioned there is a cavity between the
walls of the older and newer parts of the building at
their junction, diminishing in width from east to
west. There is a door connecting the two houses
between the corridor and the parlour of the later
house, otherwise the buildings are quite distinct.
The dining-room (parlour) of the 1 8th-century por-
tion has a large projecting fireplace, and in the room
above is a large hole behind the chimney - breast.
The fireplaces in the older part of the house are of
stone, but have been rebuilt.
Both parts of the house are covered with stone
slates, the pitch of the 18th-century building being
the flatter of the two. Over the timber building the
original roof timbers remain at a fairly steep pitch,
and the east slope is still intact. Over the west slope,
however, a roof of flatter pitch running over the added
corridor was constructed in 1863.
A very thorough restoration of the hall was made
in 1 900. The south wall on each side of the great
chimney was then rebuilt and the 18th-century wing
remodelled inside and new windows inserted in the
front. The front of the older building was stripped
of its coat of plaster and patched in brick, but the
general aspect of the house remains unaltered. In
front of the entrance is a mounting block with the
date 1686 and the initials J. C. (James Chetham).
The bridge, as before mentioned, is built of stone,
and is of two arches with a cut-water pier in the centre
forming angular recesses above. It has a low parapet,
and on the side next the house a tall iron entrance-
gate between two well-designed stone piers. The
bridge was originally very narrow, but was widened
at the beginning of the i gth century, when it assumed
its present appearance.
The inside of the house contains nothing of its
ancient fittings. The building now belongs to the
Manchester Corporation, and the
newer portion is used as a care-
taker's house. The older part re-
mains unoccupied, but some old
furniture, said to have belonged to
Humphrey Chetham, is kept in the
lower rooms, a proposal to use the
building as a museum having been
at one time put forward.
The bell in the turret over the
staircase bears the inscription : ' Je
atende meleor,' together with a
rose and crown.74a
The old road from Clayton
Hall after crossing the bridge ran
eastward along the edge of the
moat till it joined an old bridle
path leading in a south-easterly direction to the Fold,
an inclosure of about 4 acres, in which stood three
timber buildings. From the Fold a narrow and
winding lane led to Manchester. These buildings
were designated the wheat barn, the oat barn, and
the great barn. The wheat barn was converted into
a farm-house (which is still standing) ; the great barn,
which is described as having been a picturesque
edifice with a steep-pitched thatched roof and with
carved oak roof principals, was burnt down in 1852 ;
the oat barn, which stood till about the year 1877,
was a fine example of a building on crucks, i i6ft. in
length and 25 ft. in width. It contained six pairs
of crucks internally, but none in the gables, giving a
span of a little over 1 6 ft. to each bay.
Among the ancient families which occur was
one that assumed the surname of Droylsden.75 The
~4a Tradition says the bell was removed
to Clayton from the parish church at
Manchester when it was collegiated,
and was one of four hung in the chapel
till its demolition in the i8th century.
'5 William de Droylsden granted to
Alexander son of Richard de Withnell
certain land with Ellen his daughter in
free marriage ; the bounds began at the
middle of Hustude Clough, went down to
the Medlock, up this to Cockshoot Gate,
up this to the Hardings, and thence to
the starting point, at a rent of 6d. ; Byron
Chartul. no. 20/8. The grantor had
been free of multure in the mill of the
lord of Clayton.
Gilbert son of William de Droylsden
made a grant to Thyerit his sister at a
286
rent of 8</. ; and afterwards sold his lands
to Sir John de Byron for £10 ; ibid,
no. 4/12; no. 5/13.
In 1354 Robert ton of Thomas del
Snape granted to John son of Sir James
de Byron lands in Droylsden which had
formerly belonged to Gilbert son of Wil-
liam de Droylsden ; ibid. no. 27/10.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
Ashtons of Ashton76 under Lyne had lands, and the
Barlows of Clayton are named also."
Much of Droylsden appears to have been by the
Byrons sold in small lots to the occupiers.78 The
Halls of Clockhouse were among the principal of
these.79 A few other names can be obtained from the
inquisitions and other documents.80
The land tax returns of 1783 show that then
Mordecai Greene paid nearly a third of the tax ; the
other considerable landowner was Edward Greaves,
about a sixth.81
Droylsden was recognized as a township by idao.83
For the Established Church, St. Mary's, Droylsden,
was built in 1 848 ; w the Crown and the Bishop of
Manchester present alternately ; while St. Cross's,
Clayton, built in 1874, ls "* ^e && °f Mr. C. A. R.
Hoare.84
Methodism made its appearance about 1779, but
the first society was not formed till 1806, a cottage
being used. A chapel was built in 1825. The
Wesleyans have now three churches in the township ;
and the Primitive Methodists two, the first of them
being erected in I845.84
The Congregationalists began with a Sunday school
in 1837 ; a special building was raised ten years
afterwards, and a church in i859.86
The earliest and most celebrated religious establish-
ment is that of the Moravians at Fairfield. It was
intended to be an industrial village exclusively of their
own community, where their special discipline could
be freely exercised. The land was acquired in 1783,
and the chapel opened two years afterwards.87
OPENSHAW
Openshawe, 1276.
This township stretches for over 2 miles along the
Ashton Old Road, a long straight road leading east
from Manchester to Ashton ; it has an area of
579^ acres. The hearth tax return of 1666 shows
that the dwellings then were few and small, the total
number of hearths being only twenty.1 The district
is now urban, though a little open land remains on
the northern border. The population was in 1901
numbered with Ardwick. The hamlet called Little
Droylsden in the extreme eastern end was added to
Openshaw in 1889.*
The Great Central Railway Company's line from
Manchester to Ashton runs along the southern border,
and has a station near the centre named Gorton.
A branch line to Stockport separates near the western
end of the township. A branch of the Manchester
and Ashton Canal crosses the centre, going south to
the Mersey at Stockport.
The great engineering works of Armstrong, Whit-
worth, and Company, and others, are in this town-
ship. Seventy years ago the people were 'chiefly
hatters.' 3
A local board was established in 1863,* but in
1890 the township became part of the city of Man-
chester, and in 1896 was absorbed into the new
township of South Manchester. Handsome buildings,
including a public hall, free library, and baths, were
opened in 1894.*
According to an old proverb, 'The constable of
Openshaw sets beggars in the stocks at Manchester,'
a gibe at the waste of time and trouble involved in
the administration of past ages.6
In 1276 Robert Grelley, lord of Man-
M4NOR Chester, had a park at OPENSH4W,7
and after his death in 1282 it was found
that 2 oxgangs of land in Openshaw paid a rent of
8/., while a plat of land by the cross was worth
6.r. 8^. a year.8 Some further particulars are supplied
by the extents of 1320—2, at which time there were
4 oxgangs of land in Openshaw, worth 53^. 3^.,' also
100 acres of moor and turbary in which the tenants
of Gorton, Openshaw, and Ardwick had common
rights, and the lord of Ancoats also.10 John La
Warre in 1331 granted a messuage and an oxgang of
land to William the Couper, his wife, and children,
for eleven years at a rent of 13*. \d. ; the various
7« Ashton Custom R. (Chet. Soc.), 101.
"it In 1357 Thomas de Barlow of Clay-
ton was a debtor ; Duchy of Lane. Assize
R. 6, m. 3d. In 1360 Alice widow of
John de Whitewood gave to Thomas de
Barlo-w i \ acre in Clayton in Manchester ;
Byron Chartul. no. 29/14. In 1372 Sir
John de Byron demised to her all the
lands in Clayton and Droylsden which he
had had from her, being the inheritance
of her father Henry de Barlow ; she was
to pay a rent of 4$., and make two appear-
ances at Sir John's court ; ibid. no. 37/25.
James de Barlow in 1400 gave to John
del Booth \\ acre in Clayton, lying be-
tween the high street and the Medlock ;
also another ij acre between the Med-
lock and Cronshaw Brook ; and these
lands were in 1417 transferred to John
de Byron ; ibid. no. 1/15 ; no. 7/16.
78 Higson, Droylsden, 45.
7" Ibid. 47-48 ; one John Hall of the
Clockhouse in 1712 sold his estate to
Miles Nield of Manchester, with whose
daughter it descended to the Clowes and
Birch families. Another Hall family also
ended in an heiress, Anne wife of Wil-
liam Hulton of Hulton Park ; she died
in 1802.
The list of ratepayers in 1655 is given
ibid. 49.
80 George Blomeley held a messuage,
&c., in * Droylesdalc ' of Edward Mosley
as of his manor of Manchester ; he died
in 1640, having bequeathed it to his niece
Mary Hulme. He had had four sisters —
Jane widow of Robert Hulme, Elizabeth
wife of James Swindells, both living, Anne
wife of Richard Wood, Ellen wife of John
Moore, both deceased, leaving sons Robert
Wood and John Moore, under age ; Duchy
of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxx, 26.
James Wallwork of Droylsden was in
1665 summoned by the heralds to appear
at the visitation ; Dugdale, Visit. (Chet.
Soc.), iv.
81 Returns at Preston.
82 E. Axon, Manch. Sets, i, 1 18. Also in
1622 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 150; no landowner is named. The
constables are mentioned in 1 627 ; Mancb.
Ct. Leet Rec. iii, 139.
88 Service was first held in 1840 in a
room in the institute ; Higson, op. cit.
1 1 8, 119. The district was assigned in
1844 ; Land. Gam. 22 Oct.
84 A Sunday school was begun in 1854,
and a building was erected in 1857 in
which services were held ; Higson, op.
cit. 124. A district was assigned in 1874 ;
Land. Gaz. 1 1 Aug.
85 Higson, op. cit. 129-32.
88 Ibid. 133 ; Nightingale, Lanes. Non-
conf. v, 316-18.
87 Higson, op. cit. 125-8 ; the settle-
ment was founded under the direction of
287
Benjamin La Trobe, one of the most
eminent ministers of the Moravian body ;
ibid. 148. It was favourably noticed by
Dr. Aikin in 1795 ; Country round Manch.
232 (with view). As a settlement it has
long since passed away, but the chapel is still
used for service, and religious work goes
on ; see Short Sketches of the Moravians in
Lanes. (Leeds, 1888), 22-6.
1 Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9.
a Local Govt. Bd. Order 22623.
8 E. Butterworth.
4 Lond. Gaz. 8 Dec. 1863.
5 Provided jointly by the corporation
and the legatees of Sir Joseph Whitworth.
The baths had been opened in 1890.
6 N. and Q. (Ser. 4), xii, 388, 524.
7 John de Byron, Henry his brother, and
others in that year broke the park and
rescued the animals of Reynold the
Flecher ; De Banco R. 15, m. 62 d.
8 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 245, 244.
9 Mamecestre (Chet. Soc.), ii, 364.
There were also four messuages ; ibid.
365. The tenants were bound to grind
at Manchester mill ; ibid. 281.
10 Ibid, ii, 293 ; the value was an-
nually decreasing, and it was expected
that the peat would soon be exhausted.
Sir John de Byron had taken 40 acres
from the moor, without leave, to the
lord's disseisin.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
services and customs were those usual in the manor
of Manchester.11 In 1357 Openshaw was included
in Roger La Warre's grant of Bradford to Thomas de
Booth of Barton, and descended in the same way as
Bradford until the division of the Booth estates.11 It
became the portion of Anne, one of the daughters and
co-heirs of John Booth,11 and in 1798 J. G. Legh was
the chief landowner.14 It does not at any time appear
to have been considered a manor.
William Hulton of Farnworth had land in Open-
shaw in 1556," and Thurstan Tyldesley in 1 56 1.16
Ambrose Birch of Openshaw was a juror in 1 608 ; 17
he was ancestor of the Birches of Ardwick. A Dyson
family occurs in i656.18
John Ellor of Openshaw, a life tenant under Sir
John Booth, complained in 1506 of wrongs done
him by Ralph Holland of Clayton and John Gilliam
of Failsworth.™
The constables of Openshaw are mentioned in
l6i6.M
For the Established Church St. Barnabas's was con-
secrated in 1839," anc^ St. Clement's, Higher Open-
shaw, in 1 88 1 ; n in the former there is a monument
to Serjeant Brett, killed in Hyde Road at the rescue
of the Fenian leaders in 1867. The incumbents,
styled rectors, are presented by trustees.
The Wesleyan Methodists and United Free Church
have each two places of worship, the New Connexion
and Primitive Methodists each one. The Baptists
have a church at Higher Openshaw. The Congrega-
tionalists have three churches. Preaching began
about 1820, but no regular services were held till
1864, when an old chapel was purchased from the
Wesleyans." There are two meeting-places for the
Salvation Army.
St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church, Higher
Openshaw, was opened in 1883 ; the mission was
begun in 1849. St. Vincent's followed in 1896.
WITHINGTON
Wythinton, 1212 and usually ; Wythington (copy
of) 1282 extent, and common in I4th century;
Whytinton, 1302.
This township has an area of 2,501 acres.1 The
general slope of the surface is downward from east to
west, the extremes being 144 ft. and 85 ft. above the
Ordnance datum. The population in 1901 was
19,112. A brook which is called Gore Brook in
Gorton and Chorlton Brook in Chorlton crosses the
middle of Withington from north-east to south-west,
and is joined by the Ley or Cringle Brook coming
from the east.
The principal road is that near the eastern border,
from Manchester to Northenden in Cheshire, which
goes southward through Fallowfield. It is lined with
houses all the way, this side of the township being
suburban in character, and has a branch towards Dids-
bury and Cheadle. The north-western portion, ad-
joining Moss Side, is also suburban and contains Alex-
andra Park, of 60 acres extent, opened in 1870, and
the residential area called Manley Park. The district
anciently known as Yeeldhouses, and later as the Heald-
houses, lay near the northern border, stretching into
Rusholme and Moss Side.
In Withington and its members there were 447
hearths liable to the tax in 1666 ; the largest houses
were Barlow Hall in Chorlton and Birch Hall in
Rusholme.1
A public hall and library were built in 1861.
The Midland Company's railway from Manchester
to Stockport crosses the southern end of the township,
and from it branches the Great Central Company's
line to Guide Bridge, having a station near the centre
called Alexandra Park, and another at the eastern
border called Fallowfield.
The Manchester Southern Cemetery and Chorlton
Union Workhouse are near the southern boundary.
A local board was formed in 1876 ; the area in-
cluded part of Withington, Chorlton, Burnage, and
Didsbury.8 This was changed into an urban district
council in 1894, but in 1904 the whole was incor-
porated with the city of Manchester. A number of
small variations in the township boundaries of With-
ington, Didsbury, Burnage, and Chorlton with Hardy
were made in 1882.
At its first appearance in the records
MANOR the manor or fee of WITHINGTON was
held of the lord of Manchester by the
service of one knight's fee. It included not only
Withington proper, but the adjacent hamlets or
townships of Didsbury, Chorlton with Hardy, Burn-
age, Levenshulme, Rusholme, and Moss Side ; also
the detached portions, Denton and Haughton to
the east, and Longworth 4 far to the north, in the
parish of Bolton. The manor-house seems to have
been built at Hough in Withington, which was fre-
quently reckoned as a separate manor ; thus, after
various subordinate manors such as Denton had been
separated, the manors of Hough, Withington, and
Didsbury were said to be held by the lord of With-
ington.
u Manchester Corporation D.
12 See the accounts of Bradford and
Barton.
18 From an old abstract of the Legh title
(in the possession of W. Farrer) it appears
that the partition was made in or before
1587, in which year a settlement was
made by George Legh and Anne (Booth)
his wife of the old hall of Barton and
lands, &c., in Openshaw, Grindlow, Black-
stake, and Manchester. See also Manch.
Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 322. For the pedigree
see Ormerod, Cbes. (ed. Helsby), i, 462.
14 His contribution to the land tax was
£15 out of £21 raised. Other owners
were Thomas Nadin, Thomas Tipping,
Lord Kenyon, &c.
14 Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. i, 33.
18 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 22,
m- 39 > 23> m- 5Z 5 he sold a messuage,
&c., in Openshaw and Gorton to Thomas
Ashton of Shepley. See also Mancb. Ct.
Leet Rec. i, 100.
W Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 115.
18 Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. iv, 158.
19 Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 25-7. The defence was that
John Ellor had encroached on the moor.
30 Mancb. Sessions (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), 3-
21 A district was assigned to it in 1844 ;
Land. Gaz. 4 Mar. 1864. There is a
mission church.
M For the district see Land. Gas:, z Sept.
1881.
23 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. v, 62-5.
The chapel mentioned in the text was in
Lower Openshaw; it was sold in 1890,
and a new school chapel built in 1892.
288
Work at Higher Openshaw was begun in
1865, where a school chapel was built in
1871. The Central Church was founded
in 1889, a building previously used by the
Methodist Free Church being purchased.
1 2,443 acres, including three of inland
water; Census Rep. 1901.
a Subsidy R. bdle. 250, no. 9. Mr. Barlow
had 1 6 hearths, Thomas Birch 13, Mrs.
Holland 10, Robert Hyde 9, Mr. Worsley 8,
Hugh Yannis, John Shelmerdine, and —
Angier 7 each. This last would be the
celebrated John Angier of Denton Chapel.
8 39 & 40 Viet. cap. iCi. Small parts
of the township of Withington were in-
cluded in the local board districts of Moss
Side and Rusholme.
4 In a subsidy roll of 1543 (bdle. 130,
no. 127) Anglezarke as well as Longworth
is described as a hamlet of Withington.
SALFORD HUNDRED
By the inquest of 1 2 1 2 it was found that Matthew
and Roger, sons of William, held of Robert Grelley
the fee of one knight ' of ancient time,' and were
bound to ' find a judge for the king.' 5 The tenure
thus went back to the early years of the 1 2th century,
probably before the creation of the barony of Man-
chester, when Withington would be held of the king's
manor of Salford by the service of finding a judge,
which service was still required after the mesne lord-
ship of Manchester had been created.6
The lords had the surname of Haversage, from one
of their manors fe in Derbyshire. Little is known of
them,7 but Matthew de Haversage in 1 248-9 procured
a charter of free warren for his manors, including
Withington and Didsbury.8 Withington descended
MANCHESTER
to the Longfords of Longford in Derbyshire, who held
it until the end of the i6th century,9 when Nicholas
HAVERSAGE. Paly oj
tix argent and gules
on a chief azure a bar
dancetty or.
LONGFORD. Paly of
tix or and gules a bend
argent.
5 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 53. Matthew son
of William also held four oxgangs in
Chorlton ; ibid. 69.
In 1282 the fee of Withington owed to
the lord of Manchester the ploughing of
1 5 acres of land, a service valued at js. 6d. ;
it also owed a service of reaping as due
from 30 oxgangs of land, worth zs. 6d.
The clear value of the vill of Withington
was £3 1 a year ; ibid. 246, 250. From
this it appears that Withington was as-
sessed at 30 oxgangs in all.
In the later survey of 1320—2 it was
recorded that the lord of Withington was
one of the judges of the court of Man-
chester ; Mamecestre (Chet. Soc.), ii, 286.
Under the title De consuetudinibus arandi it
was noted that each oxgang of arable land
of ancient (not new) assart alike of Ni-
cholas de Longford as of his tenants in
Withington, Didsbury, Barlow, Chorlton,
Denton, and Haughton, was liable for the
ploughing of half an acre in Manchester,
wherever assigned, id. being paid. There
were about 25 oxgangs in all, including
one held by Sir Henry de Traffbrd, called
the Constable's oxgang, which was exempt.
From the same tenants was due the ser-
vice of thirty-six reapers for one whole
day, the lord providing a meal ; while the
exempt oxgang was liable for an overseer
to see that the services were duly rendered ;
ibid, ii, 377-8.
6 A similar tenure was that of Pilking-
ton ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 55.
Judges were also to be provided by the
lords of Kaskenmoor (Oldham) and Stret-
ford, held directly of Salford.
fa Now called Hathersage.
7 William, the father of Matthew and
Roger, was probably the William son of
Wulfric de Withington whose claim to
part of Chorlton was decided by wager of
battle ; see the account of Chorlton upon
Medlock. Matthew son of William occurs
in the Pipe Rolls from 1177 5 Farrer,
Lanes. Pipe R. 38, 115, &c.
Matthew de Haversage, in the time of
King John — no doubt the son of the
Matthew of 1212 — was according to one
story left a minor and in the king's ward-
ship 5 but according to another was seized
by Philip Mark, keeper of Nottingham
Castle, and married to his daughter ;
Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 260. Matthew
son of Matthew de Haversage was a bene-
factor of Lenton ; Dugdale, Man. Angl.
v, 112. In 1242 Matthew de Haversage
held a knight's fee in Withington of the
fee of Thomas Grelley ; ibid. 1 54. The
accounts of the succession are not in
agreement. From the inquisition already
cited (op. cit. i, 260) it would seem that
Matthew died without issue, the heir
being his sister Cecily who married a
Longford and was grandmother of Oliver
de Longford. On the other hand in
1292 (see below) Oliver's son John was
called great-grandson of the Matthew of
1248.
Two of Matthew's charters are noted
by Booker, Didsbury Cbapelry (Chet. Soc.),
319. One of them was to Richard son
of H. de Handforth ; and in 1361 John
son of John de Handforth failed to prose-
cute a claim against Sir Nicholas de Long-
ford ; Assize R. 441, m. 5. These and
other Handforth deeds are among the
Birch charters in Harl. MS. 2112, fol.
178^, &c. In 1 572 Robert Chetham pur-
chased from Hugh Handforth and Anne
his wife a messuage and lands in ' Chour-
ton' (probably Chorlton with Hardy) ;
PaL of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 34, m. 128.
This may be the land granted to Richard
de Handforth, but Hugh's name does not
appear in the Honford pedigree in Ear-
waker's East Ches. i, 250.
8 Charter R. 44 (33 Hen. Ill) ; Cal.
Chart. R. 1226-57, P- 345-
9 John de Byron held Withington for
life in 1282; Lanes. Inq. ana" Extents, i, 248.
The heir was a minor, being John son of
Oliver, grandson of Cecily, the sister of
Matthew de Haversage ; the Bishop of
Chester had the right to his wardship :
ibid. 260. Noel (Nigel) de Longford
made a grant of land in Didsbury about
1260; Booker, Birch (Chet. Soc.), 231.
For his ancestry see the account of Goos-
nargh. The Matthew de Haversage who
obtained the charter of free warren was
called the proavus of John de Longford,
who produced it in 1292 ; at this time
also it was stated that Oliver de Longford,
father of John, had died seised ; Plac. de
Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 377. John de
Longford held the knight's fee in With-
ington in 1302 ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents,
i, 313. Sir John de Longford and Dame
Joan, probably his widow, had inclosed
part of Burnage before 1320 ; Mamecestre,
ii, 283-4.
Another of Matthew de Haversage's
sisters married a Gousill ; Thoroton,
Notts, iii, 147. In 1260 there was a par-
tition of estates between Sir Nigel de
Longford and Dame Maud de Gousill ;
Hibbert-Ware, Manch. Foundations, iii,
125.
Sir Nicholas, the son of John, was in
possession by 1317, as appears by a Traf-
ford deed. He was living in 1 347
(Assize R. 143 5, m. 3 3 d) and was knighted
at the siege of Calais in that year ;
Shaw, Knights, i, 6. He was probably
the Nicholas de Longford returned in
1346-55 as holding the fee in With-
ington which Matthew de Haversage had
289
formerly held ; Feud. Aids, iii, 89. In
1345 he obtained a licence to impark at
Withington (Cal. Pat. 1343-5, p. 534),
and in 1352 he charged Sir John Daniel
and another with breaking into his park
at Withington and carrying off the deer ;
Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 2, m. 4, 6.
The same or a second Sir Nicholas re-
ceived a licence for his oratory in 1360 ;
Lich. Epis. Reg. Stretton, v, fol. 5. He
in 1362 made a feoffment of his manor of
Withington, and died in 1373, leaving a
son and heir Nicholas, twenty-two years
of age. The manor was held of the lord
of Manchester by homage and fealty, and
a rent of 19;., suit at the court of Man-
chester being performed from three weeks
to three weeks, and at the court of Lan-
caster from six weeks to six weeks. The
yearly value was 20 marks ; Inq. p.m. 47
Edw. Ill (ist nos.), no. 22. In 1376
Nicholas de Longford was plaintiff and
Oliver de Barton and Alice his wife de-
forciants in a fine respecting the manor of
Withington ; the right of Nicholas was
acknowledged ; Feet of F. Divers Coun-
ties, Mich. 50 Edw. Ill, no. 136.
Another Sir Nicholas de Longford, son
of Sir Nicholas, died in Sept. 1415, leav-
ing a son Ralph, fifteen years of age, and
a widow Alice, who married William
Chanterell. Withington was stated to be
held of the lord of Manchester by the
service of one knight's fee ; it was worth
£40 clear ; Lanes. Inq . p.m. (Chet. Soc.),
i, 114, 119 5 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii,
App. 12, 13 ; Booker, Didsbury, in, note.
Thomas la Warre, as rector of Manches-
ter, had in 1411 complained that Sir
Nicholas de Longford and other evildoers
had violently carried off his corn in With-
ington ; Towneley MS. CC, no. 450,
451.
Sir Ralph de Longford (Feud. Aids, iii,
96) died in 143 1, having made a settle-
ment of his manor of Withington and
other lands in Lancashire in 1429 ; he
left a son and heir Nicholas, aged thirteen;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 29.
Ralph seems to have been made a knight
in 1426 for his conduct at the battle of
Verneuil; Metcalfe, Bk. of Knights, i. This
Sir Nicholas, the heir, is named as lord of
Withington in 1449, and again (probably)
in 1473, when 91. was due from him to
the lord of Manchester (sake-fee) and IQJ.
for castle ward ; Lanes. Rec. Inq. p.m.
no. 36, 37<i ,• Mamecestre, iii, 48 1. He was
knighted afterTewkesburyj Sha.vr,Knights,
ii, 15.
Sir Ralph Longford, knighted in 1487
after Stoke (Metcalfe, op. cit. 17), died in
1513, holding the manors of Hough,
Withington, and Didsbury, with 100 mes-
suages, land, meadow, pasture, wood,
37
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Longford,10 having no children, sold Withington and
left other estates to his sister's heir.11
The purchaser of the Withington manor in 1597
was Rowland Mosley.1* He was the son of Nicholas
Mosley, ' cotton man ' of Man-
chester, to whom, in 1568,
Hough End House had been
leased by Nicholas Longford,13
the freehold being purchased
by Rowland and Francis Mos-
ley in 1588." Rowland was
»bout fifty-three years of age at
his father's death ; he served
as high sheriff in i6i5-i6,15
and died in 1617, leaving a
son and heir, Edward, born a
few months before the father's
death.16
Edward Mosley, in addition
to the large paternal estates, also inherited Rolleston
in Staffordshire and other lands by the bequest of
MOSLEY of Hough
End. Sable a che-veron
between three pickaxes
argent.
his uncle Sir Edward Mosley, attorney-general of the
Duchy.17 By his marriage he acquired yet further
property.18 He was created a baronet in l64O.19
Adhering zealously to the cause of Charles I he sup-
plied the king with money, and fought in Cheshire,
where he was taken prisoner at Middlewich in i643.20
His estates were sequestered, but he at last made
peace with the Parliament by a fine of ^4,874."
His own dissipated and extravagant habits further
impoverished him,M He died at Hough End in
1657, leaving a son and heir, Edward, nineteen years
of age.23
The second Sir Edward was nominated as sheriff
in 1660, but does not appear to have served.14 He
died at Hough End in October 1665. He had
married earlier in the year, but had no children, and
his next heir was his sister Mary, wife of Joseph
Maynard of Baling.*5 By his will he left all his
manors and lands — including his purchase of Hulme
— to his cousin Edward Mosley, the second son of
Oswald Mosley of Ancoats, but with the obligation
heath, moor, a water-mill and 401. rent,
of all which he made a settlement in
1510. The manors were held of Lord La
Warre by one knight's fee, and were
worth £80 a year. The heir was his
grandson Ralph, son of Nicholas and
Margery Longford, four years of age, and
in the wardship of Sir Thomas Gerard of
Brynn ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, no.
47. The heir was made a knight in
1529 ; Shaw, op. cit. ii, 47.
There are pedigrees of the Longford
family in Booker, Didsbury, 113, and
Thoroton, Notts, iii, 145.
10 He was son of the last-named Sir
Ralph, and in possession in 1544, as ap-
pears by the inquisition after the death of
Edmund Entwisle, who held land in
Withington of the heir of Sir Ralph Long-
ford in socage ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
vii, 30.
11 Among Earl Egerton of Tatton's
deeds are a number connected with Nicho-
las Longford. In 1566 Edward Tyldes-
ley of Morleys conveyed lands, &c. in
Withington to Nicholas Longford of Long-
ford. In 1587 Nicholas settled his capi-
tal messuage called Hough Hall, with the
park and various lands known as Hough
Park, Woodhead Meadow, Presefields,
Hondirne, Hough Fields, Hough Moss
and Moss Green, Willey Leys, Dove
Lache Meadow, &c., ' parcels of the de-
mesne lands of the manor of Hough other-
wise called the manor of Withington ' ;
also various messuages, lands, &c. in
Hough, Withington, Manchester, Dids-
bury, Chorlton, Rusholme, Haughton, and
Denton, for the jointure of Martha, then
his wife. His father Sir Ralph Longford
is named. Previous dispositions of the
estates were recited, when the remainders
were to Richard Longford and William
his brother, ' being near cousins to the said
Nicholas Longford ' ; to Maud his sister,
late wife of Sir George Vernon, and then
of Francis Hastings ; to Francis Dethick,
son of Humphrey Dethick and Elizabeth
his wife, another sister of Nicholas, and
to the said Elizabeth. The remainders
were varied in 1587, and a further change
was made in 1588, when Sir Christopher
Hatton and his heirs came first in the re-
mainders. The above-named Martha, as
' Martha Southwell, one of the daughters
of Sir Robert Southwell, knight, deceased,'
also in 1591 released her right to Hatton.
In 1595 Sir William Hatton for £2,660
conveyed the manors of Withington and
Hough to Sir Robert Cecil and others,
Nicholas Longford immediately afterwards
selling them the same manors. In Dec.
1597 Cecil and the others, for £8,000,
sold the same to Rowland Mosley.
Fines relating to these various trans-
actions are : Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdles. 28, m. 121 ; 29, m. 19 ; 51, m.
234, 279 5 53. m- 16, 23 5 59> m. 355.
12 See the preceding note.
18 Earl Egerton's D. A rent of 251. 4^.
was to be paid, and a man was to be
provided in time of war ' to wait upon
Nicholas Longford and his heirs as hath
heretofore been accustomed.' One of the
best cattle was to be given as a heriot at
the death of every tenant during the
seventy years of the lease.
In the grant of arms to Nicholas Mos-
ley in 1593 he is said to be the son of
Edward son of James son of Jenkin
Mosley of Hough or Hough's End ;
Mosley Family Memoirs, App. He re-
moved to London about 1575, prospered
in business, became alderman and lord
mayor, and was knighted in 1600. He
purchased the manor of Manchester in
1596. At Hough End he built a new
house, and retiring from business in 1602,
lived there till his death in 1612. He
was high sheriff of Lancashire in 1603-4;
P.R.O. List, 73. These and other par-
ticulars will be found in greater detail in
Axon's Mosley Memoranda (Chet. Soc.), 7;
Booker's Didsbury, 130-46, where are
printed the will of Sir Nicholas and his
widow Elizabeth ; Mosley Fam. Mem. 5-
10, where a view of his tomb is given ;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), ii, 4, showing that besides the
manor of Manchester he had acquired
lands, &c. in Withington and Chorlton
from Ellis Hey, others in Farnworth,
Kearsley, Hulme, and Barton from Sir
Edmund Trafford, and in Heaton Norris
from Lady Jane Lovell. From his will it
is evident that Sir Nicholas had large
estates not named in the inquisition.
14 Earl Egerton's D. Rowland Mos-
ley, then son and heir apparent of Sir
Nicholas Mosley of the Hough, made an
entail of the estates in 1606 in concert
with his father. Rowland was to remain
seised of the manors and lordships of
Hough, Withington, and Didsbury, and
all the messuages, lands, &c. in Withing-
ton, Didsbury, Stretford, Turve Moss,
290
Chorlton, Moor End, Birchall Houses,
Burnage, Fallowfield, Rusholme, Heaton
Wood Green, Hough End, Moss Green,
Yeeld Houses, Little Heath, Barricroft,
and Ladybarn, with successive remainders
(in default of male issue) to his brothers
Francis and Edward, to the sons of
Anthony (another brother), to Anthony
Mosley of Manchester, and to Oswald
Mosley, both brothers of Sir Nicholas ;
ibid. In 1613 a surrender was made by
the tenants for life in many of the above-
named hamlets and in Moss Side and
Teand (tithe) barns ; ibid.
ls P.R.O. List, 73.
16 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.), ii, 66-
70. The manor of Withington was held
of the king, as of his Duchy, by the ser-
vice of a knight's fee. Two indentures
are recited in the inquisition, giving the
settlements as made in 1617.
J7 Mosley Fam. Mem. 13, 14 ; the uncle's
part of the Alport estate, Manchester, was
included in the bequest.
"Ibid. 15 ; Breadsall Park in Derby-
shire and lands in Leicestershire were
thus acquired.
19 G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, ii, 79.
20 M osley Fam. Mem. 17 ; Civil War
in Cbes. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
41 — ' Sir Edward Mosley, a great wealthy
baronet of Lancashire and lord of Man-
chester.' The battle took place on 13
Mar. 1642-3. In the previous autumn
Alport Lodge, his house in Manchester,
had been used by Lord Strange as a point
of attack, and had afterwards been burnt
down ; Civil War Tracts (Chet. Soc.),
52, 121.
21 Axon, Mosley Mem. 1 1 ; Cal. of
Camp, for Compounding, ii, 1060 ; Royalist
Camp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
iv, 199.
22 Axon, loc. cit. (referring to Harl.
Misc. iii, 499) and Booker, Didsbury, 147-
57, where are printed letters relating to a
debt of £2,000 with accumulated interest
due to Humphrey Chetham. A settle-
ment of the manors of Manchester,
Hough, Withington, Didsbury, and Hea-
ton Norris was made by Sir Edward
Mosley and Mary his wife in 1653 ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 151, m.
152.
38 Axon, loc. cit. Mosley Fam. Mem. 1 9
34 P.R.O. List, 73.
35 Axon, op. cit. 1 1, 12.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
EGERTON, Earl Eger-
ton of Tatton. Argent
a lion rampant gules be-
tween three f Aeons sable.
to invest £7,000 in land for the eldest son, Nicholas,
within five years.26 The obligation was not fulfilled
and litigation followed, resulting in a compromise
which defeated Sir Edward Mosley's desire to preserve
the lands in the male line of the family.27 Edward
Mosley, the beneficiary under the will, was made a
knight in 1689 ; he left a daughter and heir, Ann,
wife of Sir John Bland,28 and her son, also Sir John
Bland,29 sold all the Mosley estates that descended to
him, including the Withington
manors.
The purchaser was William
Egerton,30 from whom they
have descended to the present
lord, Earl Egerton of Tatton.31
Hough End Hall is said to
have been built by Sir Nicholas
Mosley shortly after he bought
the manor of Manchester in
i 596, on the site of an older
house which is known to have
existed in the middle of the
1 5th century. The house faces
south-west and stands about a quarter of a mile to the
north-east of Barlow Moor Road, near to Chorlton-
with-Hardy. Its back faces the Midland Railway, and
Chorlton Brook runs past it on the north side. It is
a picturesque brick building of three stories on a
stone base 3 ft. high, consisting of a centre portion
with a wing at each end. The principal doorway is
central, under a porch, opening to a central passage
with a door, formerly external, on the north. The
total length of the chief or south front is about 94ft.,
the central or recessed portion of which measures
42 ft., and the wings project 6 ft. 9 in. On the
north face the western half of the space between the
projecting wings is filled by a contemporary square
staircase, of equal projection with the wings. The
detail is rather rough, and the front elevation very
plain, but the general effect is extremely good, owing
largely, no doubt, to the colour of the bricks and the
grey stone slates, which have weathered a beautiful
hue, and also to the fact that the house is partly
covered with creepers and set off by a well-kept front
garden and rural surroundings. The windows are
all square-headed and with stone mullions, those to
the top floor, however, being built up across the
whole length of the front. The wings are gabled and
ornamented with balls, and the centre portion is sur-
mounted with a parapet in the form of three smaller
gables with similar finials. The chimneys are square
shafts set diagonally on square bases. The bricks are
2^-in. in thickness, laid in alternate courses of headers
and stretchers, and there are no string-courses and no
quoins at the angles. A very restful effect has been
produced by the simplest means, but principally by
the judicious spacing of the windows and a plentiful
amount of plain brick walling. The entrance is in
the centre of the main front, and was originally
through a square-headed door flush with the wall.
A projecting porch has since been added. The
windows retain their ancient diamond quarries and
in the internal angles of the front are two lead rain-
water pipes with ornament in relief all down the
front of the pipes. The back of the house has been
a good deal altered and the windows modernized.
It has four gables without copings on the same face,
but was originally more broken up and picturesque,
a recessed portion or court between the east wing and
the staircase having been built upon. The original
outer doorway at the back, with the oak nail studded
door which opened on to this space, is now inside
the house, and a five-light window on the return of
the staircase bay is built up and can only be seen
from inside. Other additions have been built in
later times at the back of the house at both ends.
The east wing consists, on the ground floor, of two
rooms now used as a toolhouse and blacksmith's shop.
A five-light window has been built up on the east
side of the front room, and a break in the plinth in
another part of the outer wall at the east end, toge-
ther with a large external cavity which is evidently
a former fireplace, suggests considerable alterations at
this end of the house. The projection of this now
outside fireplace goes up the whole height of the
building and finishes in a gable. Lower down, at
the level of the first floor, are the marks of a small
gable roof, and similar indications are to be seen over
what was apparently either a bay window or entrance
to the back room. The fireplace may have belonged
to a small wing which has been pulled down, or it
may have been intended for a purpose to which it
was never afterwards put. The interior of the build-
ing, which is now used as a farm-house, has few points
of interest, having been a good deal modernized and
stripped of its old oak, including a handsome staircase
at the east end, which was removed by Lord Egerton
to Tatton Lodge.
Waltheof de Withington and some others made
grants to Cockersand Abbey.32
26 See Mosley Fam. Mem. 19-21 ; an
earlier will (cancelled) is printed by
Booker, Didsbury, 158.
a? Mosley Fam. Mem. 40, 41. Another
reason of the dispute was that Mary, the
sister, was quite disinherited by the later
will. The compromise resulted in the
Leicestershire property going to Joseph
Maynard in right of his wife ; the Staf-
fordshire estates after the death of Lady
North (Sir Edward's widow) reverted to
Oswald Mosley of Ancoats, to whom the
manor of Manchester was also to be
bequeathed in default of male issue to
Edward Mosley of Hulme ; the remainder
of the estates were at the free disposal of
the last-named; Booker, op. cit. 161,
162.
In a fine in 1680 relating to the Mos-
ley manors and lands, including a free
fishery in the Mersey and views of frank-
pledge in Manchester and Withington,
the deforciants were Edward Mosley,
Meriel his wife, Oswald Mosley and Mary
his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
204, m. 66.
28 Axon, op. cit. 17. His will is printed
in Booker's Didsbury, 162-5 5 by this he
gave the manors of Withington and Hea-
ton Norris to Sir John Bland and his
wife, with remainders to their sons, with
further remainders to sons of Dame Bland
by a possible later marriage, and to Oswald
Mosley of Ancoats. He had sold a tene-
ment in Withington to William Alcock,
and in compensation gave Sir John Bland
tenements near Bury.
29 For the Blands see Booker, loc. cit.
The will of Dame Bland is there printed.
By it she charged her manor of Withing-
ton and lands there with the payment of
her funeral expenses, debts, and legacies,
291
and her husband's debts. She died in
1734-
In a recovery of the manors of Hulme,
Withington, and Heaton Norris in 1712,
Sir John Bland, Ann his wife, and John
Bland were the vouchees ; and in a later
one (1717) Ann Bland, widow, and Sir
John Bland so acted ; Pal. of Lane. Plea
R. 496, m. 5 ; 507, m. 5.
80 Mosley Fam. Mem. 29.
81 Wilbraham Egerton was vouchee in
a recovery of the manors of Withington,
Heaton Norris, &c., in 1806 ; Pal. of
Lane. Aug. Assizes, 46 Geo. Ill, R. 8.
82 Waldeve or Waltheof de Withington
son of Hutred granted the land of Whit-
croft within bounds starting from Tele-
brook ; also the land of Alrebarrow, in
the bounds of which are mentioned Sal-
tersgate and Aldehulme ; Cockersand Chart.
(Chet. Soc.), ii, 730. Odo son of In-
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Land in Healdhouses was granted to the Traffords S3
and held by them from the I3th to the i6th cen-
tury,34 when part or all was sold to the Mosleys.36
There are some records also of a Fallowfield family.36
One or two other small estates appear in the inquisi-
tions.37 Near Fallowfield was the place called Ald-
hulme, mentioned in the Cockersand and other grants ;
it is now represented by fields called Great and Little
Oldham, on the south side of Fallowfield Brook.38
Apart from these alienations, mostly on the outskirts
of the township, the land appears to have been re-
tained by the lords of the manor; and in 1784
William Egerton contributed three-fourths of the land
tax in Withington and Fallowfield.39
About 1567 there were disputes between Edmund
TrafFord and Nicholas Longford respecting the ' waste
grounds, moors or commons called Didsbury Moor,
Withington Moor, Moss Green alias Moss Side, and
Chorlton Moor.' 40
For the Established Church St. Paul's, Withington,
was erected in 1841," and Holy Innocents', Fallow-
field, in 1872." The patronage in each case is
gerith de Withington gave 8 acres on the
south side of the great ditch (Nico Ditch),
as marked by crosses ; also 4 acres ex-
tending from the great ditch along the
churchway towards the land of Walter de
Withington, &c. ; Cockersand Chart (Chet.
Soc), ii, 729, 731. The Traffbrds were
tenants of these lands in 1451 and later ;
ibid, iv, 1238. As the charters cited were
afterwards among the deeds of Worsley of
Platt (Harl. MS. 2112, fols. 46, &c.) this
family no doubt acquired the land.
In 1292 the Abbot of Cockersand was
called upon to justify his claims in With-
ington ; Plac. de Quo /iPar.(Rec.Com.),379.
88 The de TrafFord evidences contain
the following : Ellis son of Robert de
Pendlebury to Henry son of Robert son
of Ralph de TrafFord all the land of
' Gildehusestide ' within bounds beginning
at Gooselache, thence to the pool where
Matthew son of William raised a dyke to
turn the water for his mill ; by another
dyke to the moss and so back to Goose-
lache ; with all the liberties which the free-
men of the said Matthew his lord enjoyed,
but Matthew would have a road across the
land for carrying his hay. A rent of 45.
was payable ; De TrafFord D. no. 310.
Another charter concerning the same
land (as it seems) reduced the rent to 31.5
no. 311. Roger de Pendlebury afterwards
released to a later Henry de TrafFord all
right to rent for the land in the Gild-
houses ; no. 312, 128. At that time Sir
Simon de Gousill was the chief lord of
the land ; no. 313. Meantime Matthew
son of Matthew de Haversage had granted
land near Gooselache to Richard de Traf-
ford ; it measured 20 acres by the perch
of 22 ft., and the bounds began at the
Great Moss, went up Gooselache to the
boundary of Platt and thence across to
Grenclowlache, with common of pasture
of the vill of Withington ; the rent was
an iron spur or 3</. ; no. 129. The seal
shows a coat of five pales with a chief,
and part of the legend : — . . . EV : DE :
HAVER . . . E.
Simon de Gousill released to Henry de
TrafFord his claim to the 3*. rent due
from the Gildhouses, or rather reduced it
to zs. ; and he granted all his part of the
land outside Henry's ditch within bounds
beginning at the corner of the Twenty
Acres (held by Henry of Simon) as far as
the ditch called the Hules towards With-
ington, so that the ditch of the Hules
might extend straight across the moss as
far as the corner towards TrafFord. A
rent of id. was due; ibid. no. 131, 132.
The charter last quoted is endorsed, ' For
the Moss green and boundary of the same,"
and the above grants seem to relate to
lands partly at least in the later townships
of Moss Side and Rusholmc.
A further charter from Simon de Gou-
sill remitted the rent above-named, substi-
tuting the annual gift of a pair of gloves
or id. ; ibid. no. 133.
Nicholas de Longford, lord of Withing-
ton in 1317, granted to Sir Henry de
TrafFord a portion of his waste in the vill
of Withington within these bounds: Begin-
ning at Gooselache to the out-lane of the
Platt, following the highway north to
Greenlowlache, down this lache west to
Kemlache, and thence south (by pits and
ditches) to the 'Yhildhouse' Ditch and
by it to the starting point. A rent of
\js. was payable; ibid. no. 136. Com-
mon of turbary in the ' Yhildhouse ' Moss
was also allowed to Sir Henry de TrafFord
and his tenants; no. 137. The seal of
Nicholas de Longford shows a coat of
three pales with a chief, debruised by a
bend.
In 1449 some dispute had broken out
between Sir Nicholas Longford and Sir
Edward TrafFord respecting lands 'called
the Moss Green, otherwise called the
Yeldehouse Moss green," and it was re-
ferred to the arbitration of Sir Thomas
Ashton and others ; no. 139, 318.
A dispute as to 20 acres in Moss Green
occurred in 1600. Richard Percivall had
in 1597 obtained a lease from Sir Robert
Cecil and others ; this he transferred to
Thomas Goodyer, whose right descended
to his son Robert. Rowland Mosley,
having purchased the fee simple, ejected
Robert Goodyer, alleging non-payment of
the rent of zos. due ; Duchy of Lane.
Plead. Eliz. cxcviii, G. 2.
84 Lands in Withington, Yeldehouse,
Rusholme, Fallowfield, Moss Side, and
Chorlton are mentioned in the inquisition
after the death of Edmund TrafFord in
1563 ; they were held of Nicholas Long-
ford in socage by the rent of \js. id. ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, n. See
also ibid, xv, 46, in which the tenures are
not stated.
85 Rowland Mosley in 1597 bought a
messuage and lands in Withington from
Edmund TrafFord ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 58, m. 300. Rowland Mosley
held lands in Yeeldhouses, &c., at his death
in 1617; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.), ii, 67.
86 In a Birch Deed of 1301 mention is
made of Jordan son of William de Fallow-
field ; Booker, Didsbury, 124.
Thomas son of John de Fallowfield
(Falufeld) in 1317 granted to Nicholas
son of Sir Henry de TrafFord land and
wood called Ditchflat in Fallowfield in
the vill of Withington. The bounds be-
gan at the corner of the assart formerly
belonging to John son of Alexander de
Fallowfield, went down to Huthunbethum
lache, followed the Heystowe between
Ditchflat and the lache named as far as
the Mickle Ditch, up this to the land of
the said John son of Alexander, and so to
the boundary ; De TrafFord D. no. 105.
In 1348 Robert de Fallowfield claimed
a messuage and 2 acres in Withington
against Sir John de Strickland and Alice
his wife. The plaintiff alleged that he
was heir of one Odo Ingeson (? son of
292
Ingerith) who in the time of Edward I
had demised the tenement to Thomas son
of Odo for a term, and he put forward the
following pedigree : Odo -8. Robert -s.
John -dr. Cecily -s. Robert (plaintiff) ;
De Banco R. 356, m. 140.
A Fallowfield dispute of the time of
Henry VIII may be mentioned here.
James Siddall, apparently a weaver, tenant-
at-will to Sir Edmund Trafford, died about
1530 leaving a widow Alice and sons
James and Henry. Henry's widow married
one Edward Holt, who tried to gain pos-
session of a chest kept in Alice's house in
' the township of Fallowfield,' which con-
tained the family money and goods. It
is mentioned that Henry had been exe-
cutor of Thomas Siddall, a priest in Eccles
Church. George Siddall of Moss Side
and John Siddall of Fallowfield, both
Trafford tenants, are also named ; Duchy
of Lane. Deps. Hen. VIII, xxxvi, S. i ;
xlv, S. i.
87 The Hulmes of Reddish had a barn
and lands in Withington, held of the
Mosleys as lords of Withington ; Duchy
of Lane. Inq. p.m. xviii, 10 ; xxix, 70.
The origin of the holding is probably a
grant made by Matthew son of William
to Henry de Trafford of his right in a
croft called Aldehulm, viz. three parts of
that croft within these bounds : From
Thelebrook by the ditch near Saltegate
as far as the head of the ridge of Alre-
barrow, down to Shepherd Croft, and by
this croft to Thelebrook and the starting
point. A rent of izd. was due ; Hulme
D. no. i. The name of the grantor shows
that the charter must be placed early in
the 1 3th century.
The Strangeways family held a mes-
suage and 8 acres in Withington ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 42, m. 130; Lanes.
Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i,
132.
88 Matthew de Haversage granted to
Richard de Trafford land which Adam son
of Alexander de Didsbury had formerly
held of him, within bounds beginning at
Cringle Brook, following the ditch to the
north as far as ' Holdholm ' Brook, along
this brook to the boundary between
Richard's land and Theumannes Croft,
following west to the high road (alta
strata), by the road to Holdholm Brook,
and by the ditch going south to Cringle
Brook, with common of pasture and other
easements in Withington. A rent of zs.
was payable ; De Trafford D. no. 130.
89 Land tax returns at Preston. For
the chief landowners about 1850 see
Booker, Didsbury, 123.
40 Duchy of Lane. Plead. Eliz. Ixxiv,
T. 7. The parties desired arbitration.
41 Booker, op. cit. 128, 129. For dis-
trict see Land. Gaz. 16 June 1854.
42 Mission services had been held for
some years previously. A district was
assigned to the church in 1873 ; Land.
Gas,, z Sept.
WITHINGTON : HOUGH END HALL, SOUTH-WEST FRONT
WITHINGTON : HOUGH END HALL, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
vested in trustees, and the incumbents are styled
rectors.
The Wesleyans and the Primitive Methodists each
have churches in the township. The latter body has
also a college for candidates for the ministry. A
training college for the Congregational ministry,
known as the Lancashire Independent College, Whal-
ley Range, was opened in the north-west corner of
the township in 1843." The same body has had a
church in the village since 1883." The Baptists
have a church, founded in 1891. The Presbyterian
Church of England is also represented.45
The Roman Catholic church of St. Cuthbert was
opened in 1881 and completed in 1902.*' At
Alexandra Park is the church of English Martyrs.
1876—96. In the same neighbourhood are St. Bede's
College, in a building which was formerly the Man-
chester Aquarium, and convents of the Ladies of the
Retreat and the Franciscan Tertiaries.
The Hulme Trustees have opened a Grammar
School near Alexandra Park.
DIDSBURY
Dydesbyre, Dydesbiri, Didsbury, all c. 1280 ;
Dodesbury, 1292.
Didsbury l has the Mersey for its southern and
western border. Along the river the surface lies
open, but the interior is urban in character. The
area is 1,552^ acres.* There was a population of
9,234 in 1901.
The principal roads are that on the western side
from Manchester to Cheadle, with a modern branch
to Northenden and Altrincham, and that through the
centre and east from Stockport to Stretford.3 The
Midland Company's railway from Manchester to
Stockport crosses the northern part of the township,
and has two stations called Albert Park or Withington
and Didsbury ; the latter was opened in 1875.
Cattle fairs were formerly held on 30 April and
22 October. The village rush-bearing used to take
place on 5 August.4
The most stirring event in the history of the old
village was the passage of the Young Pretender in
1745 ; he crossed the Mersey there.5
A Roman coin has been found.6
Didsbury, formerly part of the Withington local
board district, was taken into the city of Manchester
in 1904.
Among the old names may be mentioned Stenner
Lane, leading west from the church, Parr, and Dids-
bury Eea.
Although the 'manor of DIDSBURT'
M4NOR is named in some deeds of the Longford
family, it seems clear that there was no
separate manor, Didsbury being held as a portion or
hamlet of Withington.7 It is named in a Mosley
settlement of 1653, but not later.8 The landi
descended to the Elands, whose improvidence resulted
in the gradual dispersal of the whole. Among the
chief purchasers were the Broome family, who acted
as agents for the Elands and Barlows.8 By an heiress
the Broome estates passed to the Feildens ; 10 in 1 844
the principal landowner was the Reverend Robert
Mosley Feilden, holding over a third part.11
The local name occurs as a surname, but the family
do not seem to have been of long continuance."
The Byrons had lands in Didsbury,13 Withington,
and Heaton Norris, which were sold in 1546 to John
Pycroft, mercer.14 Sir Edward Warren, who died in
1558, held lands in Didsbury of Nicholas Longford,
as of his manor of Hough, in socage, by a rent of
1 2</.15 A messuage known as Broad Oak, with land
in Didsbury Moor and Hough Moss in Withington
48 Booker, op. cit 125. It originated
in 1810 in Salford ; J. Thompson, The
Owens College, 33. See also Lanes, and
Ches. Antiq. Soc. iii, 185. The library
has some early printed books.
44 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. v, 71 ;
services began in 1881.
45 The church was built in 1869.
46 It was preceded by the temporary
church of the Holy Ghost and St. Cuth-
bert in 1877.
1 Use has been made of Mr. Fletcher
Moss's Didsbury (1890), a book of
' sketches, reminiscences, and legends.'
A description of the village as it formerly
was is given by him in the opening
chapter. The natural history of the dis-
trict has a special section.
- 1,546 acres, including 24 of inland
•water; Census Rep. 1901.
8 The first bridge is supposed to have
been made by the Highlanders in 1745 ;
it was a rude wooden one. There were
also Gatley Ford, Northen Ford and Ferry,
Barlow Ford, Jackson's Boat, and another
passage across the river ; Moss, Didsbury,
61, 62.
4 Ibid. 48, 49 ; a description of the old
•wakes. See also A. Burton, Rusbbearing,
1 60, where the date is given as 8 to
jo Aug.
5 The Duke's Hillock on the village green
is supposed to have been so named from
the Duke of Perth taking his stand there.
6 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. x, 250.
7 In 1323 Margaret widow of Adam de
Pendlebury claimed dower in one plough-
land in Didsbury against Sir Nicholas
de Longford ; De Banco R. 248, m.
154 d.
8 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 151,
m. 152.
9 Booker, Didsbury (Chet. Soc.), 8.
The « daily bullying ' of Lady Eland's
steward Broome is mentioned in 1720;
ibid. 40, 41. William Broome of Dids-
bury, in or before 1 749, married Elizabeth
Dawson, and died in 1781 ; their son
William died without issue in 1810.
There are monuments in the church ;
ibid. 29. Richard and William Broome
occur in a recovery of land of Sir John
Eland's in Withington in 1753 ; Com.
Pleas Recov. R. East. 26 Geo. II, m. 14.
10 Booker, op. cit. 8. Henry (son of
Robert) Feilden by Mary Broome his wife
had a son Robert, who married Anne daugh-
ter of Sir John Parker Mosley of Ancoats,
and died in 1830 aged 69 ; their son, the
Rev. Robert Mosley Feilden, was rector of
Bebington from 1826 to 1862 ; Burke,
Commoners, ii, 445 ; Booker, Didsbury, 27.
11 Ibid. 10. The next considerable
landowners were James Heald and H. LI.
Bamford Hesketh.
12 William de Didsbury claimed com-
mon of pasture in Didsbury against John
de Byron and Simon de Gousul in 1276
and 1278; the jury, however, found that
he had sufficient. John and Simon were
at that time sharers of the vill, which, so
they pleaded, was neither vill nor borough,
but a hamlet of Withington ; Assize R.
405, m. 2; 1238, m. 32. William was
plaintiff in some other actions about the
same time ; Assize R. 1235, m. 12 ;
293
1238, m. 31 ; 1239, m. 39; 405, m. 4d.
He also appears as witness to charters ;
Booker, op. cit. 8. Some more recent
bearers of the name are mentioned ;
ibid. 9.
Adam de Didsbury in 1292 complained
that the descendants of one Adam de
Stretford had disseised him of a toft in
Withington, which he had held by grant
of his father Thomas. It appeared that
Adam de Stretford had three children —
Henry, William, and Cecily — and that
Cecily had left two daughters, Margery
and Agnes, of whom the latter was occu-
pier of the disputed land. She said she
was heir of her father, William son of
William the Chaplain, who had owned
it and demised it to Thomas, father of
the plaintiff, for a term then expired.
The jury accepted this version ; Assize R.
408, m. 10.
18 Margaret widow of Roger the Crow-
ther of Cheadle in 1305 released to Sir
John de Byron all her right in half an
oxgang in Didsbury, which she held by
the gift of Sir Nigel de Longford ; Byron
Chartul. no. 29, fol. 18.
14 Earl Egerton of Tatton's D. In
the corresponding fine the purchaser is
called Ralph Pycroft ; Pal. of Lane. Feet
of F. bdle. 12, m. 274. Thomas Pycroft
sold land to the Mosleys ; see Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 66.
15 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, 66.
For his family see Ormerod, Ches. (ed.
Helsby), iii, 683. Sir Robert Lovell,
noticed in Heaton Norris, had lands in
Didsbury also.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
was in 1576 secured to Thomas Rudd.16 One Walker
of Didsbury was a freeholder in 1 6oo,17 and the Good-
yers and Twyfords also are named about the same
time.18 Richard and Robert Twyford in 1649 com-
pounded for ' delinquency ' in adhering to the forces
raised against the Parliament, their fines amounting
to ^44 and £45 respectively.19
In 1789 the Broomes and Feildens together paid
nearly a third of the land tax ; the Reverend Mr.
Bayley and William Bamford were the next con-
siderable landowners.20
The college of Newark had a small rent from
Didsbury, which was in 1549 sold by the Crown to
Richard Venables."
The mill of Didsbury is mentioned in a charter,
granted about 1260, by which Sir Simon de Gousill
released to Henry de Trafford and his men of Chorl-
ton-with-Hardy all suit of the mill and liability for
the maintenance and repair of the mill pool, and like
services.11
The church of ST. J4MES M stands on
CHURCH high ground, to the south-west of the
village, the land sloping down on the
west side of the site towards the River Mersey. The
of transept or chapel, the outer wall being a continua-
tion of that of the vestries.
Of the original building which stood on the site
nothing is known, and so little ancient work remains
in the present structure (or what may be ancient is so
effectually concealed by modern plaster and paint)
that nothing can be said of the development of the
plan, and little as to the date of the older parts. The
ancient chapel is said to have been entirely rebuilt of
stone in 1620, and the building of that date is
described as consisting of a chancel 24 ft. square, nave
with north and south aisles 45 ft. long by 34 ft. 6 in.
wide over all, and west tower.*4 It had two three-
light windows on each side of the nave, with entrances
north and south opposite to each other at the west
end of both aisles. There was also a separate entrance
on the south side of the chancel. A gallery was
erected at the west end in 1751, and a short one on
the south side in 1757. In 1770 the chancel was
declared to be ' very old, ruinous, and decayed,' and
was taken down and rebuilt on a large scale ' by
taking in 8 ft. on the north and also 8 ft. on the south
side thereof, so as to make the said intended new
chancel of the same breadth or width with the nave
•——*•—— shews chancel a*
—• — — rebuilt I62O
Before 1620
-1620
€!£} 1770
PLAN OF DIDSBURY CHURCH
view from the churchyard on that side, towards
Cheshire, is very extensive.
The building consists of a chancel 276. by 19 ft.
with south vestry and organ chamber, nave 73 ft. 3 in.
by 1 9 ft., with north and south aisles, and west tower
10 ft. by lift. 3 in., these measurements all being
internal. There is also a small building 1 2 ft. by
8 ft. 9 in., formerly a vestry, at the south-west of the
south aisle, and the two eastern bays of the aisle have
been extended 1 1 ft. southwards, so as to form a kind
or body of the said chapel.' Galleries and pews were
erected in the new chancel, and at the same time the
old pews in the body of the church were taken away
and * handsome and convenient pews or seats all of
one decent, regular, and uniform order ' put in their
place. About twenty years after a north gallery was
erected, and the south one extended to the chancel,
but there seems to have been nothing done to the
structure from this time till 1841, when a faculty was
granted to pull down the north and south walls from
16 Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 38,
m. 28 ; the deforciant was Nicholas
Longford, the remainder being to Thomas
Rudd. See Ducatus Lane. (Rcc. Com.),
iii, 26. Broad Oak stood south or south-
east of the church.
*' Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 249.
19 Booker, op. cit. 5, 6. For a Good-
yer CMC in 1657 see ExcA. Dtp. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 31.
19 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, iii,
1747, 1950. In 1666 Edward Mosley
of Hulme leased a messuage in Didsbury
(formerly William Wood's) to Richard
Twyford of Didsbury, gent., then occu-
pier, for the lives of the said Richard,
William his son, and Hugh Yannis ;
Earl Egerton's D. There is a Yannis
meadow in the bend of the Mersey west
of the church.
ao Land tax returns at Preston.
21 Pat. 3 Edw. VI, pt. 9.
M De Trafford D. no. 133.
28 It is supposed to have been dedicated
to St. James, the rush-bearing on 5 Aug.
corresponding to 25 July Old Style.
34 Booker, op. cit. 14.
A description of this building is given
by Booker (op. cit. 1 7) from a ground plan
294
of the chapel ' as it appeared at this time,'
but the plan is not reproduced, nor its date
given, and a drawing of ' Didsbury Chapel
in 1620 ' by Jas. Croston, which forms the
frontispiece to Booker's History, is appa-
rently only an imaginary sketch, and of
no value historically. The tower is
shown with the battlement erected in
I Sol. Booker's description, therefore,
while probably correct as far as the plan is
concerned, must be accepted with great
caution as respects the appearance of the
building. The dimension of the chan-
cel, 24 ft. square, would seem to be
external.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
the tower to the chancel, which were 3 ft. 6 in. thick,
and rebuild them of a thickness of 2 ft. so as to obtain
more room for seats. Only about half the length of
the wall, beginning from i he west, was thus dealt with,
however ; the walls beyond this point are still the
original thickness.85
In 1855 the building underwent a thorough re-
storation, in the course of which the outside walls,
with the exception of the tower, were cased in stone,
new traceried windows inserted, the roof raised over
the aisles (north and south galleries), the north and
south doors at the west end of the nave done away
with and windows substituted, and a large entrance
door made through the tower at the west end. By
these alterations the building lost any traces that re-
mained of its original appearance, and assumed more
or less its present aspect. In 1871 a new chancel
was added, the north and south galleries taken
down,*6 and a second door opened out in the tower on
the north side ; and in 1895 the south aisle was ex-
tended and vestries and an organ chamber built on the
south side of the chancel.
The walls are built of red sandstone and have plain
parapets, the buttresses marking the ends of the old
nave, the old chancel, and the present chancel being
carried up as pinnacles. The chancel roof is slightly
lower than that of the nave, and is separated from it
externally by a stone gable surmounted by a cross.
The nave roof is continued at a slightly lower pitch
over the aisles,17 and all the roofs are slated. A portion
of the exterior walling on the south side between the
vestry and the extension shows an old rubble facing,
having apparently been left untouched in the restora-
tion of the last century.
The chancel has a five-light window at the east end
and two windows of two lights on the north. The
south side has two pointed arches opening respectively
to the organ chamber and vestry.
The nave consists of six bays, the two easternmost
of which formed the 18th-century chancel. These
have four-centred arches 1 3 ft. wide on octagonal piers
and responds, which appear to be of later date than
I77O.*8 As all the piers, arches, and walling of the
nave are stuccoed and painted it is impossible to tell
how much of the work belongs to the period of
restoration and how much is original. The old
chancel walls, however, seem to have been thinned
and rebuilt a little in advance of those of the rest of
the nave in one of the restorations (probably in 1855).
The old nave arcade consists of four semicircular
arches 9 ft. wide, resting on circular columns 1 6 in.
in diameter, with square abaci and circular moulded
bases, much cut away. The arches and columns have
the appearance of 1 8th-century work, but may possi-
bly belong to the previous century, and be part of the
rebuilding of that date.*9 A portion of the old wall
3 ft. long behind the east responds of the old nave
arcade still stands, and the former chancel arch divides
the nave into two unequal parts. The windows to
both north and south aisles are all modern, and are
placed without regard to the position of the piers.
They are mostly of three lights, with a single-
light window at the west end of each aisle.30 The
south-west vestry already referred to is built in front
of the south doorway, and appears to be modern,
never having been intended as a porch.
The tower is of three stages with a vice in the
south-west angle, with diagonal buttresses of unequal
projection on the west side. The two entrances on
west and north sides are modern, and above the west
door is a modern pointed window of four lights, light-
ing the ringers' chamber, the floor of which is on a
level with the springing of the tower arch. The arch
is filled with modern glazed wooden tracery, and
below the floor with screen doors. Externally a
string-course runs round the tower at about mid-
height above the west window, and the belfry stage
has a two-light pointed window with stone louvres on
each face, above which is a string-course. The original
embattled parapet is on the old south vestry, the
tower now finishing with a nondescript parapet of
four semicircular arches on each side, with angle and
intermediate pinnacles, erected in 1801. There is a
clock dial in front of the parapet on the east side
facing the village. On the north side of the tower
are three stones in a line, the two first inscribed
thus : —
sr E. M. K : FOUN
A. M. WID : DERS
E. M. ESQ : Sr G. B. K.
PATRON : BARONET
The inscription on the third stone is partly
obliterated . . . * DOMNI |g,' alone being visible.
The initials are those of Sir Edward Mosley, kt.,
and Ann Mosley (Sutton), second wife of his elder
and deceased brother Rowland of Hough End Hall,
who are called founders. ' E. M. Esq. Patron* is
Edward Mosley, son of Rowland Mosley of
Hough End, and afterwards first baronet, and
* Sir G. B. K. Baronet ' is supposed to be Sir
George Booth, of Dunham Massey (knighted 1595,
baronet 1611), but this is uncertain.31 The stones
do not appear to be in their original positions, as
when Owen visited the church only the first two are
described as on the north side, the dated stone being
then ' on the east.' The tower is said generally to
have been built in 1620, but more probably an older
tower was refaced in stone, as there appear to be traces
of older work inside."
84 Other work, however, seems to have
been done at this time. John Owen writes
(Owen MSS. Manch. Ref. Lib. vol. 13) :
' The east end and the greater part of the
body of the church is built of brick with
the date 1842.' There is no date to this
passage, but Owen's visit was presumably
some time before the alterations of 1855.
26 The west gallery remained till 1895,
when the organ was transferred to its
present position.
2? Originally there may have been a low
clearstory, but this is not certain. The
present roof to the aisles dates from the
raising of the outside walls in 1855.
38 If this work belongs to 1770 the
Gothic revival must have penetrated at a
very early date to Didsbury.
29 Without a proper examination of
them stripped of the coat of stucco, the
date of the columns must remain uncer-
tain. One of them is said to have been
thus stripped during a recent restoration,
and found to consist of a single stone to
the height of 3 ft. below the abacus — a
length of about 8 ft. 9 in. — the total
height of the column being a little over
12ft.
80 The east end of the old north aisle,
now the aisle space in the fourth bay,
295
was formerly known as the Barlow
Chapel, and here is said to have been
found a portion of an early piscina during
one of the restorations (article in Mancb.
Courier, 3 June i 907), apparently proving
the existence of a stone church prior to
the 1 7th century.
81 Edward Mosley, the patron, would
be an infant at the time ; possibly Sir
George Booth was his guardian.
82 There are remains of two small
round-headed openings on the north and
south in the ringing chamber, which do
not show outside.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The fittings are all modern. There is a chancel
screen (1871), and a second screen separating the
vestries and organ chamber from the south aisle. The
present font, which stands at the west end of the
north aisle, dates from 1 8 8 1 , but an older plaster font
is preserved at the rectory.33
There is no old stained glass.
Between the windows of the south wall of the ex-
tension of the south aisle (sometimes called the Mosley
Chapel) s4 is a fine marble and alabaster monument to
Sir Nicholas Mosley, kt., 1612, sometime Lord
Mayor of London, with three lower compartments
containing the kneeling figures of his two wives and
of three of his sons. Above is his own figure in
mayoral robes. Over the figure of Sir Nicholas are
his arms (Sable, a cheveron between three pickaxes
argent, quartering Or a fesse between three eagles
displayed sable), and below on either side over the
figures of his wives two shields in oval frames, the first
having the arms of Mosley impaling Gules, a chess-
rook argent, on a chief argent three roses gules, for
Elizabeth Rookes, widow of — Hendley, his second
wife, who survived him ; the second, Mosley impaling
Whitbroke, Argent a lion rampant gules, for Margaret
Whitbroke, his first wife. There are four male figures
in the lower central compartment, being probably
those of Rowland Mosley (died 1616), son and heir
of Sir Nicholas, with his eldest son ; Anthony Mosley,
and Sir Edward Mosley, the two latter still living
when the monument was erected.35
At the east end of the north aisle is a mural tablet
with good plaster ornament to Ann, Dowager Lady
Bland (died 1734), erected by her son 'in memory
of one of the best of women ' ; with a lozenge over
bearing the arms of Bland, Argent on a bend sable
three pheons of the field, impaling the quartered arms
of Mosley, as on Sir Nicholas Mosley's monument ;
on an escutcheon of pretence the Mosley coat is
repeated. There is also a mural monument on the
west wall of the Mosley Chapel to Sir John Bland
(diedl7l5).36
There are six bells all cast by Abraham Rudhall of
Gloucester ijzj.3^
The church plate consists of a small paten (4^ in.
diam.) inscribed ' Given to the chappel of Didsbury
in the parish of Manchester 1741 '; a small chalice
4 in. high, inscribed ' Belongs to the chapel of Dids-
bury 1743' ; a paten, 'the gift of Thomas Briarly
of Heaton Norris to Didsbury Chapel April 10,
1 748 ' ; a large silver flagon, ' the gift of Joseph
Boardman of Manchester to the Church of Didsbury
A.D. 1753 '; a chalice marked ' A.M.' with crest, a demi-
lion rampant issuing from a coronet (supposed to be
the gift of Ann Mosley) ; a chalice, ' the gift of
Mrs. Frances Bayley to Didsbury Church 1813'; an
almsdish of 1843, and two breadholders of 1845.
Th« registers begin in 1561, and have been tran-
scribed (1561-1757) by Mr. H. T. Crofton and
Rev. E. Abbey Tindall (vols. 8 and 9 Lanes. Parish
Reg. Soc.). The entries from 1561 to 1600 have
been apparently copied from previously existing loose
sheets.
A chapel, it is believed, existed at
ADfOWSON Didsbury from the middle of the
1 3th century,37 and the chapel yard
was consecrated in 1352 in order to provide for the
interment of those who died of the plague.38 The
chapelry, in later times at least, was considered to
include Didsbury, Withington, Burnage, and Heaton
Norris.
The chapel and its ornaments were confiscated by
Edward VI, but the former were acquired by the in-
habitants for 1 3/. 4</.39 Unlike other chapels in the
parish, after the Elizabethan reform it seems to have
been served as a rule by a curate of its own.40 A church
library was founded and a few volumes still remain in
the vestry.41 A stock of ^48 belonged to the chapel
in 1650," and had grown to £104 by 1720,"
88 It has been several times taken to
the church of late years to be used for
adult baptisms, and being by tradition the
font in which Barlow was baptized, is still
an object of reverence to Roman Catholics.
84 The Mosley Chapel was originally at
the south-east corner of the chancel.
85 The inscriptions read as follow* : —
'This is in memory of Sir Nicholas
Mosley, Knight, sometyme Lord Mayor
of London, who dyed the 12 day of
December 1612 of ye age of 85, and lyeth
here interred.'
'Margaret Whitbroke, his ist wife, by
whom he had 6 sonnes and 2 daughters.'
' Elizabeth his second wife, at whose
cost this monument was erected, dyed
without issue.'
' i. Rowland Mosley, Esq. sonne and
heyre of Sr Nicholas, first married Anne
Houghton, by whom he had issue a son
and daughter."
'After, the aforesaid Rowland married
Anne Sutton, one of the co-heiresses of
Sutton, by •whom he had issue Edward his
son and heyre, and Ann his daughter yet
living ; and he dyed Z3rd Feby. 1616, and
lieth here interred."
' z. Anthony Mosley his second son yet
living. 3. Sir Edward Mosley, Knt. his
youngest son, Atty Genl of the Dutchy of
Lancaster now living at Rolleston in
Staffordshire.'
86 The inscriptions on these two monu-
ments are given in Booker, op. cit. pp.
25-6.
sea T]je inscriptions on these bells are
as follows: (i) 'Let us ring for the
Church and the King, 1727' ; (z) 'Pros-
perity to all our benefactors, 1727' ; (3)
' Lady Ann Bland and Sr John, her son,
bart. Benefactors, 1727'; (4) 'Robert
Twyford, Minister, 1727'; (5) 'Wm.
Twyford and Thos. Whitelegg, Ch. War-
dens, I7Z7'; (6) 'Abr. Rudhall of Glou-
cester cast us all, 1727.'
8? Alexander, chaplain of Didsbury, was a
Barlow feoffee about 1300 ; Booker, op.
cit. 251. In 1352 the Bishop of Lich-
field gave his licence to celebrate divine
service in the chapel there ; service had
been performed time out of mind, though
only seldom of recent years. A chaplain
was to be paid by the people. At the
same time the cemetery was to be conse-
crated, the bishop having had testimony
of ' their devotion in the time of the late
pestilence,' when it was inconvenient to
carry the dead all the way to Manchester ;
Lich. Epis. Reg. iii, fol. 127.
88 On 16 Sept. 1361 the Bishop of Lich-
field granted licence to the inhabitants of
the vill of Didsbury to bury in the cemetery
of the chapel there, by reason of the mor-
tality ; Lich. Epis. Reg. Stretton, v, fol. 7.
89 Raines, Chantries (Chet. Soc.), Z77.
The chapel had two bells which the people
had refused to surrender ; ibid. 274, 259.
296
The inscriptions are in the Owen MSS.
40 Robert Lowe was curate of Didsbury
in 1563, according to the Visitation list.
The following occur in the registers of
the chapel: — 1580, Ottiwell Baguley ;
1588, — Loydes ; 1589, Richard Massey ;
Booker, op. cit. $3, 54.
About 1610 the chapel was described as
' annexed to Manchester the mother
church ' ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App.
iv, n.
41 Christie, Old Lanes. Libraries (Chet.
Soc.), 97 ; Moss, Didsbury, 18.
42 Common-wealth Ch. Sur-v. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 13. There was also
a leasehold house, worth about ^10 a
year. It was recommended that a distinct
parish should be assigned to the chapel.
The Committee of Sequestrations in
1649-50 ordered £30 a year to be paid to
the minister of Didsbury ; Plund. Mint.
Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i,
259. In 1652 the income was only £10
a year, and £40 out of the Manchester
tithes was ordered to be added ; ibid, ii,
35. The sum was afterwards reduced to
£33 i of. ; ibid, ii, 91.
48 Gastrell, Notitia (Chet. Soc.), ii, 86,
87. The bishop notes that 'Rowland Mos-
ley, esq., left lands to this chapel worth
£20 per annum for 80 years after the death
of a person mentioned in the lease ; not
known when the person died, but the
lands are taken away. There was also a
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
when the voluntary contributions amounted to £10
a year.44
The patronage, which legally belonged to the
Warden and Fellows of Manchester College, was con-
ceded to Dame Bland in 1726 on her undertaking to
improve the endowment ; 4S it has frequently changed
hands,44 and is now held by Mr. William Norris
Heald. A district chapelry was assigned to it in
i839.4r The incumbents have been styled rectors
since 1850. The following is a list of them : "
1605 Thomas Rycroft49
John Davenport"
John Bradshaw
Thomas Clayton,51 M.A. (St. John's
College, Camb.)
Peter Ledsam 5*
No curate
John Walker, M.A. (Magdalene Col-
lege, Camb.)
Peter Shaw,53 B.A.
Joshua Wakefield,54 M.A. (Queens'
College, Camb.)
Roger Bolton,55 M.A. (Jesus College,
Camb.)
David Dawson, B.A. (St. John's Col-
lege, Camb.)
James Leicester, B.A.56 (St. John's
College, Camb.)
Thomas Wright, B.A.57
Francis Hooper, M.A.58 (Trinity Col-
lege, Camb.)
Robert Twyford, B.A.5' (Brasenose
College, Oxf.)
William Twyford, B.A.60 (St. John's
College, Camb.)
John Newton, M.A . (Queens' College,
Camb.)
John Gatliff, M.A.61 (Brasenose Col-
lege, Oxf.)
William John Kidd 61
Charles Dunlop Smith, M.A.W (Wad-
ham College, Oxf.)
Edward Abbey Tindall, M.A. (Caius
College, Camb.)
Emmanuel Church, Barlow Moor, was consecrated
in 1858 ; the Bishop of Manchester collates to the
1612
1639
1647
1650
1664
1671-86
1686
1700
1705
1709
oc. 1716
1719
1721
1726
1747
1 795
1807
1840
1 88 1
1894
rectory.64 Christ Church was consecrated in 1882 ;
the patronage is vested in trustees.65
A school was established in I685.66
The Wesleyan Methodists began services about
1824 in a room over a blacksmith's shop ; a larger
place was built about i84O.67 In addition a college
for the training of students preparing for the ministry
was established in 1840-42 ; the chapel was intended
for the people of the village as well as for the students.68
The Wesleyans have now a church (St. Paul's) in
Albert Park.
The Baptists have a church in Beaver Park.
The Presbyterian Church of England has a place
of worship called St. Aidan's, built in 1901. The
congregation was founded in 1894.
CHORLTON-WITH-HARDY
Chollirton, 1250; Chollerton, 1292 and usually;
Chourton, 1572. Barlowe, 1253.
This township is divided into two portions by a
brook running across it westwardly to join the Mer-
sey ; the northern portion, nearly square in shape, is
Chorlton proper, now urban ; while the southern
portion, still agricultural, stretches for about 2 miles
along the north bank of the Mersey, and contains
Hardy and Barlow, to the north and south respec-
tively. The surface is level and lies low, the highest
ground being near the south-east end, a little over
100 ft. above the ordnance datum. The lands by
the river side are known as Eeas. The total area is
1,280 acres.1 In 1901 the population numbered
9,026.
The principal roads are those from Manchester
south through Chorlton to Withington and west from
Withington and Fallowfield to Stretford. The Mid-
land Company's railway from Manchester to Stock-
port crosses the northern part of the township and has
a station at Chorlton named Chorlton-cum-Hardy.
There is a footbridge over the Mersey for the road to
Sale.
There is some market gardening.
The township was included in the Withington
Local Board district in 1876, and was with it incorpo-
rated with Manchester in 1904.
piece of ground called the Ogree meadow,
long enjoyed by the curates, but taken
away by Sir John Bland.' The corre-
spondence concerning these lost endow-
ments is printed by Booker, op. cit. 36-
51, where further particulars of the
endowments may be seen.
44 In 1720 a quarter of the people of
the chapelry were Nonconformists (Pres-
byterians) ; Gastrell, loc. cit. The chapel
had two wardens, one chosen by Lady
Bland and the other by the people ; ibid.
45 Booker, Didsbury, 52, 53. Bishop
Gastrell noted that Joseph Maynard and
his wife had claimed the nomination of
the curate in 1667, but the warden and
fellows nominated in 1704 ; Gastrell,
Notitia, ii, 87.
46 Lady Bland, 1726 ; William Broome,
I775 > John Newton, 1792; William
Newall, 1829; Thomas Darwell, 1840 ;
Booker, loc. cit. It was afterwards sold
to James Lowe, who sold in 1878.
47 Land. Gax, 29 Mar. 1839, and 1 6
June 1854.
48 This list is taken chiefly from Booker,
Didsbury, 53-63, as also the notes, where
no other reference is given.
49 He was cited for refusing to wear the
surplice. Afterwards rector of Coddington.
50 He was called ' preacher ' or ' lec-
turer'in 1620 and 1622; Misc. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes and Ches.), i, 54, 66. He
was buried 18 Mar. 1638-9.
51 Munch. Classis (Chet. Soc.), 33, &c.
423. He was described as a 'painful,
godly, preaching minister' in 1650;
Commonwealth Cb. Surv. 13 ; Booker,
Didsbury, 55-9.
sa Probably a Royalist, rector of Wilms-
low, 1661-73 ; Manch. Classis, 186, &c.,
437. At the later meetings of the Classis
neither minister nor elder attended from
Didsbury ; Peter Ledsam was minister in
1659 ; Plund. Mint. Accts, ii, 289.
58 Also of Stretford.
54 Rector of Wilmslow, 1705.
55 Fellow of Manchester, &c. ; Raines,
Fellows (Chet. Soc.), 199-202.
56 Also Chetham Librarian.
*7 Also curate of Birch.
68 Fellow of Trinity and Chetham
Librarian.
5t Nominated by Lady Bland .
60 Son of the preceding curate.
41 Also rector of St. Mary's, Manches-
ter, 1 804-43, and fellow of the Collegiate
Church 1798 ; Raines, Fellows, 296-305.
63 Previously incumbent of St. Mat-
thew's, Manchester ; author of sermons,
&c. Some anecdotes of him are given in
Moss's Didsbury, 17, 18.
88 Previously vicar of South Mailing,
Sussex ; resigned Didsbury in 1893.
64 For district see Land. Gats. 16 May
1860.
65 For district, ibid. 3 Mar. 1882.
66 Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 88 ; also Booker,
Didsbury, 96.
67 Booker, op. cit. ii.
68 Ibid. 10. The house was originally
built for Richard Broome ; Moss, Dids-
bury, 88.
1 1,294 acres, including 15 of inland
water ; Census Rep. 1901.
38
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
It does not appear that there was ever
M4NOR a separate manor of CHORLTON, which
was held as part of Withington,1 but it
may have been held in moieties by Trafford and
Barlow.1* A family bearing the local name is men-
tioned from time to time,3 but nothing is known as
to its position. The principal family, apart from
the lords of Withington and the Barlows, was that
of Trafford, but there is nothing to show how the
Trafford lands were acquired, apart from the grants
quoted in the account of Withington.4 The lands
appear to have been sold about 1590 to Gregory
Lovel and others,5 from whose heirs probably they
passed to the Mosleys,6 and later to the Egertons of
Tatton.
HARDY does not occur separately.
The manor of BARLOW was long held by a family
who adopted that surname.7 The earliest known
member was a Thomas de Barlow to whom about
I zoo Sibyl daughter of Uctred and Margaret granted
all her lands in Barlow.8 A later Thomas in 1253
complained that Robert de Reddish and a number of
his neighbours had interfered with his stream at
Barlow and taken his fish ; it was stated in defence
that the fish were caught in Matthew de Haversage's
free fishery and Thomas was fined, but excused
because he was poor.9 Alexander son of Albin de
Sale gave to Thomas de Barlow all his land and right
in the vill of Barlow.10 Thomas was succeeded by
several Rogers.11 In 1336 Roger de Barlow the
elder made a settlement of his manor of Barlow,
together with five messuages, 50 acres of land, &c.,
in Chorlton, and a moiety of the manor in Chorlton.1*
John son of Roger de Barlow was in possession n
1 389, and a year or two later a settlement of his lar. .Is
in Barlow, Chorlton, Hardy, and Withington, was
made, with remainders to his son John, Joan las
wife, daughter of Richard de Holland, and th( ir
issue.13 The younger John was succeeded by his s n
Nicholas and his grandson Alexander ; u the last-
a Mamecestre (Chet. Soc.), ii, 373, 377.
The township is usually distinguishable
from Chorlton-upon-Medlock by the
spelling of its name — Chollerton instead
of Chorleton.
81 In 1 562 the two principal landowners,
Sir Edmund Trafford and Alexander Bar-
low, claimed to hold the 'manor of
Chorlton in Withington,' and made com-
plaint of an encroachment upon the
waste ; Pal. Note Bk. iv, 210.
8 Richard and Robert de Cholreton
were jurors in 1242 ; Lanes. Inq. and Ex-
tents (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 153.
Richard de Cholreton, clerk, appears in
1314.; Final Cone. ( Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), ii, 15. Richard Enotson of Chol-
lerton was defendant in 1 347 ; De Banco
R. 350, m. 20 1. Robert 'Chorleton' of
' Chollerton ' and Joan his wife were
defendants in 1448 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R.
II, m. 10.
4 See above in the account of Withing-
ton. Henry de Traffbrd and his men of
Chorlton were freed from suit to the mill
at Didsbury about 1260 ; De Trafford D.
no. 133. Henry Trafford in 1422 was
found to have held part of eight messuages,
100 acres of land, and 20 acres of meadow
in Chorlton of Ralph de Longford in
socage ; Towneley MS. DD, no. 1505.
In later inquisitions the whole of the
Trafford holding in Withington, including
Yeldhouse, Rusholme, Fallowneld, Moss
Side, and Chorlton, was regarded as a
single tenement ; e.g. Duchy of Lane.
Inq. p.m. xi, ii.
5 In 1 5 94 Gregory Lovel claimed rights
in Chorlto Moor by conveyance from Sir
Edmund Trafford ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec.
Com.), iii, 306. See also Booker, Didsbury,
248, 6.
6 A capital messuage called Turf Moss,
with lands in Stretford and Chorlton,
appears in the inquisitions after the death
of Rowland Mosley in 1617 ; they were
held partly of the heirs of Hamond Mascy,
and partly of the king as of his duchy ;
Lanci. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), ii, 66, 69. It does not appear
from whom they were purchased ; they
may have been acquired directly from the
Trafford*.
7 Abstracts of their charters, made in
1653, are in Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 172/208,
&c. ; some are printed in Hooker's Dids-
bury, 251, 252, and all in Pal. Note Bk. iv,
206-9.
8 Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 172/208. The
grantor may have been the daughter of
the Hutred de Withington mentioned in
the Cockersand charters quoted above.
A Roger son of Roger de Barlow
attested a Withington deed in the early
part of the reign of Henry III ; Booker,
op. cit. 319.
9 Curia Regis R. 151, m. 29 d., 45 d. ;
152, m. 5 d. ; 155, m. 6. The other
defendants were Adam de Eccles, Matthew
de Birches, Thomas son of Richard de
Hyde, Thomas son of Geoffrey and Jordan
his brother.
The plaintiff seems to be the Thomas
son of Robert de Barlow who, according
to a Lichfield document drawn up in
1397, was sole lord of Barlow, and had
sons Roger and Thomas, of whom the
former had a son Roger ; Harl. MS. 2112,
fol. 173/209.
10 Ibid. fol. 172/208 ; a pair of white
gloves was to be the rent. Richard son
of Henry de Solirton also granted land to
Thomas de Barlow ; ibid. Amice daugh-
ter of Roger de Barlow and widow of
Hamond de Barlow released to Thomas
all her right in the vill of Barlow ; she
also gave to Roger son of Thomas that
half oxgang of land in Barlow which her
father had given her in free marriage ;
ibid.
11 To Roger son of Thomas de Barlow
was granted an oxgang of land in Ains-
worth by William son of Robert de Ains-
worth, and a release was subsequently
given by Maud sister of the grantor ; ibid.
foL 172/208. As Geoffrey de Chetham
was a witness, these charters cannot be
dated much after 1270, if they are so late.
In 1292 Roger de Barlow, a minor,
complained of various trespasses in With-
ington by Henry son of Henry de Trafford,
Simon de Chorlton, and others j Assize
R. 408, m. 4 d. It was perhaps to this
Roger, called the elder, that Alexander
the chaplain of Didsbury (as trustee)
granted lands and water-mill in Barlow,
Chorlton, and Hardy in the vill of With-
ington, with remainder to Thomas son of
Roger de Barlow and Margery his wife ;
ibid. fol. 172^/208^. In 1320-1 an
agreement was made at Withington be-
tween Sir Nicholas de Longford, as lord,
of the one part, and Henry de Trafford
and Roger de Barlow of the other ; ibid.
In 1334 Roger de Barlow alleged that
Robert de Barlow had disseised him of
five messuages and 30 acres in Withing-
ton, and the defence (which failed) was
298
that Roger had given them to his son
Thomas, who died without issue male,
with remainders to Robert (defendant)
and John brothers of Thomas ; Coram
Rege R. 297, m. 115.
12 Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), ii, 99 ; the manors and lands were
to remain to Roger's son Roger and
Agnes his wife, and then successively to
Roger, Henry, and Thurstan, sons of
Roger the younger and Agnes. The
' moiety of the manor of Chorlton ' was
probably the same as the manor of Barlow.
The deed of feoffment in Harl. MS. 21 12,
fol. 172 d./zoS d., bears a seal with an
eagle displayed ; there was a further re-
mainder to Thomas son of Roger the
elder. Margaret daughter of Thomas son
of Roger de Barlow in 1343 released to
her uncle Roger all her claim in the
manor of Barlow, Chorlton, and Hardy ;
ibid. fol. 173/209.
18 Ibid. The earlier deed referred to
was a licence by Robert de Tatton of
Kenworthy to John de Barlow to make a
mill attachment and weir on the Northen-
den side of the Mersey.
The Bishop of Lichfield in 1 393 licensed
the oratory within John de Barlow's manor-
house ; Lich. Epis. Reg. Scrope, vi, 130^.
John son of Roger de Barlow in 1 396-7
made a settlement of his manor of Barlow
and lands in Barlow, Chorlton, and Hardy
in Withington; Harl. MS. 2112, fol.
i73d./2O9d. In 1401 Hugh de Barlow
granted to William his son all his lands in
Haughton and Withington, with remain-
der to John son of Roger de Barlow ; and
in 1408 the same Hugh gave all his lands
in Withington to John de Barlow the
elder ; ibid.
John, lord of Barlow, in 1401 leased
his water-mill of Barlow to John the
miller of Urmston at a rent of £4 a year ;
ibid. fol. 174/210.
14 A number of deeds of these three
generations will be found in the MS. re-
ferred to. In 1458 John son of John
Barlow the elder gave to feoffees the lands
he had had from his father in Haughton ;
ibid. By a deed of about the same time
Nicholas son of John Barlow agreed with
Richard Ashton of Mersey Bank concern-
ing the wardship and marriage of Alexan-
der the son and heir apparent of Nicholas ;
Elizabeth daughter of Richard was the
wi fe chosen ; ibid. George and Richard
Barlow are named in 1.460 and 1461 ;
ibid. Alexander son and heir of Nicholas
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
named heads the pedigree recorded in 1567,'* at
which time the lord of the manor was another
Alexander Barlow, who was
conspicuous among the people
of the Manchester district by
his steady resistance to the
religious changes made by
Elizabeth.16 For this cause he
was at last committed to pri-
son, and died in custody on
24 August 1584 leaving a son
and heir of the same name,
then twenty-six years of age.17
The son, described in the
Douay Records as a ' constant
confessor of Christ,' 18 was
made a knight on the accession
of James I,19 who at that time
showed his inclination towards religious toleration.
Sir Alexander died in 1620, holding the manor of
Barlow and various lands of Edward Mosley, and
other lands in Denton and Haughton ; his son and
heir Sir Alexander Barlow was over thirty years of
age.*0 Two other sons entered the Benedictine Order,
BARLOW of Barlow.
Sable a double - headed
eagle displayed argentt
numbered or, standing on
the limb of a tree raguled
and trunked of the second.
one of them being the Ven. Ambrose Barlow, who
for twenty years laboured as a missionary in South
Lancashire, and after being several times imprisoned,
was at last executed for his priesthood on 10 Septem-
ber 1 64 111 at Lancaster. His death was supposed
to have been due to instructions from the Parliament.
Of the second Sir Alexander but little is known."
He died in 1642 and was succeeded by his son
Alexander,13 who in 1654 was followed by his brother
Thomas." A pedigree was recorded ten years later.*5
Thomas died in 1684, his surviving son Anthony
being the heir.*6 In 1717 Anthony Barlow, as a
* Papist,' registered his estate.*7 His two elder sons,
Thomas and Anthony, were charged with treason in
connexion with the Jacobite rising of 1715,** but
appear to have escaped, as Thomas succeeded his father
in 1723. Quarrels between Thomas and his wife
ended in an attempt on her life, and he died a
prisoner in Lancaster in 1729, having fallen a victim
to gaol fever.*9 His eldest son Thomas succeeded, and
soon after his death in 1773 so the estates were sold."
Barlow Hall has ever since been the property of the
Egertons of Tatton. It was for some years the resi-
dence of the late Sir William Cunliffe Brooks.
Barlow made a feoffment of his manor
of Barlow, &c., in 1478 ; Harl. MS.
Zi 12, fol. I74d./2iod.
William Barlow, a son of Nicholas,
claimed certain lands in Withington
against Alexander Barlow in 1479 » *>a'-
of Lane. Plea R. 51, m. 3 d.
16 Vint. (Chet. Soc.), 5. The descent
is thus given : Alexander -a. Roger -s.
Ellis -s. Alexander (living 1567) -s.
Alexander.
Writs were issued in 1525 touching
Anne Barlow, widow, custodian of the
land and heir of Ellis Barlow, and Kathe-
rine who was the wife of Roger Barlow ;
Pal. of Lane. Writs Proton. Lent,
1 6 Hen. VIII. Two years later Edmund
Barlow of Hardy, and {Catherine Barlow,
widow, were executors of the will of
Roger son and heir of Alexander Barlow ;
ibid. Lent, 18 Hen. VIII ; Pal. of Lane.
Plea R. 142, m. 4.
A settlement of his estates was made
by Alexander Barlow in 1555 ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 15, m. 43.
16 Gillow, Bill. Diet, of Engl. Cath. i,
130. It was to him that Lawrence Vaux,
warden of Manchester, entrusted some of
the college charters ; see Pal. Note Bk. iv,
211. He represented Wigan in Parlia-
ment from 1547 to 1557; Pink and
Beaven, Parl. Rep. of Lanes. 218-20.
*7 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, 7.
The manor of Barlow and lands in Bar-
low, Hardy, Chorlton, and Marshiche
were held of Nicholas Longford in socage
by a rent of 2o</.
18 As quoted by Challoner. In his will
he described himself as ' a true and per-
fect recusant Catholic.' See also Manch.
Sessions (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i,
82.
19 Metcalfe, Knights, 149. His son
Alexander was made a knight at the same
time.
20 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes.
and Ches.), ii, 206. The estate comprised
the capital messuage called Barlow Hall,
a water-mill, and various messuages and
lands. The clear value of the whole was
declared to be £50. The rent of zod.
for Barlow was unchanged.
An account of the life of this Sir Alex-
ander will be found in Pal. Note Bk. iv,
212-14, where also his portrait is en-
graved, and in Gillow, op. cit. i, 132 ;
Funeral Certs. (Chet. Soc.). His will is
printed in Booker's Didsbury, 264-7. He
was buried in Manchester Church by
torchlight.
21 His baptismal name was Edward.
There are accounts of him in Challoner's
Missionary Priests, no. 161 ; Gillow, op.
cit. i, 134, and Trans. Hist. Soc. (new
ser.), xiii, 129 (with portrait). He was
educated at Douay, where he entered the
Benedictine Order in 1615, and was sent
on the English mission, where he made
himself beloved by ' his great zeal in the
conversion of souls and the exemplary
piety of his life and conversation.' It is
related, as illustrating the devotions of the
persecuted recusants, that on the eves of
chief festivals 'the Catholics resorted to
him from distant places and passed the
night after the manner of the primitive
Church, in watching, prayer, and spiritual
colloquies ; whilst for his part he was
employed almost all the night in hearing
confessions. On the next day he treated
them all to a dinner, where he and some
of the more honourable sort of his flock
served them that were poor and waited
upon them, and then dined off their
leavings. When he sent them home he
gave each a groat in alms 5 and when all
had dined he distributed what remained
to the poor of the parish.' His name
was among those allowed by Leo XIII in
1886 to proceed in the cause of beatifica-
tion. It has recently been suggested that
his is the mysterious skull preserved at
Wardley Hall in Worsley. His brother
William took the religious name of Rude-
sind, and became superior of St. Gregory's,
Douay. There are notices of both in
Diet. Nat. Biog.
William Barlow, an Elizabethan divine
who became Bishop of Lincoln (1608-13),
is said to have been of Lancashire origin,
though probably a Londoner by birth ;
Baker, St. John's College, Camb. i, 256-7 ;
Booker, Didsbury, 254-64 ; Diet. Nat.
Biog. There are no Lancashire bequests
in his will.
22 Booker, op. cit. 268-70 ; where his
will is printed. He seems to have sold or
mortgaged his estate to Edmund Prest-
299
wich in 1621 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 99, DO. 15.
23 He was high sheriff in 1651, so that
he must have professed Protestantism ;
P.R.O. List, 73. The estates were un-
touched by the Parliamentarian seques-
trations of the time.
24 Booker, op. cit. 281. A settlement
of the manor of Barlow was made bjr
Alexander and Thomas Barlow in 1654 ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 156, m.
162. Thomas Barlow and his trustee*
made a further settlement in 1656 ; ibid,
bdle. 159, m. 89, and again in 1683 5 ibid,
bdle. 210, m. 62.
25 Dugdale, Vint. (Chet. Soc.), 28.
26 Booker, loc. cit.
2? Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath.
Nonjurors, 20, 153; the yearly value was
returned as £171 9*. for the Barlow
Estate, and £7 for one at Northenden.
Anthony's will is printed by Booker, op.
cit. 282-84. By it the manor of Barlow
was given to trustees for the benefit of his
sons.
28 The charge is mentioned in their
father's will.
29 Some depositions are printed by
Booker, op. cit. 285-8. A servant de-
posed that 'she understood that he, Mr.
Barlow, was much in debt, in so much
that he never or seldom appeared out of
doors but on Sundays, and there was but
poor housekeeping.' Particulars of the
sacred vestments, &c., at the hall are
given ; they were 'consecrated goods or
ornaments belonging to the Popish chapel
at Barlow . . . kept together in a great
trunk.'
80 Indentures of 1760 by Thomas Bar-
low respecting the manor of Barlow were
enrolled in the Common Pleas ; Mich, i
Geo. Ill, R. 86, 88. Thomas Barlow's
will (printed by Booker, op. cit. 288-91),
devised Barlow Hall, &c., to trustees for
the discharge of his debts, the payment of
his wife's jointure, and various annuities,
with remainder to the sons of his brother
Humphrey, &c.
81 The estate was offered for sale by
auction on 2 Aug. 1785 ; ibid. 291. A
private Act, a copy of which is in the
possession of W. Farrer, had been obtained
for vesting the estates in trustees.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
A house appears to have existed on or near the site
of the hall as far back as the reign of Henry VI,
but the oldest parts of the present building do not
date back further than the first half of the 1 6th century,
and of this original house little or nothing can now be
seen, the black and white work now remaining on the
outside belonging to a later rebuilding in the same
century.
The house stands about a quarter of a mile to. the
south of Barlow Moor Road between Chorlton-with-
Hardy and Withington, on slightly rising ground on the
north bank of the River Mersey, the position being
originally in a large measure one of natural defence.
The building is of two stories, quadrangular in plan,
but almost wholly modernized and preserving few
quatrefoil panels in the former porch to the north.
The bay window is continued up to the second story
in a timber gable, the barge boards of which have
been renewed. On the north wall of the quadrangle
is a sundial with the date i 5 74, and the motto Lumen
me regit vos umbra, marking the work of Alexander
Barlow who renovated the Hall in that year. The
bay window contains in its six upper lights some good
heraldic glass. On one are the heads of a double-
headed eagle (the crest of the Barlows), with the motto
Prist en foyt. Another contains the arms of Holland,
and a third those of the third Earl of Derby encircled
by a garter, with the date 1574 and initials A.B.
below. This appears to have been placed here by
Alexander Barlow (whose sister Margaret was the Earl
BARLOW HALL
features of architectural interest. The entrance is by
a doorway on the east side of the quadrangle, but it is
said to have been formerly on the north side, part of
which is described as a porch with gable over, still
remaining. The quadrangle is irregular in shape but
measures about 40 ft. from north to south, the width
varying from 32 ft. on the south end to 38 ft. on the
north. The plan of the buildings now surrounding
the courtyard preserves very little of the ancient
arrangement of the house, which may originally have
consisted of the north and west wings, the quad-
rangle being completed later ; but the great hall
occupied the west wing, and a bay window in the
north-west corner of the courtyard belonged to it.
This bay, together with the restored half-timber work
on the north side of the quadrangle, is the only
picturesque bit of old work now left on the exterior
of Barlow Hall, if we except a carved beam and some
»u Chorlton
of Derby's second wife) two years after his brother-
in-law's death.
Booker Jla gives two more shields, which have now
disappeared.
1. Argent a lion rampant gules, collared or, which
is the coat of Reddish.
2. A shield of Kendall of seven quartering? : (l)
Gules a fesse cheeky or and azure between three eagles
displayed of the second ; (2) Ermine a fesse azure ;
(3) Azure a cross or ; (4) Argent three garbs gules ;
(5) Argent on a cross azure five fleurs de lys or ; (6)
Or a lion rampant guardant azure ; (7) Argent three
martlets gules.
A corridor runs all round the house on the inner
side next to the courtyard, but in the old west wing
it is a modern arrangement, the bay window now
lighting its northern end. There is a staircase bay in
the north-east angle of the courtyard, and two other
CAapel, 293.
30O
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
staircases in the north-west and south-west interior
angles of the building. The kitchen and offices are
in the north, and the chief living rooms in the west
and south. The internal corridor arrangement is pre-
served on three sides of the first floor.
By a fire which took place at Barlow Hall in
March 1879 t^le west wing was almost entirely
destroyed, and all traces of the original great hall lost.
Much damage was also done to other parts of the
building. The older part of the house had, however,
been greatly modernized before this, and its exterior
now presents the appearance of a quite ordinary brick-
built house of the middle of the i gth century relieved*
from absolute dulness by a covering of ivy on its
principal elevation. The roofs are of flat pitch and
covered with blue slates, but some later additions on
the south-east of the building have higher pitched
roofs with gables and are less plain in detail. On the
south of the house at the bottom of the terrace is a
pond extending the full length of the building, probably
a portion of an ancient moat. The fire of 1879 re-
vealed a good deal of the ancient construction. In
places where the stucco and lath and plaster had
been destroyed the ancient timber framing was
exposed, with fillings of ' wattle and daub ' and of
brick. Much of this work, including the roof of
the west wing, which is said to have been built on
crucks, probably belonged to the original 1 6th-century
house, but since the rebuilding it is no longer to be
seen."
Barlow Hall was in 1784 the birthplace of Thomas
Walker, author of ' The Original,' and is now the
head quarters of the Chorlton - cum - Hardy Golf
Club.
In 1787 the principal landowners in the township
were the assigns of Thomas Barlow and William
Egerton, each contributing about a third of the land
tax ; George Lloyd paid nearly a fifth.88 There
were twenty-three owners in 1845, the chief being
Wilbraham Egerton, owning nearly three-quarters of
the land, and George Lloyd owning nearly a fifth.84
The old chapel of Chorlton is believed
CHURCH to have been built about the beginning
of the reign of Henry VIII ;** it was
taken down in 1779 and another erected, called
St. Clement's.86 A second church of St. Clement
was consecrated in 1896, technically as a chapel
of ease to the old one, which is still used. A
fund of £69 belonged in 1650 to the chapel and
school ; 3l but part was lost, and in 1 704 the income
from endowments was only £i i^s.38 This has been
largely increased since that time.39 The dean and
canons of Manchester present to the rectory. A
separate chapelry was assigned to it in 1839.*° After
the religious changes made by Elizabeth this chapel,
if served at all, was left to a lay ' reader,' 41 with
occasional visits from one of the fellows of the
collegiate church. Ordained curates are named in
1619 and later,4* but the lack of maintenance appears
to have prevented any settled ministry until about
1750,° from which date the following have offici-
ated :— 44
oc. 1754 Robert Oldfield, M.A.4*
1766 Richard Assheton, M.A.46 (Brasenose
Coll. Oxf.)
1771 John Salter
1789 Joshua Brookes, M.A.47 (Brasenose Coll.
Oxf.)
1791 Nicholas Mosley Cheek
1805 George Hutchinson, M.A.
1 8 1 6 Richard Hutchins Whitelock, M.A.48
M For the three ghosts of Barlow Hall,
see Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. vii, 305.
88 Land tax returns at Preston.
84 Booker, op. cit. 296.
85 Ibid. 298 ; a view is given. There
was a sundial over the south door on the
wall. On the confiscation by Edward VI
the 'ornaments' were sold for zs. 8</. ;
Raines, Chant. (Chet. Soc.), 277.
86 Booker, loc. cit. A brief for a
collection in aid was issued in 1774. In
the Mancb. Dioc. Cal. the date of consecra-
tion is given as 1782. It was enlarged in
1837.
87 Commonwealth Ch. Surv. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 13. Sir Nicholas
Mosley in 1612 directed that £5 a year
for twenty years should be given to a
schoolmaster to teach school at Chorlton
Chapel, the Mosleys to nominate and dis-
charge the master, who was not to charge
any scholar more than 6d. a quarter ; he
desired further that the master should
read service three times a week in the
chapel ; Booker, op. cit. 132.
An addition of ,£4.0, afterwards reduced
to £35 i CM., was made by the Common-
wealth authorities from sequestrations and
from the Manchester tithes, but this
allowance of course ceased at the Restora-
tion ; Plund. Mini. Accts. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 264 ; ii, 77.
88 Gastrell, Notitia (Chet. Soc.), ii, 83 ;
* £80 was lost by a tradesman in Man-
chester.' Two wardens were chosen —
from Chorlton and from Hardy.
89 Some details arc given by Booker,
op. cit. 301.
40 Land. Gax. 29 Mar. 1839 ; 1 6 June
1854.
41 One Thomas Harnes was curate of
Chorlton in 1563 ; Visitation List at
Chester. In 1575 Robert Chorlton,
' literate,' was licensed as reader to
Chorlton Chapel ; Pennant's Acct. Bk.
Chester. In 1592 the chapel yard was
ill kept, and the reader, Roger Worthing-
ton, was unlicensed ; he was ordered to
obtain a licence, and 'to procure com-
munions to be ministered four times
annually according to the queen's injunc-
tions, orderly and well ' ; Lanes, and Ches.
Antiq. Soc. xiii, 59. In 1598 the 'reader'
kept a school, and six years later, Ralph
Worthington, still the reader, was pre-
sented for lending money on usury ;
Booker, op. cit. 302. In a list drawn up
about 1610 Chorlton is entered as one of
the chapels 'the curates and preachers
whereof are only maintained by the
several inhabitants ' ; Hist. MSS. Com.
Rep. riv, App. iv, n. From the extract
from Sir N. Mosley's will already given
it appears that there was in 1612 no
curate, but only a reader-schoolmaster.
43 John Dickinson was curate in 1619,
but was 'no preacher' ; Visit. P. at
Chester. John Bradshaw was curate in
1634-6; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 95. He was in 1639 followed
by a John Pollett, who, refusing to re-
nounce episcopacy and the Prayer Book, was
ejected about 1645 ; Booker, op. cit. 302.
He was followed by Richard Benson,i 647;
John Odcroft (unordained), 1651 ; and
James Jackson, 1654 ; for these see ibid.
301
203, 204 ; Manch. Clatsit (Chet. Soc.),
26, 164, 215, &c. ; Plund. Mint. Accts, i,
264 ; ii, 77, 289 ( John J.). Jackson
appears to have retained the curacy after
the Restoration, but it is not certain that
he conformed ; his supposed successor,
one Richardson, was not a conformist ;
Booker, op. cit. 304-6. James Lees was
there in 1671 ; Visit. Lists. Joshua
Hyde was curate in 1689 and 'conform-
able ' to the government ; Hist. MSS.
Com .Rep. xiv, App. iv, 229.
48 In 1 706 there was ' no settled
curate'; Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 83. John
Thomas, B.A., of Brasenose Coll. Oxf.
appears in 1716, and Joseph Dale in the
following year ; Booker, op. cit. 306.
The latter was also curate of Birch, and
stated that the people of Chorlton contri-
buted only j£io a year to his maintenance ;
Raines in Notitia, ii, 83. The name of
Thomas Beely occurs. The extant regis-
ters begin in 1737. The gravestone in-
scriptions are in the Owens MSS.
44 The list is taken chiefly from
Booker's work, 307-10.
45 Afterwards of Salford.
46 Raines, Fellows of Mancb. (Chet.
Soc.), 274-6.
47 He was afterwards chaplain of Man-
chester Collegiate Church, 1790-1821,
and was noted for his eccentricities, of
which many stories were told ; see
Booker, op. cit. 307—9.
48 Also vicar of Skillington, Lines.,
curate of St. Mark's, Cheetham, and post-
master of Manchester ; ibid. 310.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
1833 Peter Hordern, M.A.49 (Brasenose Coll.
Oxf.)
1836 John Morton, B.D.
1 843 William Birley, M.A.
1859 John Edmund Booth, M.A.50 (Brasenose
Coll. Oxf.)
1893 Francis Edward Thomas, M.A.41
(Magdalene Coll. Camb.)
A new church, St. Werburgh's, was consecrated in
1902 ; the Crown and the Bishop of Manchester have
the patronage alternately.
Methodism was introduced in 1770. The Wes-
leyan Methodists opened a chapel in 1805, rebuilt
and enlarged it in 1827, and replaced it by another
in 1872." They have now two churches in the
township, and the Primitive Methodists also have one.
The Baptists, the Congregationalists,43 and the
Presbyterian Church of England 64 each have a place
of worship. The Unitarians also have a church, built
in 1 90 1.68
The Roman Catholic Church of St. Augustine was
opened in 1892. It was first known as St. Peter's
Priory, of the Gregorian Order, but in 1896 was
handed over to the secular clergy.68
MOSS SIDE
The principal part of this township * lies to the
north of Withington ; there are two small detached
portions to the east, viz. on the north-west and north-
east corners of Rusholme.1 The total area is 421
acres. The whole is now urban, and forms an in-
distinguishable part of Manchester. Whalley Range
lies on the south-west border.8 The population in
1901 was 26,677.
A local board was formed in 1856,* and became an
urban district council in 1894, but the district was
taken into the city of Manchester in 1904. The
township contains a free library.6
Pepper Hill Farm, the scene of the opening chap-
ters of Mrs. Gaskell's Mary Barton, stood in the main
portion of the township until 1900, when it was
taken down. The site forms part of the Westwood
Street Recreation Ground.
Several relics of the Stone Age have been found in
and near Moss Side.
There was no manor of MOSS SIDE,
M4NOR and the development of the township is
obscure. Judging from the later owner-
ship the main portion and the nearest of the detached
parts were once included in the estates of the Prest-
wiches of Hulme, for they were, in the latter part of
the 1 8th century, held by the Lloyds. The eastern
detached portion, lying near the Stockport Road, may
have been the estate formerly known as Holt in Rus-
holme.6 Edmund Prestwich, who died in 1577, held
messuages and lands in * Withenshaw ' of Nicholas
Longford in socage, by a rent of 3*. ^.d. ; this is prob-
ably the Moss Side estate of the family.7
The Traffords and others also held lands in Moss
Side,8 but there seems no way of distinguishing their
estate here from other lands held by them of the lord*
of Withington ; some, or all, of their land in the
Yeeldhouses was no doubt in Moss Side, as traces of
the name remained till recently.9
George Lloyd, representing in his estate the Prest-
wiches, paid over half the land tax in 1797 ; the
other estates in the township were but small.10
A large number of places of worship have been
built in the township during the last half-century. IB
connexion with the Established Church are Christ
Church, 1850," rebuilt 1899-1904, with a mission
room; St. James's, 1888; also, at Whalley Range,
St. Margaret's, 1849," and St. Edmund's, 1882."
The Bishop of Manchester collates the rector ot
St. James's ; the other benefices are in the hands of
the Simeon and other trustees.
The following also have churches : The Primitive
Methodists, Wesleyans (at Whalley Range), Congre-
gationalists, Baptists,14 Welsh Calvinistic Methodists,16
Church of United Friends, Salvation Army, and
Swedenborgians (New Jerusalem).
The Presbyterian Church of England at Whalley
Range dates from 1849 ; the present church was
built in 1886.
There is no Roman Catholic church, but the
nursing sisters of St. Joseph have a house at Whalley
Range.
49 Also Chetham Librarian.
50 Previously incumbent of St. Stephen's,
Salford.
11 Previously vicar of Tonge Moor.
48 Booker, op. cit. 301, 302.
58 It is called the Macfadyen Memorial
Church.
64 Founded 1904.
"The congregation dates from 1891,
and therefore has no connexion with 1 7th-
century Nonconformity. In 1689 Wil-
liam Broome's barn in Chorlton was
licensed for a dissenting minister, Thomas
Kynaston ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App.
iv, Z32. Kynaston was from about that
time minister at Knutsford. In 1718 a
quarter of the small population was Presby-
terian ; Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 83.
64 Kelly, Engl. Cath. Missions.
1 An exhaustive account of Old Moss
Side has been compiled by Mr. Henry
Thomas Crofton (Manch. 1903). The
topography of the township and its im-
mediate surroundings is minutely described,
and accounts are given of houses, residents,
and incidents occurring in its story.
8 The north-east portion was joined to
the Rusholme Local Board district in
1856 ; the remainder became Moss Side
Local Board district.
8 It was the property of Samuel Brooks,
the Manchester banker, who so named it
because he was born at Whalley.
4 19 & 20 Viet. cap. 26.
5 It contains special collections relating
to Mrs. Gaskell and de Quincey.
6 See the account of Rusholme.
7 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, 4. A
similar statement was made in 1598;
ibid, xvii, 27. From this it would seem
that Withenshaw lay on both sides of the
Cornbrook.
In 1542 John Birch complained that
Robert Hunt and a number of others had
taken his beasts at Moss Side in a place
called Moss Green ; he stated that Ed-
mund Prestwich, who held six messuages
and 200 acres of land in Withenshaw, had
common of pasture in Moss Green and in
1540 demised a messuage and land to the
plaintiff, who thereupon placed his beasts
302
on Moss Green ; Pal. of Lane. Plea. R.
172, m. 13.
8 Moss Side is named in their inquisi-
tions ; see further under Withington and
Chorlton- with-Hardy. 'Two messuages
and 20 acres of land in Withington called
Moss Side' were held by Sir Edmund
Traffbrd in 1513; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. iv, 51.
9 Great and Little Heald, otherwise
called 'Traffbrd land,' lay on the south-
east border of the main portion of Moss
Side, as is shown by old estate maps. It
is now popularly known as the 'Tem-
perance Settlement ' in Marine Road,
formerly Dogkennel Lane.
10 Returns at Preston. The Egertons
of Tatton were also owners.
11 A district was assigned to it in 1858 ;
Land. Gax. I 3 Aug.
18 The district was formed in 1849 and
reformed in 1854 ; ibid. 16 June 1854.
18 Ibid. 1 8 Dec. 1883, for district.
14 Replacing York Street Chapel,
Hulme, in 1873.
« Pal. Note Bk. i, 1 10.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
RUSHOLME
Russum, 1235 ; Russhum, 1420 ; Rysshulme, 1 5 5 1 ;
Risholme, 1568.
This township has an area of 974 acres. It is
crossed by the Gore, or Rushbrook, the portion to
the north of which has now become urban in charac-
ter, being a residential suburb of Manchester ; part
of it, known as Victoria Park, was laid out by a com-
pany formed in 1837. On the brook, in the centre
of the township, is the district called Birch ; to the
west lies Platt, and to the east Slade. The Heald in
the north-west is part of a district of the name
stretching west into Moss Side. In 1901 the popu-
lation was counted with Ardwick.
The principal road is that from Manchester through
Withington into Cheshire, on the western side of the
township. On the eastern border is the ancient road
from Manchester to Stockport. There are numerous
streets and cross-roads. The Great Central Com-
pany's railway crosses the southern end of the town-
ship.
A hoard of Roman coins, A.D. 253-73, was found
at Birch.1
The Green was near the centre of the township,
touching Dickenson Road.1
A Local Board was formed for Rusholme in 1851;*
the boundaries were afterwards altered,4 and the dis-
trict was taken into the city of Manchester in 1885.
The township ceased to have a separate existence in
i 896, becoming part of the new township of South
Manchester.
A Public Hall and Library was built in 1860 ;
after the transfer to Manchester Corporation it was
opened as a free library in 1892. There is a park at
Birch Fields, and another called Platt Fields. Whit-
worth Park,5 in the north-west corner, lies partly in
Chorlton-upon-Medlock.
While there was never any manor of,
MANOR RUSHOLME, which was only a district i
in Withington, it gave a surname to a
local family,6 and there were several estates within it '
that demand notice — Platt, Birch, Slade, and Holt.
Formerly the name of the township covered, at least
in popular language, a much wider area, extending
over the western portion of Gorton ; 7 while on the
other hand the custom of using the name Withing-
ton to include Rusholme and other districts makes
it difficult in many cases to be sure of the exact
locality of the lands in the charters and pleas
quoted.
In the time of Henry II or Richard I Matthew
son of William granted to the Hospitallers the land
of PLATT, with its appurtenances in Withington,
in pure alms.8 In 1 1 90 Gamier de Nablous, the
prior in England, granted this, together with other
lands of his order, to Richard de la More at a total
rent of 4*., payable at the Hospitallers' residence in
London.9 William son of Richard de More gave
a moiety of Platt, in marriage with his daughter
Cecily, to Henry son of Gilbert at a rent of 6^.ie
The other moiety seems about 1260 to have reverted
to the Hospitallers, who granted it to Richard son of
Adam de Farnworth, at a rent of 4/.11 While the
former moiety became divided among a number of
tenants,1* the latter remained undivided in the pos-
1 Lanci . Archacol. Sur-v. 7.
1 Manch. Guard. N. and Q. no. 763.
» Land. Gaz. 18 Feb. 1851.
4 19 & 20 Viet. cap. 26 ; 45 & 46
Viet. cap. 72. The district was extended
to include the detached portion of Moss
Side on the north-east corner, and that
part of Withington known as Fallowfield.
5 The land formerly belonged to the
Entwisles of Rusholme House, as their
residence was called. It had been pur-
chased from the Traffords and the Lloyds.
It was acquired in 1888 by the Whit-
worth legatees, afterwards added to the
Whitworth Institute, and in 1904 pre-
sented to the corporation of Manchester ;
H. T. Crofton, Old Moss Side, 7.
6 Among the Birch charters are a num-
ber which show that one Henry de Rus-
holme, who lived in the time of Hen. Ill,
owned a large part of the later township.
Possibly he had no heirs, and so the lands
reverted to the lord of Withington. A
number of the charters referred to are
printed in full in Booker's Birch Chap.
(Chet. Soc.), 183, &c., and abstracts are
preserved in Harl. MS. 2112, fols. 178^,
&c. Henry de Rusholme granted to
Geoffrey son of Luke de Manchester
various parcels of land ' within the bounds
of Rusholme,' including a messuage by
the Out Lane, an acre touching the
Menegate, a half-acre touching Goose-
lache, a selion called the Quickhedge land
stretching from Gooselache to the Mene-
gate, 6 acres next Hugh de Haslum'sland
and stretching from Gooselache to the old
ditch, and other lands, the rent being a
pair of white gloves ; Booker, op. cit.
183. He further gave Geoffrey his right
in 20 acres held by Robert de Hulton ;
and released to his lord, Matthew de
Haversage, all his own claim to the hom-
age and service of the said Geoffrey son of
Luke de Manchester ; ibid. 184.
The Manchester family appear again in
grants to Jordan son of William de Fal-
lowfield ; ibid. 185, 1 86, 231.
7 See the notices of the Swineshead
land and '40 acres' in Gorton.
8 Booker, op. cit. 189 ; the Worsley
charters relating to Platt occupy 189-223.
The bounds of the grant were : From the
Great Ditch to the lower end of the Little
Ditch, up to the cross-marked tree, thence
to Gooselache, and so to the path ' Eite '
(? Out Lane) between Platt and Rus-
holme, by this path to Gorebrook as far
as the mere (mara) of William de Hand-
forth, and so to the Great Ditch. The
land is named among the Hospitallers'
estates in 1292 ; Plac. de Quo War. (Rec.
Com.), 375.
9 Booker, op. cit. 189 ; Richard de
More was probably identical with the
tenant of the Swineshead land in Gor-
ton, which descended to the Strangeways
family. This family appear in Rusholme
as attesting charters.
10 Ibid. 190.
u Ibid. 191 ; Adam the Clerk had for-
merly held it. In addition to the rent
of 41. there had to be paid at the death
of each holder an ' obit ' of the third part
of the goods and chattels of the deceased.
12 A genealogical note dated 1418, on
the back of the third deed quoted (Booker,
op. cit. 191), was perhaps intended to
show the subdivisions. Roger del Platt,
son of Cecily, in 1289 granted to Ellen
daughter of Henry del Platt (perhaps a
half-sister) 2 acres stretching from
Thornyditch to Gooselache ; ibid. 192.
The Prior of the Hospitallers in 1332
made a claim for services against Robert
del Platt ; De Banco R. 292, m. 354d.
303
In 1352 Joan daughter of Robert del
Platt, William Forstes and Margery his
wife, Robert Tele and Agnes his wife,
William del Hull and Cecily his wife
(these in right of the wives) made a
claim for an acre in Withington against
Thomas de Sheldreslow and Robert son
of Henry de Trafford ; Duchy of Lane.
Assize R. 2 (Pent.), m. 4 d. ; (July), m. 8.
The Hospitallers' rental of about 1540
shows the following : Edward Shelmer-
dinc, a messuage in Rusholme, i\d. ;
Edmund Trafford, a messuage (probably
in the same place), \d. ; the feoffees of
the lands of Richard Radcliffe, by the
warden of the College of Manchester,
4</. ; Kuerden MSS. v, fol. 84.
The last rent is of interest, as it identi-
fies a fragment of the Hospitallers' land
in Platt with the obit land of the college
in Withington in 1 547 ; see Raines,
Chantries (Chet. Soc.), i, 23, where the
gift is stated to have been made by
Thomas Radcliffe of Osberton (or his
ancestors). The land was probably se-
cured by the college on its refounding
by Philip and Mary, for in 1645 the
warden and fellows leased to Ralph
Worsley of Platt their messuage, &c.,
called the Yield House, now Heald
House, situate in Rusholme, except a
part called the Gorse [? Goose] Crofts,
which lease was renewed from time to
time ; Booker, Birch, 4, 5. It is stated
that ' Mr. Worsley's tenants for several
generations were a family named Travis.'
The tenant in 1547 was Thomas Travers.
Thomas Shelmerdine of Rusholme
occurs in 1 6 1 9-20 ; Manch. Sess. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 98. One
of the name gave £z to the endowment
of Birch Chapel in 1640 ; Booker, op
cit. 137.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
session of the descendants of
the grantee, who assumed the
name of Platt 13 and retained
it, paying the rent of \s. until
i6z5- It was then sold to
Ralph Worsley,14 whose descen-
dants and their legatees long
retained the estate.15
The most prominent mem-
ber of the family was Major
General Charles Worsley, a
sincere Puritan, who took an
Wo«8L«y of Platt.
Argent on a chief gules a
mural crown or.
active part in affairs on the Parliamentary side,16 and
had the doubtful honour of dispersing the remnant
of the Long Parliament by force in 1653 and taking
charge of the ' bauble ' which Cromwell ordered to
be removed.17 He was also engaged in the govern-
ment of Lancashire,18 confiscating the property of
Royalists, filling the gaols with ' Papists,' 19 suppress-
ing horse-races, and otherwise promoting the public
good according to his light. Worn out with his
labours, he died in June 1656, at the early age of
thirty-five.*0 The estate was until recently owned
by Mr. Nicholas Tindal-Carill- Worsley, who married
13 The deedt printed by Booker enable
the pedigree to be made out fairly well.
In 1314 William son of Hugh de Lagh-
okes released to Robert son of Richard
de Farnivorth all his claim to the moiety
of Platt ; Booker, op. cit. 192. Laghok, or
Laffbg, in Parr, also belonged to the Hos-
pitallers. Ten years later Roger del Platt
(of the other moiety) agreed with Robert
ton of Richard del Platt as to the division
of certain pasture lying between Roger's
door and the Geldbrook ; ibid. 193. The
above-named Ellen daughter of Henry
del Platt in 1 343-4 sold her land to the
second Platt family ; ibid. 1 94-7. The
remainders were to Richard and John
sons of Robert del Platt.
Certain suits between members of the
different Platt families may here be
noticed. Margery widow of Adam de
Farn worth in 1290 appeared against
Robert son of Richard de Platt and
Geoffrey de Platt for dower in two mes-
suages and 40 acres in Withington ; and
against Agnes widow of Richard de Platt
for dower in a messuage and 1 5 acres ;
De Banco R. 82, m. 42. Roger del Platt
was a plaintiff in 1295 ; ibid. R. no,
m. 12 d. ; 113, m. 137 d.
In 1298 Cecily widow of Henry del
Platt claimed 2 acres against Geoffrey
del Platt; ibid. R. 122, m. 195 d. In
1301 Robert del Platt did not prosecute
his suit against Robert son of Richard de
Faryngworth [Farnworth] ; Assize R.
1321, m. 10. In the same year Ellen
daughter of Henry del Platt failed in a
claim for a messuage and land in With-
ington, formerly Geoffrey's, against Cecily
del Platt, Roger her son, Agnes de Mascy,
and Robert her son ; the plaintiff was
excused because she was under age ; ibid.
m. 1 2 d. Geoffrey del Platt did not pro-
secute his claim against Cecily del Platt,
widow of Henry ; Assize R. 419, m. 13.
Robert del Platt was in the following
year fined for a false claim against Roger
son of Henry de ' Bradlow ' ; Assize R.
418, m. 3 d. In 1307 he claimed a mes-
suage and land against Adam son of
Henry de ' Barlow '; De Banco R. 164,
m. 233 d. ; 171, m. 18.
In 1324 Roger del Platt claimed a
messuage and various lands in Withing-
ton against Richard de Holland, Hugh de
Cheadle, Thomas de Mascy, Robert del
Platt, Edith widow of Henry del Platt,
Ellen her daughter, and William de Booth.
It appeared that the plaintiff had leased
the land to John de Byron, and that Hugh
and Thomas had wrongfully obtained pos-
session and granted to Richard de Hol-
land, whose possessions were seized by the
king for his adherence to Thomas Earl of
Lancaster ; Assize R. 426, m. 8 ; 1404,
m. 25. It will be seen that there were
two men named Henry del Platt. Ac-
cording to the genealogical note above
referred to, one of them was son of Geof-
frey del Platt, and Ellen hi* daughter
married Alexander del Booth. The other
Henry was father of Roger.
The Laghok family appear again in
1341, claiming against the Traffbrds ;
De Banco R. 328, m. 366 ; and in the
following year William son of Hugh de
Laghok claimed a messuage and plough-
land against Robert son of Richard de
Farnworth; ibid. R. 331, m. 140; see
also R. 335, m. 301 d. ; 336, m. 511 d.
Richard del Platt in 1345 complained
of assault by William son of Alexander
del Booth, who had also taken his cattle ;
ibid. R. 344, m. 353; 345, m. 211 d.
Two years later Ellen daughter of Henry
del Platt recovered two messuages, &c.,
in Withington against the said William
del Booth and Robert son of Henry de
Trafford ; Assize R. 1435, m. 43 d. At
the same time William del Booth began
suits against Robert del Platt and Richard
and John his sons regarding a messuage
and lands in Withington, and seems to
have had some success ; Duchy of Lane.
Assize R. I, m. v ; 3, m. 4 d. ; Assize R.
438, m. 15; 441, m. 5, &c.
In 1349 Robert del Platt (of the Farn-
worth family) made an elaborate settle-
ment of his lands, &c., in Withington ;
they were to descend to his sons Richard
and John, in default to the Milkwall
Slade family, then to a Saddleworth
family, and lastly to Margaret daughter
of Robert del Platt ; Booker, Birch t
197—200. He died in 1360, by his will
desiring to be buried in the churchyard
at Manchester ; ibid. 200. The son John
seems to have succeeded, and was in pos-
session in 1374 and 1384 ; ibid. 201.
Nicholas, the son of John del Platt, in
1391 made a settlement of his lands in
the Platt, with remainder, in default of
issue, to his sister Alona and others ; ibid.
203. Two years later, perhaps on his
marriage, he granted his lands in the
Platt to Sir Ralph de Radcliffe and Ralph
his son, excepting the Goosecroft house
and the Medhap, and reserving to Wil-
liam del Birches a right of way from
his dwelling to the common way in
Rusholme ; ibid. 204. In 1414 Nicholas
made a feoffment of his lands, apparently
in view of the marriage of his son Richard
with Katherine ; ibid. 205, 206. Richard
died abroad (? at La Ferte Melin) about
the end of 1439 (ibid. 208), leaving
a widow, Katherine (ibid. 207, 209), and
a son John, who with his wife Constance
received an indulgence in 1456 from the
Trinitarians of Knaresborough (ibid. 209),
while in 1479 (the date is doubtful) they
associated themselves with the Grey
Friars ; ibid. 206. Constance, the widow
of John Platt, and Richard their son
appear in 1490 and 1494 ; ibid. 210-12.
Richard Platt and his wife Agnes were
associated with the Black Friars of Ches-
ter in 1506 ; ibid. 218. John Platt was
304
in possession in 1547, when he granted
lands in Rusholme to Joan widow of
James Lawrence of Manchester, perhaps
on marrying her; ibid. 213. A year
later he granted the Croft on Rusholme
Green to his younger son William ; ibid.
214. He died between March 1552 and
March 1554 (ibid. 215-17; Manch. Ct.
Leet Rec. i, 10), leaving a widow Joan
and a son Richard, who in 1577 set apart
lands called Hallfield, Brockfield, and
Midhope for the benefit of Elizabeth
daughter of Thomas Birch on her mar-
riage with his son John Platt ; Booker,
op. cit. 220.
Richard Platt died in June 1593 hold-
ing a messuage and various lands in
Rusholme of the queen as of the late
Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem by a
rent of 4.1. and a third of his goods at
death. John Platt had died before his
father, and the heir was Richard's [grand-]
son Edmund, then eight years of age ;
ibid. 221. The Manchester jury found
that Edmund was the son of John Platt,
and therefore grandson of Richard; Manch.
Ct. Leet Rec. ii, 76.
Edmund Platt mortgaged the estate in
1623 ; Booker, op. cit. 23. Long Eyes
and Short Eyes were among the field
names.
14 Booker, op. cit. 23. Charles Worsley,
the father of Ralph, was a prosperous
linen-draper in Manchester, and pur-
chased lands in Rusholme, including the
Breadie Butts, Hobearth, &c. in 1614 ;
ibid. 25. Ralph's wife Isabel was daugh-
ter and heir of Edward Massy of Man-
chester ; Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. iii, 90.
15 See Booker, Birch, 25-70, quoting
the family papers.
16 Ibid. 39-51, with portrait.
17 Ibid. 40. He was chosen as the
representative of Manchester in the Par-
liament of 1654, the first time the
borough was called upon to elect a
member ; Mane A. Ct. Leet Rec. iv, 117.
18 Booker, Birch, 42, &c.
19 The Quakers also gave him work ;
'they trouble the markets and get into
private houses up and down in every
town, and draw people after them ' ;
ibid. 46.
20 Ibid. 47 ; he was buried in Henry
VII's Chapel, Westminster Abbey.
There is a notice of him in Diet. Nat.
Biog. His father Ralph recorded a pedi-
gree in 1664 (Dugdale, Vint. Chet. Soc.
338), and dying in 1669 was succeeded at
Platt by Charles's son, another Ralph,
who built the Nonconformist chapel at
Platt, and in 1728 was succeeded by his
son Charles. Peter Worsley, the son
and heir of Charles, died in 1759, leav-
ing a daughter Deborah as heiress. A
settlement of lands in Rusholme, &c.,
was made in 1759 by John Lees and
Deborah his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 360, m. 1 1 6. John Lees took
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
Elizabeth the daughter and heir of Charles Carill-
Worsley, and assumed her surname." Platt Hall and
estate is now the property of the Manchester Cor-
poration.
The Hall is a large plain brick house built about
the year 1764" by John Carill Worsley, in place
of the old timber and plaster building which stood
not very far away on a site comprised within the
area of the present garden. In an inventory of the
contents of the old house taken in 1 669, the follow-
ing rooms and places are mentioned : ' The hall, the
great parlor, the buttery, the milk-house, the woman's
parlor, the little parlor, the brewhouse, the kitchen
with Bessy parlor, the drink-house, the cheese
chamber, the cake chamber, the board loft, the little
chamber, the general's chamber, the great chamber,
the middle chamber, the high chamber, the little
chamber and closet, the yarne chamber.'
The BIRCH estate*8 descended from about 1260
to 1743 in a family taking a surname from it.
Matthew son of Matthew de Haversage granted to
Matthew son of Matthew de Birches the whole land
of Hindley Birches, at a rent of 3/. ; the bounds
show that it lay between Gore Brook on the north
and the Great Ditch on the south.*4 Several of the
family are said to have distinguished themselves in
- ••
PLATT HALL, RUSHOLMB
the name of Carill Worsley. Deborah
had no children by him, and adopted her
husband's son by a previous marriage,
Thomas Carill Worsley. This Thomas
accordingly came into possession of Platt,
and on his death in 1808 was followed
by his eldest son Thomas, who died in
1848, and then by his second son Charles.
al Burke, Landed Gentry.
"John Carill Worsley rebuilt 'the
old mansion of the Worsleys with brick
and stone ornaments in a very handsome
style about thirty-five years ago, at the
expense, as was then said, of £10,000' ;
Gent. Mag. Ixix, 434, May 1799.
88 Some of the Birch family deeds are
printed in Booker's Birch, 183, 187, 223 ;
others may be seen in Harl. MS. 2112,
fol. 142^/1 786, &c.
84 Booker, Birch, 223 ; the date is
about 1260. The next member of the
family who appears in the records is
Alexander de Birches, who with his wife
Joan and daughters Joan, Ellen, and
Susan, was defendant to a claim for lands
in Withington made by Robert del Platt
in 1301 ; Assize R. 419, m. 13. In
1319 Robert son of Alexander de Birches,
who had married Alice daughter of Henry
de Whitfield, made a feoffment of his
lands, water-mill, &c., in the Birches in
Withington, with the reversion of that
part which Joan the widow of Alexander
held as dower ; the lands were regranted
to him, with remainder to his son Henry;
Booker, op. cit. 224-7. 1° 1322 the
same Robert released to Robert son of
Henry de Traffbrd all his claim to the
water-mill ; ibid. 224. In the following
year Robert de Birches told two mes-
suages, 50 acres of land, &c., in Withing-
ton to Nicholas de Longford ; Final Cone.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 49.
From 1337 onwards Henry son of
Robert de Birches is found pursuing a
claim to lands in Withington against
305
Nicholas de Longford, who alleged a grant
by the said Robert ; Assize R. 1424,
m. tod. ; 1425, m. 2 ; 1435, m. 330!.
Henry was living in 1349; Booker, op.
cit. 200.
The cows of William son of Henry de
Birches of Withington were seized for a
felony in 1396 ; Pal. of Lane. Chan.
Misc. 1/8, m. 20 ; Booker, op. cit. 204.
William de Birches in 1429 made a
settlement of his lands in Withington ;
after the death of William and his wife
Margaret they were to descend to his tons
Ralph, Robert, Edmund, and Thomas ;
ibid. 228. Twenty years later Ralph
Birches made a settlement of his lands ;
ibid. 229, 230. In 1485 William Birches
granted his son Robert 12 acres lying be-
tween Michewall Ditch on the south and
Winnerhey on the north ; ibid. 230.
George the son and heir of William
Birch, in 1519, agreed to marry Marion
daughter of Thomas Beck of Manches-
39
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
BIRCH of Birch. A-
zure three fleurs de lit
argent.
the French wars of the 1 5th century,15 but its most
noteworthy member was Colonel Thomas Birch,16
a Puritan and Parliamentarian
of a somewhat brutal type,27
who took an active part in the
Civil War in Lancashire. He
was made Governor of Liver-
pool on the recapture of the
town in 1 644, and represented
it in Parliament from 1649 to
1 658.*® On the Restoration
he retired into private life,19
and was in 1678 succeeded by
his son Thomas Birch the an-
tiquary.30 Thomas's son died
without issue, and his brother,
Dr. Peter Birch, a prebendary of Westminster, came
into possession.31 He died in 1710, and his son
Humphrey, who took the surname of Wyrley, sold
Birch in 1 743 to George Croxton of Manchester ;
by him it was transferred two years later to John
Dickenson, another Manchester merchant, who gained
some wider notoriety for becoming the host of Prince
Charles Edward during his stay in the town.3* His
great-granddaughter Louisa Frances Mary Dickenson,
who died in 1837, carried the Birch estate to her
husband General Sir William Anson, bart. ; it has
remained in the possession of their descendants.
Birch Hall stands- in a pleasant situation to the
east of the church, well protected on three sides by
trees, and overlooking Birch Fields on the north.
The original site would seem to have been deter-
mined by a small brook, which still forms the boun-
dary of the grounds of the hall on the south side.31*
The house was originally a timber and plaster
building of considerable extent, to judge from the
list of rooms mentioned in an inventory taken
in i678,ss but the only portion now remaining
has been so much modernized and added to that
it presents little or nothing of its former appear-
ance. It consists of two wings at right angles
facing north and west, the latter of which appears to
be part of a 1 7th-century building. A good deal of
the timber construction of the outer walls, and the
old roof, still remains, though the walls have been
much restored and filled in with brickwork at a later
time and new windows inserted. The west elevation
and the end gable facing north, however, retain some-
thing of their old black and white appearance, though
the gable has been mutilated by later work, and por-
tion of the ' half-timber ' framing is only plaster and
paint. The north wing is of brick with stone quoins,
and is probably a rebuilding of a former timber struc-
ture. In front of this, at a later time, most likely at
the beginning of the igth century, a new brick front,
consisting of two rooms and entrance, has been added,
projecting considerably in front of the north wing,
and altogether altering the appearance of the house.
The building is of two stories with grey stone slated
roofs, and all the brickwork is painted yellow. In
the west wing are three upper rooms with good 1 7th-
century oak wainscot, but the panelling is not all in
its original position, and in one room is painted over.
There is a small oak stair to an attic, and one or two
old windows remain with diamond quarries. There
are portions of 1 7th-century woodwork in different
parts of the house, the fittings of the old building
no doubt being treated with little respect in the later
alterations. These have been so effective that nothing
very definite can be stated as to the original plan or
arrangement of the house. There are brick out-
buildings on the south side at the end of the west
wing.
SL4DE, anciently Milkwall Slade, was a composite
estate, partly in Rusholme and partly in Gorton,34
but the mansion-house was in the former district.
From about the middle of the 1 3th century until the
reign of Elizabeth it was the property of a branch of
the family of Manchester, who adopted the local sur-
name.35 It was then sold to the Siddalls,36 Manchester
ter ; Booker, op. cit. 72. The will of George
Birch, dated 1532, is printed ibid. 74-6.
Thomas Birch, his son and heir, in 1548
agreed to marry Elizabeth daughter of
Thomas Chatham of Nuthurst, deceased ;
ibid. 77. In 1551 Thomas Birch bought
messuages, &c., in Rusholme from Wil-
liam son and heir apparent of Philip
Strangeways ; they were held by Robert
Davenport and Katherine his wife, for
the latter's lifetime ; Pal. of Lane. Feet
of F. bdle. 14, m. 226. Thomas's younger
»on, William Birch, a Protestant divine,
was warden of Manchester for a short
time. Thomas, who made a settlement
of his estate in 1571, died in 1595 ;
Booker, Birch, 78, his will being printed
78-80.
George Birch, the son and heir of
Thomas, died at Withington on 31 Jan.
1601— 2, holding two messuages called
Birch Hall, and other lands, &c., in Birch
and Rusholme of Rowland Mosley as of
his manor of Withington in socage by a
rent of 4*. id. ; also messuages in Man-
chester of Sir Nicholas Mosley by the
fiftieth part of a knight's fee and a rent
of izd. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xviii,
3. By his marriage with Anne daugh-
ter and heir of John Bamford he added
considerably to the family estates ; she
survived him. George, the son and heir,
was nineteen years of age at his father's
death. He died in 1611, leaving a son
and heir Thomas, aged five ; see Booker,
op. cit. 85-90, where the will and Inq.
p.m. are printed ; also Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 258-61;
ii, 177. In this the free rent for Birch
is recorded as 3*. zd.
25 This is the legendary origin of the
family arms — Azure, three fleurs de lis
argent ; Booker, Birch, 72, quoting Burke.
26 He was the above-named Thomas
son of George Birch. For his life see
Booker, op. cit. 90-8 ; also Civil War
Tracts (Chet. Soc.).
2? E.g. his treatment of Lord Derby and
his family, of Humphrey Chetham, and of
Warden Heyrick.
28 Pink and Beaven, Par/. Rep. of Lanes.
189.
29 A pedigree was recorded in 1664;
Dugdale, Visit. 32.
80 Booker, op. cit. 99. The ' Birch
Feodary,' printed with other of his collec-
tions in Gregson's Fragments (ed. Har-
land), *333~59, takes its name from him.
81 Booker, op. cit. 100-3, where his
will is printed. He married Sibyl, a
daughter and co-heir of Humphrey Wyr-
ley of Hampstead. He was one of the
High Churchmen of the time and has a
notice in Diet. Nat. Biog.
82 Booker, op. cit. 104 ; the Dickenson
and Anson pedigree is given ibid. 105.
82a In front of the house on the north
is a ditch, said to be the line of a moat.
88 In the inventory of goods of Colonel
Thomas Birch at Birch Hall, 14 Aug.
1678, the following rooms are named : —
The hall, the garden parlour, the white
chamber, the middlemost room, the
painted chamber, the dining room, the
red chamber, Mrs. Birch's chamber, old
Mrs. Birch's chamber, the yellow cham-
ber, the old wench's chamber ; Booker,
op. cit. 97.
84 In 1320 Hugh de Bloxden held lands
in Milkwall Slade of the lord of Man-
chester by a rent of izd., and was bound
to grind at the mill ; Mamecestre (Chet.
Soc.), ii, 279.
85 Booker, op. cit. 121, &c. ; some
deeds are printed on pp. 231-4. By on
of these Thomas son of Geoffrey son of
Luke de Manchester granted to Jorda.i his
brother lands in Didsford and Milkwall
Slade, an acre in ' Banereris ' and lands in
Akedone. The date is about 1240.' A
little later land in Didsbury was granted
to Jordan son of Geoffrey. In 1349 a
settlement of lands in Withington wat
made by Robert de Milkwall Slade, with
successive remainders to his sons Robert
and John ; the elder Robert's wife was
Ellen daughter of Robert del Platt.
86 The Slades went to live at Breer-
hurst in Staffordshire and granted a lease
of Slade to the Siddalls, who afterwards
purchased it ; ibid. 122.
In 1565 a settlement of a messuage,
306
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
people, whose descendants retain it to the present
time. Edward Siddall, who died in 1588, held the
capital messuage called Milkwall Slade, with 24 acres
in Rusholme and Withington and 20 acres in
Gorton, also a burgage in Manchester and a third
part of the manor of Kersal in Broughton. The
Rusholme part of Slade was held of Nicholas Long-
ford by a rent of 2s. 6d. and the Gorton part of John
Lacy then lord of Manchester.17
Slade Hall is a timber house on a low stone base
built at the end of the i6th century, and still pre-
serving its ancient front. It is of two stories, the
upper one projecting on a plaster cove, and has two
gables on the principal elevation facing east. The
front has been extended northward by an addition,
built about 1681, the end of which faces the road,
and is now painted to imitate half-timber work. The
north end of the house was formerly continued east-
ward as a projecting wing, but the buildings, which
were of brick, and two stories in height, have been
pulled down in recent times. The present front of
pally of straight diagonal pieces between the con-
structional timbers, but has quatrefoil panels in the
smaller gable.
On a beam over the porch is cut, or stamped, the
date 1585 and the initials E. S. for Edward Siddall the
builder of the house. Underneath are the initials
G. S. (George Siddall, his son). The date 1585 is
also on another beam in the front. The two dates
and the initials E. S. are inclosed in ornamental bor-
ders. The west and south sides have been faced in
brick, and a block added at the north-west, which is
a rather good specimen of the dignified brick archi-
tecture of the early part of the igth century. The
roofs are covered with modern blue slates, and the
chimneys are of brick.
The dining-room, on the right of the entrance,
retains its old oak ceiling crossed by massive beams,
and the upper room over the drawing-room in the
south wing has an elaborate plaster frieze on its north
and south walls. In this room the original timber
construction of the house can be seen all round.
ptiUK: __ -rim"""""" TTr./iii/f/ii'' —
wmmW''"''- .: L'liiilEli^-
SLADE HALL : EAST FRONT
the i yth-century addition was rebuilt after the demo-
lition of these buildings in a style harmonizing with
the original timber elevation. The length of the
principal front is now about 70 ft., but the original
building consists only of the middle portion under
the two gables and the wing to the south. These
stand on three different planes, the main gable being
1 8 ft. in front of the southern end of the house, and
the porch and staircase bay occupying the angle be-
tween them. The timber front is composed princi-
though faced with brick on two sides. The frieze on
the south wall has three shields, the centre one bear-
ing the royal arms of Queen Elizabeth encircled by a
garter and supported by a lion and a dragon. Above
are the queen's initials E. R. On the right is a shield
of eleven quarters of Stanley with supporters, encircled
by a garter and with the initials E. D., and on the left
is another quartered shield with coronet and supporters,
having above it the initials E. S. Between are two
female figures, said to represent Queens Mary and
&c. in Withington was made by Ralph
Slade ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 27,
m. 24. In 1580 Edward Siddall purchased
a messuage, &c. from Thomas Slade, and
four years later again from Ralph Slade,
Joan his wife, and Thomas his son, this
eing the final conveyance ; ibid, bdles.
42, m. 6 ; 46, m. 78 ; Booker, op. cit. 128.
Edward Siddall had, in 1568, purchased
half an acre in Rusholme and Withington
from Ralph Aldcroft and William Hardy ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 30, m. 44.
The will of Richard Siddall, lessee of
Slade and father of Edward, is printed by
Booker, op. cit. 124-7.
87 Inq. p.m. (Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
xiv, 32) printed by Booker, op. cit. 128-31.
George Siddall, the son and heir, was
twenty-five years of age. For the pedi-
gree of the family see ibid. 136.
George, the son of George, who fol-
lowed in 1616, sold Kersal and lands in
Gorton ; ibid. 133. He was summoned
to the Heralds' Visitation in 1664 ; Dug-
3°7
dale, Visit. (Chet Soc.), iv. In 1665 a
settlement was made by George Siddall
of the capital messuage called Milkwall
Slade alias Slade, with other lands, &c. in
Withington, Gorton and Grindlow, on
the marriage of his son Thomas's eldest
son John with Margaret daughter of Wil-
liam Robothom. Exception was made of
the jointure of Katherine, wife of George
Siddall, as set forth in an indenture ot
31 July 16175 Manch. Free Lib. D.
no. 101.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Elizabeth. The frieze on the opposite wall has a
representation of a stag hunt with a tree in the centre
bearing the Stanley crest of the eagle and child.
There was formerly a moulded plaster ceiling in this
room, but it has been removed.
HOLT, described sometimes as in Withington and
sometimes as in Rusholme, seems to have been on the
north-east side of the township, and may perhaps be
the detached portion of Moss Side.38 Henry de
Rusholme, about 1260, made a grant to Hugh de
Haslum, including half an oxgang of land in Rusholme
and the Holt, at a rent of 6d™ In the I5th century
the Holt was in the hands of the Bamfords of Barn-
ford,40 and descended to John Bamford, who died in
1557 holding the capital messuage called Holt Hall
in Rusholme of Nicholas Longford in socage by a
rent of 1 2</.41 The change of tenure may imply an
escheat and re-grant. Anne Bamford, the daughter
and heiress, married George Birch of Birch,48 and
Holt has since descended with Birch in the manner
above described.
The family of Edge of Birch Hall-houses appears in
the I yth century.43 Captain Oliver Edge, an officer in
the Parliamentary army, comes into notice as the
captor of the Earl of Derby in his flight after the
battle of Worcester. The place of capture was a little
south of Nantwich. The earl writes : * Lord Lauder-
dale and I, having escaped, hired horses and falling
into the enemy's hands were not thought worth killing,
but have quarters given us by Captain Edge, a Lan-
cashire man, and one that was so civil to me that I
and all that love me are beholden to him.' **
The Traffords had land in Rusholme from an early
date.45
The land tax returns of 1787 show that the land
was much divided ; the principal owners then were
John Dickenson and John Carill Worsley, who be-
tween them owned about half ; William Egerton and
John Gartside had smaller estates.46 The landowners
in 1844 numbered a hundred and twenty, of whom
Sir J. W. H. Anson, T. Carill Worsley, and John
Siddall represented the ancient owners of Birch,
Platt, and Slade; Richard Cobden owned 21 acres.47
The chapel of Birch, known as St.
CHURCH James's, is supposed to have been built
about 1580 by the Birch family.43
The minister was paid by the scanty and pre-
carious offerings of the people, until in 1640 an
attempt was made to establish an endowment fund.49
Land was purchased, which Colonel Thomas Birch in
1658 settled upon his son Thomas as sole trustee, to
the use of * an orthodox preaching minister of the
Gospel, to be constantly resident,' and to perform
divine service in the chapel. The neighbours object-
ing to having a single trustee, a new trust was created
in 1672, the income of the land being placed at the
disposal of a majority of the trustees. This was
probably done with the design of preparing the way
for a Presbyterian minister as soon as the persecution
of Nonconformists should come to an end.50 The
chapel in fact remained in the hands of the Presby-
terians until 1697, when, on the death of Colonel
Birch's widow, George Birch seems to have allowed
the claims of the Bishop of Chester and other ecclesi-
astical authorities, and the Presbyterian minister,
Henry Finch, was ejected.41 After two years a
Conformist curate was nominated by George Birch, in
whose family the patronage seems always to have
vested, and the succession remains unbroken to the
present. In 1708 the endowment was still only
£3 los. a year, and the contributions of the congre-
gation were about £16 ;61 but the Dickenson family
and others have provided more adequate endow-
ments.51 The chapel was rebuilt in 1 845-6," and a
district was assigned to it in 1839." The present
patron is Sir W. R. Anson.
The following have been curates and rectors : — i6
1699 Samuel Taylor, M.A.67 (Emmanuel
College, Camb.)
114-
several
88 See the bounds of Greenlow Heath
as given in the account of Chorlton-upon-
Medlock.
89 Booker, op. cit. 184.
40 Ibid. Didsbury (Chet. Soc.),
20. The Bamford family
times described as ' of Holt.'
41 Inq. p.m. printed ibid. 117.
48 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
dies.), ii, 178 ; the capital messuage called
Holt Hall and its lands are stated to be
'in Withington,' though the 1557 inquisi-
tion described them as ' in Rusholme/
48 Booker, Birch, 10—12.
44 Civil War Tracts, 311, quoting
Seacome.
45 Richard de Traffbrd in 1235 released
to Robert de Hulton his right in common
of pasture in Rusholme in the land be-
tween a ditch of Robert's and land former-
ly held by Hugh de Haslum ; Final Cone.
i, 65. Matthew the Tailor of Manchester
in 1316 gave to Nicholas son of Henry de
Traffbrd all his lands, &c. in Rusholme
in the vill of Withington, with various
remainders; De Traffbrd D. no. 135.
The grants in Gildhouses (or Heald-
houses) recorded in the account of With-
ington were perhaps in part or in whole
in Rusholme. Lands in Rusholme are
named in the later Traffbrd inquisitions
as part of their estate in Withington.
Sir Edmund Traffbrd in 1587 leased to
one Anthony Scholefield a messuage and
lands in Birch Hall at a rent of 25*. 5</-
The lands were among those sold to
Gregory Lovell ; after Sir Edmund's death
there was a quarrel between his son and
the purchaser, and the dispute seems to
have gone on until 1601, when Dame
Lovell, widow of Sir Robert the son of
Gregory, complained of loss ; Duchy of
Lane. Plead. Eliz. cxcviii, L. n.
46 Land tax returns at Preston.
4? Booker, Birch, 171.
48 This account is taken chiefly from
Booker, op. cit. 137-59. The statement
that the chapel was ' consecrated ' — i.e.
licensed for use — by Bishop Chadderton
(1579-95) 's derived from Warden Wroe;
Gastrell, Notitia (Chet. Soc.), ii, 79. The
visitation return of 1598 speaks of it as
' lately erected and now void of a curate ' ;
Booker, op. cit.
49 Ibid. 137. A ground plan of the
chapel of the same date is printed ibid.
142. At the survey of 1650 there be-
longed to the chapel ' a house and a little
land lately purchased by the inhabitants,
worth ^3 i oi. per annum'; Commontsocalth
Cb. Suri>. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and dies.), 13.
The minister had £1 a week allowed him
in 1 644 out of the sequestrations of Royal-
ists' estates, but it was not regularly paid ;
and £50 more was allowed in 1649 ;
Plund. Mini. Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
dies.), i, 58, 77. A grant of £50 or£4O
a year out of the tithes of Manchester
308
appears to have been substituted for the
former grants in 1652 ; ibid, ii, 34, 55.
80 Booker, op. cit. 137-9.
51 Ibid. 147-51; the chapel seems
to have been used only occasionally
until 1672, when Henry Finch was form-
ally licensed. In 1689 also it was re-
garded as a Nonconformist chapel ; Hist.
MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 231.
52 Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 79 ; the bishop
reports that five of the forty families were
Presbyterian.
53 Booker, op. cit. 140, 141.
54 Ibid. 156-9.
55 Land. Gaz. 29Mar.i839,i6Junei854.
68 This list is taken mainly from Booker.
Among the earlier curates were : In
1622, Richard Lingard (Misc. Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches. i, 66) ; 1623, Thomat
Norman; 1635, Bentley ; 1641, Hall;
1 644, John Wigan (Plund. Mins. Accti. i,
58 ; Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. i, 299-
32) ; 1659, Robert Birch.
Henry Finch, mentioned in the text,
was the vicar of Walton-on-the-Hill,
ejected in 1662. A Conformist was put
into Birch for a time, but there being no
maintenance Finch was left in undisturbed
possession. A curious story of the visit of
two German ministers in 1666 is given by
Booker from Hunter's Oliver Heywsod, 188.
*7 In the nomination by George Birch
the chapel is styled ' my domestic chapel
of Birch' ; Booker, op. cit. 151.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
1 707 No curate
1717 Joseph Dale68
1720 Thomas Wright, B.A.59 (Brasenose Col-
lege, Oxf.)
1721 John Tetlow, B.A.60
1742 John Leech, B.A. (St. Catharine's Hall,
Camb.)
oc. 1 746 Robert Twyford, B.A.61 (Brasenose Col-
lege, Oxf.)
1746 William Twyford, B.A.68 (St. John's
College, Camb.)
1752 Thomas Ainscough, M.A.6* (St. John's
College, Camb.)
1762 Miles Lonsdale, M.A.64 (Brasenose Col-
lege, Oxf.)
1769 Henry Ainsworth
1795 Rowland Blayney, B.A. (St. Alban
Hall, Oxf.)
1838 Francis Philips Hulme, B.A. (St. Alban
Hall, Oxf.)
1839 George Gardner Harter, M.A.65 (Trinity
College, Oxf.)
1840 Oliver Ormerod, M.A.66 (Brasenose
College, Oxf.)
1841 George Dugard, M.A.67 (St. John's
College, Camb.)
1 846 George Henry Greville Anson, M.A.68
(Exeter College, Oxf.)
1 898 Frederick George Buller, M.A.69 (Trinity
College, Oxf.)
Holy Trinity Church was consecrated in 1 846 ;
the patron is Mrs. N. Tindal-Carill-Worsley.70 St.
John's, Longsight, was consecrated in the same year ;
the patronage is vested in trustees.71 St. Chrysostom's,
Victoria Park, was first consecrated in 1877,™ and St.
Agnes's in 1885 ; the Bishop of Manchester is patron
of both. There is a chapel at St. Mary's Home.
An * English School,' not free, existed at Birch
about 1720."
The Wesleyan Methodists, Primitive Methodists,
and United Free Methodists have churches, and the
last-named denomination has a theological college in
Victoria Park. The Congregationalists began services
in 1839, and a small chapel built by Baptists was
acquired in 1853. After many vicissitudes the present
church was built in 1 864." The Baptists have a
college for students for the ministry,74 with a chapel
attached ; they have another church at Longsight.
On the ejection of Henry Finch from Birch Chapel
he continued to minister in the neighbourhood, and
in 1700 Platt Chapel was opened for the use of the
Nonconformists — the Worsleys, donors of the site,
Edges, and Siddalls being the principal members of
the congregation.76 The teaching became Unitarian
in the course of the i8th century, and Platt Chapel
is now used by the Unitarians of the neighbourhood.
Their Home Missionary College, founded in Man-
chester, is now in Victoria Park.
The Roman Catholic Church of St. Edward was
built in 1 86 1. There are two industrial schools,
called St. Joseph's, for boys and girls.
LEVENSHULME
Lewenesholm, 1361.
This township is bounded on the north by Nico
Ditch, on the east by Pinkbank Lane,1 and on the
south by the Black Brook. The surface is level,
sloping down a little towards the west. The area
measures 605^ acres.* A house called the Manor
House stands nOr the northern border. There was
a population of 11,485 in 1901.
The Stockport Road from Manchester crosses the
township in a southerly and south-easterly direction.
Adlands Lane and Barlow Lane go eastward through
the centre, passing through the hamlet of Back Levens-
hulme, to the south of which lies Cradock Fold. The
London and North- Western Company's railway from
Manchester to London passes through the western
side of the township, having a station named Levens-
hulme and Burnage about the centre. The Great
Central Company's line from London Road to Central
Station, Manchester, crosses the other railway near
the southern border, where there is a station called
Levenshulme.
The western half of the township has become a
residential suburb of Manchester ; the eastern half
has print works, bleach works, dye works, and mattress
works, also several farms.
A local board was formed in 1865 ; * this afterwards
became an urban district council of twelve members,
but they have recently agreed to incorporation with
Manchester. A Carnegie free library was opened in
1904.
John Ellor Taylor, a native of the township,
1837-95, has a place in the Dictionary of National
Biography.
The manor of LEVENSHULME, a
M4NOR dependency of Withington, was in 1 3 1 9 in
the possession of Sir William de Baguley of
Baguley in Cheshire, and by a settlement made in that
year it passed to his grandson William Legh of Baguley,4
58 Also of Chorlton Chapel.
«» Ibid.
60 Brother-in-law of the patron.
61 Also curate of Didsbury.
68 Son of the preceding and curate of
Didsbury for a time.
68 Became one of the fellows of the
Collegiate Church ; Raines, Fellows (Chet.
Soc.), 268.
64 Afterwards rector of Gawsworth.
65 He and his two successors were under
bond to resign in favour of the patron's
grandson.
64 Afterwards rector of Presteign.
6" Librarian of the Chetham Library
1834-7 ; incumbent of Barnard Castle,
1847.
48 Archdeacon of Manchester 1870-90.
69 Brother-in-law of the patron.
70 Booker, Bircb, 159.
71 Ibid. The district assigned in 1851
was reconstituted in 1854; Land. Ga-z.
1 6 June.
7a For district see Land. Gats. 21 May
1878. It was rebuilt a few years ago
after a fire.
78 Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 80.
74 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf.v, 162-5.
75 It was founded at Chamber Hall near
Bury in 1860 and removed to Rusholme
in 1874.
"* Booker, op. cit. 1 60-70. A plan of
the chapel in 1700 is printed on p. 165.
See also Nightingale, op. cit. v, 147-58 ;
it is stated that 'no doctrinal test is
applied either to minister or congregation."
1 Pink Pank Lane was the older form
of the name ; it was also called the
3°9
Old London Road ; see Booker, Birch
Chapel (Chet. Soc.), 173.
a 606 acres, including 7 of inland water ;
Census Rep. 1901.
8 Land. Gax. 2 May 1865.
4 By the settlement named Sir William
de Baguley and his son John arranged
that in default of other issue the estate
was to go in succession to William, John,
and Geoffrey sons of Sir John de Legh
of the Booths in Knutsford ; Sir John
had married Isabel (or Ellen) daughter of
Sir William. On John de Baguley's death
William de Legh succeeded accordingly ;
Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), i, 550, where
an account of the family of Legh of Bagu-
ley is given. The date of the deed as
given by Sir Peter Leycester appears
doubtful in view of the other dates — e.g.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
whose descendants continued to hold it down to the
1 7th century,4 when the land seems to have been sold
BAGULEY of Baguley.
Or three loxenges azure.
L t G R of Baguley.
Azure noo hart argent,
over all a bend gules.
to a number of different owners, the manor ceasing to
exist.
The township has left scarcely any trace in the
records.6
The principal owners in 1787 were Edward
Greaves of Culcheth in Newton and John Carill-
Worsley of Platt, but together they contributed only
a sixth part of the land tax.7 In 1 844 there were
forty-nine landowners, the chief being Samuel Grim-
shaw, owning a tenth.8
In connexion with the Established Church, St.
Peter's was built in 1860 near the centre of the
township ; 9 the patronage is vested in five trustees.
Two new districts, St. Andrew's and St. Mark's, have
been defined, but churches have not been built ; the
patronage is vested in the Crown and the Bishop of
Manchester alternately.
The Wesleyans long had a place of worship.10
The Primitive Methodists, United Free Methodists,
and the Congregationalists have churches.
A convent of Poor Clares stands in Alma Park in
the south-west corner ; the chapel of St. Mary of the
Angels and St. Clare was opened in I853-11
A school was built in 1754, but the scheme appears
to have failed.1*
BURNAGE
Bronadge, Bronage, (Copies of) 1320 survey.
Burnage is a rural township of 666 acres,1 separating
Withington from Heaton Norris. It contains the
hamlets of Green End and Lady Barn.1 The popula-
tion in 1901 was 1,892.
The Manchester and Cheadle road passes through
it from north to south, and there are cross roads.
The village lies near the centre ; Green End is
further south, and Lane End and Catterick Hall
border upon Didsbury. The district is partly resi-
dential and partly agricultural.
Burnage was customarily included in Didsbury
chapelry, but this was contested in 1814, an expensive
lawsuit being necessary to establish the right of the
chapelry.5 The township was included in the Withing-
ton local board district in 1877.*
There was never any manor of BUR-
MANOR N4GE, which was a border district be-
tween the lordships of Withington and
Heaton Norris, pertaining, it would seem, rather to
the latter than to the former,5 as the 356 acres of
common pasture land it contained 6 were described
under Heaton in the survey of 1320. While Thomas
Grelley was a minor Sir John de Byron and Sir John
de Longford had inclosed for themselves 100 acres
and turned it into arable ; and after that, Sir John de
Byron and Dame Joan de Longford had inclosed yet
that William de Legh was under age in
I3S9-
John Savage and Margery his wife m
1359 claimed twenty messuages, &c., in
Withington against William son of Sir
John de Legh ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R.
7, m. 4d.
5 William de Legh of Baguley, who
died in Dec. 14.35, ne^ ten messuages,
200 acres of land, 40 acres of meadow,
and 4 acres of waste in Levenshulme in
Withington of Nicholas son and heir of
Sir Ralph de Longford, by homage, fealty,
escuage, and a rent of 41. ; it was recorded
that Thomas de Legh, father of William,
had done his homage for the lands, Ac.,
to Sir Nicholas de Longford, father of
Sir Ralph. The estate was worth 20
marks a year ; Edmund, the son and heir
of William, was one year old ; Towneley
MS. DD, no. 1482.
Sir John Legh, son of Edmund, in
1505 settled a tenement in Levenshulme
on his illegitimate son John for life ;
Ormerod, Chet. i, 552.
In 1 566 Edward Legh made a settlement
of the manor of Levenshulme and thirty
messuages, lands, &c., there and in With-
ington ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 28,
m. 263. Ten years later he appears to
have made a settlement or mortgage of a
portion of the estate ; ibid. bdle. 38, m.
I 5. Shortly afterwards Margaret Vaudrey,
claiming by conveyance from Edward Legh,
had a dispute with the lessees of William
Radcliffe concerning lands in Levenshulme;
there were some later suits ; Ducatus Lane.
(Rec. Com.), iii, 60, 86, 170, 230 (1577
to 1588). She was probably the Margaret
daughter of Robert Vawdrey whose ' dis-
honest and unclean living' was censured
by her father in his will ; Piccope, Wtlli
(Chet. Soc.), ii, 84.
Richard Legh, son and heir of Gerard
Legh of Baguley, and others in 1604
granted a lease of lands to Thomas Holme
of Heaton Norris ; note by Mr. E. Axon
(quoting T. Holme's will).
The manor and lands were in 1619 in
possession of John Gobart (of Coventry)
and Lucy his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet
of F. bdle 95, no. 39. They left three
daughters and co-heirs — Frances wife of
Sir Thomas Barrington ; Anne wife of
Thomas Legh of Adlington ; and Lucy wife
of Calcot Chambrie ; Vint. ofWar-w.(H.tt\.
Soc.), 293 ; Earwaker, East CAes. ii, 252.
6 Levenshulme is named as a dependency
of Withington in 1322 ; Mamccestre (Chet.
Soc.), ii, 374.
In 1361 Richard son of William de
Radcliffe did not prosecute a claim against
Sir John de Hyde of Norbury regarding
tenements in Levenshulme, Haughton,
and Lightshaw ; Assize R. 441, m. i d. 5.
Sir John de Hyde appears to have been
the son of Isabel sister and co-heir of
John de Baguley (who died in 1356) ; see
Ormerod, Cbes. iii, 810.
7 Records at Preston. The Greaves
family here as elsewhere succeeded to the
estate of the Gilliams, who were at first
described as of Levenshulme ; Booker,
Didsbury ', 232.
8 Ibid. 233. The incumbent of Gorton
Chapel had 26 acres, purchased in 1734
by a grant from Queen Anne's Bounty
augmented by subscription. This land
had in 1620 been conveyed by Richard
Legh of Baguley and Henry, his son and
310
heir, to John Thorpe of Levenshulme ;
from his grandson it passed to Obadiah
Hulme of Reddish, whose son Samuel sold
it in 1734 ; ibid. 231, 232. An abstract
of the deeds is printed in Higson's Gorton
Hist. Recorder, 86, 87.
9 A site was given in 1853 by C. C.
Worsley of Platt ; a school built on it
was used for divine service ; Booker, op.
cit. 234. A district was assigned to the
church in 1861 ; Land. Gaz. 28 June.
10 Booker, op. cit. 235. The old chapel
and graveyard were closed in 1866.
11 The chief benefactor was Mr. Grim-
shaw of Buxton ; Booker, op. cit. 235.
13 Ibid.
1 686 acres, including one of inland
water ; Census Rep. 1 90 1 .
a Lady Barn is named in the will of
Sir Nicholas Mosley in 1612; Booker,
Didsbury (Chet. Soc.), 134.
« Ibid. 175-6.
4 39 & 40 Viet. cap. 161.
5 The ancient boundary between Heaton
Norris and Withington was Saltergate,
supposed to be the present road south
through Burnage, but the line of the road
had been changed before 1320; Mame-
cestre (Chet. Soc.), ii, 275. The tithes
were formerly gathered with those of
Withington ; Booker, Didsbury, 175. For
the complicated boundary of the town-
ship of Burnage in recent times see
Mr. H. T. Crofton's essays in the Man-
chester Literary Club's Manch. Quarterly
for 1887, and in Trans. Manch. Geog. Soc.
for 1893 ; maps are given.
6 It may be noted that 356 Cheshire
acres is somewhat larger than the present
area of the township.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
36 acres more; these 136 acres, it was considered,
might be taken by the lord of Manchester and
approved by him, provided enough pasture for the
commoners were reserved.7 Some compromise was
no doubt made ; the Byrons do not appear again,
and John La Warre and Joan his wife afterwards
granted to Thomas son of Henry de Trafford 100
acres of moor and pasture in Heaton and Withington,
'namely, that moiety of the place called Burnage
lying next to Heaton, which moiety remained to the
said John and Joan after a partition of the whole
place made between them and Sir Richard de Long-
ford.' 8
The Longford moiety passed, like Withington, to
the Mosleys 9 and Egertons ; the Trafford moiety
seems to have been sold to a number of small holders.
In 1798 William Egerton was the principal con-
tributor to the land tax, paying over a third ; 10 and
in 1 844 Wilbraham Egerton owned about half11 the
land.
Burnage was a township in 1655."
In connexion with the Established Church, St.
Margaret's was consecrated in 1875 ; the Bishop
of Manchester is the patron.13 A temporary district
of St. Chad has recently been created at Lady Barn ;
the patronage is vested in the Crown and the Bishop
of Manchester alternately.
The Wesleyan Methodists have a chapel at Lady
Barn. The Congregationalists also are represented.
DENTON
Dentun, c. 1220 ; Denton, 1282, and usually.
This township, lying in the bend of the River
Tame, which bounds it on the south, has an area of
1,706 acres, being nearly 2 miles square. It was some-
times called Denton under Donishaw. The highest
land, reaching 340 ft., is on the eastern border, dividing
Denton from Haughton. The population of the two
townships, Denton and Haughton, together numbered
14,934 in 1901.
The principal road is that crossing the township
from west to east, leading from Manchester to Hyde
and passing through the village of Denton. Crossing
it, on and near the eastern border, is the road leading
south from Ashton to Stockport, with a bridge over
the Tame. The London and North- Western Com-
pany's railway from Stockport to Ashton runs through
the north-western half of the township, and has a
station, called Denton, on the Hyde Road. Part of
the Audenshaw reservoir lies in this township.
The place has long been celebrated for its hat
manufacture. The trade, after a period of decline
has revived.1 A coal mine is worked.
The village wake used to be held on 10 August.
A local board was formed in 1857.' This has
become an urban district council of fifteen members.
The district includes Haughton also. There is a
public library.
The manor of DENTON, rated as a
M4NOR plough-land,3 was from early times divided
into several portions. One moiety about
1 200 was held of the lord of Withington by Matthew
de Reddish ; the other moiety was of the same lord
held probably by a family or families bearing the local
name, of whom there are but few traces.4
To Richard, rector of Stockport, and his heirs
Matthew de Reddish granted four oxgangs of land in
Denton, that was to say a moiety of the vill, at a rent
of I2</.4 Robert, rector of Mottram, no doubt an
heir of Richard, granted all his land in Denton,
namely two oxgangs, to his daughter Cecily, at \d.
rent to the grantor and 5</. to the lamp of St. Mary
at Manchester.6 Cecily was twice married — to a
Norris of Heaton Norris and to Robert de Shores-
worth. This Robert and Cecily his wife granted all
their Denton lands, as well in demesne as in service,
to their son William.7 Later, in 1299, Cecily as
widow of Robert modified the gift by granting half
her father's land to her son Alexander and his heirs,
with reversion to William.8 A release was also pro-
cured from William le Norreys.9
William de Shoresworth had a son Robert, whose
daughter Margaret inherited the Denton estate.10 By
Sir William de Holland she had a son Thurstan, who
was liberally endowed by her and his father, the two
oxgangs of land in Denton, i.e. the fourth part of the
7 Mamecestre ii, 283-4. If the land
should be recovered by the lord of
Manchester its value would be 34*. (or
id. an acre) annually.
8 Charter printed by Booker, op. cit.
173 ; the grant was made in exchange
for 30 acres of pasture in Barton. A
rent of 701. was payable, and 20 acres of
other land seem to have been added.
9 See the will of Sir Nicholas Mosley,
ibid. 134.
10 Returns at Preston.
11 Booker, op. cit. 175.
12 Ibid. 174.
18 A school, used for service, was built
about 1857 ; Booker, Didsbury, 176. For
the district assigned see Land. Gam. 29 Oct.
1875.
1 Booker, Denton (Chet. Soc.), 9-13 ;
the trade was almost ruined about 1850
owing to the prevalence of the silk hat,
which the Denton hatter* had not adopted,
and to strikes. A few years later the
introduction of new forms of the felt hat
led to a revival.
2 Land. Gas:. 24 Mar. 1857.
8 Some uncertainty must exist until it
can be determined whether or not the two
oxgangs of land in Haughton were part of
the eight in Denton.
4 After Withington had been acquired
by the lords of Manchester, Denton was
reckoned a hamlet of Manchester ; e.g.
Towneley MS. DD, no. 1511.
» Lord Wilton's D. The land was
to be held of Matthew de Reddish and his
heirs ; the first witness was Matthew son
of William de Withington.
6 Ibid. The two oxgangs of land
were held of Robert de Reddish ; they
were occupied separately, one by Jor-
dan, brother of the grantor, who had
Richard son of Robert de Hyde as an
under-tenant.
' Ibid. The date is about 1280. There
was a remainder to Geoffrey, brother of
William. 8 Ibid.
9 Ibid. In 1306 William le Norreys
of Heaton granted to Alexander, his
brother according to the flesh, all the
right of succession he might have to land
in Denton; and in 1308-9 gave all the
lands, &c., in his possession in Denton,
' which is in the fee of Withington,' while
another deed of the same year calls the
grantee Alexander de Shoresworth. Ro-
3"
bert son and heir of William le Norreys ia
1310-11 released to Alexander de Shores-
worth all his right in two oxgangs of land
in Denton.
A large number of Holland of Denton
deeds and abstracts are contained in Harl.
MS. 21 12, fol. 145/181, &c. Among
these is one by William le Norreys, lord
of Heaton, to Robert de Shoresworth and
Cecily mother of William ; ibid. fol. 1 647
200. Many deeds are printed from the
originals in Mr. W. F. Irvine's Holland
of Knutsford (1902).
10 Robert son of William de Shoresworth
in 1281 released to his uncle Alexander
de Shoresworth all his lands, &c., in Den-
ton ; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 149/185.
Alexander, who was probably acting as
trustee, would thus have the whole of
Cecily's land in his possession. In 1325-6
he made a feoffment of his capital mes-
suage and lands in Denton in the vill of
Withington, Adam de Ryecroft, vicar of
Huyton, being the feoffee ; and Adam im-
mediately regranted them, with remainder
to Thurstan son of Margaret de Shores-
worth ; ibid. fol. 148^/184/1. To these deeds
Sir William de Holland was a witness.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
manor, being part of their gifts." Thurstan seems to
have acquired another fourth part from the heirs of
the Moston family.12 He was living as late as 1 376,"
and his son and heir Richard,14 who added to his
patrimony by a marriage with Amery daughter and
heir of Adam de Kenyon,15 died in 1402 holding 'the
manor of Denton ' of Sir Nicholas de Longford by
knight's service ; he also held the manor of Kenyon
in right of his wife, a moiety of the manor of Heaton
Fallowfield, and land called Mateshead in Claughton
in Amounderness.153 Thurstan his son and heir was
over thirty years of age.16
Thurstan,17 whose widow Agnes was living in 1430
and I438,18 left a son of the same name. The
younger Thurstan was in 1430 divorced from his first
wife, Margaret de Abram,19 and lived on till about
1 46 1,20 his widow Ellen being named in 1462."
Richard the son and heir held the manors of Denton
and Kenyon, and messuages and lands in Heaton,
Bolton le Moors, Wardley, Barton, Manchester,
Pemberton, and Myerscough. In 1481 he settled
part of his lands on himself and Agnes his wife, with
life remainders to younger sons. His eldest son
Richard succeeded him in 1483, and in 1486 made
provision for Joan daughter of John Arderne, who
was to marry his son Thurstan. In the following
year and in 1497 he made provision for younger sons,
and in 1499 granted messuages
and lands in Bolton and My-
erscough to his son Thurstan
and Joan his wife. Richard
Holland was living in 1500,
but seems to have died soon
afterwards.22
Thurstan Holland succeed-
ed, but died in October 1508,
leaving a son Robert, who
though then but nineteen years
of age had in 1500-1 been
married to Elizabeth daughter
of Sir Richard Assheton of
Middleton. The manor of
Denton was described as held of Sir Ralph Longford
in socage ; its clear annual value was £20.** Robert
died in 1513, leaving his brother Richard as heir, he
being twenty years of age ; the manor of Denton
was held by services unknown, and its value was
returned as j£n.14 Richard was afterwards made a
HOLLAND of Denton.
Azure semee of Jleurs
de lit and a lion rampant
guardant argent, over all
a bendlet gulet.
11 Margaret de Shoresworth was twice
married — to Henry de Worsley and to
Robert de Radcliffe, as will be seen in the
accounts of Worsley and Radcliffe. Her
connexion with Sir William de Holland
is not clearly known ; she may have been
married to him invalidly. In 1330
Alexander de Shoresworth granted all his
lands, &c., in Denton to Margaret daugh-
ter of Robert de Shoresworth, and she at
once granted to Thurstan her son all her
messuages and lands in Denton under
Doneshagh in the vill of Withington,
with remainders to William son of Robert
de Radcliffe, to John brother of Robert,
and to Robert son of Henry de Worsley ;
Lord Wilton's D. Five years later
Thurstan regranted the same to his
mother ; ibid. Margaret de Shoreiworth
was still living in 134.8, when she re-
covered seisin of her lands in Bolton,
Manchester, Pendleton, Wardley, Barton,
Myerscough, Heaton, and Denton against
Thurstan son of Sir William de Holland
and Richard son of Thurstan ; Assize R.
I444,m. 7d.
In 1314-15 land in Pleasington had
been settled upon Sir William de Holland
and Joan his wife, with remainder in de-
fault of issue to Thurstan son of Sir
William; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 158^
194^. Thurstan is described as son of
Sir William in other deeds ; e.g. ibid. fol.
156/192. In 1355 he was called 'our
cousin ' by Roger La Warre, in a demise
of the park of Blackley ; ibid. fol. 1 6o£/
1966.
13 See below in the account of the
Moston family.
18 In that year the feoffee regranted
him the manors of Heaton and Denton ;
ibid. fol. 164^/200^.
Thurstan had a pardon from the king
in 1348 ; Cat. Pat. 1348-50, p. 145.
In 1359 the feoffees regranted to Thur-
stan de Holland all his messuages, lands,
&c., in Denton, Heaton, Manchester,
Bolton in Eccles, Barton, Bolton on the
Moors, Harwood, Worsley, Myerscough,
and Sharpies, with homages and services
of the free tenants, with remainders to
Richard his son and his issue by Amery
daughter of Adam de Kenyon ; to Robert
and John tons of Alice de Cobbeleres ;
and to William son of Alice de Pussch ;
to William son of Robert de Radcliffe ; to
William son of Robert de Worsley ; and
to Sir Robert de Holland ; ibid.
14 Richard is named in various grants
from 1344 onwards. In that year he had
a general grant of Denton and his other
manors and lands from his father 5 Harl.
MS. 21 12, fol. 164^/200^.
He commissioned his dear and good
uncle Robert de Worsley to receive seisin
of the same ; ibid. fol. 154^/190^.
Richard seems to have been in posses-
sion of the manor in 1377, when an
agreement was made by him with Richard
son of Richard de Hyde respecting the
marling of lands in Denton 5 Lord Wilton's
D. He granted a lease of the manor to
William de Hulme in 1383 at a yearly
rent of 10 marks ; ibid.
15 See a preceding note, and the account
of Kenyon. The writ of Diem clausit
extr. after the death of Amery was issued
on 19 Feb. 1421-2; Dep. Keeper' t Rep.
xxxiii, App. 20.
isa Mateshead is probably the Myer-
scough estate of preceding deeds.
16 Towneley MS. DD, no. 1461.
V The writ of Diem clausit extr. was
issued 12 Mar. 1422-3 ; Dep. Keeper's
Rep. xxxiii, App. 24.
18 Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 157/193,
159^/195*.
19 Thurstan son of Richard de Holland,
acting with his brothers William and
Nicholas, had in 1407 made a settlement
of lands in Barton and Harwood on Mar-
garet daughter of Gilbert de Abram, on
her marriage with Thurstan the son of
Thurstan ; ibid. fol. 157/193. The elder
Thurstan in 1421 made a further grant
to Margaret wife of Thurstan de Holland
his son ; ibid. fol. 158/194.
A divorce on account of consanguinity
was pronounced by the official of the
archdeacon of Chester in 1430 ; ibid. fol.
149^/1 85^. Margaret thereupon released
her jointure lands to Thurstan ; ibid. fol.
153^/189^. Thurstan immediately after-
wards married Margaret daughter of Sir
Lawrence Warren of Poynton, making a
feoffhient of his manor of Denton and all
his lands in Denton and Withington ;
ibid. fol. 149^/185^; Earwaker, East
312
Cbes. ii, 286. Margaret was his wife in
1439 ; Lord Wilton's D. Three years
later Maud daughter of Sir John Honford
was his wife ; he settled lands in Denton
called Brookwallhursts, Tochetcroft, &c.,
on her, his son Richard to make a further
assurance on coming of age ; ibid.
20 In 1456-7 Thurstan and his son
Richard granted two burgages in Man-
chester, next to the Booths and the Mar-
ket stead; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. i62/
198. They granted another burgage in
the Millgate in 1460; ibid. fol. 161,
197.
21 In that year she became bound to
Richard Holland son and heir of Thurstan;
ibid. fol. 1 5 6bj\ 92 b.
22 These particulars are from the lengthjr
inquisition after the death of Thurstan
Holland, 1510; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. iv, 36. Closes called Bokulhurst,
Newfield, Wheatfield, and the Five Acre
in Denton were in 1497 settled on Robert,
a younger son. The sons named in the
feoffment of 1486 were Thurstan, William,
and Thomas ; that in 1487 wat in favour
of William and Thomas.
Lands in Kenyon and Lowton were in
1461 settled on Isabel wife of Richard
son of Richard Holland ; Harl. MS. 2112,
fol. 147^/1 83^. In 1468 Richard the
father acknowledged that he had received
24 marks from Sir William Harrington
in part payment of the marriage portion ;
ibid. foL 1 5 96/1 95 b.
In 1486 an agreement was made as to
the dower of Agnes widow of Richard
Holland the elder; ibid. fol. 153^/189^.
An agreement as to the bounds of their
turbary on the moss called Ashton Moss
and Denton Moss was in 1479 made be-
tween Sir John Ashton and Richard Hol-
land ; Lord Wilton's D.
28 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, no. 36,
as above.
24 Ibid, iv, no. 58 ; many of the feorF-
ments of the previous inquisition are again
recited in this. Dower in Denton, &c.
was in 1514 assigned to Elizabeth widow
of Robert Holland ; ibid, iv, no. 54. The
wardship of Richard Holland was granted
to John Byron t Duchy of Lane. Misc.
Bks. xxii, 37 d.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
knight.*5 He died about 1 548, and in that year licence
of entry, without proof of age, was granted to Ed-
ward Holland, his son and heir.86 Edward, who was
sheriff in 1567-8," died in 1570, holding the family
estates, probably with some increase, the manor and
lands in Denton being held of Nicholas Longford in
socage by a rent of 1 5 \d.m
His son and heir, Richard Holland, twenty-four
^ears of age, married Margaret one of the daughters
and co-heirs of Sir Robert Langley of Agecroft, and
appears to have acquired a great addition to his
Heaton estates.29 He built a house at Heaton, and
resided there and at Denton.30 The former place
soon became the principal seat of the family, and there
Richard Holland died on 2 March 1618-19 holding,
among other estates, the manor of Denton and lands, &c.,
in the township of Edward Mosley in socage by a rent
of \i\d. He had no son, his heirs being his five
daughters or their issue, and the estates went to his
brother Edward.31 Edward also died at Heaton on
5 May 1631, leaving a son Richard, thirty-six years
of age.32
This son was the Colonel Richard Holland who
was one of the chief Parliamentary leaders in the
county during the Civil War, being a strict Puritan ;M
he assisted in the defence of Manchester in 1642,"
though he advised its surrender ; 35 he also served at
the taking of Preston,36 at Nantwich,sr and at Lathom.*8
He represented the county in two of Cromwell's
Parliaments, 1654 and 1656." He died in 1661,
and his only son Edward having died before him, the
inheritance went to a brother Henry, and then to
another brother, William.40 The latter was living at
Heaton in 1664, when a pedigree was recorded ;41
25 One Richard Holland was knighted
during the Scottish expedition of 1544,
but his arms are given as ' per fesse azure
and gules, three fleurs de lys ' ; Metcalfe,
Knights, 77.
26 Dep. Keeper' t Rep. xxxix, App. 5 54.
2? P.R.O. Lift, 73.
18 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiii, 20.
He married as his second wife Cecily,
widow of Sir Robert Langley of Agecroft,
and in 1562 settled on her the Hall of
Heaton, with demesne lands, for her life.
In 1570 he made provision for his younger
sons Edward and John, and granted the
capital messuage of Denton Hall with
other lands to trustees for his six daugh-
ters, until the sum of 1,200 marks had
been received. A pedigree was recorded
in 1567 ; Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 18.
29 See the account of Heaton in Prest-
wich. The additions to the estate may
have been made by his father. Richard
Holland was sheriff of the county in
DENTON HALL FROM THE NORTH-WEST
1580-1 and 1595-6 ; P.R.O. List, 73.
He was knight of the shire in 1586 ; Pink
and Beaven, Part. Rep. of Lanes. 67.
80 Booker, Denton (Chet. Soc.), 16.
81 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), ii, 141-7. The inquisition
recites a grant made by Richard in 1613,
whereby his brother Edward became pos-
sessed of the manors of Denton, Heaton,
Kenyon, and Sharpies, with messuages and
lands there and elsewhere ; partly to the
use of his wife Margaret — her lands in-
cluding closes in Denton called Holland
Moors, Debdale, Titchetcroft, Turf Pits,
and Blackbent ; to his sons by her, and
then to Edward Holland. The heirs were
Robert son of Jane Dukinfield ; Maria
Eccleston, widow ; Frances wife of John
Preston ; Elizabeth wife of Arthur Alde-
brugh ; William son and heir of Mar-
garet Brereton ; all of full age, except the
last, who was only fourteen.
82 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvii, 42 ;
313
the rent for the manor and lands of Den-
ton, held of Edward Mosley, is given as
15^. See also Funeral Certs. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 204.
88 Booker, op. cit. 16.
84 Civil War Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 45,52.
85 Ibid. 222, 333 ; his reasons were
that the defenders had neither powder nor
shot, that the auxiliaries would want to
return to their houses in the open dis-
tricts around, and that the enemy's forces
were increasing.
86 Ibid. 74. »7 Ibid. 154.
88 Ibid. 181 ; this was the first unsuc-
cessful siege.
89 Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 73, 75.
40 Booker, op. cit. 16.
41 Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 146.
William Holland entered Brasenose Coll.
Oxford in 1627, and became M.A. in
1633; Foster, Alumni. He was fifty-two
years old in 1664. His succession to the
estates was quite unexpected.
40
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
he was rector of a mediety of Malpas from 1652 to
1680, when he resigned,4* dying two years later. His
son Edward dying unmarried in 1683 the inheritance
went to a daughter Elizabeth, who married Sir John
Egerton of Wrinehill, ancestor of the Earl of Wilton,
the present lord of Denton.4*
Of Denton Old Hall only a fragment remains.
The original house appears to have been either quad-
rangular or built round three sides of a courtyard, but
of this, however, only a portion of the south or centre
wing containing the great hall and the smaller chamber
beyond is now standing, together with a detached
building, now a barn, on the east side, the timber
framing of which seems to indicate that it was origi-
nally part of the eastern wing. The Hall is now
used as a farmhouse, and the present farm buildings,
though modern and built of brick and extending very
far westward, preserve to some extent what may have
been the original quadrangular aspect of the house.
Denton Old Hall was one of a number of houses
standing in the valley of the Tame, which here separ-
ates Lancashire from Cheshire, and stands about half
a mile from the north bank. It was a timber-and-
plaster building on a low stone base, built apparently
in the 151)1 century, but has been altered from time
KITCHEN
i6«s CE.NTuRY(g;3 LATER
V 3>° V
PLAN OF DENTON HALL
to time and faced with brick at the back and ends.
The usual arrangement of the great hall, screens, and
the rooms at either end could, till recently, be seen,
but internal alterations and the destruction of the west
wing have rendered them difficult to follow. The
front of the central part of the building faced north to
the courtyard, and it is a portion of this which still
remains. It is a very simple design made up entirely
of crosspieces and uprights, with a cove under the
eaves, but without any attempt at ornamentation
except in the mouldings of the beam under the cove.
The timber front now standing is the north wall of the
great hall less the passage at the west end. The screens
and the whole of the west end of the building were taken
down in 1895. This west wing slightly projected in
front of the hall and was about 25 ft. in width, and prob-
ably contained the kitchen and offices, but they had been
much altered on plan by the introduction of a central
through-passage from east to west. The elevation
carried on the timber construction of the present front,
but with more variety of treatment in its parts. The
disappearance of this west wing with its long windows
on each story, its overhanging gables and line of
quatrefoil panelling, is very much to be regretted.
At the east end of the great hall is what was probably
the smaller hall, now entirely refaced in brick with a
gable north and south. The roofs are covered with
sLone slates.
The great hall, which was 3 5 ft. long including the
passage and 2 3 ft. in width, had a massive open timber
roof, a canopy at the east over the dais, and a gallery at
the west end over the passage. It is now divided into
two stories by the introduction of a floor, but some
idea of the original appearance may still be gathered
by an examination of the roof principals and framing
in the bedrooms. There was a square bay at the
north-east corner of the hall to the left of the high
table, but there seems to have originally been no
provision for a fireplace. The room was presumably
warmed by a brazier, the coupling of the principals in
the centre pointing to there having formerly been a
louvre in the roof. The height from the floor to the
underside of the tie-beam was about 1 7 ft. 6 in., and
to the ridge 26ft. The principals
are very plain and are disposed in
short bays at either end, with a middle
one formed by the coupling for the
louvre already mentioned, making three
small and two large bays in the length
of the apartment. The smaller bay
at the west end is over the passage,
but at the east the space was taken up
by the projecting canopy over the
high table. The plainness of the roof
was only relieved by curved wind
braces. At the west end the gallery
occupied the space over the passage,
but the screen itself was very plain,
being constructed of simple cham-
fered posts and crosspieces on a stone base. The high
table was lighted from the bay, and there were two
windows at the west end of the north side high up in
the wall, one lighting the gallery, the other the hall
proper. These windows formed a feature of the
north elevation, standing out from the wall on a plaster
cove, but only one now remains, the other having been
destroyed along with the west wing. The present
door in the middle of the apartment is quite modern,
having been inserted since the disappearance of the
entrance at the west end. There appears also to have
been a door at the north-east corner of the hall, now
made up, but plainly visible on the outside. From
the disposition of the timber framing there does not
seem to have been any range of windows on the side
of the hall facing the courtyard, the window now on
that side, as well as the one on the south, being a
modern insertion. At a later time a large fireplace
48 He appears to have left Malpas
finally about 1676, his reasons for non-
residence being printed by Booker, op. cit.
18, 19 ; his will is printed ibid. 21.
48 Ibid. 20 ; see also the account of
Heaton. 'In 1711 the Denton estate of
the Hollands, as appertaining to Sir John
Egerton in right of his wife, was under
lease to twelve tenants, the annual rental
amounting to ,£162 <)s. BJ. Denton Hall
and the demesne was in the occupation of
one William Bromiley, who paid for it a
rent of £105 6*. \d. In 1744 the ten-
antry numbered eighteen, and the rental had
increased to ,£216 zs. zd. In 1780 the
same lands were held by seventeen tenants,
and were subject to a rent of £294 6s. Sd.
The entire property was held by lease of
lives, and the above returns of rentals are
exclusive of fines paid on the renewal of
3*4
leases. By the terms of their respective
leases the tenants were also pledged to the
payment of certain rent-boons consisting
of a dog and a cock, or at the landlord's
option their equivalent in money — for the
dog icw., for the cock is. — the landlord
thus providing for his amusement in hunt-
ing and cock-fighting in a manner least
onerous to himself ; ibid. 23.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
1 3 ft. wide inside, with deep ingle nook, has been
inserted at the west end, taking up more than half the
width of the apartment and entirely destroying the
screen and encroaching on the passage way at the
back. This seems to have been done before the in-
troduction of the floor, as the upper part of the fire-
place is carried up to the roof in an elaborate brick-
work composition, with embattled cornices, herring-
bone panels, and other ornamentation. The upper
part of this chimney can still be seen from the bed-
rooms, but is now covered with whitewash. In the
upper part of the bay window, now a bedroom, on
the east wall, some of the oak panelling of the hall
still remains, together with a plaster frieze on which is
a shield of arms bearing Holland impaling Langley.44
The introduction of the great fireplace and ingle nook
into the hall necessitated the partial destruction of the
gallery over the passage, and the whole of the original
arrangement of the hall at this end suffered a good
deal of change. The fireplaces in the destroyed west
wing are said to have been of ornamental brickwork
corresponding in style with that in the great hall.
They were later tharf the original arrangement of the
kitchen passage, and may have been inserted as late as
the beginning of the I7th century, at the time the
plaster ornament in the upper part of the bay was
put up.
The east end and south side of the house have been
entirely rebuilt in brick, and when the west wing was
pulled down that end was similarly refaced. The
upper part at the east end is approached by a brick
and stone staircase on the outside, but this end of the
house has no points of interest in it.
In the detached east wing, which is 5 5 ft. long, are
three principals, the tie-beams of which are moulded
and ornamented with traceried panels and shields.
They are unequally spaced, one being at the south
end next the house, and the other two near together
at the north. The principals are built from the
ground, and have originally had floor beams, the build-
ing apparently having always been of two stories, but
the lower beam is only retained in the principal at the
south end, which on the first floor forms a fully-
constructed partition with door on the east side. The
other two floor beams have been cut away. The wall
posts and the underside of the lower beam are elabor-
ately moulded, and the beam has a bracket on each
side carved with a lion's head and foliage. The two
tie-beams at the north end are panelled on both sides,
but those at the south on the north side only, being
quite plain towards the house. Originally the work
has been very rich, but the present disposition of the
framing and its incomplete character makes it impos-
sible to state what purpose the wing, which on the
outside is entirely refaced with brick, served. Its
north gable is of timber patched with brick, with
quatrefoil panels but without wing boards.
The other moiety of Matthew de Reddish's estate
in Denton was probably Haughton, but may have
been the two oxgangs of land which in 1320 were
held by the lord of Manchester,45 Robert de Ashton
holding of him at a rent of 13*. 4^.46 John de
Hulton of Farn worth held the same in I473.47 In
1282 Robert Grelley was found to have held two-
thirds of an oxgang in Denton ; this land, which is
not mentioned again, may have been part of these two
oxgangs.43
Two other oxgangs of land were in 1320 held of
the lord of Manchester by John de Hyde and Adam
de Hulton, who rendered zd.
at Christmastide as well as
puture.49 It is not clear whe-
ther the former tenant was of
Norbury or of Denton.
The Hydes of Hyde and
Norbury, who were lords of
Haughton by Denton, held
lands in the latter township,
for Robert de Hyde gave to
Alexander his son and his heirs
all his lands of Denton, and in
confirmation and augmentation
of this John de Hyde about
1270 granted all the lands in
Denton which he held, also land in Romiley in
Cheshire, to his brother Alexander, son of Sir Robert de
Hyde.50 The oxgang of land held in 1320, however,
if it were the tenement of the Hydes of Denton im-
mediately, seems to have been acquired in another way
from Ellis de Botham.51 By a settlement of 1 3 3 1 the
HYDE of Hyde and
Norbury. Azure a cheve-
ron between three lozenges
44 Holland : I and 4. Azure semee of
fleur de lys a lion rampant argent, z. A
cross engrailed. 3. Argent on a bend sable
three lozenges of the field. Over all a bend.
Langley of Agecroft : i and 4. Argent a
cockatrice sable. 2 and 3. A mermaid
with comb and mirror. The shield is
identified with Richard Holland who died
in 1618, having married Margaret daugh-
ter and co-heiress of Sir Robert Langley
of Agecroft. The initials R. H. were
formerly on one of the lights of an upper
window. See Booker, op. cit. 23-6.
45 Mamecestre, ii, 291 ; the waste of
Denton contained 200 acres (by the
greater hundred), the lord of Manchester
participating in virtue of two oxgangs
purchased by Robert Grelley from John
the Lord, who had held them of the lord
of Withington. The other participators
were Alexander de Shoresworth, Alexander
de Denton, John de Hyde, Hugh son of
Richard de Moston, and Ellis de Botham.
Twenty-five acres — one-eighth — might
be approved in respect of the two ox-
gangs.
46 Ibid, ii, 364 ; the tenant held for life.
47 Ibid, iii, 48 3 ; the rent was 1 35. ^d.
and the tenure described as socage. John
Hulton died in 1487 holding ten mes-
suages, 200 acres of land, 40 acres of
meadow, and 200 acres of pasture in
Denton of Sir Ralph Longford by services
unknown ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii,
26.
48 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 245. The two
parts of an oxgang rendered 41. zd. yearly,
or nearly the same as 1 31. $d. for two
oxgangs. Robert Grelley was the pur-
chaser of the latter, according to the
extent of 1320; the other one and a
third may have been in the lord's hands in
1282.
49 Matnecestre, ii, 290.
50 Hyde of Denton Charters in Harl.
MS. 2112, fol. 159, 153. Robert son of
John de Hyde was in 1292 non-suited in
a claim against Thomas Grelley for com-
mon of pasture in Withington ; Assize R.
408, m. 29.
51 Stephen de Bredbury about 1270
granted to John the Clerk of Stockport
an oxgang of land in Denton, which
315
Stephen's brother Robert occupied, at a
rentofi<£; Harl. MS. 2 1 1 2, fol. 153. The
charter is among Lord Ribblesdale's deeds.
Geoffrey de Manchester, perhaps heir of
John, granted to Robert de Brinnington
the oxgang which Robert de Bredbury
held ; and Simon called the Serjeant
granted his land in Denton to the same
Robert de Brinnington ; ibid. fol. 1 54.
Robert de Brinnington in 1282 acquired
half an oxgang of land in Denton from
Benedict de Dewysnape and Hawise his
wife ; Final Cone. (Rec . Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 139.
Robert had a son Adam, who as
' Adam son of Robert de Brinnington in
Denton under Donishaw,' granted to
Alexander son of Robert de Shoresworth,
with remainder to William de Shores-
worth, land in Denton — ' all my part of
the old burnt land ' between bounds thus
described : From the head of Crossfield
lache along the old ditch by ' Stobslade '
to the boundary of ' Oldewyneschawe '
(Audenshaw) ; up Dede lache to the new
ditch next the moss, and so back to the
start ; and lands in Wildemare lode,
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
lands of John de Hyde in Denton and Romiley were
to remain to Richard, the son of John, and Maud his
wife, daughter of Roger de Vernon.51 Richard and
Maud in 1366 agreed to make no alienation of the
estate,53 and two years later John, the father, made a
grant to Richard, the son of Richard.54 In 1320 the
rent was paid to the lord of Manchester ; but William
Hyde, who died in 1560, was stated to hold his mes-
suages and lands in Denton of Robert Hyde of Nor-
bury in socage by the rent of ld.K Richard Hyde,
the son and heir of William, having died a month
after his father, without issue, was succeeded by his
brother Robert, thirty-two years of age.56 William
son of Robert died in 1639 holding the same estate,
and leaving as heir his son Robert, thirty-five years of
age."
Robert Hyde was a zealous Puritan and took part
in the defence of Manchester in 164.2.** He died in
i684,59 and his son and heir Robert in 1699, leaving
as sole heiress a daughter Mary, who married Sir
Ralph Assheton of Middleton, but had no issue. The
Denton estate, however, was retained by her husband,
and fell to the lot of Katherine, his daughter by a
previous marriage ; by her husband, Thomas Lister
of Arnoldsbiggin, she had a son Thomas, after whose
death in 1761 the Denton estate was sold to William
Hulton of Hulton. It was again sold in 1813 to
Francis Woodiwiss of Manchester,60 whose daughter,
Mary Woodiwiss, owned it in i856.61 The estate
was afterwards acquired by Charles Lowe, whose
executors in 1901 sold it to Mr. James Watts of
Abney Hall, Cheadle, a descendant (through his
mother) of the Hydes.
The situation of Hyde Hall is one of natural
defence on rising ground, about a quarter of a mile
from the north bank of the River Tame. The front
of the house is towards the river, and faces south-
east. It is a two-story building of timber and
plaster on a stone base originally of the i6th cen-
tury, but added to and altered in the iyth, when
it was partly faced with brick. It appears to have
had the usual H type of plan, with central great
hall and east and west wings. The east wing, how-
ever, has disappeared, and that at the west has been
remodelled to suit modern requirements and a new
building added on its west side.
The house is entered on the north side through an
open porch with stone seats at each side, built in brick
with stone dressings, and with the date 1625 and
the arms of Hyde on the door head. The porch, which
has a segmental opening and moulded jambs, goes up
two stories, and has a chamber over lit by a five-light
mullioned and transomed window with two lights on
each return,6'3 and terminates in a square parapet with
moulded coping above a plain string-course. There
is a sundial over the window. The whole of the
Gotesbuyth, Milesaundes riddings, Lydiate
hursts, Salefield (except in Struyndeley),
Brockwalhurst, Dene Evese, Newfield,
and ' Stoblade ' (except the Dedych dale) ;
also half his waste within and without
the bounds of Denton (except in the Dene-
croft) ; Lord Wilton's D.
The grantee was no doubt the Adam
surnamed ' de Denton,' who gave his
lands to Ellis de Botham and Maud his
wife (probably daughter of Adam) in
1304; and in 1317 (n Edw. I appears
in the transcript for n Edw. II) Ellis
granted the same to John son of Alexan-
der de Hyde ; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 153-4.
Maud, as widow of Ellis, released her
claim in 1333 ; from her deed it appears
that there had been an exchange of lands be-
tween Botham and Hyde ;ibid.fol. 154. The
land exchanged may have been the oxgang
which Hugh son of Richard de Moston
had demised to John son of Alexander de
Hyde in 1308-9, and which Richard, the
brother and heir of Hugh, appears to have
released to John ; ibid. fol. 153.
M Ibid. fol. 154.
63 Ibid. ; the declaration was made in
Stockport Church, perhaps on the be-
trothal of Richard son of Richard.
64 Ibid. ; the grant was of all his mes-
suages and lands in Denton in the vill of
Withington. From the same charters it
a-ppears that Richard de Hyde, probably
the younger Richard, granted lands in
Romiley to his son John and heirs in
1395-6 ; ibid. fol. 154.
There is little notice of the Hydes in
the public records. The writ of Diem
clausit extr. after the death of Nicholas
Hyde of Denton was issued on 20 Nov.
1 420 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App. 1 9.
In 1429 Robert de Hyde (of Norbury)
complained that Geoffrey de Shakerley
and Isabel his wife, widow of Nicholas de
Hyde, had taken away Ralph, the son
and heir of Nicholas, whose marriage be-
longed to the plaintiff in virtue of a mes-
suage and lands in Denton held by the
deceased. The defence was a grant made
by Nicholas ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 2,
m. 19.
Ralph son and heir apparent of Nicholas
de Hyde in 1428 agreed to marry Mar-
garet daughter of Robert de Dukinfield ;
Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 155. This Ralph
Hyde of Denton was still living in 1471,
when he granted all his goods, &c., to
trustees ; but he seems to have died
shortly afterwards, and Margaret his widow
is named in 1479 > 'bid. fol. 156.
Nicholas son and heir apparent of
Ralph was in 1457 contracted to marry
Margery daughter of Thurstan Holland,
lands in Denton and a rent of 131. \d.
from Reddish Mill being settled on the
bride ; ibid. fol. 156. In 1468 Ralph, the
son and heir of Nicholas, was contracted to
marry Agnes daughter of John Arderne ;
ibid. fol. 154. Ralph probably died, for in
1479 William, the son and heir apparent
of Nicholas, was to marry Ellen daughter
of Richard Moston ; fol. 154. In 1525
William Hyde of Denton, being over
seventy years of age, was excused from
attendance on assizes, &c. ; ibid. fol. 155.
The age must have been overstated. Two
years before this it had been agreed be-
tween William Hyde and Alexander
Elcock of Heaton Norris, merchant, that
the former's ' cousin and heir ' (probably
grandson) William should marry the
latter's daughter Katherine ; lands in
Denton of the yearly value of ^4 were
assigned to Katherine for her life, a similar
estate being held by Ellen, wife of the
elder William, and by Margaret, then wife
of Thomas Browne; fol. 155. It appears
that Margaret was the mother of the
younger William ; she was living in 1 546,
but died before 1552 5 fol. 157.
55 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, 51.
M Ibid. Pedigrees were recorded in
1567 and 1613 ; Robert was still alive in
the latter year ; Vitit. (Chet. Soc.), 17
(1567), and 52 (1613). In 1598 a mar-
riage was made between William son
and heir apparent of Robert Hyde and
Eleanor daughter ef John Molyneux of
316
West Derby, reserving the dowry of
Anne wife of Robert Hyde and sister of
Ralph Arderne of Harden; in 1608 a
remainder to Edward, second son of
Robert, was agreed upon ; Harl. MS.
21 12, fol. 155.
V Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxx, 89 ;
Hamnet Hyde of Norbury was the superior
lord. The will of William Hyde is printed
in Booker's Denton, 27-8 ; the inventory
amounted to ^898, and he left his Bible
in two volumes, Mr. Hildersam's works,
the clock in his parlour, and other things
to Alice his daughter-in-law. A settle-
ment of their estates was made in 1630
by William Hyde of Denton, Robert his
son and heir apparent, and Alice wife of
Robert and one of the daughters and co-
heirs of Thomas Crompton of Crompton,
on the one part, and Robert Dukinfield
of Dukinfield and Robert Ashton of
Shepley on the other part ; Harl. MS.
2112, fol. 155.
68 He was a D.L. of the county in 1642;
Civil War Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 2. For his
presence at the attack on Manchester see
ibid. 45, 52 ; he opposed the surrender ;
ibid. 333. He was a member of the
Presbyterian Classis ; Shaw, Mancb.
Classii (Chet. Soc.).
59 His will is printed in Booker, op. cit.
30—3. A pedigree was recorded in 1665;
Dug dale, Vint. 161.
60 He was a currier in Fennel Street,
of penurious habits, and died in 1830.
having amassed a great fortune ; Axon,
Manch. Annals, 179.
61 This part of the descent is taken
from Booker's work, 33-5. The field
names in 1782 included the Pingot,
Rosliffe, Holt, and Warth. Two closes
called the Chapel Fields were sold to
William Bromiley.
There is a monument to Dame Asshe-
ton in Denton Church ; she died in Lon-
don on 1 6 June 1721, and was brought
to Denton for burial.
61a The bottom lights, however, are
built up all round.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
north side of the house has been rebuilt in brick,
probably in the i jth century, and in recent years
has been covered with plaster. The south side has
been treated in a similar manner, and the plaster lined
to represent stone, so that the north and south walls
present little or nothing of their ancient appearance,
except in the upper windows, which preserve their
mullions and transoms, and in the wood and plaster
cove under the eaves. The roofs are covered with
grey stone slates, and the chimneys are of brick, that
from the great hall rising diagonally on plan directly
from the roof. The bay window and east wall of the
hall, however, retain their timber construction, the
bay window forming a picturesque feature at the east
end of the south front.
The great hall is similar in plan to that at Denton
hall, including the passage, is about 32 ft. 6 in. long,
and its width about 20 ft. It is lit on the north side
by two modern windows, and on the south by a bay
window in the south-east corner 8 ft. 6 in. square in-
side. The floor is paved with stone flags, rand the
ceiling is crossed by chamfered oak beams, two each
way, forming square panels filled in with plaster. The
walls are panelled in oak except in the bay window
and on the fireplace side, and the room contains a
collection of old furniture, the only piece, however,
which belongs to the house being the high table.61
The hall was divided till recently into three rooms,
the bay window being one, and a wall down the centre
forming the others. When it was restored to its
original condition the great fireplace at the west end,
which is 1 1 ft. wide and 4 ft. deep, was opened out.
HYDE HALL : ENTRANCE FRONT
Hall, and though smaller may have been copied from
it. The door is at the north-west corner, opening
into a passage which once formed the screens, but is
now separated from the hall, as at Denton, by the
later insertion of a large fireplace. The passage is
still open at both ends, and has the two usual door-
ways leading from it opposite the hall. Both the
north and south walls, which are I ft. 9 in. thick,
have an external buttress, and there is a third at the
north-east angle where the timber and brickwork join.
The east wall of the great hall is of timber and plas-
ter, and was no doubt originally the interior wall
between the hall and the east wing of the house.
The timber construction shows on the outside, but
there is no attempt at ornament, the spaces between
the timbers being wide and filled with plaster. The
The bay window of the hall is in two stories, as origi-
nally designed, built of timber and plaster, but on the
ground story the window opening is a modern one
of three lights with plaster at both sides and on the
returns. In the room above there are ten lights ex-
tending the whole length of the front of the bay, but
those in the returns are made up. The upper part
projects on a plaster cove, and the cove which runs
along both sides of the house under the eaves is'carried
round the top of the bay under the gable, the half-
timber work of which is now covered up with plaster,
and the barge boards of which have disappeared.
The doors at each end of the passage at the end of the
hall are the original ones of thick oak, nail studded,
and with good hinges, the doorways themselves being
of stone with chamfered jambs and four-centred heads.
83 Information from Mr. James Watts, the owner.
317
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The original character of the passage has been altered
by the building of the hall chimney and the insertion
of a modern staircase.
At the north-east corner of the hall is a small
room measuring about 9 ft. by 7 ft. which seems to
have been added later, constructed of timber and
plaster, and with a window on the south side. It
goes up two stories, and has a similar apartment
above it opening from the room over the hall.
The plan of the first floor only differs from that of
the ground story by the bay window being made
into a separate apartment connected with the landing
over the passage by a corridor on the south side.
The room over the hall is panelled in oak all round,
the panelling on the south side, which is made up of odd
pieces, forming a partition between the room and the
corridor ; it has a six-light wood-mullioned window
on the north side, the bottom lights of which are
blocked. The room over the bay window extends
the width of the corridor over the great hall, and in
two upper lights of its window preserves fragments of
well-designed lead glazing. In the south wall up-
jtairs, facing the corridor, is an eight-light stone-
mullioned window now built up and invisible from
the outside, and the landing is lit by a smaller stone
HYDE HALL : SOUTH FRONT
window of four lights, the mullions of which (through
the settlement of the building) have fallen out of the
perpendicular.
The floor of the room over the porch is now nearly
level with the side of the window, the lower lights of
which are made up, but was formerly much lower,
presumably at the level of the present porch ceiling.63
It seems to have been raised to the level of the upper
floor at the time the present stairs were erected.64
There are no features of interest in the west wing.
It has been wholly modernized internally, but it pre-
serves its 1 7th-century mullioned windows on the
upper floor. The building is now used as a farm-
house, but the great hall and rooms over are un-
occupied, and after careful restoration are now
preserved in something like their original aspect.
To the north of the house are the farm buildings,
forming three sides of a large quadrangle, of which
the house occupies the fourth side. These were
mostly erected about 1839, but a portion of the
west side is older, the initials R H M with the date
1687 being carved on a wood beam over the stable
door.65
The oxgang of land held by Adam de Hulton had
been acquired in 1319 by Adam and Avice his wife
from Alexander son of
Roger de Denton and
Cecily his wife.66 This
land, described as the
eighth part of the ma-
nor,67 descended in the
Hulton family for
many centuries68 and
being augmented by
the Hulton of Farn-
worth land,69 Mr.
Hulton's tenants were
in 1597 called upon
for the second largest
contribution to the
minister's stipend.70
This land seems to
have been sold with
the Hyde estate, as
above.
The Denton fami-
ly's holding it is diffi-
cult to trace in the ab-
sence of deeds. Roger
de Denton in 1309
granted Alexander de
63 There is now a space between the
porch ceiling and the floor of the room
above.
64 What the former staircase arrange-
ment was is not very clear, but a portion of
what looks like a landing with flat balusters,
and the bottom of a newel post, may be
seen under the ceiling at the north end of
the ground floor passage near the entrance.
65 Booker gives a view and description
of the hall in Denton, 35-8.
66 Final Cone, ii, 39. In 1280 Alex-
ander de Denton had granted four mar-
cates of rent in Denton to Cecily sister
of Richard de Hulton 5 Lord Wilton's
D. These are probably the Alexander
and Cecily of the fine. Adam de Hulton
and Avice his wife in 1325 failed to
prosecute a claim they had made against
John de Hyde of Denton, Alina his wife,
and Richard de Moston, touching tene-
ments in Withington (probably in Den-
ton) ; Assize R. 426, m. I d.
«7 Robert the Tailor of Tatton, in
right of his wife Alice, claimed the eighth
part of the manor of Denton held by
Adam de Hulton in 1332 ; De Banco R.
292, m. 109 d. The plaintiffs afterwards
surrendered their rights to Adam de
Hulton ; it appears that Alice claimed as
heir of her brother William de Gringley ;
Sir W. Hulton's D.
In 1344 Richard son of Alexander de
Denton claimed the fourth part of the
manor of Denton against Adam son of
Richard de Hulton and Avice his wife ;
De Banco R. 338, m. I26d.
Adam de Hulton in 1413 settled a
messuage and lands in Denton on his son
Roger and Joan his wife ; Final Cone, iii, 71.
318
68 William Hulton of Over Hulton,
who died in 1555, held messuages and
lands in Denton of Ralph Longford in
socage by a rent of %d. ; Duchy of Lane.
Inq. p.m. x, 40. Adam Hulton, his son
and successor, died in 1572 holding lands
there by a rent of 8$</. ; ibid, xiii, 4. See
also Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 267, where the tenure is de-
scribed as knight's service — apparently
referring to the lands formerly Hulton's of
Farnworth.
69 Hulton Fed. 42. Part of this was
sold to Thurstan Tyldesley, as appears by
a later note.
7° Booker, Denton, 6-8. The contribu-
tions were : from Mr. Holland's tenants
2is. 6d., Mr. Hulton's 12s. 4f</., Mr.
Hyde's 9*. %d., and Mr. Haughton's
63. id.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
Heaton land belonging to two oxgangs in Gotisbucth,
and land belonging to one oxgang in Bedecroft, in
exchange for land between Thorisbrook and the Mere-
brook between Denton and Haughton.71 In 1341
Richard son of Alexander de Denton claimed by
right of inheritance a fourth part of the manor of
Denton against Adam son of Richard de Hulton and
Robert the Tailor of Tatton.7* The latter defendant
was omitted in subsequent suits/8 and in 1348
Richard continued his claim against Avice widow
of Adam de Hulton ; M four years later he renewed
it against Thomas de Booth.75
A family surnamed Moston 76 had an estate,
once described as a fourth part of the manor, which
appears to have been merged in those of the other
owners in Denton. 76a
Among the other landowners of Denton in the
1 6th and I7th centuries were the Barlow,77 Hulme,78
Reddish,79 and Tyldesley80 families In 1597 an
agreement as to twenty-four messuages on forty
parcels of land reclaimed from the waste of Denton
and Haughton was made between Richard Holland,
Robert Hyde of Norbury, Alexander Reddish,
Alexander Barlow, Adam Hulton, Robert Hyde of
Denton, Thomas Ashton of Shepley, and Ralph
Haughton on the one part, and Sir Robert Cecil,
Hugh Beeston, and Michael Hicks on the other.81
From the land tax returns of 1789 it appears that
Lord Grey de Wilton and William Hulton paid two-
thirds of the tax ; the remainder was contributed by
a number of owners in small sums.8*
In 1846 the land was held by twenty-seven pro-
prietors, the principal being the Earl of Wilton,
Miss Mary Woodiwiss, and the trustees of Ellis
Fletcher, these together holding two-thirds of the
total area.83
The church of ST. LAURENCE
CHURCH (formerly St. James, the dedication
having been changed about 1 800 by the
rector) M stands on the south side of the town, and
is a low timber building on a stone base, consisting of
chancel, north and south double transepts, and nave
with a bell-turret at its west end. The nave alone
is ancient, and is a simple parallelogram 76 ft. long
by 2 3 ft. wide. The chancel and transepts were added
in 1872, and are built in a style similar to that of the
original structure. The chancel is 26 ft. in length
and 1 8 ft. in width, and the transepts project 1 8 ft.
to the north and south, and are 35 ft. wide. These
measurements are all internal. The framework of
the original structure is composed of oak posts and
transverse beams in the usual manner of timber-
framed buildings. At the end of the i8th century
the church was in so dilapidated a condition that
the roof was taken off and reslated with the old stone
slates, and the ancient walls encased in cement on
the outside and lath and plaster within. There were
further repairs in 1816, 1837, and 1862.
The exterior of the building, though retaining in
general its original appearance of black and white
work, preserves in reality no ancient detail. The
north wall has a plaster face painted to represent half-
timber work, while the south and west walls have
been boarded over and treated in a similar manner.
The lines of the ancient timbers are apparently
followed, the walls being divided at about half their
height by a horizontal piece, and the lower division
filled with upright studs, while the upper part has
four windows on each side, and the spaces between
filled with diagonal battens. A cove runs round the
entire building under the eaves. The west gable is
now without a barge board, but is said to have had
an ornamental one at the end of the i8th century.
The bell-turret, which is painted to represent half-
timber work, has a pointed roof with a weather-cock.
The original church is divided into six bays, the
four western of which are 146. from centre to
centre and formed the nave, and the two at the east
end, which are only about 10 ft. wide, the chancel.
At the end of the 1 8th century, and probably earlier,
71 Lord Wilton's D. From this it
would seem that Roger held three ox-
gangs.
7a De Banco R. 326, m. 271.
7> Ibid. 328, m. 369 ; 333, m. 92 d.
7* Ibid. 353, m. n8d. Richard
•claimed by a grant made to his father
Alexander in the time of Edward II by
one William de Tintwisle. Avice replied
that what was called a fourth part of the
manor was two oxgangs of land in Denton
only, and that they had been granted to
Adam de Hulton by Alexander son of
Roger de Denton, she holding for life
with reversion to Roger the son of Adam.
The fine above cited (which, however,
concerns one oxgang only) was referred to.
7* Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 2, m.
2 d. (July). The defence was that
Thomas was not in possession.
76 The Moston family have been men-
tioned in preceding notes.
In 1256 Richard de Moston made com-
plaint of a ditch overthrown in Denton ;
Orig. 40 Hen. Ill, m. 9. In 1278 he
appeared as plaintiff in a similar case
against Robert Grelley ; Assize R. 1238,
m. 31 ; 1239, m. 39. Richard lord of
Moston in 1319-20 granted to Richard
his son an oxgang in Denton, with the
reversion of another then occupied by the
grantor's son Hugh ; Harl. MS. 2112,
fol. 163/199. John son of Hugh de
Moston in 1346 granted rents from his
lands in Denton to Richard and Hugh,
sons of Henry de Tyldesley ; Lord Wil-
ton's D.
76a William de Moston in 1349 claimed
a fourth part of the manor of Denton and
30 acres of land against Thurstan son of
William de Holland ; De Banco R. 359,
m. 13 ; 362, m. 14. Again in 1352
Thomas son of William de Abneyof High
Peak claimed the fourth part of the
manor against Thurstan de Holland,
alleging that he was brother and heir of
one Adam de Abney, whose land had been
wrongfully taken by Richard de Moston,
the vendor to Thurstan ; his claim was
rejected ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 2,
m. 9 (Pentecost) ; see also Dep. Keeper' t
Rep. xxxii, App. 334. An agreement was
afterwards made between the parties ;
Lord Wilton's D.
77 Sir Alexander Barlow in 1620 held
land in Denton and Haughton of Hamnet
Hyde of Norbury in socage, by a rent of
i8</. ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), ii, 206. From the account of
Barlow in Chorlton it will be seen that
the connexion of the family with Haugh-
ton can be traced back to about 1400.
"8 Booker, Denton, 39. William Hulme
of Reddish in 1637 held a barn, &c., in
Denton, also a messuage and lands lately
improved from the waste ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. xxviii, 3. This forms
part of the estate of the Hulme Trustees.
7' Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 253.
80 Thurstan Tyldesley in 1560 pur-
chased from Adam Hulton and Clemency
his wife ten messuages and various lands
in Denton, Openshaw, and Gorton ; those
in Denton he appears to have sold in
1564 to John Haughton ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdles. 22, m. 39 ; 26, m. 116.
81 Ibid. bdle. 58, m. 203 ; see also
Booker, op. cit. 5, where it is stated that
292 acres of the waste were inclosed at
that time, whereof Richard Holland
received 79, Robert Hyde of Norbury 88,
Adam Hulton 46, Robert Hyde of
Denton 38, Robert Hulme 6, Robert
Ashton 5, Alexander Reddish i, Ralph
Haughton 22, and Alexander Barlow 7.
82 Returns at Preston.
88 Booker, op. cit. 9.
84 ' Deceived by false information
(Britton and Brayley, Beauties of England
and Wales, ix, 288) Mr. Greswell has
been led to assign to the structure an
earlier date of foundation than the facts
of the case warrant and has perpetuated
the error by an inscription ..." Struxit
Ricardus Holland de Denton, armiger,
anno Edwardi IV septimo"'; Booker
op. cit. 46. The inscription unfortunately
remains on the south side of the church.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
there was no division between the nave and
chancel, a space at the east end being simply railed
off for the holy table, but about the year 1800 a
small projecting chancel was added. This remained
till 1872, when the whole of the present east end
of the church, which is faced all round with genuine
timber and plaster, was added.
The interior is almost entirely modernized, the
division of the bays alone marking the original
arrangement. A gallery, which still remains in a
modernized form, was set up at the west end in 1728
with a baptistery and churchwardens' pew under.
A large family pew was built out at the north-east,
but was done away with when the transepts were
_dded. The east end of the chancel projects loft,
beyond the walls of the transepts, the western part
being open on each side to the transepts and fitted
with wooden screens, against which the quire seats
are set. It is lit by a five-light window at the east
and two-light square-headed windows on the north
and south.
The nave has three modern square-headed windows
of three lights at each side, placed high in the walls,
with a five-light window at the west on each side to
light the gallery. Under the gallery are two small
windows on the north side, and one on the south.
The roof is the original one of plain timber restored,
with a ceiling at about half its height. The gallery
is gained by a staircase on the south of an inner
wooden porch, but seems to have been originally
approached from the outside by a door which still
remains.84*
The church was re-seated in I859,84 but the two
square pews at the west end under the gallery still
remain. That on the north side has a good 18th-
century stone font on a new shaft, and the church-
wardens' pew on the south side has a portion of a
well-shaped 18th-century pew back, which formerly
bore the date 1726 on a plate. The seats north of
the central passage were originally allotted for the
exclusive use of the inhabitants of Denton, and those
on the south to Haughton and Hyde.
The fittings are modern, but in the chancel are
ten oak panels, of late Gothic style, now much
obscured by paint, measuring 2 ft. by I ft., let into
the front and ends of the modern quire stalls. They
are said to have been, in the i8th century, in the
front of the gallery, but there is nothing to show
whether they were originally made for the church.
In the north and south windows of the chancel,
and in the window under the gallery on the south
side, are collected fragments of 16th-century glass,
and other smaller pieces occur in the middle lights of
the transept windows. In 1 8 5 5 M these were all in a
five-light window at the east of the chancel, but not
in their original position. They are evidently parts
of a very interesting set, but are too fragmentary to
make it possible to discover their original arrangement.
The window on the north of the chancel has a shield
in each of its lights, one made up of fragments being
quarterly, and over all a bend with three escallops
(perhaps for Spencer), with helm, mantling, and im-
perfect crest, while the other has Argent on a
cheveron between three lozenges sable, a crescent of
the field (probably intended for the arms of Hyde
though the tinctures are wrong), and underneath it
a female (?) figure in purple with hands uplifted,
kneeling before an altar on which is an open book,
and with a label bearing the words * Miserere mei.'
The window on the south side has in its eastern
light an angel with a label on which is inscribed
' Ave Maria gratia,' and in the second light the figure
ST. LAURENCE'S CHURCH, DENTON
•** The outer door, which is now
blocked up, at one time gave access to
the churchwardens' pew.
** There had been a partial renewal of
the seats in 1768. A citation was issued
on 6 October of that year for repewing
the south side, 'the seats, stalls, and
320
forms therein having by length of time
become old, ruinous, and decayed.'
84 Booker, op. cit. 43.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
of a saint in a green robe holding in his hands what
has been taken to be a gridiron (St. Laurence).
Underneath is a portion of a dedicatory inscription,
' Armigi' et Katherine . . . fenestra fieri feceru . . .'
The glass in the window under the gallery is still
more fragmentary and confused, showing portions of
inscriptions, figures, and shields.
The fragments of inscriptions have been probably
brought from other windows and mixed up in an
entirely unintelligible manner. In the three lights
of the window they appear to be as follows, but are
difficult to decipher in places owing to the presence of
the leading : —
(1) 'Edward cui Knolis et . . .
uxis . . . [fijeri . . . feceru[nt].
(2) . . . et Christian W . . . dfii m'ccccc'x
(3) Jahane uxors sue . . . [Rijcardi supprt et Rod
Catherine uxors sue .... an hac dau
Johane uxors sue ....
Booker gives three inscriptions on glass in different
parts of the building, portions of which bear some
resemblance to the fragmentary inscriptions given
above, but most of those noted by him appear to have
been lost or destroyed. Two of these bore respec-
tively the dates 1531 and 1532, and the names of
Hyde and Nicholas and Robert Smith occurred.
Judging from the fragments remaining and the records
of those that have now disappeared, the 16th-century
chapel at Denton seems to have been rich in coloured
glass.
The fragments of old glass in the transept windows
are very small and include ' I.H.C.' in a circle, the
arms of Hyde, part of a figure in red, a head, a shield
of arms (Argent a lion rampant gules crowned or), the
head of a martyr saint, and a shield with the letter R.
On the west wall of the north transept are two
17th-century monuments, one with a long Latin
inscription,86* to the memory of Edward Holland
(died 1655) and his wife Ann (Warren). The in-
scription is on a brass plate beneath an entablature
supported by columns, and above is a shield with
the arms of Holland with a label for difference im-
paling Warren, Cheeky or and azure on a canton
gules a lion rampant argent : and two crests for Hol-
land (Out of a coronet or a demi-lion rampant
holding in the dexter paw a fleur de lis argent), and
Warren (On a cap of estate gules turned up ermine
a wyvern with knotted tail argent, wings expanded
cheeky or and azure.)
The second monument is a small marble tablet
1 8 in. square to Eleanor Arden wife of Ralph Arden
(or Arderne) and daughter of Sir John Done, from
which the inscription is almost effaced, the letters
having only been painted. Above on a separate
shaped piece are the arms of Arderne, Gules three
crosslets fitchy and a chief or impaling Done, I and 6
Azure two bars argent over all on a bend gules three
broad arrows of the second. 2, Vert a cross engrailed
ermine, over all on an escutcheon argent a bugle sable.
3, Gules a lion rampant argent. 4, illegible. 5,
Azure two bars argent ; with the crests of Arderne,
Out of a coronet or a plume of five feathers argent,
and Done, A hart's head couped at the shoulders
proper.
On the corresponding side of the south transept is a
good 18th-century monument to Dame Mary Asshe-
ton (died 1721), daughter of Robert Hyde of
Denton, with the arms and crest of Assheton, and over
all a shield of pretence with the arms of Hyde.
During the restorations in the first half of the last
century, on the whitewash falling from the walls,
several words in an old English lettering were re-
vealed, and eventually the whole history of Dives and
Lazarus was laid bare. This was covered up when
the walls were newly plastered, but is still in existence.
There is a single bell in the turret, originally cast
by Abraham Rudhall in 1715, but recast in 1896.
The plate is modern with the exception of two
17th-century chalices, one inscribed 'The coppe for
the Lord's table,' and the other ' A communion cup
given to Denton chappel by Mru5 Mary Done.'
The registers of burial begin in 1 696 (fragments in
1 69 5) and baptisms in 1700. There are marriage
registers from 1711 to 1723, after which there is a
gap of fifty-five years.
The churchyard surrounds the building, with roads
on the east, south, and west, and entrances at the
east and south-west. The latter entrance has an
ancient timber lych-gate with stone slated roof, pro-
bably of the same date as the church. There was
formerly a yew tree on the south side, but it was in a
very decayed state in ijg6,a7 and was cut down four
years later. Another tree now marks its position.
The chapel of St. James was
ADrOWSON built on the waste in I53I-2,88
and in 1534 an agreement was
made by the tenants as to the levy for the
payment of the chaplain.89 Beyond this there was
no endowment,90 but Richard Holland in 1618
left £100 towards the purchase of an annuity
of £20 for ' a godly minister to preach the word of
God and read divine service,' to be nominated by the
Hollands and Hydes or their successors.91 In 1719
the certified income was £12, to which voluntary
contributions of about £10 were added.91 The
right of patronage was disputed in 1677, l^e warden
and fellows of the Collegiate Church claiming to
present to this as to the other curacies ; the Hollands,
however, succeeded in acquiring or retaining the
8Sa Given in Glynne, notes of 1892.
8" Gent. Mag. 22 Nov. 1796.
88 Booker, op. cit. 41. A description of
the building, which was chiefly of timber,
is given ; there was neither chancel nor
communion table till about 1800. A
small pew was built outside the north
wall in 1676 by Robert Hyde, who was
deaf ; it had an opening into the church
near the pulpit. A double re-christen-
ing took place in 1772 ; ibid. 120.
There is a view of the building in 1793
in Nightingale's Lanes. Nonconf. v, 286.
89 Had. MS. 2112, foL 164/200; it
was intended to raise ^20 by an assess-
ment of z^d. an acre ; Booker, op. cit.
!••
90 The chapel was confiscated by
Edward VI, the inhabitants acquiring it
for 2oj. It had a chalice, also confiscated ;
Raines, Chant. (Chet. Soc.), 278, 270.
At the end of Elizabeth's reign it was
served by a 'reader' ; there was neither
Bible nor surplice ; Lanes, and CAe*.
Antiq. Soc. xiii, 60. There was still ' no
surplice' in 1604; Visit. Presentments
at Chester. About 1610 there was a
curate paid by the inhabitants ; Hist. MSS.
Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 1 1.
91 Booker, Denton, 52. A house on the
321
chapel yard was afterwards built ; after it
ceased to be used by the minister, it was
for a time a public house, but was taken
down in 1853 ; ibid. 59. In 1650 this
house and garden were valued at i6s. a
year ; there was also a chapel stock of
£5 ; Commoniv. Ch. Sur-v. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 12. An allowance of
£50 out of the sequestered tithes of Kirk-
ham was made in 1648 ; Plund. Mins.
Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 64 ;
afterwards £40 was allowed out of the
tithes of Manchester ; ibid, ii, 55.
92 Gastrell, Notitia (Chet. Soc.), ii, 84.
41
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
patronage, which has descended to the Earl of Wilton.
A formal renunciation was made by the warden and
fellows in 1750." A district chapelry was assigned
in 1839." The following is a list of curates and
rectors : — 9i
c. 1611 Humphrey Tylecote*6
c. 1630 Charles Broxholme97
1631 John Angier, B.A.98 (Emmanuel College,
Camb.)
1677 JohnOgden"
1679 Roger Dale100
1691 Joshua Hyde l01
1 69 5 Noah Kinsey, M. A.lot (Pembroke College,
Camb.)
1696 Daniel Pighells 10J
1707 John Berry, M.A.104 (Sidney-Sussex Col-
lege, Camb.)
1709 John Jackson 10S
1720 -Grey106
1723 Joseph Dalelwr
1750 William Williams, M.A.108 (Brasenose
College, Oxf.)
1759 William Jackson, B.A.109 (Brasenose Col-
lege, Oxf.)
1 79 1 William Parr Greswell no
1853 Walter Nicol, M.A. (Glasgow) m
1869 Charles James Bowen, B.A.111 (Trinity
College, Camb.)
1 88 1 David Rowe
Christ Church, for which a district was formed 11S
in 1846, was consecrated in 1853, the Crown and
the Bishop of Manchester having the patronage alter-
nately.114
The Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists have
churches in Denton.11* The Congregationalists also
have one.116
The Roman Catholic school-chapel of St. Mary, with
the title of the Seven Dolours, was built about 1870 ;
the mission was separated from Ashton in 1889.
HAUGHTON
Halghton, 1306, and commonly.
This narrow township stretches north and south
on the right bank of the Tame for over 2 miles ;
it measures 887-^ acres. The highest ground lies
along the western border. The population was in
1901 numbered with Denton, with which for local
government Haughton has been united.
The principal road is that from Manchester to
Hyde, crossing the northern end of the township ;
along it lies the village of Haughton, a prolongation
of Denton. Another road runs north and south on
and near the western edge. At the southern end is
the hamlet called Haughton Green. There are five
bridges over the Tame.
The manufacture of hats is carried on. About
1600 glass seems to have been made, and a hamlet
called Glasshouse still exists.1
It is probable that the two oxgangs of
M4NOR land in Haughton formed that moiety of
the holding of Matthew de Reddish in
Denton, granted to Richard rector of Stockport,
which has not been clearly accounted for in Denton
proper.* They were in 1307 settled upon John de
Hyde and Isabel his wife and the heirs of John,1 and
have descended in the family of Hyde of Norbury in
Cheshire and their successors the Clarkes. The
history seems to have been quite uneventful, Haugh-
w Booker, op. cit. 62-9.
94 Land. Gax. 29 Mar. 1839 ; 16 June
1854.
95 This list is taken almost entirely
from Booker, op. cit. 70-111, where bio-
graphies will be found, together with a
number of illustrative documents. John
Brereton was in 1576 licensed as 'reader'
for Denton Chapel ; Pennant's Acct. Bk.
Chester.
96 H. T. Crofton, Stretford |Chet. Soc.),
i, 61.
'7 He was silenced for nonconformity ;
Booker, op. cit. 70. Also named Broxopp.
98 One of the most famous Puritans of
Lancashire. He signed the ' Harmonious
Consent' of 1648, and was not disturbed
in 1662. His Life was written by Oliver
Heywood ; Booker, op. cit. 71-8 (with
pedigree) ; W. A. Shaw in Mancb. Clatsit,
ill, 406-8 ; Die t. Nat. Siog. See also
Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 86.
99 Samuel Angier, nephew of the late
minister, was rejected for nonconformity
and John Ogden was nominated by the
warden and fellows. The people were
hostile and he stayed there only a year ;
Booker, op. cit. 79-87.
100 This appointment was made by the
landowners — W. Holland and R. Hyde —
and agreed to by the warden and fellows.
Mr. Dale, ' a great preacher of loyalty
and obedience,' exasperated many of the
people by ' bringing the surplice, Book of
Homilies, &c.' See Booker (op. cit. 88-
102) for the attempt to get rid of him in
1685. He took the curacy of Northenden
in 1690, and became rector of Radcliffe.
101 Nominated by the warden and fel-
lows with the consent of Sir John Eger-
ton ; ibid. 103-5.
102 Ibid. 105 ; nominated by the war-
den and fellows.
108 Ibid. 1 06 ; nominated by the war-
den and fellows.
IM Ibid. los Ibid.
106 Ibid. At this time the Denton
people's ' indifference to the Church was
so great that a small disobligation would
be sufficient to make them join the Dis-
senters ' ; ibid. 107.
W Ibid. 107-8 ; nominated by Holland
Egerton. He was schoolmaster of Stock-
port and son of Roger Dale, a former
curate ; Earwaker, East Cbes. i, 418.
108 Booker, op. cit. 108 ; he was senior
fellow of his college. The dispute as to
the patronage was settled at this time.
109 Ibid. 109. He also was master of
Stockport School and was curate of New-
ton in Manchester ; Earwaker, op. cit.
110 Booker, op. cit. 109-11, where a
list of his works is given ; five of his sons
became fellows of colleges at Oxford, and
another was master of the Chetham Hos-
pital.
111 Afterwards rector of Newton St.
Petrock, Devon.
lla Exchanged with his successor, the
latter being rector of Wroot, Lincolnshire.
118 Land. Gaz. 17 Mar. 1846.
114 This church owes its existence to
the efforts of the Rev. Richard Greswell,
of Worcester College, Oxford, a son of
the incumbent of the old chapel ; Booker,
Denton, 124-7.
322
115 The Wesleyans erected a chapel in
1816 ; ibid. 128.
116 Ibid. 128. Hope Chapel was built
in 1837, and quickly enlarged. It was
replaced by the present church in 1877 ;
Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. v, 314-16.
1 Mane A. Guard. N. and Q. no. 856.
3 See the account of Denton. Haugh-
ton is named among the dependencies of
Withington in 1322; Mamecestre (Chet.
Soc.), ii, 374.
8 Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches. }, i, zii.
For pedigrees of the Hydes and Clarkes
of Norbury see Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Hels-
by), iii, 810, and Earwaker, East Ches. ii,
44-7 ; also Booker, Denton (Chet. Soc.),
136. A number of the family charters
are preserved in Harl. MS. 2112, fol.
162-8 ; from these it appears that Robert
de Hyde (son of Robert son of Matthew)
married Margery daughter of Robert son
of Robert de Stockport ; ibid. fol. 165,
153. The following early deeds relate to
Haughton : —
John son of Agnes de Herdislee, cousin
of Thomas de Norbury, released to Robert
de Hyde all his claim in Norbury, New-
ton, half of Hyde, Haughton, four oxgangs
of land in Heaton, and Sakelcross ; fol.
165. Of these Hyde and Haughton are
not named in the grant by Richard de
Norbury to Robert de Hyde (father of the
above Robert) ; fol. 164. Thomas son
and heir of Richard son of Matthew de
Hyde released to John lord of Hyde all
his lands in the vill of Haughton ; fol.
164.
William son of Richard de Baguley
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
ton being regarded as an outlying portion of the
Cheshire estates.4
A branch of the Hyde family had land in Haugh-
ton from the time of Edward IV until 1821, when
John Hyde of Ardwick sold his estate to John Lowe
of Shepley Hall ; it afterwards descended to the Side-
bothams.4
Another family, of unknown origin, took the local
surname, and their residence was called Haughton
Hall. It was owned afterwards by Booths, Holfords,
and Bentleys in succession.6
The Barlows and Hultons, who hare been noticed
under Denton, held lands in this township also.
The principal landowners in 1797 were George
Hyde Clarke and Nathan Hyde.7
In connexion with the Established Church St.
Mary the Virgin's was consecrated in 1876 ;8 the
Bishop of Manchester collates to the rectory. The
patronage of St. Anne's, which was built in 1882,
and is also a rectory, is vested in Messrs. J. W. and
E. J. Sidebotham.9
A Wesleyan chapel was erected as early as 1 8 1 o ; 10
the Primitive Methodists began services in 1840."
These bodies still have churches in the township.
HEATON NORRIS
Hetton, 1196; Heton, 1212; Heaton Norreys,
1364 ; Heyton and Heaton Norres, xvi cent.
This township stretches from Cringle Brook on the
rorth to the Mersey on the south, a distance of 2 miles ;
it measures about a mile and a half from east to west,
and has an area of 2,1 1 5^ acres. The highest ground
is in the south, with a steep slope to the Mersey and
a gentler decline to the north. The south-eastern por-
tion has long been a suburb of Stockport, and was in-
cluded in the Parliamentary borough in 1832 and in
the municipal borough in 1835, forming a distinct
ward. The central portion of the township, known
as Heaton Chapel and Heaton Moor, has also become
urban ; the hamlet of Heaton Mersey lies in the south-
west corner. The population numbered 26,250 in
1901.
The principal roads are two from Stockport to
Manchester, which join within the township ; one of
them is on the track of the Roman road between those
places. A third road leads west through Hope Hill
and Heaton Mersey to Didsbury, while another runs
north-east from Heaton Mersey to Heaton Chapel.
There are several bridges over the Mersey.1 The
London and North Western Company's railway from
London to Manchester by way of Stockport runs *
north-north-west through the township, with stations
called Heaton Norris and Heaton Chapel. From this
a branch turns off north-east to Ashton. From east
to west near the Mersey runs the line of the Great
Central Company from Stockport to Warrington, witi
a station called Stockport ; it is joined and crossed by
the Midland Company's line from Derbyshire through
Cheshire, with a station at Heaton Mersey, opened in
1875. The Manchester and Stockport Canal has its
terminus in the township, near the Mersey.
The industries of the township comprise cotton
mills, bleaching works, thread-making, hat manufac-
ture, corn-milling, brick, tile, and earthenware mak-
ing, saw mills and rope walks.
At Heaton Norris is the Sir Ralph Pendlebury orphan
charity, founded in 1880 ;la at Heaton Mersey is the
Barnes Industrial Home,8 and a hospital for incur-
ables was opened in 1882 in the residence known as
Mauldeth Hall.4a
In 1 666 there were eighty-seven hearths liable to the
tax, but no house in the township had more than four.Sa
At Peel there are remains of a moat.63
allowed Robert son of John (sic) de Hyde
to make a millpool on land in Hyde for the
benefit of Haughton Mill, at a rent of a
clove gillyflower ; Harl. MS. 2H2,fol. 165.
William lord of Baguley gave a similar but
more liberal permission to John de Hyde
in free marriage with Isabel his daughter ;
fol. 162. These were the John and Isa-
bel of the fine above referred to ; thejr
occur in an earlier licence of agreement
(1306) respecting lands in Haughton;
De Banco R. 161, m. 56.
Simon de Gousill gave Thomas de
Macclesfield the wardship of the heir of
John son of Robert de Hyde in Denton
and Haughton ; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 162.
Alexander de Hyde, the brother of John,
was ancestor of the Hydes of Denton.
4 Sir John de Hyde in 1357 made a
?ettlement of his manors, including
Haughton, with remainders to Roger son
of Margaret daughter of Sir John de
Davenport (apparently the first wife of
Sir John), and to William, Robert, Ralph,
Hugh and Margery, brothers and sisters
of Roger; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 163.
Four years later John son of William
Hulcockson de Baguley (a feoffee) granted
to Sir John de Hyde and Alice his wife
the manor of Haughton, with remainder
to William de Hyde son of Margaret de
Davenport and to Robert, Hugh and
Margery as above; fol. 163 d., 163. At
this time William the son of Sir John was
espoused to Ellen daughter of Richard de
Bramhall, and Haughton is named in the
settlement ; fol. 1636.
The feoffees of Robert son of John de
Hyde restored to him his manor of Haugh-
ton in 1377; ibid. fol. 163^. It thus
appears that the elder brothers, Roger and
William, had died without issue. Ralph,
another brother, was ancestor of the
Hydes of Urmston. Robert de Hyde in
1401 made a feoffment of his manors,
including Haughton ; fol. 165 d.
A claim for debt was made against John
Hyde in 1445 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 7,
m. 1 4. His grandson John, the son of
Hamlet son of John Hyde, was in 1453-4
contracted to marry Margaret daughter of
William Booth son of Sir Robert ; Harl.
MS. 2112, fol. 1 66. Ten years later
(3 Edw. IV) Hamlet Hyde of Norbury
made a feoffment of all his manors and
lands in Haughton, except certain held by
Robert Shepley and others ; this was for
the benefit of Joan his wife ; ibid. fol.
167. In 1478 a remainder to Peter
Hyde for life was granted ; ibid. fol.
i66d.
Settlements of the manor of Haughton
with messuages, lands, &c., there were
made by Edward Hyde in 1 648, by Edward
Hyde and Katherine his wife in 1698,
and by the Hon. George Clarke in 1752 ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 144, m.
24 ; 240, m. 67 ; 349, m. 68.
5 Booker, Denton, 137, and information
of Mr. E. J. Sidebotham of Erlesdene,
Bowdon, the present owner.
6 Ibid. 136. To Ralph Haughton 22
acres of the wastes of Denton (292 acres)
were allotted in 1596 ; ibid. 5.
323
' Land tax returns at Preston ; the
former paid over a third of the tax. A
list of the landowners in 1853 is printed
by Booker, op. cit. 135 ; the principal
were Edward Hyde Clarke and Edward
Lowe Sidebotham. The incumbent of
Denton Chapel held 26 acres.
8 For district see Land. Gaz. 4 July
1879. »Ibid. 9 Dec. 1881.
10 Booker, op. cit. 140. u Ibid.
1 The bridge at Stockport is ancient,
and is mentioned in 1292 ; Assize R. 408,
m. 39 d ; Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), iii,
797. See 'Wobrythe Bridge ' in a later
note. In 1745 it was broken down by
the Liverpool Blues to prevent the Young
Pretender crossing. In 1 826 a new turn-
pike road was opened, it goes from Man-
chester to Buxton and is carried on eleven
arches over the town of Stockport ;
Booker, Didsbury (Chet. Soc.), 185.
2 There is a great viaduct over the
Mersey, on twenty-two arches.
23 See p. 203, above.
8 Certified in 1871 ; Land. Gaz. 1 6 June.
4a The name is supposed to be a corrup-
tion of Marled Earth. It was built by
Joseph Chessborough Dyer, inventor ai d
financier (Diet. Nat. Biog.), and was after-
wards owned by Edward Wright. It was
purchased in 1854 as a residence for the
then Bishop of Manchester ; Booker, op.
cit. 183-4.
5a Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9.
8a Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. iii, 192 ;
xvii, 224-9. It is not certain that there
was any dwelling there.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The part of the township outside Stockport obtained
a local board in 1872 ; r this has now become an urban
district council, with twelve members. A small por-
tion, 1 6 acres, was added to Stockport in 1901.
Bennet Woodcroft, F.R.S., inventor and clerk to
the Commissioners of Patents, was born at Heaton
Norris in 1803 ; he retired from the public service in
1876 and died at South Kensington in 1879."
Edward Higginson, born in 1807, was a Unitarian
divine of some distinction ; he died in l88o.9
From the survey of 1212 it appears
M4NOR that HE4TON NORRIS was a member
of the fee or barony of Manchester, and
was assessed as two plough-lands. By Albert Grelley
the younger it was granted, at a rent of lo/., to
William le Norreys, whose heirs held the land in
I2I2.10 These heirs were probably the brothers
Richard and Jordan le Norreys, who in 1196 made
an agreement as to a division of their lands in Heaton,
Chorlton, and Bradford, Jordan receiving Heaton.11
Though the family gave a distinguishing name to the
township and though Norris occurs as a surname in it,
the manor was, about 1280, surrendered to the lords
of Manchester.11 In 1282 Robert Grelley was found
to have held part of it in demesne, and to have farmed
8 oxgangs of land, i.e., half the manor, in bondage.
The only free tenant recorded at that time was Adam
de Lever, who owed two pairs of gloves yearly. The
manor was held of the Earl of Lancaster for the fourth
part of a knight's fee.13
The manor continued in the Grelley and La Warre
families until the I 5th century,14 when it appears to
have been granted to Sir James Strangeways,14 in this
way acquiring the alternative name of Heaton Strange-
ways.16 In 1569 the manor was in the possession of
Leonard and Edward Dacre,17 and was afterwards ac-
7 Land. Ga«. 23 Apr. 1872.
8 Diet. Nat. Biog.
9 Ibid.
10 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 57.
11 Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 6. Jordan granted to Richard
that the pigs belonging to his demesne in
Chorlton (upon Medlock) should run in
Heaton Wood, quit of pannage for ever.
Jordan and William le Norreys appear as
witnesses to local charters ; Crofton, New-
ton (Chet. Soc.), ii, 119, 300.
13 All the lands in the fine referred to
reverted to the lords of Manchester. A
few further particulars of the family may
be seen in the accounts of Denton and
Chorlton-upon-Medlock.
From a pleading of 1281 it appears that
three years earlier William le Norreys had
enfeoffed John de Byron of two-thirds of
the manor of Heaton, and that John was
put in seisin, but was ousted by Robert
Grelley after three days ; then John went
to Robert's bailiff, claiming nothing except
for a term of six years, and on the bailiff's
refusal of entry, he went to Manchester
to talk with Robert Grelley. He offered
to surrender all his claim for 17 marks,
and brought William le Norreys, who
made a complete surrender of the manor
to Robert Grelley, as to the chief lord of
the fee. In 1281-2 an agreement was
made between Grelley and Byron, the
latter surrendered all his claim to two-
thirds of the manor, and acknowledged
that he owed Robert £200 of silver ;
Assize R. 1244, m. 40. The other third
was the dower of Cecily de Shoresworth
(see Denton), and in 1283 Robert de
Shoresworth and Cecily his wife appeared
against Amadeus de Savoy and other
guardians of the lands and heir of Robert
Grelley, respecting her dower in 3^ ox-
gangs of land, water-mill, &c., in Heaton
Norris ; De Banco R. 51, m. 74.
Hawise, widow of Robert Grelley,
claimed dower in this part of the manor ;
De Banco R. 46, m. 77; 112, m. 64
(where it is called Heaton next Wobrythe
Bridge).
18 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 246-9.
There were 40 acres in demesne, with a
chief messuage and garden worth 201. a
year ; a plat called the Mill Ridding and
the Sporth was also worth zos. ; two-
thirds of the mill rendered 1 35. 4.0". ; free
tenants paid 31. io$d. The 8 oxgangs
of land in bondage paid zos. ; the bond-
men also gave twenty-four hens at Christ-
mas worth zi., and eight score eggs at
Easter, worth 6d. The pannage of the
wood was valued at 6s. Sd.
A claim concerning the ' manor of
Heaton' made in 1305 by Richard son of
David de Hulton, the elder, against Thomas
Grelley and Thomas de Hulme may refer
to Heaton Norris ; De Banco R. 153,
m. 79. The Hultons and Hulmes had
an interest in the adjoining manor of
Reddish.
The surveys of 1320-2 give some
further particulars. The bounds of Heaton
at that time were the Mersey, Mereclough,
Cringle Brook, and Saltergate, on the
Cheshire, Reddish, Levenshulme, and
Withington sides respectively, and 'that
road called the Saltergate,' it is stated, ' is
moved from its old place and is now
used upon land of Sir John La Warre in
Heaton ' ; Mamecestre (Chet. Soc.), ii,
275. There were six messuages and 6£
oxgangs of land with appurtenances worth
321. yd. a year ; also seventeen messuages
and 225 acres of arable land, worth
£7 us. 3%d. The meadow and pasture-
land could not be separated from the
arable. There were also 70 acres of
common pasture in the lord's wood for the
tenants of Heaton Norris and of Withing-
ton for six weeks from Michaelmas.
Heaton Wood and Heaton Moss were
being rapidly consumed, so that they
were not valued ; ibid, ii, 283, 284.
The free tenants were : Sir Richard de
Byron for a messuage and Ashcroft ; rent
8d. Geoffrey son of Hugh de Holt, a
messuage and 5 acres in the Shaw Head ;
rent Sd. Ellis de Lever (and) Sir Geoffrey
del Rakes, a messuage and 30 acres in the
Rakes ; rent, a pair of gloves worth id.
Hugh del Holt, a messuage and 18 acres ;
rent, a pair of gloves ; also J oxgang of land
formerly Richard del Yate's; rent4</. Adam
Page, a messuage and 10 acres; rent izd.
Robert le Norreys, a messuage and i ox-
gang of land ; rent i6d. ; also 2^ acres by
Rys'm Bridge (? Rusholme) ; rent 6d.
John son of Henry de Byron, a messuage
and f oxgang of land formerly Richard
del Yate's; renti2</.; also a messuage and
4 acres in the Shaw ; rent, a pair of gloves
worth id. Adam son of Swain, a mes-
suage and J oxgang of land ; rent %d. ; ibid,
ii, 285, 286. At this time, therefore, 2 £
oxgangs of land were held by free tenants.
The annual value of the halmote was
reckoned as 3*. \d., arising from the fines
paid by tenants at entry, &c. ; ibid, ii,
286. The total value of the manor was
computed at £10 los. d\d. Another ac-
count, ibid, ii, 364, &c., may be compared.
3*4
The mill of Heaton Norris is mentioned
again in 1360 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii,
App. 342.
14 In 1427 it was found that Thomas
La Warre had held of the king (as duke)
28 messuages, 1,500 acres of land, 80 acres
of meadow, 200 acres of pasture, 100 acres
of wood, 100 acres of moor, and izs. 6^</.
rent in Heaton Norris, with remainder to
James Strangeways, James Holt, John
Walsh, William Strangeways, William
Garnet, and Peter Massey (deceased) ;
the clear annual value was 10 marks ;
Chan. Inq. p.m. 5 Hen. VI, no. 54 ; see
Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App. 28.
16 He was a royal official and a judge ;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 47 ;
Foss, Judges, and pedigree in Foster,
Torks. Visit. 71, and Ord, Cleveland, 447.
He was of Harlsey in Allertondale. His
son Sir James Strangeways, Speaker of the
House of Commons, is noticed in Diet.
Nat. Biog.
16 There was a recovery of the manor
of Heaton Norris, with sixty messuages,
&c., in 1517, Sir James Strangeways being
in possession : Pal. of Lane. Plea R.
124, m. 2.
Sir James Strangeways the younger died
26 April 1540. He was the son and heir
of Sir Thomas Strangeways, and in 1530
had made a settlement of his tenements in
Heaton Norris with remainders to Leonard,
George and Edward, sons of William, Lord
Dacre. His heirs were Joan wife of Sir
William Mauleverer, daughter of Sir Jami-s
Strangeways and Alice his wife, grand-
parents of the deceased ; and Robert Roos
son of Mary, another daughter ; both were
twenty-six years of age and more. The
said Alice was daughter and heir of Thom :i s,
Lord Scrope, son and heir of John, Lord
Scrope, brother and heir of Henry, Lord
Scrope, son and heir of Stephen son of
Henry son of Geoffrey, Lord Scrope. Sir
James Strangeways, grandfather of the
deceased, was son and heir of Sir Rich-
ard son and heir of Elizabeth daughter
and heir of Philip, Lord Darcy, of Snaith,
son and heir of Philip son and heir of John,
Lord Darcy, and Elizabeth his wife ; Chan.
Inq. p.m. 34 Hen. VIII, ii, 67-81.
*" Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 31, m.
197. The estate was described as ' the
manor of Heaton, otherwise Heaton Nor-
ris, otherwise Heaton Strangeways, with
the appurtenances,' and comprised also
forty messuages, a water-mill, a dovecote,
gardens, orchards, lands, &c., and 401.
rent.
The title of the Dacres, founded \:jon
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
quired by the Mosleys.18 It descended in the same
manner as Hulme until about I75O,19 when it was
sold to William Egerton,20 who is represented by Earl
Egerton of Tatton, the present lord.
The Mosleys also acquired the estate in Heaton of
Jane widow of Sir Robert Lovell, whose father, Geof-
frey Lovell of Merton, had made purchases from Sir
Edmund Trafford.21
The Grelleys made grants of land in Heaton to the
Byrons and others ; w and the Worsleys of Booths,*3
the Hulmes of Reddish,24 and others are found to have
had estates in it,25 but no clear account can be given
oi them. The old landowners were non-resident.26
In 1789 the principal owner was William Egerton,
who paid about a third of the land tax ; the remain-
der was paid in small sums.17 The list of land-
owners in 1844 shows that Wilbraham Egerton of
Tatton owned more than half the soil.28
An order concerning the bounds of the manor was
made about I596.29
The first place of worship in the township was
St. Thomas's Church, built in 1765 for the Estab-
lished religion ; so it has twice been enlarged. It
gives the distinguishing name to Heaton Chapel.
The Dean and Canons of Manchester present to the
rectory. The more recent churches, the incumbents
being styled rectors, are Christ Church, Heaton
Norris, 1846," with a mission church, St. Luke's;
St. John the Baptist's, Heaton Mersey, i85O,32 partly
rebuilt in 1891 ; St. Mary's, Heaton Reddish,
the grant by Sir James Strangeways al-
ready recorded, does not seem to have
been satisfactory. In 1568 Robert Roos
of Ingmanthorpe claimed the manor and
lands as next of kin and heir — viz. son of
Mary, sister of Thomas, father of Sir
James Strangeways — against Leonard
Dacre. The defendant pleaded the grant
by Sir James, who, he stated, had de-
livered all his evidences into the hands of
William, Lord Dacre ; Duchy of Lane.
Pleadings, Eliz. Ixxvii, R z.
Robert Roos's plea must have been
successful, for in 1570 he sold the manor,
&c., to Gilbert Gerard, attorney-general ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 32, m.
1 6.
18 Sir Thomas Gerard sold or mort-
gaged the manor in 1598 to George Cop-
pin ; ibid. bdle. 60, m. 72 ; the latter, in
1601, in conjunction with Anne his wife,
resold to Sir Thomas (ibid. bdle. 63, no.
294), who in the following year trans-
ferred it to Sir Arthur Savage ; ibid. bdle.
64, no. 145. This was probably another
mortgage, for in 1614 the deforciants in
a fine were Sir Thomas Lord Gerard of
Gerard's Bromley, Sir Arthur Savage and
Joan his wife ; ibid. bdle. 85, m. i.
The manor had already been sold to Sir
Nicholas Mosley, who says in his will
(1612) : 'I do hereby give . . . unto my
eldest son Rowland Mosley and to the heirs
male of his body, &c., the manor or lord-
ship of Heaton Norris . . . which I lately
purchased of the Lord Gerard that now
is' ; Booker, Didtbury, 135. The manor
is not named in Sir Nicholas' inquisition,
but his son Rowland died in possession of
it in 1617 ; it was said to be held of the
king as of his duchy of Lancaster by the
twentieth part of a knight's fee ; Lanes.
Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii,
66, 69.
19 Pal of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 151,
m. 152 ; 204, m. 66. There was a re-
covery of the manors of Hulme and Heaton
Norris in 1746, Sir John Bland being a
vouchee ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 562,
m. 3.
ao Mosley Tarn. Mem. 29. Wilbraham
Egerton was vouchee in a recovery of the
manor in 1806 ; Pal. of Lane. Aug. As-
sizes, 46 Geo. Ill, R. 8.
21 See Ducatus Lane, iii, 306, 465, 508,
for suits in which the family were engaged ;
also Booker's Didsbury (Chet. Soc.), 6.
The estate, described as twelve messuages,
100 acres of land, &c., in Heaton Norris,
StreethouBC Lane, and High Street was
purchased by Sir Nicholas Mosley, who
died in 1612 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 4, 66.
22 See the list of free tenants already
The Byrons' holding has been men-
tioned above. In 1277 and 1278 William
de Heaton (probably Norreys), Robert de
Shoresworth and Cecily his wife com-
plained of a ditch made by John de Byron
in Heaton; Assize R. 1235, m. 13;
1238, m. 34d; 1239, m. 40. Again in
1292 Mabel daughter of Gilbert de Barton
complained that she had been disseised of
rive messuages and 60 acres of land in
Heaton by Stockport, by John de Byron
and Robert de Shoresworth. John said
that he had nothing, and Robert said that
he and Cecily his wife held a third part
of the tenement as Cecily's dower, and
that Thomas son of Robert Grelley held
the other two-thirds. The plaintiff's
claim against Thomas Grelley was barred
because he was a minor in ward to the
king, whom she might sue if she would ;
Assize R. 408, m. 8 d. 39d. Mabel de
Barton's claim was again put forward in
1302 ; De Banco R. 143, m. 115 ; 147,
m. 93 d.
William le Norreys, who surrendered
the manor to his lord, had a son and heir
Robert (see Denton), no doubt the Robert
who held an oxgang of land in 1320, and
appears in the Subsidy Roll of 1332 ;
Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), 40.
The Norrises of Speke in the i6th
century acquired an interest in the town-
ship, including a free fishery ; Roger
Downes appears to have sold to Edward
Norris in 1551, and William Norris sold
to Henry Partington in 1596 ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 14, m. 151 ; 21,
m. 114 ; 53, m. 48 ; 59, m. 122.
23 The holding can be traced back to
that of Ellis de Lever in 1320, and Adam
de Lever in 1282, above recorded. Agnes
widow of Robert de Worsley claimed dower
in Heaton as well as in Worsley in 1350,
so that the estate must have been in the
hands of the Worsleys before that time 5
De Banco R. 363, m. 78 d. Robert de
Worsley of the Booths died in 1403 hold-
ing lands called the Rakes in Heaton
Norris, worth 40*. yearly, of Thomas La
Warre, by a service unknown. There
were forty saplings, worth 2s. each, on
the Rakes ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. i,
240. In the case of Robert Worsley, who
died in 1497, he was said to hold of the
king as Duke of Lancaster ; ibid, iii, 50 ;
but Robert Worsley of Booths died in
1533 holding lands in Heaton Norris of
Lord La Warre in socage, by a rent of cjj.
yearly ; ibid, vii, 5.
There was a recovery of three mes-
suages, lands, &c., by Sir Robert Worsley
in 1558 ; the descent from Arthur Wors-
ley is set out ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 203,
m. 7. The Worsley estate was alienated
325
in the second half of the i6th century.
Parts wer< sold to William Nicholson by
Sir Robe . Worsley in 1549, and by Ro-
bert Worsley in 1554 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet
of F. bdle. 13, m. 114; 15, m. 107.
Ralph Nicholson had lands in Heaton in
1587 ; ibid. bdle. 49, m. 61.
24 John del Holt claimed two messuages
and lands in Heaton against Margaret
widow of Robert de Hulme in 1364;
there was a remainder to Geoffrey son of
Cecily de Birches ; De Banco R. 418, m.
342 ; 422, m. 286. Later he continued
his claim against William son of Robert
de Hulme ; ibid. R. 425, m. 504 d. The
Holts occur among the free tenants of
1320. The above John is perhaps the
John son of Hugh del Holt of Stockport,
who in 1364 complained that Roger son
of Roger de Barlow had seized his goods
at Heaton Norris ; Coram Reg. R. East.
38 Edw. Ill, m. 59.
Robert Hulme of Reddish died in 1600
•eised of four messuages, 20 acres of land,
&c., in Heaton, held of Sir Thomas Ger-
ard in socage by a rent of zod. ; William
Hulme held the same in 1637 of Edward
Mosley by the same rent ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. xviii, no. 10 ; xxix, no. 70.
Two of the older free tenants' estates
seem to have been acquired by this family.
The Hulme Trustees are the present
owners.
25 The Reddishes of Reddish held lands
in Heaton Norris, but they are not par-
ticularly described in the inquisitions.
Otes Reddish, who died in 1521, held of
Sir James Strangeways in socage ; John
Reddish, who died in 1558, held of
Leonard Dacres in socage by a rent of
%d. for all services ; and his son John in
1569 held of Gilbert Gerard in the same
manner ; ibid, v, 48 ; xi, 60 ; xiii, 32.
A messuage, &c., formerly belonging to
George Newton of Stockport, was the
subject of a suit in 1664 and later ;
Exch. Dep. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
38, &c.
26 None is named in the Subsidy Rolls
of 1541 and 1622; Misc. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 140, 152.
2? Returns at Preston.
28 Booker, Didsbury, 182.
29 Lanes, and Ches. Rec. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), ii, 274.
80 Booker, Didsbury, 189-91 ; a list of
incumbents is given. A district was
assigned to it in 1839 ; Land. Gam. 29
Mar. 1839 ; 16 June 1854.
81 Booker, op. cit. 192. A district was
first assigned for it in 1838 ; Land. Gaz.
1 6 June 1854.
82 Booker, op. cit. 193. For the dis-
trict assigned to it see Land. Gaz. 27 Feb.
1852.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
1865;" St. Paul's, Heaton Moor, 1877;" All
Saints' Heaton Norris, 1888 ; and St. Martin's,
Norris Bank, 1901. To the last-named the Crown
and the Bishop of Manchester present alternately ;
the bishop alone collates to Christ Church, St. John
the Baptist's, and All Saints' ; bodies of trustees pre-
sent to the others.
The Wesleyans have churches at Heaton Norris,
Heaton Moor, and Heaton Mersey.3* The Primitive
Methodists also have one. The Congregationalists
have churches in each of the three portions of the
township named.*6 In 1857 the Particular Baptists
had a chapel in Heaton Lane.37
The Unitarians began services at Heaton Moor
in 1893 and moved to their present building in 1900.
The Presbyterian Church of England began ser-
vices at Heaton Chapel in 1899.
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church was opened in
1897, replacing one used for thirty years.
REDDISH
Redich, 1205, 1212; Radich, 1226; Rediche,
1262 ; Redditch, 1381 ; Radishe, Reddishe, xvi
cent.
This township has a length of ^\ miles from north
to south, and an area of 1,541 acres. The northern
boundary is formed by the ancient Nico Ditch ; part
of the eastern by the River Tame. The surface is
usually level, but slopes away to the river. The
hamlets in 1856 were Reddish Green, Sandfold, and
Whitehill.1 The population was in 1901 included
in that of Stockport.
The small town of Reddish lies near the centre of
the township. From this roads lead away in all direc-
tions ; the principal are those to Stockport on the
south, passing through the hamlet of South Reddish ;
to Heaton Norris on the west ; and to Manchester
on the north, passing through Barlow Fold, North
Reddish, and Sandfold. The southern end of the
township has become a suburb of Stockport. The
London and North Western Company's line from this
town to Ashton crosses it, with a station called Red-
dish, near the centre. The Great Central Company's
line from Manchester to Stockport touches the northern
end of the township, within which is a station also
named Reddish. The same company's loop line from
Central Station to London Road, Manchester, crosses
the north end. The Manchester and Stockport
Canal, 1797, goes through the township from north
to south.
In 1666 the principal house was that of Jane
Stopford, with ten hearths liable to the tax ; the total
number in the township was fifty-six.* Though so i
near Stockport there was in Reddish in 1857 neither !
post-office, schoolmaster, lawyer, doctor, nor pawn-
shop. Agriculture was then the chief occupation of
the people, but bleaching, hand-loom weaving, and
hat-making had at one time been pursued to a slight
extent.3 There are now cotton mills, calico printing
works, bleach works, and roperies.
The township was formerly governed by a local
board often members, constituted in 1881, and more
recently by an urban district council. It was added
to Stockport in 1901, being divided into two wards.
In the survey of 1 2 1 2 it is stated that
M4NOR Roger son of William held a plough-land
in REDDISH of the king in thegnage by
a rent of 6/., and that Matthew de Reddish held it of
him by the same service.4 The mesne lord was of
the Kirkby Ireleth family, and his position was recog-
nized down to the ijth century.5
The descendants of Matthew de Reddish 6 cannot
be traced, but a family using the local surname,
who were apparently connected with the Hultons of
Hulton and Ordsall,7 held Reddish and Heaton in
Prestwich down to the I7th century. Richard son
of Richard de Reddish was a plaintiff in 1313-14,*
and ten years later Richard de Reddish held an ox-
gang of land in Reddish by the service of 6/.*
Richard son of Richard de Hulton of Reddish in
1331 and later claimed a messuage and lands against
Jordan son of John de Reddish, who had them by
grant of Richard de Hulton, formerly husband of
Ellen de Reddish, the plaintiff being her heir.10 In
1346 John de Kirkby held Reddish in socage, paying
6s. rent by the hands of Richard de Reddish.11 This
Richard appears in suits for some years afterwards."
A later Richard died in 1404 holding the manor
of Reddish of Sir Richard Kirkby in socage by a rent
of 6s. ; Ralph, his son and heir, was thirty years of
88 Land. Gay,. 30 June 1865.
84 For district, ibid. 7 May and 9 Aug.
1878.
85 Teviot Dale Chapel was built in
1824 ; Booker, op. cit. 194.
86 Hanover Chapel was built in 1821 ;
Wycliffe Chapel in 1850 ; ibid. 194.
8? Ibid. loc. cit.
1 Booker, Didsbury (Chet. Soc.), 197;
there were two greens, one by Stockport
Road, called Little Reddish Green, and
another nearer the centre. Whitehill, at
the south end of the township, was so
named from a house built about 1820.
3 Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9. Robert
Walker's house had seven hearths. No
other house had more than three.
8 Booker, op. cit. 201.
4 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 69. William son of
Roger de Reddish paid the 6s. rent in
1226 ; ibid. 138.
5 This is clear from the inquisitions,
&c., quoted later.
6 He held a moiety of Denton, but
alienated it. A Matthew de Reddish was
living in 1262 ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 134.
7 In 1311 the manor of Reddish was
settled on Richard de Hulton of Reddish
and Ellen his wife, with remainders to
their sons Matthew, Richard, and John.
Richard son of Richard de Hulton put
in his claim ; Final Cone, ii, II. From
later pleas (as cited) it seems that the
wife was Ellen de Reddish ; probably,
therefore, she was the heiress. Their
descendants seem to have dropped the
surname Hulton. The Richard who ' put
in his claim' was no doubt the head of the
family — Richard de Hulton of Ordsall.
8 Assize R. 424, m. 5.
9 Dods. MSS. cxxxi, fol. 38*.
10 De Banco R. 287, m. 492 d ; 292,
m. 367 ; the grant was made to John
son of Robert de Reddish, apparently the
father of Jordan. The Reddish family
about this time succeeded to the Hulton
manor of Heaton ; see the account of
Prestwich. Jordan son of John de Red-
dish was a defendant in 1337 ; Assize R.
1424, m. 1 1 d. Robert de Reddish, per-
326
haps the grandfather of Jordan, about
1260 made a grant to Richard de Byron
of land within bounds beginning at the
marked oak and descending by the ditch,
Little Brook and Mere Clough to Yar-
draw ; thence to Hugh's house and the
starting point. In return Richard was to
give four wax candles a year to the church
of Manchester towards the maintenance
of St. Mary's light ; Byron Chartul.
(Towneley MS.), no. 23/25.
11 Add. MS. 32103, fol. 146*.
13 At Easter, 1 3 54, Roger son of Roger
de Pilkington recovered a third part of
the mill of Reddish against Richard de
Reddish ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 3,
m. 7 ; see also Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii,
App. 354. In 1359 there were cross
suits respecting a messuage and lands in
Reddish between John de Chorley and
Joan his wife on the one side and Richard
de Reddish the elder or Richard de Red-
dish, Alice his wife, and Thurstan his son
on the other ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R.
7, m. 5, 2d. The dispute was settled in
1381 ; Final Cone, iii, II.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
age.13 Ralph died about five years afterwards,14 and
was probably succeeded by the Richard Reddish who
was tenant in 1 44 5 -6. 15 Three or four years before
this Richard Reddish had settled his lands in view of
the marriage of his son John with Elizabeth daughter
of Thurstan Holland.16
Otes Reddish died 10 Sept. 1521, holding the
manors of Reddish and Heaton Fallowfield, with
messuages, burgages, water-mill, lands, and rents in
those places and in Heaton Norris, Manchester, and
Audenshaw. The tenure of Reddish is described as
of Sir John Byron in socage, by the yearly rent of
one pound of cummin ; its clear annual value was
£36 13-r. 4</.17 The change of tenure thus recorded
for the first time appears to go back to 1262, when
Matthew de Reddish granted a moiety of the manor
to Geoffrey de Byron at the rent of one pound of
cummin or zd., and performing to the chief lords of
the fee the services due.18 The inquisitions " show
the manor to have descended regularly to Sarah
daughter and co-heir of Alexander Reddish, who died
in 1613.*° She married Clement youngest son of
Sir Edward Coke, the famous chief justice,*1 and the
manor descended to her son and grandsons." Then
it was bequeathed to another branch of the Coke
family,23 and descended to Thomas William Coke, the
celebrated ' Coke of Holkham,' created Earl of Leices-
ter in 1 837." He sold it, with his other Lancashire
estates, about the end of the 1 8th century ; the pur-
chaser was James Harrison of Cheadle, whose repre-
sentative in 1808 sold it to Robert Hyde Greg and
John Greg of Manchester.15
REDDISH of Reddish.
Argent a lion rampant
gules collared or.
COKE. Per pale gules
and azure three eagles
displayed argent.
Reddish Hall was situated on the east side of the
township, and was taken down about the year 1780.
It was a two-storied timber and plaster house, on a
stone base, E-shaped on plan, but said to have been
originally quadrangular in form, and surrounded by a
moat. The principal front, which had three over-
hanging gables, was entirely covered with quatrefoil
panelling, giving the building a very rich appearance.
The great hall, as well as several of the other rooms,
was wainscoted, the upper panels being carved with
the collared lion of Reddish. ' Attached to the
hall, and approached by a door to the left under
the entrance gateway, was the domestic chapel . . .
The apartment over the gateway was known as the
priest's chamber.' K
w Lanes. Inq, p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 80.
14 Add. MS. 32108, no. 1627 ; writ of
Diem clausit extr. after the death of Ralph
Reddish, 10 Hen. IV.
About this time branches off the family
of Reddish of Dodleston and Grappenhall
in Cheshire ; see Ormerod, Ches. (ed.
Helsby), ii, 846-8, and many references
in the Dep. Keeper's Rep. zxxvi and xxxvii.
16 Duchy of Lane. Knights' Fees, 2/20;
4 Richard Reddish holds Reddish in socage,
rendering 6s. yearly ; he says that he holds
in mesne of Roger Kirkby, who holds by
feoffment.' In a pedigree in Piccope MSS.
(Chet. Lib.), ii, 121, Richard is called son
of Otes brother of Ralph son of Richard
Reddish. Otes Reddish is named in
1420 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App.
23-
18 Harl. MS. 2ii2,foL 150/186 ; Ellen
the mother of Richard was still living.
*7 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, 48.
18 Final Cone, i, 1 34 ; if Geoffrey should
die without issue the land was to revert
to Matthew and his heirs. There is
nothing to show how the Byrons of Clay-
ton stepped into the place of Matthew de
Reddish, while the Reddish family ap-
parently succeeded Geoffrey de Byron,
perhaps the same noticed in the account
of Eccles. Although it is not mentioned
in the later inquisitions, the 6s. rent was
paid to the Crown by the Reddish family;
thus about the end of Elizabeth's reign
Alexander Reddish paid izs. %d. for Red-
dish and Heaton, this sum being made
up of 6s. for the former and 6s. %d. for the
latter ; Baines, Lanes, (ed. Harland), i,
447-
19 John Reddish, the son of Otes, was
forty-six years of age at his father's death,
but lived on until Sept. 1558, when he
was succeeded by his grandson John the
son of Otes Reddish, then nineteen years
of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, 60.
He recorded a pedigree in 1533 ; Visit.
(Chet Soc.), 75. His will is printed in
Booker's Didsbury (Chet. Soc.), 204-6.
The will of Alice widow of his son Otes
is also printed ibid. 206. George, a
younger son of Otes, was founder of the
family of Reddish of Clifton.
John Reddish the grandson married
Margaret one of the daughters and co-
heirs of Sir Robert Langley of Agecroft
(see the account of Pendlebury), and dying
in Aug. 1569 left a son and heir Alexan-
der, five years old, to inherit the aug-
mented estates. Three inquisitions were
made — Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiii, 32;
xii, 17 ; xiv, 3. As Margaret his widow,
afterwards wife of Richard Holland, did
not die until 1616 her inheritance does
not appear in these inquisitions. The
will and inventory of John Reddish are
printed in Wills (Chet. Soc. new ser.), i,
27-38 ; a number of field names appear
— Wingates, Howgate, Glazebrook, Town
Eye, Sountehoole (Sandhole), &c.
A pedigree was recorded in 1567 ; Vis.it,
(Chet. Soc.), 12.
30 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes.
and Ches.), i, 252. Alexander had two
daughters — Grace, twenty-five years of
age, the wife of Sir Robert Darcy, and
Sarah, only twelve years old.
A settlement of the manor by fine was
made in 1623, the deforciants being Sir
Edward Coke, {Catherine Reddish, widow,
Grace Darcy, widow, and Clement Coke
and Sarah his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 104, m. i.
81 Sarah Coke died 30 Jan. 1623-4,
and Clement her husband 23 Mar. 1629-
30. Her estate was described as a moiety
of a third part of the manor of Reddish,
settled on herself and issue, with remain-
der to Lady Grace widow of Sir Robert
Darcy ; after the death of {Catherine, her
father's widow, she would have had two
other parts of the manor of Reddish, and
also the manors of Prestwich, Pendlebury,
327
and Tetlow. Her children, Edward (age
twelve on 17 Feb. 1629-30), Robert
Bridget, and Anne were all living in 1630;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvi, 53.
The epitaph of Clement Coke is printed
in Loc. Glean. Lanes, and Ches. i, 113.
28 Edward Coke, the ton, seated at
Longford in Derbyshire, was created a
baronet in 1641 ; he died in 1669, and
was succeeded in turn by his sons Robert
(died 1688) and Edward (died 1727), the
baronetcy then becoming extinct ; G.E.C.
Complete Baronetage, ii, 151.
In 1667 a settlement of the manors of
Reddish, Crumpsall, Prestwich, Pendle-
bury, and Tetlow was made by Edward
Coke and {Catherine his wife, and Robert
the son and heir apparent 5 Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 179, m. 92. A further
one was made by Sir Robert Coke in
1685 ; ibid. bdle. 217, m. 20.
88 Sir Edward Coke bequeathed his
estates to a namesake, Edward Coke
brother of Thomas, created Lord Lovell
and Earl of Leicester. This Edward died
in 1733, unmarried, leaving his estates to
a younger brother Robert, who died with-
out issue. Their sister's son Wenman
Roberts became heir ; he assumed the
name of Coke, and was father of Thomas
William Coke, vendor of the Reddish
estates ; Burke, Commoners, i, 5, 6.
24 Diet. Nat. Biog. The manors of
Reddish, Tetlow, Crumpsall, Prestwich,
and Pendlebury were held by Thomas
William Coke and Jane his wife in 1776 ;
Com. Pleas Recov. R. Trin. 16 Geo. Ill,
m. 221. The rent of 6s. was still paid
for Reddish in 1779 by T. W. Coke ;
Duchy of Lane. Rentals, 14/25 m.
85 Booker, Didsbury, 210 ; they still
owned the estate in 1 844, when it amount-
ed to rather more than a third of the en-
tire township ; ibid. 201.
26 Ibid. 211, where there is an illustra-
tion of the hall.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The next considerable estate was that of HULME
HALL. As early as the 1 3th century a family named
Hulme was seated in the township ; *7 part at least of
their estate was acquired by the Hulmes of Man-
chester, a trading family which can be traced back to
the early years of the I5th century.28 Ralph Hulme
purchased in 1601, 29 and died in 1623*° being suc-
ceeded by his eldest son William, who died in 1637."
Y> Jordan in the time of Henry III
held a messuage and 50 acres of land in
Reddish, which descended to his son
Jordan ; the latter had a son William,
whose son and heir Robert de Hulme in
134-5 demanded the same against Richard
del Edge ; De Banco R. 334, m. 113.
Margaret widow of Robert de Hulme
in 1365 claimed dower in a messuage, 38
acres of land, &c., in Reddish against
Richard de Reddish; ibid. R. 421, m. n.
William son of Robert de Hulme was a
defendant in 1366 ; ibid. R. 42$, m.
James Hulme of Reddish, the elder,
and Robert his son and heir apparent,
were bound to Thurstan Holland and
others in 1456 ; Harl. MS. 2112, fol.
Nicholas Hulme in 1523 possessed by
inheritance ' manors, lands, &c.' in Red-
dish, Hulme, Heaton Norris, and else-
where, and settled them upon his heirs
male, with remainders to Hugh Hulme,
and to Ralph Hulme of Manchester,
' which Ralph is next heir male, after the
said Hugh Hulme, to the said lands.'
The evidences, in a chest under three
locks, kept by John Fitton of Gaws-
worth, were not to be delivered to James
Hulme, son of Nicholas, until William
Davenport of Bramhall, John Reddish of
Reddish, and Hugh Hulme of Tottington
judged proper ; Hulme D. no. 42.
Two years later Nicholas made a further
settlement of his lands in Lancashire and
Cheshire in favour of his son James ;
ianet, the wife of Nicholas, was to have
er dower ; ibid. no. 45.
In Aug. 1550 Ambrose Aspenhaugh,
perhaps as trustee, obtained from George
Hulme, son and heir apparent of James
Hulme, a capital messuage and lands in
Reddish and Manchester ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 14, m. 306. In the
following spring James Hulme, the father,
made a settlement of his estate in Hulme,
Denton, Withington, Heaton Norris, and
Reddish, comprising twenty messuages,
200 acres of land, &c. ; the remainders
were to Robert, son and heir apparent of
George Hulme, son and heir apparent of
James ; to Richard, Ralph, Nicholas,
John, and Edmund, younger sons of
James ; ibid. bdle. 14, m. 1 96. Robert
Hulme appears to have succeeded, for in
1568 he and Robert Aspenhaugh (alias
Asmall) sold or mortgaged some land in
Reddish ; ibid. bdle. 30, m. 22. He was
concerned in some family disputes ;
Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 243, iii ;
22. Robert Hulme in 1584 suffered a
recovery of his messuages and lands in
Reddish, Withington, and Heaton, in
order that he might dispose of them by
his last will or otherwise ; Hulme D. no .
54-
Robert Hulme died at Hulme on 7
Mar. 1599-1600 holding a capital mes-
suage, &c., in Reddish of Alexander
Reddish in socage ; also messuages, &c.,
in Heaton Norris and Withington. He
had in the previous year made a settle-
ment of his estate, the remainders being
to his uncle John (brother of George
Hulme), rector of Wickham Bishops in
Essex, and then to the heirs of his great-
uncle Robert Hulme of the Hudash.
John Hulme, uncle and heir, was fifty
years of age and more 5 Duchy of Lane.
Inq. p.m. xviii, 10.
28 Their kinship to the Hulmes of Red-
dish is asserted by Nicholas Hulme in a
deed quoted in the last note.
Lawrence Hulme had lands in Man-
chester in 1421, 1430, and 1434 ; Hulme
D. no. 10, 11-13. Jn X4^7 a declara-
tion was made that Margaret widow of
Lawrence Hulme had appeared in the
baron's court of Manchester before Sir
John Trafford, then steward, to state that
after her death all her meases, lands and
tenements were to descend to Geoffrey
her son ; ibid. no. 15. Margaret was
probably dead, and in the following year
Geoffrey Hulme made a feoffment of his
estate in Manchester ; ibid. no. 1 6. A
similar deed was executed in 1477 ; ibid,
no. 1 8. In 1478 the feoffees gave to
Cecily wife of Geoffrey Hulme a burgage
called the Gravers House, another half-
burgage, and a field called Ashley, con-
taining 5 acres, with remainder to the
heirs of Geoffrey Hulme ; ibid. no. 19.
The year afterwards they gave lands in
Manchester called the Overfields of Mil-
ward Croft, alias 'the Over my lord's
crofts,' to Elizabeth daughter of Richard
Beswick the elder, who was to marry
Ralph son of Geoffrey son and heir of
Lawrence Hulme ; ibid. no. 20.
Geoffrey made a grant of certain rents
to Ralph, his son and heir apparent, in
1482, and provision was made for younger
sons, Lawrence and Geoffrey, in 1484 ;
ibid. no. 23-5. Cecily, the widow of
Geoffrey, had dower assigned her in
1488—90 ; ibid. no. 26-8. In one deed
Edmund Hulton is called brother of
Cecily. Ralph Hulme occurs in various
deeds down to 1520. In 1511 he made
a feoffment of all his messuages and
lands, the remainders being to his son
Stephen, and in default of issue to his
daughter Margaret Trafford (of the Gar-
rett), and Henry her son ; ibid. no.
37-
Stephen Hulme succeeded in or before
1522, when he made a feoffment of his
lands, and in 1524 the feoffees granted
dower to Elizabeth, widow of Ralph ;
ibid. no. 41, 43, 44. In 1540 Thomas
West, Lord La Warre, granted to Stephen
Hulme of Manchester a footpath from
Stephen's Close called Dovecroft, over a
headland lately Richard Hunt's, to Ste-
phen's pasture called ' Hodgekin hey of
Hulton,' as accustomed ; ibid. no. 47.
In 1544 Alice daughter of Isabel and
Robert Laboray was wife of Stephen
Hulme ; ibid. no. 48.
Stephen died in or before 1553, when
Robert, his son and heir, came into court
and did his fealty ; Manch. Ct. Leet Rec.
i, 8. Robert Hulme, to whom there
are many references in the records just
cited, in 1556 gave to Anne widow of
Richard Shalcross his burgage in Man-
chester adjoining ' the highway sometime
called the Cornmarket-stead and now the
Conduct (conduit) place,' at a perpetual
rent of 13*. 4^. ; Hulme D. no. 49.
In the following year a settlement was
made of disputes between Robert Hulme
and George Hulton of Normanton, co-
heirs of the Laborays ; ibid. no. 50. In
328
1566 Robert Hulme was described as 'of
Newton,' where he had lands inherited
from Robert Laboray, the house being
known as Hulme Hall ; see Crofton,
Newton Cbapelry (Chet. Soc.), i, 231, &c.
In 1575 he purchased four burgages in
Manchester; Hulme D, no. 53. He
died 29 Dec. 1584, and was buried at
Manchester, leaving a son Ralph, of full
age, to inherit the estates ; Mancb. Ct.
Leet. Rec. i, 248 ; Newton Chapelry, ii,
64. His inquisition has been preserved,
recording his lands in Manchester ; Duchy
of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, 64.
29 The vendors were Abdias Hulme of
Braxsted in Essex, Nicholas Hulme of
Holborn, John Hulme of Wickham
Bishops, and Edward Hulme of Holborn.
The estate is described as ' that capital
messuage or mansion house called Hulme,
with all the messuages, lands &c. now or
late in the occupation of Margaret Hulme,
late wife of Robert Hulme, Mrs. Hulme,
late wife of James Hulme and grand-
mother of the said Robert Hulme, Robert
Hulme of Hudash, Ralph Hulme ' and
others named, ' commonly occupied as
parcel of the said capital messuage,' and
situate in Hulme, Reddish, Denton, and
Heaton Norris. The price named is
£850 ; Hulme D. no. 57, 58.
A fine concerning a further part of the
estates was made in 1606, Abdias Hulme
and the others being deforciants; Mr. Ear-
waker's note.
80 Ralph Hulme was a party to deeds
of 1605 and 1615 ; Hulme D. no. 59,
62. For his marriage and death see
Manch. Ct. Leet. Rec. iii, 72 and notes,
and Booker, Didsbury, 214. Family
quarrels were followed by an award in
1628 by William Bourne, B.D., and
others, by which John Hulme, younger
brother of William, received lands in
Ashton-under-Lyne and in the Heaths
near Newton Lane in Manchester, parts
of his mother's inheritance ; Hulme
D. no. 63. Thomasine, the mother,
had died in 1 627 holding lands in Man-
chester and Ashton, which she bequeathed
to her son John, because he had been
dutiful and taken great pains for her in
her old age, whereas the elder son had
shown himself the reverse ; ibid. no. 66.
Ten years later (1637) William made a
further grant to his brother John ; ibid,
no. 67, 68.
81 Shortly before his death William
Hulme made a settlement of Hulme Hall
and his lands in Reddish, Denton, and
Heaton Norris, with remainders to John
Hulme (his brother) as guardian, until
William, the son and heir, should come
of age ; ibid. no. 61.
The inquisition gives an account of the
messuages and lands in Reddish, Heaton
Norris, Withington, and Manchester
(Withy Grove, Fennel Street, Shude Hill,
and the Tuefields), and Ashton. Hulme
Hall and the rest of the estate in Red-
dish were held of Edward Coke, lord of
the manor, in socage ; William, the son
and heir, was under seven years of age at
his father's death ; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. xxviii, 3 ; xxix, 70. William
Hulme's will is printed in Booker's Did:-
bury, 214-16.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
HULME of Hulme.
Barry of eight or and
azure on a canton argent
a chaplet gules.
His heir was his son William Hulme, founder of the
Hulme exhibitions at Brasenose College, Oxford. He
lived at Kearsley, and being
left childless, devoted his estates
to charitable uses, a life in-
terest to his widow being re-
served." She died in 1700,
when the trustees came into
possession of the whole.*3
Owing to the growth of Man-
chester the trust estates have
increased in value enormously,
and several Acts of Parliament
have been passed to regulate
the uses.34 Hulme Hall, the
residence of the family, was later
known as Broadstone Hall.35
Other families appear from time to time as owning
lands in the township, as those of Birches,36 Bibby,17
and Stanley.38 John Reddish was the only landowner
contributing to the subsidy of I54I,39 but in 1622
three are named — Clement Coke, Margaret Hulme,
and Thomas Bibby.40
In 1788 Thomas Wenman (William) Coke paid
£49 out of the total land tax of £68, the next con-
tributor being Brasenose College, Oxford, £9, on
account of the Hulme estates.41 In 1844 John Hyde
had an estate of 210 acres in the township, being
about a seventh of the land.41
For the Established Church St. Elisabeth's was
built in 1883 ; Sir W. H. Houldsworth has the
patronage of the rectory. In North Reddish is the
temporary church of St. Agnes, the Crown and the
Bishop of Manchester presenting alternately.
The Wesleyans have a church.
The Roman Catholic Church of St. Joseph was
built in 1882.
STRETFORD
Stretford, 1212. Trafford, 1212.
This large township,1 lying between the Irwell
and Cornbrook on the north and the Mersey on the
south, occupies the south-west corner of the parish,
and contains 3,255 acres.2 The surface is compara-
tively level, though it slopes to the Mersey. Stretford
proper lies in the south, taking its name from an
ancient ford over the Mersey, also called Crosford.
The north-eastern portion is called Trafford or Old
Trafford ; a ford over the Irwell is said to have been
near it. Longford lies on the eastern border. The
population in 1901 was 30,436.
The principal road is that on the line of the old
Roman road from Chester to Manchester, and crosses
the Mersey by a bridge at the point where the ford
was.3 From Stretford village roads go east and west
to Fallowfield and to Urmston. Old Trafford has to
some extent become urban, and there are many streets
of houses on the border of Hulme. In this part of
the township are the Botanical Gardens, opened in
1831, and the Lancashire cricket ground, with several
other cricket and football grounds. Pomona Gardens
formerly occupied land at the junction of the Corn-
brook and the Irwell.
Henshaw's Blind Asylum at Old Trafford was
established in 1837. A deaf and dumb school,
which originated in 1823, found a home adjacent
to it in 1837.
The Cheshire Lines Committee's Manchester and
Liverpool line crosses the northern portion of the
township,4 with a station called Trafford Park,
and has an older line south to Stockport ; * there is
a large goods yard near the northern boundary, close
to which, on the Irwell, are docks and jetties of
the Ship Canal ; also a corn elevator and various large
83 For an account of him see Booker's
Didsbury, 216-19 ; his will is given in
full. A pedigree was recorded in 1664.;
Dugdale, Visit. 158.
83 Booker, op. cit. 219, 220.
84 Ibid. 220-5. A rental of 1710 is
printed in Mancb. Guard. N. and Q. no.
1263. The Hulme trustees in 1844
owned 225 acres in Reddish ; Booker,
op. cit. 201.
8* Ibid. 225 ; « Hulme Hall alias
Broadstone' occurs in 1632.
88 In 1284 William son of Lycot un-
successfully claimed a messuage and
8 acres in Reddish against Henry de
Traffbrd, Henry del Birches, and Anabel,
daughter of William le Norreys ; Assize
R. 1265, m. 5 d. Matthew del Birches
in 1323 secured a messuage and lands in
Reddish from Hugh son of Richard del
Birches and Cecily his wife ; Final Cone.
ii, 48. A Henry del Wood and Cecily
his wife had in 1314 granted a somewhat
larger estate to Richard de Chorlton, clerk;
ibid, ii, 15.
*' James Bibby in 1444 complained
that Thurstan Rawlinson of Withington,
Robert Chorlton of Chorlton-with-Hardy
and Joan his wife, had broken into his
closes and houses at Reddish and taken
away corn and grass to the value of £10;
Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 6, m. 2. James
Bibby claimed by a grant from Hugh
Bradford and Margaret his wife, she being
daughter and heir of Thomas son of
Stephen Reddish ; Thomas received the
property from one John Langley. The
defendants asserted that one Adam Davy
had been the owner, and that Ralph
father of Thurstan was his son and heir,
which Ralph had wrongfully made a grant
to the plaintiff; ibid. R. 12, m. 8.
In a further suit in 1573 Ralph Bibby,
clerk, claimed a messuage and lands
against Ralph Dicconson ; it was asserted
that the Margaret daughter of Thomas
Reddish above mentioned was the mother
of James Bibby, and that the succession
was : James -s. and h. Henry — s. and
h. Thomas -s. and h. Ralph (plaintiff) ;
ibid. R. 233, m. 14 d.
88 ' By an undated deed Thomas the
Hermit of Stockport and Margaret daugh-
ter of Robert de Standleye conveyed one
messuage and lands in Denton, certain
lands in Reddish called Egecroft and other
specified lands ' ; Booker, Didsbury, 226.
A William Stanley of Reddish in 1603
made Margaret his wife his executrix and
residuary legatee ; ibid. 227. The resi-
dence of the Stanleys was called Wood-
hall, and was in 1844 in possession of the
Rev. William Fox's heirs ; ibid. 201.
There was a suit about Woodhall in
1594 ; Ducatus Lane, iii, 308.
Two members of the Stanley family
seem to have taken opposite sides in the
Civil War. Edward Stanley took part in
the defence of Manchester in 1642, when
the Earl of Derby besieged it, and died
of wounds he received there. He had
desired that his estate should be divided
329
between his sisters, Anne Goddart and
Alice Hulme ; Booker, op. cit. 227-9.
On the other hand Henry Stanley of
Woodhall in 1648 desired to compound
for his sequestered estate ; he had been in
arms against the Parliament. The fine
was ^46 ; Cal. of Com. for Compounding,
iii, 1809.
89 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 140.
4° Ibid, i, 152.
41 Land tax returns at Preston.
42 Booker, op. cit. 201.
1 A full account of the township and
chapelry by Mr. H. T. Crofton has been
printed by the Chetham Society (new ser.
xlii, xlv, Ii) ; numerous maps, plans, and
views are given. Its stores have been
drawn upon for the present work.
2 3,240 acres, including 75 of inland
water; Census Rep. 1901.
8 Leland about 1535 crossed the Mersey
' by a great bridge of timber called Cross-
ford Bridge.' Edmund Prestwich of Hulme
in 1577 left £30 for this bridge ; Duchy
of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, no. 4. Though
broken down in 1745 the Young Pre-
tender's army repaired it sufficiently to
use it ; Crofton, Stretford, i, 12.
Close by the ford was the mill, which
has long since disappeared. John the
Miller contributed to the subsidy in
1332; Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 30.'
4 Opened in 1873.
6 Ibid. 1862.
42
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
warehouses and works. The London and North-
Western Company's Manchester South Junction and
Altrincham Railway 6 passes through the centre, with
stations at Old Trafford, the cricket ground, and
Stretford. The Bridgewater Canal also passes through
the centre and north of the township, after crossing
the Mersey from Cheshire by Barfoot Bridge.
In 1 666 there were in Stretford 1 1 7 hearths to
be taxed ; the principal house was that of Sir Cecil
Trafford with twenty-four.7 A century ago it was
famous as a fat pig market, some six hundred animals
being killed weekly for Manchester.8 There was a
paper-mill at Old Trafford in 1765. Weaving was
formerly one of the chief industries.
The wakes were held at the beginning of October.
A stone celt, Roman remains, and a hoard of
Anglo-Saxon coins have been found.9 The cross 10
was taken down about 1 840 ; the stocks, which were
near the cross, had been removed about 1825. The
Great Stone — now inclosed by a railing — lies in Old
Trafford beside the Chester road ; it has two cavities.11
A local board was formed in 1868," and its offices
were built in 1888 ; it has become an urban district
council of eighteen members, elected from six wards —
Stretford, Longford, Trafford, Talbot, Cornbrook, and
Clifford. There are a public hall, free libraries, and
other institutions. There is a recreation-ground at
Old Trafford. At Stretford are a cemetery, opened in
1885, and a sewage-farm. Gas-works were erected
in 1852.
Stretford gives its name to one of the parliamentary
divisions of the county.
John Holker, who established factories in France,
was born at Stretford in 1719." Edward Painter,
pugilist, was also a native; 1784-1852." A dis-
tinguished resident was John Eglington Bailey, the
antiquary, author of a life of Thomas Fuller ; he
died there in I888.15
An exhibition of art treasures held at Old Trafford
in 1857 was opened by Queen Victoria. The Royal
Jubilee Exhibition of 1887 was held there.
In this township there were anciently
MANORS two manors, both held in thegnage of the
king in chief as of his manor of Salford.
The principal was in 1212 STRETFORD, rated as
one plough-land and held by Hamon de Mascy by the
service of a judge ; 16 the other was TR4FFORD,
held by Henry de Trafford by
a rent of 5/. yearly.17 Under
Mascy a moiety of the former
was held by Hugh de Stret-
ford, who performed the ser-
vice of the judge ; and a fourth
part was held by the above-
named Henry de Trafford,
who paid \s. a year.18 About
1250 another Hamon de
Mascy gave the whole of Stret-
ford to his daughter Margery,"
who afterwards granted Stret-
ford to Richard de Trafford.10
The moiety of the manor held
by Hugh de Stretford in 1212 does not occur sub-
sequently in the records.11 The Trafford family thus
acquired the whole of Stretford and Trafford, and
the two manors have descended together. The prin-
cipal residence remained at the latter place until
about 1720, when Trafford Park in Whittleswick was
chosen." Manor courts continued to be held until
Igja."
The pedigree of the lords can be traced at least to
the early part of the I2th century.24 Hamon de
Mascy before 1190 gave Wolfetnote and his heirs
to Ralph son of Randulf and to Robert his son for
4 marks." This was afterwards confirmed to Robert
son of Ralph.*6 A further grant was made to Henry
MASCY. Quarterly
gules and argent in the
second quarter a mullet
table.
6 Opened in 1 849. The Great Central
Company is a part-owner of the line.
7 Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9 ; John Falk-
ner's house had eleven hearths, Edmund
Trafford's and Robert Owen's six each.
8 Baines, Lanes. Dir. 1825, ii, 680.
9 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. iii, 269 ;
x, 251.
10 The pedestal is now in the churchyard.
11 Crofton, op. cit. iii, 44-9, with
photographs. See also Harland and Wil-
kinson, Traditions of Lanes. 53.
12 Land. Gam. 7 Apr. 1868.
18 Crofton, op. cit. iii, 158-63. Holker
was a Jacobite and became lieutenant in
the unfortunate Manchester Regiment of
1745. He escaped from prison, and found
a refuge in France, where, with the en-
couragement of the government, he in-
troduced various manufactures. He was
ennobled in 1775, and died in 1786.
There are biographies of him in Diet. Nat.
Biog. } Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. ix, 147 ;
Pal. Note Bk. iv, 47, &c.
14 Die t. Nat. Biog.
15 Crofton, op. cit. iii, 153, 154 ; there
is a portrait at the beginning of vol. i. A
list of his writings, compiled by Mr.E. Axon,
is in Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. vi, 129.
15 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i. 72. Land in Lanca-
shire which had been Hamon de Mascy's
was in the king's hands in 1187 ; Farrer,
Lanes. Pipe R. 64.
V Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 70. The
payment of 51. for his land in Trafford is
recorded in a roll of 1226 as due from
Robert son of Ralph de Trafford (ibid.
138), but the entry must have been
copied from an old roll, as it will be seen
that Robert was dead in 1205.
18 Ibid, i, 72. A large collection of
Trafford charters will be found in the
Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxv ; some of
them are printed by Crofton, op. cit. iii,
234, &c. Among others are two which
show how the Traffbrds became possessed
of the two oxgangs held in 1212. Hamon
de Mascy granted to Robert son of Ralph
an oxgang of land in Stretford, viz. an
eighth part of the land of the vill, at a
rent of 21. ; Hugh and Henry de Stret-
ford were witnesses ; op. cit. iii, 234.
The same or a later Hamon granted to
Henry son of Robert de Trafford an ox-
gang of his demesne in Stretford, formerly
held by William son of Robert, at a rent
of 2s. ; ibid. This charter mentions that
the service of a judge due from the vill
was discharged by another.
The deeds quoted below as ' De Trafford
deeds ' have been taken from the originals.
19 F/na/CoHC.(Rec.Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 1 54, quoting Trafford muniments,
30 Margery daughter of Hamon de
Mascy about 1260 granted to Richard
de Trafford the whole vill of Stretford
with all its appurtenances in freemen
and villeinages, at a rent of id. ; Crofton,
op. cit. iii, 237. The seal is described.
Then Hamon de Mascy released to Richard
all his claim in the whole vill of Stretford,
33°
which was thenceforward to be held by the
new lord of William de Ferrers, Earl of
Derby, by the services due from the vill ;
ibid. 236. E. de Mascy, widow, released
to Richard her claim for dower in Stret-
ford ; ibid. 241. A little later Margaret
de Mascy, as widow of Roger Payn of
Ashbourne, released all her right in the
whole vill to Henry de Trafford ; ibid. 238.
81 Stretford was used as a surname,
but the bearers do not seem to have had
the moiety of the manor held by Hugh in
181*.
82 See the account of Barton on Irwell.
28 Numerous extracts from the Court
Rolls from 1700 will be found in Mr.
Crofton's work, ii, 46-183. Plans of the
Trafford tenancies in 1782, with names
of fields and tenants, are printed.
24 For a discussion by Messrs. Bird and
Round of the earlier generations of the
family see the Ancestor, ix, 65 ,• x, 73 ;
xii, 42, 53. Mr. Bird thinks there may
have been two Henrys (c. 1200) between
Robert and Richard, while Mr. Round
points out that Ranulf or Randulf, the name
of the earliest of the Traffbrds on record,
is distinctly post-Conquest and foreign.
85 De Trafford D. no. 140. It is sug-
gested that this Ralph may be the Ralph
de Dunham mentioned in the Pipe R. of
1187-93 5 Lanes. Pipe R. v, 69, 73, 76.
86 De Trafford D. no. 141. In a pre-
ceding note it is shown that Robert son
of Ralph also obtained an oxgang of land
in Stretford.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
son of Robert of an oxgang of Hamon de Mascy's
demesne in Ashley, previously held by Uctred, it
being a fourth part of the whole vill.17 Henry,
surnamed 'de Stratford,' agreed in 1205 to pay 40^.
as relief for the half plough-land he held in Trafford.28
In 1212, as above shown, he held TrafFord of the
king and a fourth of Stretford of Hamon de Mascy.
He died in 1221, when his son and heir Richard
paid 2OJ. for relief of the land held of the king.*9
Apart from his acquisition of Stretford little is
known of Richard de TrafFord,30 whose son Henry
in 1278 agreed to a partition of the family estates,
taking as his share eight oxgangs of land, &c., in
Stretford, Chorlton-upon-Medlock, and Withing-
ton." Six years later Henry obtained a charter of
free warren for his manors of TrafFord and Stretford."
He was succeeded by his son Henry before 1292,
in which year the younger Henry had a dispute with
his brother Richard.33 Henry de TrafFord in 1302
contributed to the aid as holding part of a knight's
fee in Harwood near Bolton,*4 and five years after-
wards he made a settlement of the manor of Clifton.35
In the Parliament of 1312 he was a knight of the
shire." In 1324 Henry de TrafFord had the king's
leave to settle his manors of TrafFord and Stretford
upon Henry son of John son of Henry and his
heirs ; " and in the following year accordingly this
was done.38 In 1334 Sir Henry de TrafFord acquired
John Grelley's lands in Chorlton-upon-Medlock.39
Soon after this probably he was succeeded by his
grandson Henry, also a knight,40 who died between
1 373 41 and 1376, leaving a son Henry under age.4*
The younger Henry died in 1395, holding the manor
of TrafFord and vill of Stretford, together with two-
*7 De TrafFord D. no. 14.2.
88 Lanes. Pipe R. 203, 215. The relief
paid was comparatively high.
Henry ton of Robert »on of Ralph
dc TrafFord received lands in Chorlton-
upon-Medlock and in Withington ; De
TrafFord D. no. 122, 310. He had a dis-
pute with Hamon de Mascy regarding
Adam son of William de Stretford, and
Hamon agreed that Adam was a free
man ; Crofton, op. cit. iii, 235. Henry
de Stretford or de TrafFord was perhaps a
younger son of Robert de TrafFord. Wil-
liam son of Robert has already been named
and a Richard de TrafFord was witness to
a charter which must be dated between
1 200 and 1204 ; Hulton Fed. 3.
There is frequent confusion between
Stretford, Stratford, StafFord, and Traf-
ford.
19 Fine R. Excerpts (Rec. Com.), i, 75.
Avice widow of Henry de ' Stretford ' was
of the king's gift in 1222-6. She paid
zod. yearly — the amount is a third of the
5*. due from TrafFord — and her land was
worth 3*. clear ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents,
i, 129.
80 About 1250 he attested a charter
respecting Audenshaw ; Lanes. Pipe R.
333. In 1255-6 he gave the king
i mark for a writ ; Orig. 40 Hen. Ill,
m. 8. He obtained a grant of lands in
Withington ; De TrafFord D. no. 129.
To Richard son of Robert de Stretford
he granted an eighth part of the vill of
Stretford, that part namely, which Robert
the father had held, at a rent of 6s. The
second best pig was to be rendered for
pannage, and corn was to be ground at
TrafFord Mill to the twentieth measure ;
Crofton, op. cit. iii, 237.
81 Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 154. This portion had been
the dower of Christiana then wife of
William de Hacking, but was 'of the
inheritance' of Henry de TrafFord. It
is presumed that Christiana was the widow
of Richard de TrafFord. The other lands,
Ac., went to the Chadderton family.
M Chart. R. 12 Edw. I (no. 77), m. 4,
no. 24. From Richard son of Jordan de
Stretford a surrender of his claim to lands
held of Henry de TrafFord was obtained
by the latter ; Crofton, op. cit. iii, 238.
Avice widow of Nicholas de Stretford and
daughter of Jordan de Stretford in 1292
released her claim on the same to Henry
son of Henry de TrafFord ; ibid, iii, 241.
88 The dispute concerned lands, &c.,
in Clifton, Crompton, and Edgeworth ;
Assize R. 408, m. 3 d.; Final Cone, i, 170.
Lora widow of Henry de TrafFord had
called Henry son of Henry to warrant
her. Lora appears as plaintiff in 1305 ;
Assize R. 1306, m. 20 d.
In 1292 Henry had also to defend his
title to the manor of Stretford against
Hamon de Mascy, Loreta, his father's
widow, then holding a third part and
himself the remainder. The plaintifF was
non-suited ; Assize R. 408, m. 36. Henry
also defeated a claim to a tenement in
Stretford put forward by two sisters —
Alice wife of Thomas son of Richard (or
Roger) de Manchester, and Avice wife of
Henry de Openshaw ; ibid. m. 32, 36d.
As grandson of Richard de TrafFord he
claimed the manor of Chadderton ; ibid,
m. 40 d, 47 d.
84 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 312.
85 Final Cone, i, 210 ; the remainders
were to his sons Henry (a minor),
Richard, Robert, Ralph, and Thomas.
These would be the younger sons. The
manor of Clifton does not appear again
among the TrafFord estates.
86 Pink and Beaven, Part. Rep. of Lanes.
IS-
"7 Inq. a.q.d. 17 Edw. II, no. 92. The
jurors found that the manors named were
held of the king by the service of 51.
yearly, and suit at the county court from
three weeks to three weeks, and were
worth 20 marks clear. Henry de TrafFord
also held twelve messuages, 260 acres of
land, and 30 acres of meadow in Withing-
ton of Nicholas de Longford by the service
of id. yearly, and worth 6os. clear; the
land and meadow were of no value, be-
cause in waste among the heath ; another
40 acres were held by a rent of izd.
In 1324 Henry de TrafFord held half a
plough-land in TrafFord by the service of
51. yearly ; Dods. MSS. cxxxi, fol. 38.
88 Final Cone, ii, 60. Henry de Traf-
ford and Margaret his wife were plaintifFs ;
the remainders, after Henry the grandson,
were to the elder Henry's sons — Richard,
Robert, Thomas, Nicholas, GeofFrey, and
Henry. See also the remainders in a fine
respecting lands in Withington in 1323 ;
ibid, ii, 54. These younger sons appear
to be the Traffords of Prestwich of 1350 ;
ibid, ii, 128. There are a number of
deeds relating to them among the De
TrafFord muniments ; in some the father
is called Sir Henry, e.g. in one of 1343
by which John son of John the Marshal
gave his lands in Manchester to GeofFrey
son of Sir Henry de TrafFord ; no. 9.
A number of TrafFords were killed at
Liverpool in 1345 together with Adam
de Lever, viz. GeofFrey son of Sir Henry
de TrafFord ; Richard de TrafFord, son of
331
Sir John the elder, and John and Robert
his brothers ; also Richard brother of
Henry de TrafFord ; Coram Reg. R. 348, ,
m. 22.
89 De TrafFord D. no, 124.
40 In 1353 Sir Henry de TrafFord came
into court and proffered letters patent
dated 12 June 1343, by which the king
ordered that he should not be put on
assizes, juries, &c. all his life ; Assize R.
435, m. 17. The same protection, which
had been granted at the request of the
famous soldier Walter de Mauney, had in
1346 excused him from the obligation of
receiving knighthood ; Q.R. Mem. R. 122,
m. 142 d. He had therefore served in the
French wars.
Henry de TrafFord and John de Ashton
in 1343 pleaded guilty to retaining people
with them who went against the king's
peace ; Assize R. 430, m. 29. They and
others had in 1341 assembled at Leigh
and prevented John de Tyldesley, &c. from
entering the church until they agreed to a
dies amoris with a view to settlement of
disputes ; ibid. m. 17. In 1346 Henry
de TrafFord was found to hold the manor
of TrafFord in socage by a rent of 51., pay-
ing double as relief, and performing suit of
county and wapentake ; Add. MS. 32103,
fol. 146. Stretford is not separately
named.
In 1359 and again in 1369 Sir Henry
de TrafFord purchased lands in Manches-
ter from John Grelley ; De TrafFord D.
no. 15, 1 8, 19. In the former year he
made a feofFment of lands in Crompton,
Ancoats, Beswick, and Chorlton to Tho-
mas de TrafFord and William Saunpete,
chaplain, until his return from the king's
service beyond the sea. The remainders
were to John de TrafFord, Henry son of
Robert de TrafFord, and John son of
Thomas de TrafFord ; Court of Wards and
Liveries, box I3A/FDI2.
Licence for his oratory at TrafFord was
in 1368 granted to Sir Henry ; Lich.
Epis. Reg. Stretton, v, fol. 20.
41 In Dec. 1373 Sir Henry released to
John son of Nicholas de TrafFord his right
to lands in Ancoats ; De TrafFord D.
no. 84.
42 At Easter 1376 Henry de Torbock
claimed the custody of lands in Turton
until the coming of age of Henry son and
heir of Sir Henry de TrafFord ; De Banco
R. 462, m. 89 ; 463, m. 67. Henry de
TrafFord had a licence for an oratory at
TrafFord for two years from 1387 ; Lich.
Epis. Reg. vi, fol. 123. He came of age
in or before 1389 ; De TrafFord D. no.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
thirds of a third part of the
manor of Edgeworth, and leav-
ing a son and heir Henry, six
years of age.4S This son died
in 1408, the manors going to
his brother Edmund,44 known
as the Alchemist, from his
having procured a licence from
the king in 14.4.6 authorizing
, 45 c.5 TRAF*ORD of Traf-
him to transmute metals." Sir ford> Argent a griffin
Edmund, at Eccles in 1411, tegreant gules.
married Alice daughter and
co-heir of Sir William Venables of Bollin, and thus
acquired a considerable estate in Cheshire, which de-
scended in the Trafford family for many generations.44
Sir Edmund died in 1458 47 leaving a son Sir John,"
who was regularly succeeded by five generations of
Edmunds.49 In the latter half of the 1 6th century
the fortunes of the family began to decline ; several
estates were sold,60 and Sir Edmund the fourth,
having conformed to the Established religion, appears
to have attempted, and with some success, to acquire
fresh wealth by an active prosecution of the recusants.51
As sheriff he was specially zealous against them. He
also arranged the marriage of his son Edmund with
Margaret daughter and co-heir of John Booth of
48 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 63.
For the dower of Elizabeth widow of
Henry de Trafford and afterwards wife of
Ralph de Staveley, see Pal. of Lane. Chan.
Misc. 1/8, m. 21, 22.
44 Lanes. Rec. Inq. p.m. no. 21, taken
in 1414. By this it was found that
Henry son of Henry son of Sir Henry de
Trafford died on 20 Feb. 1407-8, seised
of the manor of Trafford and two-thirds of
the vill, held of the king as of his duchy
of Lancaster in socage by the service of
5.1. yearly, and worth £20 per annum
clear ; also of two-thirds of three parts of
the hamlet of Chorlton-upon-Medlock
(' Chollerton '), held of Thomas La Warre;
lands in Hulme in Barton, Blackrod, and
Edgeworth. Edmund the heir was of full
age in 1414. His custody during minor-
ity had been granted to Sir Ralph de
Staveley. See also Dtp. Keeper's Rep.
xxxiii, App. n. Further inquisitions
were made in 1417, after the death of
Margery, grandmother of Edmund ; ibid.
13 ; Land. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 127;
and in 1421 after the death of Agnes
widow of the last Henry ; Towneley MS.
DD, no. 1505.
45 The licence was granted on 7 April
1446, to Sir Edmund Trafford and Sir
Thomas Ashton ; Rymer, Foedera, Sylla-
bus, ii, 676 ; Crofton, Stretford, iii, 112.
Sir Edmund was knighted in 1426
for his conduct at the battle of Verneuil ;
Metcalfe, Bk. of Knights, i. In 1431
he was one of the jurors for Salford-
shire ; Feud. Aid*, iii, 95. In a plea of
1445 he was described as the son and
heir of Henry, brother of Joan, mother
of Thomas Booth, father of Alice wife
of Thomas Duncalf ; Pal. of Lane. Plea
R. 8, m. 23.
46 See Ormerod, Chet. (ed. Helsby), iii,
589, &c. The Cheshire inquisitions there
printed give the descent as follows : Sir
Edmund died 24 Jan. 1457-8, leaving a
son John, aged 25 ; Sir John died n Jan.
1488-9, leaving a son Edmund, aged 34 ;
Sir Edmund died in 1513, leaving a son
Edmund aged 28 ; Sir Edmund died in
1533, leaving a son also named Edmund,
aged 26. These may be compared with
the Lancashire inquisitions.
47 Writs of Diem clausitextr. were issued
in 1460 and 1462 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep.
<:xrvii, App. 177, 176.
48 Sir John Trafford and Edmund his
son, in conjunction with Hugh Scholes,
the priest, in 1468 made a lease for
ninety-six years of certain chantry lands
in Manchester for 1 51. 6d. net ; De Traf-
ford D. no. 51. Sir John died 20 Jan.
1488-9 holding the manor of Trafford,
the vill of Stretford, and two parts of the
third part of the manor of Edgeworth ;
the service for Trafford was unknown ;
Sir Edmund, the son and heir, was thirty-
six years of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. iii, 85.
A pedigree drawn up in 1461 illus-
trates the claim to the manor of Quick in
Saddleworth, purchased by Robert son of
the first Sir Henry de Trafford. For de-
fault of heirs it came to the second Sir
Henry, who granted it to his younger sons
Piers and John, with remainder to
another son, Thomas [of Garrett in An-
coats] ; from the last-named it descended
to his grandson Henry ; Court of Wards
and Liv. box i3A/FDio.
49 (i) Sir Edmund Trafford was made a
knight at the creation of Prince Henry as
Duke of York in 1494 ; Metcalfe, op. cit.
25. He died in Aug. 1513 holding the
manor of Trafford of the king by the rent
of 51. ; its clear value was 40 marks. He
also held twenty messuages, &c. in Stretford
of the heirs of ... Mascy, in socage, by
the service of a pair of gloves ; the clear
annual value was £40. The other estates
included a third part of Edgeworth, lands,
&c. in Whitfield, Withington (Yeld-
houses, Rusholme, Fallowfield, and Moss
Side), Chorlton-with-Hardy, Chorlton-
upon-Medlock, Ancoats, Manchester, Sal-
ford, and Turton. His father Sir John
had granted lands in Harwood to Mar-
garet on her marriage with Edmund ;
Margaret still survived. Sir Edmund had
settled lands in Chorlton-with-Hardy,
Rusholme, Moss Side, Fallowfield, and
Beswick to the use of his son Edmund and
Elizabeth his wife. This Edmund, the
heir, was twenty-four years of age ; Duchy
of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, 51.
(ii) Edmund Trafford recorded a pedi-
gree at the Vitit. in 1533 (Chet. Soc.
66). He died 28 June in the same year ;
the inquisition after his death shows an
increase in his possessions, but Trafford
and Stretford were held as before. Ed-
mund Trafford, his son and heir, was
twenty-six years of age ; Duchy of Lane.
Inq. p.m. vi, 20.
(iii) Sir Edmund Trafford was made a
knight in the Scottish Expedition of 1 544;
Metcalfe, op. cit. 77. He was sheriff in
1532-3 and 1556-7; P.R.O. List, 73.
He died on 10 Dec. 1563 holding Traf-
ford of the queen as of the manor of Sal-
ford by 5*. rent, and Stretford of Geoffrey
Mascy in socage by the rent of a pair of
gauntlets, and other manors and lands.
Edmund, his son and heir, was thirty-four
years of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
xi, ii. 'Geoffrey Mascy' must be a
mistake.
(iv) Sir Edmund Trafford recorded a
pedigree in 1567 ; Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 2, 3.
He was made a knight in 1578; Met-
calfe, op. cit. 132. He was high sheriff
of the county in 1564-5, 1570-1, 1579-
80, and 1583-4; P.R.O. List, 73. He
was knight of the shire in 1580; Pink
332
and Beaven, op. cit. 66. In 1575 he pro-
cured a grant from Warden Herle of the
stewardship of all the manors, lands, &c.
of the Collegiate church ; De Trafford D.
no. 75. For his dispute with various per-
sons of Stretford regarding Wallroods see
Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), iii, 193. The
inventory of his goods is printed in Pic-
cope's frills (Chet. Soc.), ii, 72 ; among
others the ' chapel chamber ' and the
' schoolmaster's chamber ' are named.
The inquisition taken after his death (14
Apr. 1590) shows a considerable diminu-
tion in the Lancashire estates, and recites
the provision made in 1538 by his father
Sir Edmund for younger sons — Richard,
Alexander, Anthony, and John. Edmund,
the son and heir, was twenty-eight years
of age in 1590 ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
xv, 46.
(v) Sir Edmund was knighted at York
by James I on his journey to London in
1603 ; Metcalfe, op. cit. 139. He had
represented Newton in the Parliament of
1588 ; Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 277 ;
and was sheriff in 1601-2, 1608-9, and
1616-7; P.R.O. List, 73. A pedigree
was recorded in 1613 ; Visit. (Chet. Soc.),
10. He died at Trafford 7 May 1620
holding the manors of Trafford, Stretford,
and Barton, with lands, &c., and in 1611
had settled all upon his son Cecil. The
tenures of Trafford and Stretford were un-
altered. Edmund, the son and heir, was
thirty-six years of age ; Sir Cecil Trafford
was living at Trafford ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 326-9 ;
Fun. Certs. (Chet. Soc.). Settlements of
the manors of Trafford and Stretford were
made in 1598 and 1599 ; to these Barton
was added in 161 1 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdles. 60, m. 470 ; 61, m. 324 ; 80,
m. 4.
60 All the Lancashire estates except
Trafford and Stretford seem to have gone,
but the Barton marriage brought in some
new ones. Among the sales and mort-
gages the following are recorded : 1569,3
messuage, 40 acres, &c. in Stretford, with
remainder to Thomas Brownsword ; 1573,
two messuages, 80 acres, &c. in the same,
Richard Worsley and George Dykyns,
plaintiffs; 1590, forty messuages, &c. in
Stretford, &c. sold to Gregory Lovell ;
1596, 20 acres, &c. in Trafford to Nicho-
las Fenne ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
31, m. 204 ; 35, m. 94 ; 52, m. 4 ; 59,
m. 119. Sir Robert Lovell in 1597 ap-
pears to have sold or mortgaged his father's
purchase to William Johnson ; ibid. bdle.
58, m. 74. For the Lo veils see the
account of Withington and its dependen-
cies.
51 In 1580 Sir Edmund wrote from
Trafford to the Earl of Leicester, stating
that masses were said in several places,
and desiring the offenders to be dealt with
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
Barton,51 and though the son afterwards disinherited
the children of this marriage, the Trafford share of
the Barton estates has descended like Trafford to the
issue of a second marriage — with Mildred daughter
of Thomas Cecil, first Earl of Exeter.43
Cecil Trafford, the eldest son of this union, was
made a knight at Hoghton Tower in 1 6 1 7." He
was at first, like his grandfather, a Protestant and a
persecutor, but afterwards, about 1632, embraced the
faith he had attempted to destroy.55 In 1638, ac-
cordingly, the king seized a third of his estates
and granted them on lease to farmers.56 Siding with
the king on the outbreak of the Civil War, he was
seized and imprisoned by the other party and his
estates were sequestered.57 His sons appear to have
gone abroad, as they are mentioned as present at Rome
and Douay.68 In 1653 Sir Cecil begged leave to
contract under the Recusants Act for the sequestered
two-thirds of his estates.59
Sir Cecil died in 1672,*° his eldest son Edmund61
died twenty years later, and was followed by a brother
Humphrey, who was accused of participation in the
fictitious plot of 1 694," and sympathized with the
rising of 1 71 5. 63 He was succeeded by his son 64 and
grandson, each named Humphrey. The last of these
died in 1779 an^ left Trafford to his relative John
Trafford of Croston,66 who died in 1815. During
this time, owing to the laws concerning religion all
public employments had been closed against the
Traffords, who had therefore to dwell quietly on their
estates. John Trafford, indeed, raised a troop of
volunteers in 1 804 ; 66 and his son Thomas Joseph,
high sheriff in 1834, was created a baronet in 1841,
at which time he altered the surname to De Trafford.
Dying in 1852 he was succeeded by his son, Sir
Humphrey de Trafford, who in turn was in 1886
succeeded by his son Sir Humphrey Francis de Traf-
ford, the present lord of Trafford and Stretford,
twenty-fourth in descent from the Ranulf or Randle
who heads the pedigree.
The Turf Moss estate and Longford House be-
longed to the Mosleys.67 The latter was acquired by
the Walkers,68 and in 1855 was purchased by John
Rylands, who rebuilt the house. He is commemo-
rigorously ; Cal. S.P, Dom. 1547-80, p.
656.
The rhetorical account of his persecu-
tion of the Aliens in 1584 in Bridge-
water's Concertatio reads thus : 'The
furious hate of this inhuman wretch was
all the more fiercely stirred by the fact
that he saw offered to him such a pros-
pect of increasing his slender means out of
the property of Catholics and of adorning
his house with various articles of furni-
ture filched from their houses. For
though as far as his own fortune went he
could scarcely be called a gentleman, still
•with other people's gold, no matter how
wrongfully come by, he might rightly be
called and accounted a knight ' ; Gillow,
Haydock Papers, 31. This may be bal-
anced by the equally rhetorical eulogium
of his chaplain, William Massie, who in
i $86 addressed him as 'a principal pro-
tector of God's truth and a great counte-
nance and credit to the preachers thereof
in those quarters,' who had ' hunted out
and unkenneled those sly and subtle foxes
the Jesuits and Seminary priests out of
their cells and caves to the uttermost of
his power, with the great illwill of many
both open and private enemies to the
prince and the church.' He also says that
Sir Edmund had 'maintained still his
house with great hospitality, in no point
diminishing the glory of his worthy pre-
decessors, but rather adding to it ' ; quoted
by Crofton, op. cit. iii, 123. His portrait
is given ibid. 129.
sa Ibid, iii, 131-3, 265-72 ; the mar-
riage led to many disputes and appears to
have been unhappy. The parties separ-
ated before 1592.
58 This apparently unjust disinheriting
of the elder children was naturally re-
sented, and in 1620 the Earl of Exeter
wrote to the Council stating that he
feared the machinations of the elder bro-
thers against Sir Cecil, and begging that
they might be ordered to abstain from
violence, and that a competent guard might
be placed in the chief manor-house ; Cal.
S.P. Dom. 1619-23, p. 146. A settle-
ment of the manors was made in 1622 by
Sir Cecil Trafford, acting with Edmund,
John, and Richard Trafford ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 100, no. 22.
64 Metcalfe, op. cit. 171.
M Crofton, op. cit. iii, 136-7. Hollin-
worth states that in 1632 Daniel Baker,
rector of Ashton on Mersey and fellow of
the College, having on Good Friday ad-
ministered the Lord's Supper and being (as
it was feared) somewhat overcharged with
drink in Salford, was found dead in the
morning in the water under Salford
Bridge, no one knowing how he came
there ; Dr. Butts, Vice-chancellor of
Cambridge, hanged himself on Easter Day
afterwards ; and some other ministers and
eminent professors came that year to an
untimely end ; and that these facts, to-
gether with a dispute between two of the
fellows of the College as to the nature of
sin, ' seemed to the papists, especially to
those that were then newly revolted to
them, as Sir Cecil Trafford of Trafford,
knight, and Francis Downes of Wardley,
esq. and others, signal evidences of God's
anger and wrath and presages of the ruin
of the Reformed religion ' ; Mancuniensis,
1 1 5-6.
68 Crofton, op. cit. iii, 276 ; the lessees
paid £200 fine and ^80 rent. There is
a reference to the matter in Cal. S.P. Dom.
1648-9, p. 407.
*7 Crofton, op. cit. iii, 138-9 ; Civil
War Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 39, 62, 65
(where he is styled ' that Arch-papist ').
*» Foley, Rec. S. J. vi, 626 ; Douay
Diaries, 8 1— 2.
" Cal. of Com. for Compounding, iv, 2865.
A settlement or mortgage of the manors
was made in 1654 by Sir Cecil Trafford,
acting with Edmund, his son and heir ap-
parent ; Richard Haworth was plaintiff;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 156, m.
194.
A pedigree was recorded in 1665 ; Dug-
dale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 315-8.
80 The remainder of this account of the
family is taken from Mr. Crofton's work,
iii, 141-51, where details and portraits
will be found. There is a full pedigree in
Piccope's MS. Pedigrees (Chet. Lib.), i,
3°3-
The arms, crest, and motto of the
family are discussed by Crofton, iii, 90-4.
81 Edmund Trafford and Frances his
wife were convicted recusants in 1678 ;
Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, no.
68 About this time Sir John Bland com-
plained that the Commissioners for assess-
ments were not acting rightly, because
they did not assess the tenants of ' Papists '
333
double ; ' and for Mr. Traford's estate it
is all assessed single, they pretending the
estate is not in him, because of the statute
of Bankruptcy' ; ibid. 289.
68 He was buried at Manchester on
15 Nov. 1716, being about eighty-eight
years old.
84 A settlement or mortgage of the
manors of Trafford, Stretford, Barton, and
Whittleswick, with messuages, lands, &c.
was in 1718 made by Humphrey Trafford
and Anne his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 282, m. 99. John Mead was the
plaintiff.
Humphrey Trafford in 1779 paid the
ancient rent of 51. for ' Stretford,' due to
the lord of Salford ; Duchy of Lane. Ren-
tals, 14/25.
6S Crofton, op. cit. iii, 147. John
Trafford was son of Humphrey »on of
John son of John son of Sir Cecil Traf-
ford. In 1793 a private Act was obtained
enabling John Trafford and others to grant
leases of the estates devised by the will of
Humphrey Trafford for building, also to
grant leases of certain waste moss lands ;
33 Geo. Ill, cap. 58.
88 Crofton, op. cit. iii, 215. Thirteen
Stretford men were among the Manches-
ter Yeomanry who charged the crowd at
•Peterloo' in 1819.
6" Roland Mosley of Hough End died
in 1617 holding a capital messuage called
Turf Moss, with lands belonging to the
same in Stretford and Chorlton with
Hardy ; ' the heirs of Hamon de Mascy '
were the chief lords ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 66, 69.
This had probably been purchased from
the Lovells, who had bought from the
Traffords. Detailed accounts of the estates
will be found in Mr. Crofton's work, iii,
7°. 79'
88 Ibid. 84. Thomas Walker of Man-
chester, a noted Reformer, who had lived
at Barlow Hall, purchased Longford, and
died in 1817. One of his sons, also
Thomas, born at Barlow in 1784, was
known in Stretford and in London as a
philanthropist ; he published a weekly
series of essays called The Original. He
died in 1836, and there is an account of
of him in Diet. Nat. Biog. Charles James
Stanley Walker, another son of the elder
Thomas, sold Longford in 1855.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
rated by the John Rylands Library in Manchester,
founded by his widow.69
From a survey of the tithes made in 1649 it
appears that there were in Stretford Manor twenty-
four whole seats, or holdings. The tithe corn in 1643
had filled three bays and the greater part of a fourth ;
it was mostly oats and barley.70
The land tax returns of 1796 show that John
Trafford was then the principal landowner, he paying
more than one-third of the tax ; the remainder of the
land seems to have been much divided.71
The earliest record of the chapel
CHURCH of Stretford is in a lease of 1413, in
which land is described as lying next
to the chapel.71 Rather more than a century later
a chantry was founded in it by Sir Edmund Trafford,
for the souls of his ancestors.73 At the confiscation in
1 547-8 the rental of the chantry was only 44^. ;
the chapel had a chalice and two vestments.74 Service
appears to have been maintained in this chapel even
after the Elizabethan changes, for in 1563 William
Hodgkinson was ' curate of Stretford,' 75 and seems to
have remained there until 1586; he was in 1581
censured for keeping an alehouse.76 The names of
many curates are on record,77 but except during the
Commonwealth period there was no adequate pro-
vision for them, there being neither residence nor
endowment.78 At the beginning of the i8th century
the 'settled maintenance' was only us. zd.,79 but
some further endowments and contributions were
secured, the chapel was rebuilt in 171 8,80 and from
about that time the succession of curates and rectors
appears to be unbroken. In 1842 the present church
of St. Matthew was consecrated ; 8l it was enlarged
in 1 86 1. A district had been assigned in 1839.**
The Dean and Canons of Manchester present to the
benefice.
The following is a list of the recent curates and
incumbents w : —
1716 Samuel Bolton, M.A. (Brasenose College,
Oxf.)
1717 Roger Masterson
1718 Robert Armitstead, B.A. (Magdalen Hall,
Oxf.)
1721 John Jackson, M.A.
1741 John Baldwin, M.A.
1747 John Baxter,84 B.A.
1 766 William Stopford,85 B.A. (Brasenose College,
Oxf.)
1778 Thomas Seddon M
1796 Thomas Gaskell
1818 Robinson Elsdale,87 D.D. (Corpus Christi
College, Oxf.)
1850 Joseph Clarke,88 M.A. (St. John's College,
Camb.)
1860 William Edward Brendon
1864 Thomas Daniel Cox Morse M
69 Crofton, op. cit. 164-6 ; a portrait
is given. John Rylands was born at St.
Helens in 1801, began business in Man-
chester in 1823, and died in 1888. He
was a Congregationalist in religion. There
is a notice of him in Diet. Nat, Biog.
70 Crofton, op. cit. 193-6.
71 Land tax returns at Preston.
78 Quoted in Raines, Chantries (Chet.
Soc.), i, 55.
78 The only endowment was a tenement
at Whitehall in Budworth, Cheshire, and
the chantry priest in 1547 could produce
no deeds. There were long suits con-
cerning the lands from 1554 onwards ;
Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. xxiii, 72 d, and
Crofton, Stretford, i, Ji-J. From the
depositions it appears that the land had
been purchased from Thomas Hardware
by Edmund Trafford, father of the Sir
Edmund Traffbrd living in 1560, i.e. by
the Sir Edmund who held the Traffbrd
estates from 1513 to 153 3. This chantry
was probably founded soon after 1530, for
a witness stated that her husband, who had
been tenant, had ' twenty years past ' (i.e.
in 1 540) been told that the chantry priest
had become his landlord. This chantry
is not named in the Valor Eccl. of 1535.
Two cantarists are known :
c. 1 540, Christopher Rainshaw ; Crof-
ton, op. cit. ; Clergy List (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), 1 1, ' paid by Edmund Trafford
and others at Stretford.'
c. 1547, Charles Gee, whose name
also appears in the Visitation lists of 1 548
and 1554.
7* Raines, Chantries, i, 55, 56. The 'or-
naments' were sold for io</. ; ibid. 11,277.
75 Visit. List at Chest.
76 Crofton, op. cit. i, 60 ; he is described
as ' aged 40 ' — i.e. forty or more — in
1586, so that he must have been quite
young in 1563. A William Hodgkinson
obtained a schoolmaster's licence for Mid-
dlewich or elsewhere in the diocese in
1576 ; and later in the year the same
or another of the name was executor of
Roger Hodgkinson, clerk, deceased ; Pen-
nant's Acct. Bk. Chest.
77 In 1619 William Cheeseman was
named as ' preacher ' at the chapel ; he
did not wear the surplice nor make the
sign of the cross in baptism. George
Nicholson, ' late curate,' was named ;
Visit. P. at Chest. Mr. Crofton gives,
with biographical notes, the following
names :-Before 1 604, William James, ' sus-
pected of fornication ' (Visit. List) ; 1618,
Richard Wylde ; 1619, W. Cheeseman;
1622, — Knott (Misc. Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches. i, 66) ; c. 1625, Humphrey
Tylecote, a ' known opposer of Prelacy '
(d. 1626); 1638, Robert Williams; 1642,
Edmund Hopwood ; 1647, Hugh Newton
(? ordained) ; 1649, John Odcroft (un-
ordained) ; 1651, Arthur Francis; 1653,
— Nuttall ; 1655, Jeremy Scholes, M.A.
(Emmanuel College, Camb.) ; 1658,
Edward Richardson, silenced in 1662.
Notices of several of these may be seen in
W. A. Shaw's Manch. Classis (Chet. Soc.).
The registers begin in 1599. Copious
extracts may be seen in Mr. Crofton's
work (i, 1 20, &c.), where also are given
particulars of the bells, plate, monumental
inscriptions, extracts from account books,
and lists of officers. The inscriptions are
copied in the Owen MSS.
78 About 1610 Stretford was included
in the list of chapels, the curates and
preachers whereof were maintained by the
inhabitants ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv,
App. iv, II.
In 1650 Mr. John Odcroft, preacher
of God's word, was ' paid by the inhabi-
tants . . . without any allowance from
the rectory or parish church of Manchester
or otherwise, to the insupportable burden
and charge of the said inhabitants' ; Com-
monwealth Ch. Suri>. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), 5. A recommendation was added
that Stretford should be made a parish.
An allowance of £10 was made to Od-
334
croft about 1649, but it was not till 1654
that a share of the tithes, £35 icu., was
appropriated to Stretford ; Plund. Mini.
Accti. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 260;
»» 55. 77-
79 Gastrell, Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.),
ii, 95 ; the surplice fees amounted to 101.
and the voluntary contributions to £10.
There were two wardens in 1673. There
were four Presbyterian families known.
The following curates occur after the
Restoration: — c. 1665, Francis Mosley ;
1671, James Lees (also at Chorlton),
'went away' ; 1679, — Stockton ; 1689,
Peter Shaw ; 1696, — Diggles (Visit.
List); 1706, John Collier; Crofton, op.
cit. i, 68-71. Some of them served other
churches in addition to Stretford.
80 Crofton, op. cit. i, 71, 82 ; a view is
given. There was a sundial on the wall
above the south door.
81 Ibid, i, 83, 84, with views.
83 Land. Gats. 29 Mar. 1839, 1 6 June
1854.
88 This list is taken from Crofton's
Stretford, i, 71-86, where short notices
will be found.
84 A John Baxter was admitted to St.
John's College, Camb., in 1724, and
graduated as B.A. in 1727 ; R. F. Scott,
Admissions, iii, 39.
85 Rector of Wyham, Lines. ; Foster,
Alumni.
86 Crofton, op. cit. i, 75-8 and Diet.
Nat. Biog. He was under suspension for
debt during most of his tenure.
87 High Master of Manchester Gram-
mar School, 1837-40.
88 He procured the building of the pre-
sent church and also stopped the pande-
monium of Wakes Sunday. The chancel,
with a stained glass window, was erected
as a memorial of him. He projected a
history of the township. He is noticed
in Diet. Nat. Biog.
89 Vicar of Christ Church, Newgate
Street, London, 1882.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
1868 Dudley Hart, M.A. (T.C.D.)
1903 James Peter Rountree, M.A. (T.C.D.)
St. Bride's, Old Trafford, consecrated in 1878, is
in the patronage of trustees ;w All Saints, 1885, is in
the Bishop of Manchester's gift. At Old Trafford
there are also St. Thomas's, the chapel of the Blind
Asylum,91 and St. Hilda's, consecrated in 1904, with
the districts of St. Cuthbert and St. John, not yet
having permanent churches ; the Crown and the
Bishop of Manchester present alternately to these
benefices ; and also to the new district of St. Peter,
Stretford.
There was in 1718 only a private school, without
endowment. Soon afterwards the township shared in
the benefaction of Ann Hinde.91
The Wesleyan Methodists and the Primitive
Methodists each have churches at Stretford and Old
Trafford ; and the Independent Methodists have one
at the former place.93 The Baptists also have a church
at Stretford. The Congregationalists have churches
at Stretford and Old Trafford 94 ; in the latter part of
the township there is also a Welsh Congregational
chapel.
The Unitarian Free church, begun in Moss Side
in 1887, has from 1901 had its place of worship
within Stretford township.
Although from the time of Sir Cecil Trafford, the
chief resident family, as well as some minor ones, pro-
fessed the ancient faith,95 no chapel was erected in the
township96 until 1859, when a temporary one was
opened. This was followed by St. Anne's in 1863 ;
it was consecrated in l867.97 St. Alphonsus's, Brooks'
Bar, was opened in 1904.""
HULME
Overholm and Noranholm, 1226 ; Hulm, 1310.
The township of Hulme is bounded on the north,
west, and south, in the main, by the Medlock, Irwell,
and Cornbrook respectively. It has an area of
477^ acres1 and is wholly urban. There was a
population of 66,916 in 1901.
The principal thoroughfare is the Chester Road,
starting at Knott Mill and proceeding south-west to
Stretford.* It is on the line of the old Roman road
to Chester. Almost parallel to it are City Road,
from Gaythorn to Stretford, and Stretford Road from
Ardwick to Stretford. Across these runs Jackson
Street, and there are, of course, a multitude of minor
streets intersecting each other. Apart from Hulme
Hall, which stood beside the Irwell, the earliest dwell-
ing-houses * seem to have been erected on the south
side of Chester Road, streets being planned there as
early as 1793 and a considerable suburb existing in
1830.
The Bridgewater Canal has its terminus in Hulme
at the Medlock, where there are quays, docks, and
warehouses. The Cheshire Lines railway and the
Manchester South Junction and Altrincham railway
run side by side through the township near the Irwell.
The district is served by the Manchester electric
tramways.
The public buildings include the cavalry barracks
in City Road, first erected in 1799; a town hall in
Stretford Road, built in 1865, a public library being
added next year; baths, 1860-5 ; and the Gay-
thorn gas works, erected in 1825-6 ; also a drill-hall.
A dispensary was founded in 1831.
The industries are varied, including iron works,
cotton mills, saw mills, and printing works.
Hulme obtained a Police Act in 1824. It was
included within the municipal borough of Manchester
in 1838 by the first charter, and then divided into
two wards — St. George's on the west and Medlock
Street on the east. In 1896 its independent existence
ceased, it being merged in the new township of South
Manchester.
The old Chorlton Union Workhouse, built about
1840, stood in Stretford Road, opposite Holy Trinity
Church.
The early descent of HULME is ob-
M4NOR scured by the number of places of this
name in South Manchester and Eccles,
and by its being included either in Salford or in
Manchester. It seems clear that Jordan, Dean of
Manchester, in the I2th century held it of the
manor of Salford in thegnage by a rent of 5/.,4
and that in 1212 Henry de Chetham held it by the
same service, it being assessed as four oxgangs of
land.6 The same tenure is alleged in the later in-
quisitions touching the manor. On the other hand
Hulme is included within the boundary of the manor
of Manchester in the survey of 1320,* at which time
Robert de Ashton held a moiety of the manor of
Hulme by Alport by a rent of 5/. at the four terms,
payable to the lord of Manchester.7 It seems pos-
sible, therefore, that the Grelleys had secured the
90 For district see Lond. Gaz. 17 May
1879. !*• was an offshoot of St. Mar-
garet's, Whalley Range, a school church
having been built in 1863 ; Crofton, op.
cit. iii, 49.
91 For district see Lond. Gaa. 1 3 Aug.
1858 ; and Crofton, op. cit. iii, 62. The
gift of the chapel to the Bishop of Man-
chester was decided to be a breach of the
trusts, but the order creating a district
does not appear to have been rescinded.
92 Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 96; above p. 201.
93 The Wesleyans held services in Stret-
ford as early as 1814, and then or soon
afterwards used a tent set up once a week.
In spite of the opposition of Sir Thomas
de Trafford, who refused to sell any land, a
site was secured and a chapel built in 1 844.
The present church was built in 1862.
94 The first Congregational chapel,
built in 1840, was the outcome of open-
air preaching, begun as early as 1825. The
present church was built ini 861. Chorlton
Road Church, opened in the same year,
has replaced the old Cannon Street Chapel
in Manchester ; it is famed as the scene
of Dr. J. A. Macfadyen's labours ; he died
in 1889; Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf.
v, 127-32.
95 The above-named John Holker was
one of them. A local story in Crofton's
Stretford (iii, 213) illustrates the hardships
of a ' Papist's ' life during the centuries of
proscription ; there was 'no law ' for them,
and they might be ill-treated at pleasure.
For their insignificant numbers see ibid,
iii, 52.
96 The mission was served from Traf-
ford Hall in the adjacent township.
97 Ibid, iii, 53.
98 Brooks' Bar, so called from Samuel
Brooks the banker, who owned the Whal-
ley Range estate, was formerly a toll bar ;
Crofton, Old Moss Side, 30.
1 477 acres ; Census Rep. 1901.
2 The older road remains, but in 1841
335
the Bridgewater Viaduct over the Med-
lock was opened, providing a shorter and
more direct way from Deansgate to Ches-
ter Road.
8 The hearths liable to the tax in 1666
numbered only 34, of which Hulme Hall
had 10 ; Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9.
4 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 137. It is called
' Overholm and Noranholm.' Jordan,
the Dean of Manchester, was living in
1177 ; Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 38.
8 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 70.
6 Mamecestre (Chet. Soc.), ii, 277 ; the
boundary of the manor went along the
Cornbrook between the manor of Hu'me
by Alport and Trafford, as far as the
Irwell.
' Ibid, ii, 290 ; the other moiety of the
manor is not mentioned, but it would seem
that the whole serrice due was charged on
Robert de Ashton, who also held two ox-
gangs of land in Denton ibr life.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
mesne lordship of the manor, but that in course of
time this mesne lordship was, as in many similar
cases, forgotten, and the immediate tenants were con-
sidered to hold directly of the honour of Lancaster,
paying their rent at Salford manor-house. Another
explanation is that one moiety became absorbed in
the lordship of Manchester, the other moiety being
that afterwards known as the manor of Hulme, held
of Salford.
Whatever may be the solution of this difficulty,8
the actual possessors adopted the surname of Hulme 9
and were succeeded early in the I4th century by the
Rossendales,10 and these by a branch of the Prestwich
family, who also held lands in Oldham, perhaps a
portion of the Hulme inheritance.11 Of the Prest-
wich family little is known u until the i6th century,
when Ralph son of Ellis Prestwich entailed the lands.
Edmund, his son and heir, being without issue, gave
them ' by deed and fine ' to his cousin Edmund son
of Edmund Prestwich deceased.13 The elder Ed-
mund died on 27 November 1577, holding the
manor of Hulme and extensive lands in Manchester
and Oldham ; Hulme was held of the queen as of
her manor of Salford in soc-
age by the ancient rent of 5/.,
and its clear annual value was
J£IO.M His successor, the
younger Edmund Prestwich,
died in 1598 holding the
manor as before, and leaving
as heir his son Edmund, then
twenty-one years of age.1*
The last-named Edmund died
at Hulme in February 1628—9,
holding the family estates,
and leaving a son and heir
Thomas, aged twenty-eight.1*
Thomas Prestwich, who was
educated at Oxford,17 compounded for the two-thirds
of his estate liable to sequestration for recusancy in
PRKSTWICH of Hulme.
Gules a mermaid proper
crined or holding a glass
and comb of the last.
• The whole of Hulme may have been
held half of Salford and half of Man-
chester ; but the Prestwich inquisitions
do not support this, though it is clear
that if there were such moieties this
family held both in the ijth century.
9 Geoffrey de Hulme appears to have
been the possessor about 1300 ; Lanes.
Inq. and Extents, i, 301.
10 In 1310 Adam de Rossendale and
Margery his wife settled the manor of
Hulme near Manchester, with remainders
to their children in succession — Geoffrey,
John, Robert, and Cecily ; Final Cone.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 3.
Geoffrey de Hulme about 1324 held a
plough-land in Hulme by the service of
6s. a year ; John LaWarre held a plough-
land in Hulme by the service of 5*. a
year ; Dods MSS. cxxxi, fol. 38, 386.
11 Cecily de Hulme in 1346 paid to
Salford the rent of 51. due for half a
plough-land in Hulme ; Add. MS. 32103,
fol. 1466.
Alice widow of John son of Geoffrey
de Hulme in the same year demanded
dower against Cecily widow of John de
Prestwich in two-thirds of nine mes-
suages, 100 acres of land, &c., in Old-
ham and in two-thirds of the manor of
Hulme by Manchester ; also against
Margaret widow of John son of Adam
de Rossendale in the remaining third of
the estate in Oldham and Hulme. The
defence, which the jury accepted, was that
John de Hulme had never been seised in
fee, so that no dower was due to Alice ;
De Banco R. 346, m. z86 d. It seems
clear from this case and the fine of 1310
that John de Rossendale succeeded to
Hulme, and dying without issue his sister
Cecily became the heir. Geoffrey de
Hulme (in possession in 1324) was ap-
parently the eldest son of Adam de Ros-
sendale.
From another suit, four years later, it
appears that John's widow Margaret after-
wards married a Richard de Vernon, for
Ralph de Prestwich — presumably the son
and heir of Cecily — proceeded against
Richard de Vernon and Margaret his wife
for waste in the latter's dower lands ; De
Banco R. 364, m. 89.
18 A writ of Diem clausit extr. for a
Nicholas de Prestwich was issued in
1377; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 350 ;
see also Mamecestre, ii, 267. It is not
stated that he was of Hulme.
In 1440 Ralph Prestwich made a feoff-
ment of the manor of Hulme and of
various messuages and lands in Man-
chester, Crompton, and Oldham ; Final
Cone, iii, 105 ; see also Pal. of Lane.
Plea R. 3, m. 146 ; 5, m. 3, 8. Ralph
held half a plough-land in Hulme near
Manchester in 1445-6 of the king as
duke, in socage, rendering 5*. yearly ;
the relief due was 5*. ; Duchy of Lane.
Knights' Fees, 2/20.
Ellis Prestwich in 1473 held the manor
of Hulme of the lord of Manchester
by knight's service and $s. rent ; also
burgages in Manchester by a rent of 29^.;
Mamecestre, iii, 482-7. An Edmund
Prestwich, holding land in Manchester,
occurs in the same rental; ibid. 485.
Ellis Prestwich made a feoffment of lands
in Crumpsall in 1478 ; De Traffbrd
D. no. 89. He received a general
pardon in 1487, so that he may have
been a Yorkist ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xl,
App. 541. The writ of Diem elausit extr.
after his death was issued 9 June 1501 ;
Towneley MS. CC (Chet. Lib.), no.
707.
Nicholas and Ralph Prestwich in 1506
made a feoffment of the manor of Hulme,
with a mill, messuages, and lands in Man-
chester, Salford, Hulme, and other places ;
Final Cone, iii, 162. Ralph son of Ellis
Prestwich is named in a writ of 1526;
Pal. of Lane. Writs Proton. The arms
only were recorded at the herald's visita-
tion in 1533.
18 Visit, of 1613 (Chet. Soc.), 41 ; it
appears that Edmund the beneficiary was
son of Edmund son of Richard Prestwich,
a younger brother of Ralph. A pedigree
was recorded in the Visit, of 1567 (Chet.
Soc.), 6, by Edmund son of Ralph.
The fine referred to is that of 1566,
by which Edmund Prestwich settled the
manor of Hulme, with its appurtenances
and messuages, water-mill, dovecote, land,
pasture, &c., in Hulme, Withenshaw,
Manchester, Salford, Crumpsall, Oldham,
and Crompton ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 28, m. 190. The uses are stated
in his inquisition.
14 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, 4.
The indenture defining the uses of the
fine of 1566 is recited in full, as well as
Edmund's will. Fearing lest his ' ancient
inheritance at his decease might be scat-
tered and dispersed, to the utter decay of
hospitality at his said house of Hulme,'
336
he settled his property upon Edmund
Prestwich the younger, son of Edmund
Prestwich deceased, and his heirs maler
with remainder to Ralph Prestwich and
his heirs male. By his will his wife
Isabel was to hold Hulme, residing there
and maintaining due hospitality, holding
also the manor of Northall alias Brace-
bridge and lands at Canwick in Lincoln-
shire, paying £6 131. 4</. a year to Ed-
mund Prestwich the younger and £4 to
Ralph Prestwich. His messuage of
Withenshaw in Hulme he gave to his
servant Gilbert Wilkinson for life. Barey-
shaw in Oldham and Broadbent in Shol-
ver are also named in the will, by which
£40 was given to the building or repair
of Crossferry Bridge. The lands in
Withenshaw (though described as in
Hulme) were held of Nicholas Longford
in socage by a rent of 3*. $.d. ; the mes-
suages and lands in Manchester were held
of Lord La Warre by a rent of 121., and
those in Salford of the queen by a rent
of izs. 4 1/. The next of kin and heirs
were — James Ashton, son and heir of
Anne sister of Edmund Prestwich ; Alex-
ander Reddish, son and heir of John late
son and heir of Alice, another sister ;
Anne Ashton, daughter and one of the
heirs of Cecily, another sister ; and
Isabel wife of John Gridlow, daughter
and heir of Eleanor, the remaining sister.
14 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii, 27.
By his will Edmund the father left to his
son and heir his ' chain of gold and all
the glass in every window in the hall,
parlour, and chambers belonging to Hulme
Hall, and also all the wainscot and ceil-
ing standing in every place of the said
hall, chambers, and parlours,' on condition
that leases made to the younger sons
should be allowed. The younger sons were
Ralph, Ellis, John, and Thomas ; Pic-
cope, Wills (Chet. Soc.), iii, 103-5.
A settlement of the manor of Hulme,
&c., was made by Edmund Prestwich in
1625 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 107,
no. 3.
16 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvii, 74.
An abstract of his will is printed in
Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. iii, 152. There is
a notice of John Prestwich, B.D., a
younger ion of Edmund's, in Pal. Note
Bk. ii, 1 8 1, 225. He left his books to
Manchester.
V Foster, Alumni Oxon.'\ M.A. 1629.
He was also of Gray's Inn.
SALFORD HUNDRED
MANCHESTER
1632, his annual fine being £6 i$s. 4</.18 He
zealously espoused the king's side during the Civil
War; was a commissioner of array in 1642; fought
in the wars with varying fortune, being made a
baronet in 1644, and a knight afterwards on the field
of battle.19 He compounded for his estates in 1 647,*°
but his exertions in the king's cause resulted in the
ruin of his house,11 and in 1660 Hulme was sold to
Sir Edward Mosley of Hough End in Withington."
Passing to the Mosleys of Ancoats," the Hulme estate
descended to Lady Bland, and was sold by her son
Sir John Bland in 1751 to George Lloyd.14 In 1764
a portion was purchased by the Duke of Bridgewater.14
Hulme Hall stood on a rise of red sandstone rock
overlooking the River Irwell just below where it is
joined by the Medlock, and about half a mile above
Ordsall. It is described by Aikin in 1795 as 'an old
half-timbered house,' and from the evidence of sketches
and drawings made while the building was still stand-
ing seems to have been a good specimen of the
domestic timber architecture of the county.*8 It was
of two stories and built round a quadrangle, but no
plan has been preserved showing the disposition
and arrangements of its various parts. The river
front facing north-west appears to have been the most
picturesque side of the house, presenting an irregular
line of building, one of its three gables containing ' an
oriel window with a projecting story above.' *7 The
approach was by an avenue of fine elm trees, and the
entrance seems to have been by an archway under a
tower on the south-east side of the quadrangle, on
one side of which the building was only one-
storied. The timber work to the quadrangle is said
to have been more ornate than that in the front
of the building, but some parts of the house appear
to have been of brick covered with plaster. It is
not easy to reconcile the various views of the hall
taken by different people at different times, or any
of them with the block plan of the hall as shown in
Green's map of Manchester (1794). In the i8th
century the gardens of Hulme Hall * were celebrated
for their beauty, and decorated with various works of
art and antiquity, among which were several Roman
altars and other remains of the former domination of
that warlike race, which had been discovered from
time to time in the immediate neighbourhood.' M The
portion of the hall facing the gardens, consisting of
two or three gables of two stories with the porch on
the extreme right, is described early in the igth cen-
tury as containing ' a staircase of large dimensions and
massy appearance. It is composed of ancient oak,
which age had turned to a dark brown or black
colour. The upper rooms are panelled and have large
fireplaces with chimneypieces and twisted pillars in a
grotesque style. The interior is more perfect, and the
exterior more decayed, than the other parts of the
hall.' 19 The hall was * fast falling into decay ' in
1 807 (Britton), and was then let out in tenements to
poor families. In one of the rooms was a series of
1 6th-century oak panels sculptured with carved heads
and figures, but these were removed to Worsley Old
Hall about 1833 (or before), and are now in the new
hall there.*0 Hulme Hall was pulled down about
1840 to give place to buildings and works in con-
nexion with the Bridgewater Canal, and murky smoke
begrimed workshops and mills now cover the site.
It is said that in front of the hall, at the river
side, was a red sandstone rock called Fisherman's
Rock, in the face of which was a cave known as
Robbers' Cave.SOa
In 1787 the chief proprietors were George Lloyd,
the Duke of Bridgewater, and William Egerton,
together paying four-fifths of the land-tax ; Thomas
Bu]lard or Bullock also had a fair estate.'1
The increase of the population as Manchester ex-
panded from the end of the i8th century has led to
the erection of a number of places of worship. In
connexion with the Established Church, St. George's,
built in 1826—7, was consecrated in 1828 ;M Holy
Trinity, 1843;" St. Mark's, 1852 ;M St. Paul's,
18 Lucas's « Warton ' (MS.) from
Thoresby.
19 G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, ii, 222.
In 1642 he endeavoured to secure the
stock of powder in Manchester, and after-
wards took part in the siege of the town ;
Civil War Tracts (Chet. Soc.), 15, 51.
He was taken prisoner at the defeat of
the Royalists near Ormskirk in 1644,
being then described as Colonel Sir Thomas
Prestwick ; ibid. 204. See also War in
Lanes. (Chet. Soc.), 92.
20 CaL of Com. for Compounding, ii, 1443.
In 1 646 he desired to compound for his
1 delinquency,' on the Truro articles. He
was an officer under Lord Hopton. The
fine was £925, reduced in 1649 to ^443.
21 Sir Thomas is traditionally said to
have been encouraged in his expenditure
for the king by his mother, who assured
him of a treasure she had hidden ; but
she died without revealing the place of
deposit, which was never found. Sir
Thomas died at the beginning of 1674.
22 A settlement of the manor, with
lands, &c., in Hulme and Manchester,
was made in 1657 by Thomas Prestwich
the elder and Mary his wife, Thomas
Prestwich the younger and Mary his wife,
Nicholas Mosley, Fabian Phillips, and
Edward Percival ; PaL of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 160, m. 171. The sale to Sir
Edward Mosley was immediately con-
firmed by an Act of Parliament in 1661 ;
13 Chas. II, cap. 2 (private).
28 Under the will of Sir Edward Mosley
his cousin Edward, a younger son of
Oswald Mosley of Ancoats, acquired his
estates, Hulme on the subsequent parti-
tion being retained by him ; Mosley Fam.
Mem. 25, 29. See further in the accounts
of Ancoats and Withington. For fines
concerning it see Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 204, m. 66 ; 213, m. 84.
Sir John Bland in 1 747 held the manors
of Heaton Norris and Hulme, with lands,
&c., in Hulme, Rusholme, Fallowfield,
Burn age, Birch Hall-houses, Chorlton,
and Heaton Norris ; Com. Pleas Recov.
R. Mich. 21 Geo. II, m. 85.
84 A pedigree of the Lloyds, who con-
tinue to hold a large portion of the Prest-
wich estates, is given in Crofton's Old
Moss Side, 38.
25 Raines in Notitia Cestr. ii, 68. It
was the Duke of Bridgewater who was in
1779 liable for the ancient 51. rent to
Salford ; Duchy of Lane. Rentals 14/25.
26 See Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xiv,
194. There is a lithographed drawing of
the hall in James's Views, 1825, and an
engraving in Britton's Beauties of Lanes.
W Pal. Note Bk. i, 2OI.
K Mosley Fam. Mem. 32.
29 Notes by R. Milne-Redhead to his
drawings of Hulme Hall.
337
80 The Hulme Hall sculptured panels
are engraved in Baines, Lane. (ed. i), iii,
144 ; see also Palatine Note Bk. i, 145,
172, 201. They were referred to and
woodcuts of two of the panels given by
Dr. Hibbert-Ware in his Sketches of the
Philosophy of Apparitions, 1824, and when
the Royal Institution was founded in the
same year, Dr. Hibbert-Ware suggested
that the trustees should purchase the panels
from Hulme Hall. See also Trans, of the
Scottish Antiq. Soc. 23 Dec. 1823, where
a drawing of the bag-pipes from Hulme
Hall is given to illustrate a paper by
Dr. Hibbert-Ware on the Ancient English
Bag-pipe.
»0a Manch. City Newt N. and Q. vi,
102, 104, 114.
81 Land tax returns at Preston.
82 This church was built from the
Parliamentary grant. A district chapelry
was formed in 1831 ; Land. Gaz. 2 1 June
1836 ; 16 June 1854.
88 A district was assigned to it in 1854 ;
Land. Gats. 16 June. The church was
built and endowed by Miss Atherton of
Kersal.
84 A district was assigned as early as
1846 ; Land. Gaz. 22 Sept. The congre-
gation for a time used hired premises, but
the foundation of the present church was
laid in 1851 ; Manch. Diocesan Church-
man, ii, 49.
43
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
1857 ;** St. Mary's36 and St. John Baptist's,37 both
in 1858 ; St. Philip's, i860 ;38 St. Michael's, 1864 ;39
St. Gabriel's40 and St. Stephen's,41 both in 1869.
The incumbents, who are styled rectors, are appointed
in five cases by bodies of trustees ; the Crown and
the Bishop of Manchester nominate alternately to
St. Mark's, the bishop alone to St. John's, the Dean
and Canons of Manchester to St. George's and
Holy Trinity, and Earl Egerton of Tatton to St.
Mary's. St. Michael's and St. Philip's have mission
rooms.
A Methodist chapel existed in Hulme in 1842.
The Wesleyans had chapels in Radnor Street and
George Street. The Methodist New Connexion has
one church, and the United Free Church two ; the
Primitive Methodists also have one. The Baptists
have a church in York Street with a mission chapel.
The Welsh Baptists formerly had one. The Congre-
gationalist church in Chorlton Road, Stretford, has
three dependencies in Hulme, their principal church
is Zion in Stretford Road, and there are two others.41
The Salvation Army has two stations. The Chur.h
of United Friends has a meeting place ; the
Catholic Apostolic Church (Irvingite) also has one.
The Unitarians have a mission to the poor.
The Roman Catholic Church of St. Wilfrid was
opened in 1842. The large convent and school of
Our Lady of Loreto is in this township.
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE
Eston, 12 12 ; Ashton, 1277 ; Aston, 1278 ; Assh-
ton, Asheton, Assheton, 1292 ; Ashton-under-Lyme,
1 307 ; Assheton-under-Lyme, 1 345. Lyne, for Lyme
or Lime, seems to be modern.
This single-township parish * occupies the south-
eastern corner of the county, and has an area of
9,494 acres. The surface is hilly, particularly in the
east; a long ridge, attaining a height of i,oooft.,
stretches from north to south near the eastern border,
various spurs shooting out to the west. These spurs
are separated from each other by the Medlock and its
tributaries, and by other streams flowing into the
River Tame, which forms the eastern and southern
boundary of the parish.* There are numerous bridges
over this river. The Millstone Grit series occurs in
the valley of the Tame and northward to Lees.
Westward the Lower and Upper Coal Measures follow
in sequence until on the western side of the parish
the Lower Red Sandstone of the Permian Rocks occurs
at Audenshaw and extends towards Droylsden and the
Manchester Waterworks.
The population was thus returned in 1901 : Ash-
ton Town, 43,890 ; Audenshaw, 7,216 ; Little Moss,
595 ; Woodhouses, 832 — 8,643 ; Knott Lanes, includ-
ing Alt, 1,037 J Bardsley, 2,194 ; Crossbank, 1,077;
Lees, 3,621 ; Waterloo (with Taunton), 3,858 —
1 1,787 ; Hartshead (with Hazelhurst), 745 ; Hurst,
7,145 ; Mossley, 13,452 ; Stalybridge, 27,673 —
49,015 ; making a total of 113,335 ; but some
places outside Lancashire are herein included.
The town of Ashton stands on an eminence over-
hanging the Tame, near the centre of the southern
boundary, and having Stalybridge 3 immediately to the
east. From Ashton itself the principal roads branch
out, to Oldham on the north, Manchester on the west,
Stalybridge on the east, and Mossley and Yorkshire on
the north-east. The town is for the most part laid
out in streets crossing each other at right angles, the
Oldham and Manchester roads giving the lines ; the
older portion, at the eastern end, where there is a
bridge over the Tame, shows less regularity.
The first railway in the parish was that from Man-
chester to Sheffield, authorized in 1831. This is
now part of the Great Central system. It crosses
Audenshaw from west to east, and there are now two
stations, Fairfi eld and Guide Bridge ; at the former is a
junction with the company's line from Central Station,
Manchester, and from Guide Bridge one branch runs
east to Ashton (Park Parade) and Stalybridge, with
stations, while another branch goes north to Oldham,
with stations called Ashton (Oldham Road) and Park
Bridge ; and a third connects with the London and
North Western Railway Company's lines. This com-
pany opened a line from Manchester to Ashton in
1 842, with stations at Droylsden (on the border of
Ashton and Droylsden), Ashton (Charlestown), and
Stalybridge ; and a branch goes south to the Stockport
line, with a station at Audenshaw. The same com-
pany's line from Stockport to Huddersfield runs through
Hooley Hill, Stalybridge, and Mossley, where there
are stations ; while the line from Oldham to Delph
crosses the northern corner of the parish, with a sta-
tion called Lees.
The Manchester and Ashton Canal, begun in 1792,
goes east through Audenshaw, and passing along the
south side of the town of Ashton crosses into Cheshire
at Stalybridge. There are branches northward to
Oldham.
The parish was formerly divided by custom into
four ' divisions,' 4 which were often styled townships,
88 The district was formed in 1858;
Land. Gax. 1 3 Aug.
86 For district see ibid. 2 Dec. 1859.
8? Ibid.
*8 A district was assigned to it in 1 86 1 ;
ibid, 22 Nov.
89 For district see ibid. 30 Aug. 1864.
40 Ibid. 10 Aug. 1869.
41 Ibid. 20 May, 1870.
48 A cottage meeting begun in 1812,
followed by Sunday-school and temperance
work, led to the building of a small chapel
in 1817 in Jackson's Lane. This, the
original of Zion Chapel, was enlarged four
years later, but the church was dissolved
for a time. Regular preaching was re-
sumed in 1829, and Zion Chapel was
built in 1 842 for the increasing congrega-
tion ; Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. v,
174-9. For Vine Street, begun in 1878,
see the same work, 179.
1 Accounts of the parish were printed
in 1822 by James Butterworth, and in
1842 by his son Edwin. A history of the
parish by William Glover was issued in
parts in 1884 and later years. An account
of the geology was given in 1839 by
Charles Clay, M.R.C.S.
8 A full description of the bounds, from
an old document (wrongly dated 1643)
and from the 'walking' of 1857, which
338
occupied eleven days, will be found in
Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1868), i, 428-9.
8 This place takes its name from Staylcy
(otherwise Staveley or Staley) on the
Cheshire side of the river and the bridge
there, which is mentioned in 1621 ; Or-
merod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), iii, 868.
4 In 1617 the Fifteenth book shows the
following divisions : Ashton Town :
Audenshaw, with Shepley, Little Moss,
Waterhouses, and Woodhouses ; Knott
Lanes, with Park, Alt Hill, Alt Edge, Lees,
Cross Bank, Thornley, and High Knolls ;
Hartshead, with Smallshaw, Hurst, Hazel-
hurst, Mossley, Luzley, Lanes, Lymc,
and More in New Ground ; Baines, Lanes.
SALFORD HUNDRED
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE
viz. (i) Ashton Town, 1,3 73^ acres, bounded on the
east by Cock Brook, and on the west by Ashton Moss,
with the hamlets or suburbs of Chamber Hills, Over-
steads, Lees Fields, Charlestown, Ryecroft, Moss Side,
and Guide Bridge ; (ii) Audenshaw, 2,589! acres, in
the west, containing, beside Audenshaw proper with
North Street, Hooley Hill, High Ash, Shepley, Little
Moss, Waterhouses, Woodhouses, Sunderland, Med-
lock Vale, and Buckley Hill ; (iii) Knott Lanes, on
the north, 2,417 acres, with Wood Park, Cross Bank,
Alt Edge, Taunton, Waterloo, Bardsley, Lees or Hey,
Mill Bottom, Birks, Rhodes Hill, Lanehead, High
Knolls, Alt, and Alt Hill ; (iv) Hartshead, on the east,
3,114 acres, with Staly bridge, Mossley, Hurst and
Higher Hurst, Smallshaw, Greenhurst, Hazelhurst,
Heyrod, Luzley, Souracre, and Ridge Hill. In 1 894,
Stalybridge being added tn Cheshire, the remainder
of the parish of Ashto-113" a "/.vided into the existing
townships of Ashton- ?£9fer^Lyne, Audenshaw, Little
Moss, Waterloo, Hurst, Woodhouses, Bardsley, Alt,
Lees,5 Hartshead, Cross Bank, and (part of) Mossley.
Of these Ashton and Mossley are boroughs ; Auden-
shaw, Hurst, and Lees obtained local boards in 1874,®
1 86 1,7 and 1859," respectively, and became urban
districts in 1894, with councils of twelve members
each ; the rest of the townships, forming the rural
district of Limehurst, are governed by parish councils.
Waterhouses, described by Ben Brierley as 'Daisy
Nook,' has become a summer afternoon resort.
In Audenshaw is a large reservoir belonging to
the Manchester Water Works. At Hartshead is the
Twarl Hill tithe-stone, where it is said tithes
INDEX MAP
TO THE
PARISH
OF
ASHTON UNDER L YME
(ed. 1868), i, 430. The document i* Ellison, five ; at Audenshaw — Robert Notes and Gleanings,
printed in full in Jas. Butterworth's Ash- Asht'xn, ten, and John Sanciford, six ; at ibid, i, 78.
ton 155—65. Little Moss — William Bell, eight; and ' Land. Gaz. 3 Ju
Notes and Gleanings, 11, 5, 14, 24 ; also
Much the same are the hamlets recorded
in the hearth-tax return of 1666. There
were 538 hearths liable, of which in Ashton
proper the houses of Richard Hurst and
Nicholas Walker had six each, of Rector
at Woodhouses — Samuel Jenkinson, seven.
No other dwelling had as many as six
hearths ; Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9.
* For an account of Lees see Oldbam
339
. 1874-
7 Ibid. 19 Apr. 1861 ; district extended
by 37 & 38 Viet. cap. i.
8 Land. Gax. 30 Sept. 1859 ; the dis-
trict was called Lees with Cros&bank.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
were formerly paid.9 On Hartshead Pike was a
conical pillar, built I ^ ,,* Amounted by a hart's
head; it fell down about' 1820, but was partly
rebuilt in 1863 to commemorate the marriage of
King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.10 Near
Lees was a noted chalybeate spring called Lees Spa ;
there are other similar ones in the parish. In the
bed of the Medlock are the so-called Druidical
basins.
The public buildings include a mechanics' institute
founded in 1825, clubs, and a theatre. The infir-
mary was built in 1859-60, and a children's hospital
in 1893 ; a nurses' home has been added.
A Volunteer regiment was raised in 1 803." Ashton
is the headquarters of the 3rd V. B. Manchester
Regiment ; the drill hall was built in 1887. There
are barracks at Hurst, built in 1843.
There are two weekly newspapers and an evening
daily paper.
The market cross was taken down in 1829."
The ceremony of * riding the Black Lad,' still to
some extent kept up, was performed on Easter Mon-
day ; the effigy of a knight in black armour was
paraded through the streets on horseback in derision,
afterwards hung up on the old market cross and used
as a target, being finally plunged in a stagnant pool.
There are contradictory accounts of the origin and
intention of the ceremony.13 The * gyst ale ' was
another Ashton custom.14 The annual wake, formerly
kept on the third Sunday in September, is now held
on the Sunday next after 1 5 August.
In Ashton Moss red fir trees used to be dug up,
and split up for light for the poor ; large oaks were
also found.
Copper tokens were issued in Ashton in the middle
of the I 7th century.15
A cotton mill was established at Stalybridge in
1 776,'* and the manufacture rapidly grew under the
favourable conditions of easy water carriage and
abundant coal supply. The modern industries of the
district, in addition to this staple trade, include hat-
making, brewing, and silk-weaving ; there are also
iron foundries, engineering works, machine factories,
and collieries. At Ashton Moss are market gardens.
Audenshaw has cotton factories and engineering works,
and some hat factories ; Hurst also has great cotton
mills and some hat-making, together with collieries ;
at Lees, again, are cotton mills, as also at Mossley.
Stalybridge has much the same industries as Ashton
itself; also nail-making, and some woollen manu-
facture."
The agricultural land is now apportioned thus :
arable land, 173 acres; permanent grass, 5,574;
woods and plantations, nil.18
The history of the place, apart from its modern
manufacturing progress, has been quite uneventful
save for the political and industrial riots which have
broken out from time to time. To the * fifteenth '
Ashton paid £2 IAJ. out of ^41 i^s. \d. charged on
the hundred of Salford, and to the county lay of 1624
it paid £5 i6s. out of £100. 19
In addition to some of the lords of the manor and
one or two of the rectors, the local worthies include
John Chetham, psalmodist, who died in 1746 ;
William Quarmby of Hurst, a poet, who died in
1872; Thomas Earnshaw, watchmaker, 1 749- 1829;*°
James Butterworth, the topographer, born in 1771
at a place called Pitses ; " the Rev. John Louis
Petit, artist, 1 801-68 ;** Evan Leigh, inventor and
manufacturer of cotton-spinning machinery, 1811 —
76 w ; and John Dean Blythe, miscellaneous writer,
1842-69.*
The above were natives of Ashton. Joseph Rayner
Stephens, brother of George Stephens the runic
archaeologist, at first a Methodist preacher, caused
a schism in the body at Ashton as mentioned later, and
as an agitator and journalist exercised great influence
in the town and district for many years from 1840
onwards. He died in 1 8 79."*
Originally 4SHTON appears to have
MANOR been rated as three plough-lands, of which
two became part of the estates of the lords of
Penwortham, and the third, together with the advow-
son of the church, was attached to the barony of
Manchester.*5 The former portion, Ashton proper,
is probably the two plough-lands held by one Warin in
1086, by grant of Roger of Poitou.*8 It also was
granted to the lords of Manchester, and in 1212
Robert Grelley held the two plough-lands and should
render 20*. or a goshawk ; *7 but Albert Grelley, the
father, or perhaps the grandfather of Robert, had given
to Roger son of Orm ' the whole land of Ashton, with
all its appurtenances,' with other lands, just as the
said Roger had held them of Albert's father, at the
rent of 2Os. or a hawk.*8 This Roger was the ances-
tor of the Kirkbys of Kirkby Ireleth, and the lordship
of Ashton descended in this family till the I7th
century.
9 Lanes, and Chet. Antiq. Soc. XT, 195.
10 Ibid, xv, 35. There is a view of the
old tower in Aikin's Country Round Man-
chester, 211 ; the writer (p. 231) describes
the Pike as ' a favourite and well-known
object for the surrounding country, which
is seen at a considerable distance, and in
general has been supposed to be a sea
mark. It is situated on very high ground
betwixt Oldham and Mossley, from
•whence the traveller has a most delightful
view of the surrounding country. We
have ascertained from good authority that
it was formerly used as a beacon, and
there are others in the neighbourhood to
answer it.'
11 Local Gleanings Lanes. andChes. ii,zo6.
12 For this and the crosses at Hurst
and Mossley see Lanes, and Chts. Antiq.
Soc. xxii, 118-23.
18 W. E. A. Axon, Black Knight of
Ashton.
14 Harland and Wilkinson, Lanes. Tra~
ditions, 85.
18 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. v, 73.
18 An account of the cotton manufac-
tures of the district will be found in
E. Butterworth's Ashton, 80-9.
*7 Dr. Aikin, writing in 1795, says : —
' This place [Stalybridge] has been famous,
for a great length of time, for woollen
cloth, dyers, and pressers, as well as
weavers. These branches still continue
to flourish. Here and in this neighbour-
hood commences the woollen manufactory,
which extends in various directions as we
proceed to Saddleworth ' ; Country Round
Manchester, 230.
18 Details are given as follows : —
Arable Grass
Acres Acres
Ashton ... 89 190
Knott Lanes . . 5 ')4°7
„ „ . . 2 224
340
Grass
Acres
i.'SS
1,077
519
1,002
Harland),
Arable
Acres
Hartshead . .
Audenshaw . . 75
Woodhouses . . i
Mossley ... i
19 Gregson, Fragments (ed
1 8, 22.
30 Diet. Nat. Biog.
al See the account of Oldham.
M Diet. Nat. Biog.
38 Ibid.
* Ibid.
Wa Ibid.
45 This third plough-land was probably
Moston in Manchester.
86 V.C.H. Lana. i, 287.
*7 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 34. It is
stated that he did not render any service ;
he had passed it over to his sub-tenant.
M Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 403, and note.
HULME HA.LL : THE COURTYARD IN 1843
SALFORD HUNDRED ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE
In the reign of Henry II William de Kirkby
granted Ashton to one Orm, probably a relative, who
thus became the immediate
lord, and whose descendants
assumed the local surname.29
A later Orm de Ashton, who
is described as the ' son of
Roger' in a fine of H95,30
was living in 120 1.31 He
was succeeded by his son
Thomas,3* and Robert de Ash-
ton occurs in I254,33 but the
descent in the absence of
evidence cannot be made out
quite clearly. In 1 2 74 Thomas
de Ashton defended his title
to the manor of Ashton against
John de Kirkby,34 and in 1284 an agreement was
made between them by which Thomas's right was
acknowledged, a rent of \d. being due from him.35
It is perhaps the same Thomas who occurs a number
of times to i3O7,36while in 1320 John de Ashton
KIRKBY of Kirkby.
Argent fwo bars gulest on
a canton of the second a
cross patonce or.
held the manor of the lord of Manchester, rendering
zos. at the four terms and a hawk or 40*. at Michael-
mas.37 In 1335 he procured
from the king a grant of free
warren in the demesne lands
of Ashton.38 John de Ash-
ton, apparently the same per-
son, died about 1360, leaving
a son and heir under age, his
wardship and marriage being
claimed by Sir John de Kirk-
by.39 The claim no doubt
succeeded, for Margaret the
widow of John de Ashton
sought dower against Kirkby
in 1366,*° and in 1375 John
son of John de Ashton called upon him to give
account of the issues of his lands in Ashton.41
John de Ashton is said to have distinguished
himself at the siege of Noyon in 1370," and repre-
sented the county in Parliament in 1382, 1388, and
I39O.43 He was apparently father of Sir John de
ASHTON of Ashton.
Argent a pierced mullet
sable.
89 From a plea of 1276 ; De Bane. R.
15, m. 4.
80 Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), iii, 172. Roger (de Burton) and
Orm his brother are called sons of Roger
son of Orm. Their mother was a daughter
and co-heir of Richard de Lancaster. Wil-
liam de Kirkby was son of Roger son of
Orm son of Ailward ; his father was the
grantee of Ashton from Albert Grelley.
81 Lanes. Pipe R. 116, 153. Orm de
Ashton granted part of his land in Ashton
to Robert son of Simon de Statlee (Staley) ;
the boundaries mention Hurst and Green-
lache ; Dods. MSS. xxxix, fol. izib.
Orm son of Roger gave land called Muge-
hale to Cockersand Abbey ; Chartul. i,
214. As Medlock and Sunderland are
named in the bounds, the charter must
refer to this township, though entered in
the section relating to Ashton in Pres-
ton.
sa Thomas son of Orm de Ashton made
to Richard de Byron a grant of a moiety
of the land between the Reed Brook
and Stony Brook, the Medlock and the
bounds of Werneth, at a rent of izd.
a year ; Byron Chart. (Towneley MS.),
7/!9-
Some early charters are preserved by
Dodsworth, loc. cit. Thomas de Ashton
gave to Ralph son of William Ruffus of
Staley all his land of Souracre, in the
Olerene hey, the Helm rode, and the Ot-
ford bottom, which lands had formerly
been held by Richard Ruffus (Roo) ; he
also granted land within the bounds of
Loseley (Luzley), the meres beginning at
the Bicestal (Bestal).
88 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 193. Ro-
bert de Ashton released to Robert de
Byron the services due from Greenhurst
and Sunderland, viz. i8</. a year from
each ; Byron Chart. 9/22. William
son of Thomas de Ashton released to Sir
Richard de Byron all claim in the land
called Greenhurst, as contained in the
charter of his brother Robert ; ibid. n.
8/20. It is possible that William and
Robert were the sons of the later Thomas
de Ashton, but they may have been
grandsons of Orm.
Robert de Ashton granted to Ralph
Ruffus de Staley part of his land within
the fee of Ashton lying between the Bices-
tal and the Water Walsyke ; to which
charter William son of Olibern de Ashton
was a witness ; Dods. ut supra. Richard
le Roo and Sir Henry de Traffbrd were
defendants in 1351; John de Heghgren,
the plaintiff, did not prosecute ; Duchy of
Lane. Assize R. i, m. 5.
34 De Bane. R. n, m. 3 ; 15, m. 4
(printed in Lanes. Pipe R. 405) ; 21,
m. 8 d. ; 27, m. 29 ; 28, m. 24 d. Six
oxgangs of land and the advowson of the
church were excepted from the claim for
the manor. The oxgangs were perhaps
in the hands of free tenants, while the
advowson belonged to the lord of Man-
chester.
84 Final Cone, i, 162 ; the dispute had
therefore occupied ten years.
Thomas de Ashton was a juror in 1282,
when he was said to owe the rent of a
sor goshawk annually as one of the free
foreign tenants of Manchester ; he also
did suit for Parbold, Dalton, and Wright-
ington ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 244,
246, 248.
88 Thomas de Ashton in 1292 was de-
fendant to claims made by Richard de les
Lees of Ashton for a right of way and for
common of pasture ; Assize R. 408, m. 21.
At the same time inquiry was made
whether or not Adam son of Simon the
Serjeant of Ashton had held a messuage
and lands, which should descend to his
son John, a minor ; Thomas de Ashton
held them, alleging a grant by Adam,
made long before his death ; ibid. m.
34 d-
Henry de Ashton recovered a messuage
and land against Gervase de Ashton, who
claimed as brother and heir of William de
Ashton. It was shown that William had
made the grant to Henry while under
age, but had given a release when twenty-
three ; ibid. m. 1 1 d.
Thomas de Ashton and Cecily his wife
in 1305 made a feoffment of a messuage
and land in Ashton ; Final Cone, i, 206 ;
De Bane. R. 162, m. 200 d.
A settlement of the manor was made
in 1307, Thomas de Ashton granting it
to John son of Thomas de Ashton, a
minor, with remainders to Robert the
brother of John ; to William son of Adam
Banastre ; to Alexander brother of
Thomas for life ; and to Robert brother
of Richard de Ashton for life ; Final
Cone, i, 212.
341
87 Mamecestre (Chet. Soc.), ii, 290.
The mesnc lordship of the Kirkbys is
omitted.
John son of Thomas de Ashton was
defendant to a number of claims made in
1337 by Richard de Staley, John del Hey-
rod, Richard de Clayden, Robert del
Hurst, William de Bardsley, and John de
Audenshaw ; Assize R. 1424, m. 1 1, 1 1 d.;
1425, m. 2 d. The claimants were per-
haps the holders of the 6 oxgangs. John
son of Thomas de Ashton was a de-
fendant again in 1346 ; De Bane. R. 346,
m. i.
38 Chart. R. gEdw. Ill, m. 5, no. 23.
He had licence to impark Lyme Park in
Ashton in 1337 ; Cal.Pat. 1334-8, p. 406.
In 1346 John de Ashton, in virtue of
these grants, proceeded against John de
Ainsworth and William son of Robert de
Newton for breaking his park and taking
deer ; De Bane. R. 348, m. 98 d. ; see
also Coram Rege R. 317, m. 133.
In the same year he appeared to show
cause why he had not received knighthood,
his defence being that his landed estate at
the time of the royal briefs of 1341 and
1344 had not been worth £40 a year ;
he held six messuages at Ashton yearly
worth 41. each clear, 40 acres of land
worth \zd. an acre, 12 acres of meadow
worth 2s. each, 20 acres of wood worth
I2<f. each, and loox. rent ; Q. R. Mem. R.
122, m. 137 d.
John de Ashton appears as plaintiff or
defendant in various suits in subsequent
years. In 1357 he charged John le Hunt,
' smithy man,' and Adam de Tetlow, with
others, with cutting down his trees, and
with breaking a close ; Duchy of Lane.
Assize R. 5, m. 8.
89 Assize R. 441, m. 3, 5 ; De Bane.
R. 408, m. 136 d. The defendants were
William son of Robert de Radcliffe ; Wil-
liam son of William de Radcliffe, and
Margaret his wife ; John Massy, rector
of Sefton, and Robert son of Robert de
Legh.
40 De Bane. R. 422, m. 332 d. ; Mar-
garet had married William de Radcliffe, as
above.
41 Ibid. 457, m. 3i2d. ; see also Dep.
Keeper's Rep, xxxii, App. 361.
42 See notice of him in Diet. Nat. Biog.
48 Pink and Beaven, Par/. Rep. of Lanes.
39. 43. 44-
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Ashton his successor,44 prominent in the French wars
of Henry V, and Seneschal of Bayeux in I4i6.45 In
1413 Sir John obtained a release of the service due
from the manor. After reciting that he held it of
Sir Richard de Kirkby by the rent of id., and that
Sir Richard held it of Thomas La Warre, lord of
Manchester, by the rent of zzs. and a hawk or 40;.,
which services Sir John de Ashton had to render on
behalf of Sir Richard, the feoffees of Thomas La Warre
granted that Sir John, Sir Richard, and their heirs
should be free from the said service after the death of
Thomas.45* This Sir John died in 1428, holding the
manor of Ashton of Robert de Ogle (in right of his
wife Isabel, granddaughter and heir of Sir Richard
Kirkby), and other manors and lands. Thomas, his
son and heir, then twenty-five years of age,46 came to
be known as ' the Alchemist ' ; " he left a son John,48
made a knight in 1460." Sir John died in 1484,
holding the manor of Ashton, with the advowson of
the church, lands in Manchester, Oldham, and Wardle ;
and the manor of Alt. Sir Thomas, his son and heir,
was sixty years of age in 1507, when the inquisition
was taken.50
In 1513 Sir Thomas Ashton made a feoffment of
his manors of Ashton and Alt, and his lands and rents
there and in Oldham, Hundersfield, and Manchester,
for the fulfilment of his will ; and died a year later,
on 21 July 1514, leaving as heirs George Booth, son
BOOTH. Argent three
boon' headt erect and
erased sable.
HOGHTON. Sable three
bars argent.
of his daughter Margaret, who had been the wife of
Sir William Booth, and his other daughters Elizabeth
Ashton, and Alice wife of Richard Hoghton, all of
full age.51 In accordance with Sir Thomas's will the
estate was held for the use of the three heirs, a divi-
sion being sought in 1537." Elizabeth Ashton died
on 31 December 1553, without issue,53 so that after-
wards the manor and lands were held equally by the
Booths64 and Hoghtons.55 Before the close of the
1 6th century, however, the whole had come into
the possession of the former family,56 and descended
44 Sir John de Ashton and John his
son occur in 1391—2 ; Dods. MSS. xxxix,
fol. 121 b.
The king in 1401 granted to his dear
bachelor John de Ashton the wardship of
all the lands of Richard de Byron, de-
ceased, with annuities to Robert, Piers,
and Nicholas de Ashton ; Lanes. Inq, p.m.
(Chet. Soc.), i, 65.
Sir John de Ashton was knight of the
shire in 1411 and 1413; Pink and
Beaven, op. cit. 47, 49.
45 See the notice in the Diet. Nat. Biog. ;
Sir H. Nicolas, Agincourt, 359 ; Norman
R. in Dtp. Keeper" t Rep. xli, xliv. A
letter of his is printed by Ellis, Original
Letters (Ser. 2), i, 72.
45a Manch. Corp. D. See also Lanes.
Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 19 ; Dep.
Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App. 28.
46 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.) ii, 22 ;
the value of the manor is given as £40 a
year. The service is not stated. Sir John
de Ashton had purchased the advowson of
the church from Thomas La Warre ; ibid,
ii, 18. See also Dep. Keeper's Rep. xzxiii,
App. 30.
Sir John's younger son, Roger, was the
ancestor of the Ashtons of Middleton,
Great Lever, and Downham.
4' He was a partner with Sir Edmund
Traffbrd in the licence to transmute
metals, granted in 1446 ; see the account
of Stretford ; also Diet. Nat. Biog. He
was in 1442 exempted from serving on as-
sizes, &c. ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xl, App. 537.
48 The descent is given thus in a docu-
ment which may be dated about 1510,
relating to the manor of Manchester, of
which Sir John Ashton appears to have
been a trustee in 1413 : Sir John — ».
Thomas — s. John — s. Thomas ; Pal. of
Lane. Sessional P. Hen. VIII, bdle. 4.
49 At the battle of Northampton ; Met-
calfe, Bk. of Knights, 2.
Sir John Ashton in 1471 complained
that Ambrose Baguley of Manchester had
trespassed on his turbary at Ashton ; Pal.
of Lane. Plea R. 38, m. 2 d. He was
knight of the shire in 1472 ; Pink and
Beaven, op. cit. 57. In the following
year he was returned as holding the
manors of Ashton, Alt, and Moston (or,
the other Moston) of the lord of Man-
chester, by the rent of id. ; Mamecestre,
iii, 483. 'Alt ' may stand for alter a.
60 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 137,
138-
Sir Thomas was made a knight at
Ripon in August 1487 ; Metcalfe, op. cit.
1 3,
Deeds (dated 1494) relating to his
marriage with Agnes, one of the daughters
and co-heirs of Sir James Harrington, are
enrolled in Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 79, m.
8 ; see also Sir James's will, &c. in Lanes.
Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 169, 171.
81 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, 80.
He provided that 7 marks a year should
be paid for an honest priest to sing and
do divine service in Ashton Church for
twenty years for the souls of the testator,
his wife, parents, son John, brother
Nicholas, &c. ; also ^40 for a new steeple
and 20 marks for a table for the high
altar. He made provision for his wife
Jane, his bastard brethren Orm, Alexan-
der, and Seth, and other relatives, and
mentions lands in Elston, &c., lately pur-
chased of Sir James Harrington, his father-
in-law. He had purchased the wardship
of Richard son of William Hoghton, who
had married his daughter Alice. His
lands in Cheshire he left to the heirs male
of Edmund Ashton of Chadderton, brother
of his father Sir John Ashton . After the
trusts for his wife and others had expired,
the trustees were to hold all his manors,
lands, &c., for the use of Sir Thomas and
his right heirs. The estate was described
as the manors of Ashton and Alt, with
1 60 messuages, 1,000 acres of land, 200
acres of meadow, 1,000 acres of pasture,
100 acres of wood, 500 acres of moss,
500 acres of moor, and £10 rent in Ash-
ton, &c. The manor of Ashton was held
.of Thomas West, Lord La Warre, by the
rent of id. The ages of the heirs were :
George Booth, 25 ; Elizabeth Ashton, 42 ;
Alice Hoghton, 22.
There are pedigrees in the Visitation of
1567 (Chet Soc.), 8, 20.
342
53 Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 162, m. 7 d ;
164, m. lod.
88 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. x, 18. Her
portion thereupon descended to William
Booth (son of George son of George son
of Margaret) and Thomas Hoghton (son
of Alice), aged seventeen and thirty-nine
respectively. See Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 1 54.
54 George Booth (great-grandson of Sir
Thomas Ashton) died 3 August 1543,
leaving a son and heir William, three
years of age. The estate ia described as
twenty-five messuages, &c., in Ashton and
Oldham, a third part of two mills in Ash-
ton, a third part of the moor, and a third
part of the advowson ; it being arranged
that George (or his assigns) should present
at the next vacancy ; Elizabeth Ashton,
widow, at the second vacancy ; and Sir
Richard Hoghton at the third vacancy ;
and so on in perpetuity. The will of
George Booth is given ; it names his wife
Elizabeth, his daughters Elizabeth and
Mary. His uncle Robert Booth had an
annuity of £4 from Ashton.
85 Thomas Hoghton died in 1580,
holding among other estates a moiety of
the manor of Ashton ; he was at Hoghton
succeeded in turn by his brother Alexander
and his half-brother Thomas the younger;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, 26. With
the death of Alexander in 1581 the male
issue of Alice Ashton ceased, and the
Hoghton share of Ashton should have
gone to the Booth family ; yet a moiety
of the manor of Ashton-under-Lyne and
the advowson of the church appear in the
inquisition after the death of the younger
Thomas in 1589; ibid, xv, 29. This
statement may have been mistaken.
86 In 1595 the moiety of the manor is
named among the Hoghton estates, and
the manor in 1596 among those of George
Booth ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 57,
m. 178 ; 59, m. 41. George Booth of
Dunham, son and heir of Sir William,
stated in 1597 that his father had been
seised of a moiety of the manor of Ashton,
and had made certain estates in it, with
reversion to plaintiff; but John Hunt and
SALFORD HUNDRED
ASHTON -UN DE R-L YN E
to George Harry Grey, seventh Earl of Stamford and toW^ published in 1824 shows it possessing a
Warrington, who died in 1883." Under his will, it short east wing running northward from the south-
is stated, the Lancashire estates
are to pass to his wife's grand-
niece, Katherine Sarah, wife
of Sir Henry Foley Lambert,
baronet.58 Trustees are in
possession.
Ashton Old Hall stood on
the south side of the church
on elevated ground about
200 yds. north of the River
Tame and overlooking its val-
ley. Dr. Aikin described it
in I79559 as a building of
great antiquity, and attributed
its erection to about the year
1483, but there seems to have
been no particular reason for
his assigning this date to the
structure.
Adjoining to it (he wrote) is an
edifice which has the appearance of
a prison, and till of late years has
been used as such. It is a strong
rather small building with two round
towers overgrown with ivy, called
the dungeons. The prison is now
occupied by different poor families.
It has two courtyards, an inner and an outer, with strong walls.
Over the outer gate was a square room ascended to from the
inside by a flight of stone steps and very ancient. It has always
gone by the name of the Gaoler's Chapel . . . [but] was taken
down in 1793. The house to the inner court is still standing,
and in tolerable repair. . . . The front of the old hall adjoining
the prison overlooking the gardens and the River Tame [has]
a beautiful prospect. On this side
of the building are strong parts of
immense thickness with numbers of
loopholes.60
The main building was re-
paired and modernized in 1838
for the occasional residence of
the Earl of Stamford, thereby
no doubt losing a good deal
of its ancient appearance. By
the middle of the last cen-
tury it was |__-shaped on plan,
but an earlier plan of the
GREY, Earl of Stam-
ford. Barry of six ar-
gent and azure.
ASHTON-UNDER-LVNE OLD HALL
east corner. This, however, must have disappeared
before 1862, when an account of the building was
written by John Higson, a local antiquary.61 The
long west wing overlooking the valley had then two
small bays and projecting chimney-shafts in its west
front, but was covered with rough-cast coloured
black. On its east side the greater part was also
rough-cast, but a portion at the south end near the
' dungeons ' was of timber and plaster. The roofs
were covered with stone slates. The east inner
elevation had doors and windows with semicircular
heads, and over the door was an escutcheon with the
arms, crest, and supporters of the Earl of Stamford,
all this work being probably part of the 1838 recon-
struction. Before that date the hall had long been
divided into several tenements with separate entrances,
having passed into non-resident possession as far back
as the 1 6th century, at which time probably a floor
was introduced into the great hall. A portion of the
George Latham had recently inclosed
•divers parcels of waste on the moor called
' Odenshawe,' and had alleged that John
Hunt was joint lord of the wastes and
commons of the manor. The other
'wastes' were Luzley Moor, Mossley, and
Little Moss. Robert Lees, a defendant,
said that he was tenant to Richard Shaw-
cross (in right of Katherine Shawcross,
his wife, widow of Richard Hunt, grand-
father of John), and had inclosed no waste
grounds ; Duchy of Lane. Plead. Eliz.
clxxix, B 7.
In 1 606 a settlement of the manor and
advowson was made by Sir George Booth
and Katherine his wife ; Pal. of. Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 70, no. 23. A similar
settlement was made in 1648 by Sir
George Booth and George Booth ; ibid,
bdle. 143, m. 5. George Lord Delamere
and Elizabeth his wife were in possession
in 1671 ; ibid. bdle. 186, m. 12. For
later recoveries, &c., see Pal. of Lane.
Plea R. 464 (1696), m. 6; August
Assizes, 37 Geo. Ill (1/97), R. 9.
b" The pedigree of the Booths and their
successors is thus given in Ormerod's
Ches. (ed. Helsby), i, 523-35 : Sir
William Booth of Dunham (d. 1519)
married Margaret daughter and coheir of
Sir Thomas Ashton of Ashton-under-Lyne
— s. George, d. 1531 — s. George, d. 1543
— s. Sir William, d. 1579 — s. Sir George,
baronet (1611), d. 1652 — s. William,
d. 1636 — s. Sir George, cr. Lord Dela-
mere (1661), d. 1684 — s. Henry, cr.
Earl of Warrington (1690), d. 1693
— s. George, d. 1758 — da. Mary (d.
1772), married Harry Grey, fourth Earl
of Stamford — s. George Harry, cr. Earl
of Warrington (1796), d. 1819 — s.
George Harry, d. 1845 — s. George Harry
Booth, Lord Grey of Groby (1832), d.
1835 — s. George Harry, d. 1883, s.p.
The heir male, who succeeded as eighth
Earl of Stamford, was Harry Grey,
descended from a younger son of Mary
Booth and the fourth Earl thus : John
Grey, d. 1802 — s. Harry, d. 1860 — s.
Harry, eighth earl, d. 1890, who has been
343
followed by his nephew William (s. of
William), ninth Earl of Stamford. See
also G. E. C. Complete Baronetage, i, 14 ;
Complete Peerage, under Delamer, War-
rington and Stamford. The following
have places in Diet. Nat. Biog. : — Sir
George Booth, Lord Delamere, who
espoused the Parliamentary side in the
Civil War, but in 1659 unsuccessfully
attempted an insurrection in favour of
Charles II ; his son, Henry, Earl of
Warrington, also a Presbyterian and
Whig, suspected of various plots in the
time of Charles II and James II ; and
his son George, second earl. The seventh
carl was a benefactor of the town.
48 G.E.C. Complete Peerage, vii, 232.
69 A Description of the Country from Thirty
to Forty Miles round Manchester. Views
of the old hall, with the adjoining build-
ing, known as the Dungeon, and the
Gaoler's Chapel, are given, p. 226.
60 Aikin, op. cit.
61 Quoted in W. Glover, Hitt. of Athnn-
under-Lyne (1884).
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
roof in 1862 is said to have had shaped braces forming
quatrefoils in the spaces between the principals and
purlins, showing that it was originally intended to
be seen. The rooms, however, had been So much
modernized that every trace of antiquity had been
removed or concealed, though in the second story
there were mullioned and transomed windows with
diamond glazing.61
The south wing was thought 'by Higson to be not
o'der than about 1 500, oj probably later. It had
three square-headed windows on each floor of two
trefoiled lights, and fras flanked at each end by a
round tower standing a little in advance of the main
wall, and rising considerably higher than the roof.
The walls of Jhe towers were about 2 ft. 6 in. thick at
the bottor^ and the interior was square to the height
of twq itories, above which it finished off as a circular
tower. The roofs were of stone with a central finial,
afld the towers had evidently served the purpose of
garderobes.
At this time there was no trace of the two court-
yards mentioned by Aikin. ' The gaoler's chapel
was probably an offshoot or irregular continuation
to the dungeon wing and some old buildings since
removed,63 but then seeming to form a third side,
and probably there had been a fourth, rendering the
building quadrangular.' M
Still later the front of the south wing appears to
have had new and longer windows of three lights
inserted, those on the first floor having pointed heads.
The building, whose original appearance had long
been marred not only by alterations to the structure,
but by the change in its surroundings, was pulled
down in 1890 by the Manchester, Sheffield, and
Lincolnshire Railway Company, who had purchased
it prior to extensions and improvements of the Park
Parade Station. With so little trustworthy evidence
to go upon, it is difficult to assign any date to the
erection of the hall or to convey any but a vague idea
of its plan and disposition. Mr. Higson inclined to
about the year 1480 for the west wing, with portions,
perhaps, a little older, but there was some work be-
longing apparently to alterations in the I yth century.
A Gallows Meadow adjoined the hall.
The manor mills were closed in 1884, and have
since been removed.
The manor of ALT has been mentioned above as
part of the holding of the lords of Ashton. The
tenure is uncertain, it being sometimes stated to be
held of the barony of Manchester,65 but more usually
of the king as Duke of Lancaster as of his manor
of Salford.66 It seems at one time to have been held
by a local family,67 and there is no record of its
acquisition by the Ashtons.68 It disappears from
notice as a manor in the i6th century.
The custom roll of the manor of Ashton for 1422
has been printed.69 The lord gave a dinner to his
tenants and their wives on Yule day, the tenants at
will making regulated * presents ' to him at the same
time. A tenant was to plough one or two days,
according as he had half a plough or a plough ; to
harrow one day, to cart ten loads of turf from
Doneam Moss, * shear ' four days in harvest, and
cart corn for one day ; at death each paid a ' princi-
pal,' i.e., the best beast he had after the due of holy
kirk. The tenants were to grind at the lord's mill
to the sixteenth measure ; if they bought corn they
should ' muller ' to the Love sucken, i.e. to the
twenty-fourth measure.70 The names of the tenants
at will, with their services and rents, follow : John of
the Edge farmed both corn mills at 1 6s. 4^., * the lord
to hold up the mills at his costs, as it has been cus-
tomed.' The ' gyst ale ' of the town of Ashton
amounted to zos. in all ; the tolls of fairs and markets
2 marks ; 71 the courts and fines, 40^. There were a
few tenants for life, but the list of free tenants is a
long one. The tenants at will took their farms, &c.,
from Martinmas to Martinmas, and were bound to
leave everything in as good condition as they found
it. The free tenants took part in the business of the
hallmote and assisted in preserving order. By an
agreement made in 1379-80 the tenants' swine, if
ringed, were allowed to range over the demesne from
the end of harvest until sowing-time.
A manor court is still held every six months, its
jurisdiction extending over the whole parish.
In the absence of records no account can be given of
the descent of the various free tenancies in Audenshaw/*
62 Glover, op. cit. quoting Higson.
68 The wing shown on the plan of
1824.
64 Glover, op. cit. quoting Higson.
65 Hawise widow of Robert Grelley in
1295 claimed dower in one virgate in
Alt against Thomas de Ashton ; De
Banco R. no, m. ngd. In the Man-
chester Survey of 1320 it is stated that
John de Ashton held Alt by a rent of zs. ;
Mamecestre, ii, 290.
68 This is the more usual account. In
the survey of the Earl of Lancaster's lands
in 1346 John de Ashton was said to hold
half an oxgang in Alt in socage ; Add.
MS. 32103, fol. 146. In 1429 the rent
to the king as duke was given as io,/. ;
Lana. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 22.
Later still the holding was called one ox-
gang ; ibid, ii, 137. In 1514 the rent
was again stated as lod. and the clear
value of the manor was 20 marks ; Duchy
of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, 80.
•7 Alban de Alt occurs about 1 200 ;
Lanes. Pipe R. 330. Eva de 'Halt' was
of the king's gift in 1222-6, and was to
be married ; her land was worth I id. ;
Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 130. Thomas
son of William de Alt in 1276 claimed a
free tenement in Paldenley against Robert
son of Robert de Tounton and Margery
de Hache, but failed, because Paldenley
was not a town or borough, but only a
place in the field of Ashton ; Assize R.
405, m. i. In 1292 Richard son of
Robert de Turton unsuccessfully claimed
one tenement in Alt against Margery
daughter of Robert de Alt and Richard
son of Robert de Tong, and another (by
writ de consanguinitate) against Thomas de
Ashton; Assize R. 408, m. 32, 3od.
Adam son of Ellis de Alt acted for
Thomas de Ashton in 1307 ; Final Cone.
i, 212.
68 Sir John Ashton who died in 1428
had assigned Alt as dower to his wife
Margaret at the door of the church on
the day he married her ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Chet. Soc.), ii, 22. In 1507 a later
Sir John had held Alt ' as Hugh de More
of Alston and Richard the son of Robert
Spymne had held it' ; ibid, ii, 138.
69 Chetham Soc. Ixxiv, 93-116.
7° Ibid. 95, 109, 112.
71 The charter for the markets and
fairs does not seem to have been pre-
served, but it is stated that an exempli-
fication was granted to Sir George Booth
344
in 1608, showing that the charter was
dated '13 February, 14 Henry Sixth
(1413),' to Sir John de Ashton, for two
fairs yearly on the eve, feast, and morrow
of St. Swithin (2 July) and of St. Martin,
and a weekly market on Monday ; Jas.
Butterworth, Ashton, 31. The dating is
obviously wrong ; perhaps it should read
'14 Henry Fourth (1413),' which is a
possible date. In 1498 Sir Thomas
Ashton was summoned to show by what
warrant he claimed to have view of frank-
pledge twice a year in his manor of Ashton,
a market every Monday, fairs on i and
2 July, and on the vigil and feast of
St. Martin in winter, &c. ; Pal. of Lane.
Writs Proton. 1 3 Hen. VII.
7* Richard de Birches and Margery his
wife in 1246 claimed the latter's dower
in respect of her former husband's (Martin
son of Adam) land in ' Aldewainescath,'
against Adam de Audenshaw. Jordan son
of Adam de ' Tongton ' was a surety j
Assize R. 404, m. 9 d.
The Rental of 1422 shows that Richard
Moston and William Audenshaw had
tenements there, paying 35. 6d. and 31.
respectively. The former's holding may
be the ' manor of Moston ' alluded to in
O/\.J-/J7 vyJxL-/ •
. ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE
Taunton or Tongton,89 Three Houses," Waterhouses "
»->/-! hst. ...... 91 J T»r-ti- <-.,»- ' »••»».«,
Alt, Asps, Alston75 lands, Bardsley/4 Beckington j.% o — » **w.
Field/4 Heyrod/6 Hurst/7 Knolls/8 Light Birches/9 Wo*^ses». *nd Williamfield."
Lees,80 Mossley,81 Palden,81 Rasbotham,88 Rougheyes,84 ThT\losPltaIlers and the priory of Lenton » had
Rhodesfield,84 Shepley,86 Sherwind,87 Sunderland,88 lands in t^townshlP-
a note in the account of Moston town-
ship, as held by the Hydes of Denton.
Edmund Ashton (of Chadderton) was
farmer of the Mostons' Audenshaw lands
in 1480, George Moston giving him an
acquittance for ,£4 91. iod., one year's
rent ; Raines D. (Chet. Lib.), bdle. 3, no.
45. In 1514 Margery widow of Thomas
Lidyard and sister and heir of George
Moston, granted to her son Edward
Lidyard lands in Audenshaw and War-
wickshire ; D. Enr. Com. Pleas, Mich.
35 Hen. VIII.
7s The Rental shows that in 14.22
Alston lands (or Ashton lands) were
divided among Peter Trafford (i*. 8</.),
the heirs of Adam Mossley (iod.), and
the heirs of Richard Dene (is.), at vary-
ing rents.
74 Richard son of John Bardsley ren-
dered a rose yearly for Bardsley, and
paid yd. for Old Alt, 2s. for Asps, and
5*/. for part of Hurst ; Rental of 1422.
For a case concerning the Bardsley family
see Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 82 (1496),
m. i.
~'° Richard Hunt in 1422 paid 41. for
his portion ; Rental. An account of this
family will be found under the township
of Manchester ; they appear to have be-
longed to Audenshaw originally. See
also Final Cone, ii, 148, 158, for acquisi-
tions in Ashton made in 1355 and 1358.
Richard Hunt in 1559 purchased mes-
suages, &c., in Ashton (probably in Auden-
shaw) from Sir Robert Worsley ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 21, m. 49 ; 22,
m. 5 ; see also Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.),
i, 136. It will be seen below that the
Hunts held land of the Hospitallers.
7* It was held in 1422 by John de
Heyrod at a total rent of js. 2d. ; Rental.
Agnes daughter of William son of Richard
de Heyrod (Heighroide) was in 1359
claimant of lands in Heyrod ; Duchy of
Lane. Assize R. 7, m. 3 d. A John de
Heyrod was plaintiff in 1372 against
John son of Cecily de Hulton ; De Banco
R. 445, m. 28.
77 The principal tenants in 1422 were
Nicholas de Hurst, paying 31., and Thomas
de Staley, paying is. 6d. ; Rental. Nicho-
las Hurst and Lucy his wife had a mes-
suage in Ashton and Hurst in 1578 ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 40, m. 42.
See further in Local Glean. Lanes, and Cbes.
ii, 280.
"8 In 1 302 Margery wife of Roger de
Barlow and Alice her sister, daughters of
Richard de Knolls, were heirs to mes-
suages and lands in Ashton. Agnes
(apparently the widow of Richard), then
wife of Richard de Limepithurst, and
Joan widow of Adam de Knolls, had
dower. Gilbert son of Adam son of
Thomas de Alt was called to warrant ;
De Banco R. 141, m. 75 d. 53 d.
Adam Wilson paid \z\d. in 1422,
and the heirs of Robert Lees zs. 6d. ;
Rental.
7" Adam Tetlow paid i zd. rent in
1422 ; Rental. This family is further
noticed under Oldham. Lawrence Tet-
low made a settlement of six messuages,
&c., in Ashton in 1551 ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 14, m. 178. He died in
1582 holding three messuages, &c., in
Ashton of the queen in locage by a rent
of 5</. yearly ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
xiv, 56. John Tetlow, who died in 1598,
held messuages, &c., in Ashton of Richard
Hoghton and George Booth in socage at
\d. rent ; ibid, xvii, n. 15.
80 Thomas Lees and Adam Lees were
free tenants in 1422, the former paying
6d. rent and the latter lod. j Rental.
About 15553 messuage and lands in Lees
were in dispute between Robert Lees the
elder and Robert Lees the younger ;
Ducatus Lane, i, 300 ; also ibid, iii,
363.
81 Henry son of William de Mossley
(Moslegh) in 1309 claimed land in Ash-
ton ; De Banco R. 174, m. I97d.
Richard de Mossley (Moselegh) in 1319
gave to William son of William de Moss-
ley, Emma his wife, and their issue male,
two messuages, 100 acres of land, &c., in
Ashton ; Final Cone, ii, 30.
82 Paldenwood seems to have been im-
proved and divided among several tenants
before 1422 ; Rental.
81 Robert Rasbotham paid $d. a year in
1422 ; Rental.
84 Peter Worsley paid 2s. a year in
1422 ; Rental.
85 John Knolls paid 3*. c,d. in 1422 ;
he also paid a like rent for Reedy Lee ;
Rental.
86 Thomas de Shepley contributed to
the subsidy of 1332 ; Exch. Lay Subs.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 32. John
del Heyrod and Maud his wife in 1335
claimed land in Shepley against Thomas
de Shepley and others ; De Banco R. 303,
m. 83. Peter Shepley paid 31. jd. in all
for his tenement in 1422 ; Rental.
87 Peter Trafford in 1422 paid 6d. for
this ; Rental.
88 At present the name is often spelt
Cinderland. In 1422 it was held by
Richard Byron, paying 6</., and the heirs
of Thomas de Hatfield, paying is.; Rental.
Stephen de Bredbury gave to Robert de
Byron all his land in Sunderland, a pair
of white gloves to be rendered at St.
Martin, and 2s. to the chief lords ; Byron
Chartul. no. 19/7.
In 1473 a William Heaton paid 121. to
the lord of Manchester for the manor of
Sunderland ; Mamecestre, iii, 479. This
may be a different place.
88 This estate was long held by the
Claydens of Clayden in Manchester.
Richard son of William del Ridges in
1315 claimed four messuages, two ox-
gangs of land, &c., in Ashton against
Richard son of Richard de Clayden ; De
Banco R. 231, m. 92 d. In 1422 Thomas
Clayden was tenant, paying 3*. 6d. rent
in all ; Rental.
In some pleadings in 1511 it was
stated that Sir Thomas Ashton had only
recently caused a leet to be kept in the
manor, and on Richard son of Richard
Clayden of Taunton , refusing to appear,
had fined him and distrained on default.
Richard stated that he did not live within
the manor of Ashton, he and his ances-
tors having done suit to the king's leet
wapentake and sheriff's tourn at Salford.
It appeared, however, that his lands in
Taunton were held of Sir Thomas Ashton
by a rent of 35. \d. ; Duchy of Lane.
Plead. Hen. VIII, iii, C i. Robert
Clayden died in 1579 holding six mes-
345
^uages, &c., in Tongton and Middlewood
shton of Thomas Hoghton in socage
f d' rent > Duch7 of Lane. Inq.
p.m. xlvV 84, 12. Bridget, one of his
daughters,\held them at her death in
1588, leavinjMhree sisters as heirs ; ibid
xv, 28. \
Taunton was afterwards held by a
family named Chadwkk, who recorded a
pedigree in 1664 ; Dugdale, fjsit. 74.
90 Thomas Staveley (ol Staley) held
this in 1422, at a rent of it ; he also
held Bestal at id. ; Rental. Somc^harters
relating to this have been given in •> pre-
vious note. _•
91 Henry de Waterhouses contribute^
to the subsidy of 1332 ; Excb. Lay Subs. •
32. John Moss of Waterhouses oc-
curs in 1616 ; Manch. Free Lib. D.
no. 77.
93 Richard Byron held in 1422 at a
rent of is. ; Rental. Some of the grants
to the Byrons have been recited above.
Richard de Byron died in 1397, hold-
ing ten messuages, 60 acres of land, and
20 acres of meadow in the Woodhouses
of the Duke of Lancaster ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Chet. Soc.), i, 65. Sir John Byron died
in 1489, holding what appears to be the
same estate, but the tenure was said to
be of Sir Thomas Ashton in socage by a
rent of izd. (agreeing with the Rental) or
of \d. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, 48,
70.
Woodhouses was by the Byrons sold in
1614 to Edward dough, and about ten
years later was sold to Samuel Jenkinson
alias Wilson ; Manch. Free Lib. D. nos.
75-84. For the Jenkinsons see the
account of Moston.
98 This was in 1422 held by William
Luzley (Lusley) at it. rent ; Rental.
Richard Hunt seems to have had another
part at -$d. rent ; ibid.
94 Their land in Ashton is named in
1292; Plac.de quo War r. (Rec. Com.),
375-
According to the 1 540 Rental of their
lands the widow of Richard Hunt paid
izd. for Limehurst, and the heirs of Sir
Thomas Ashton zd. for Foulash ; Kuer-
den MSS. v, fol. 84.
Richard Hunt died in 1587 holding a
capital messuage and lands in Middle-
brook of the queen as of the late priory of
St. John in socage by a rent of i zd. ; also
a messuage in Audenshaw of George
Kenyon in socage by a rent of 6s. 8</. ;
Duchy .of Lane. Inq. p.m. xiv, 41.
The latter part of the estate would no
doubt be part of the Kersal lands. See
also Ducatus Lane, i, 266.
The other part of the Hospitallers' lands
was acquired by the Hulmes of Manches-
ter and Reddish. William Hulme, father
of the benefactor, died in 1637 holding a
messuage and land in Ashton of William,
Earl of Derby, as of the late priory of St.
John, in socage by a rent of zd. ; Duchy
of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxix, 70.
95 Alban de Alt about 1 200 gave to the
cell of St. Leonard in Kersal a moiety of
Paldenlegh in pure alms ; Lanes. Pipe R.
330. After the Suppression this rendered
a free rent of 14*. 4*?., which was shared by
the grantees of Kersal ; see Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, },
234.
44
\
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The freeholders in 1600* were Miles Ashton c£
Heyrod,97 Robert Ashton of Shepley,98 RandleHujon
of Sunderland," and Richard Shalcross of Lime^^oo
A few other names can be gathered from ;the fines
and inquisitions.101 At Alt Hill in the i;8th century
seated the Pickfords, ancestors of 'the Radcliffes
were
of Royton.102
BOROUGHS
With the gro^th of the town on
the introduct^n of the cotton manu-
facture, the manorial government soon
became inadequate, and/m 1827 and 1828 Police Acts
were obtained for fhe regulation of 4SHTON.103
The market, whio\ had fallen into decay, was revived
in 1828, Saturday being the day chosen. A market
place was in 1829 presented to the town by the lord
of the maior ; a covered market was built on the site
in l%(-f, and was enlarged in i88i.104 This is now
op<a daily. The old fairs were replaced by others on
3 March, 29 April, 25 July, and 21 November.
'here was a local tradition that Ashton had been a
borough,104* and though the election of a mayor had
become obsolete a revival was made in 1 8 3 1 . In the
following year, under the Reform Act, Ashton — the
parliamentary borough consisting merely of the divi-
sion called Ashton town 10i — was privileged to return
a member of Parliament ; but a municipal charter
was not granted until 1 847, when the council was
constituted of a mayor, eight aldermen, and twenty-
four councillors. The borough was divided into four
wards — Market, St. Michael's, St. Peter's, and Port-
land Place.106 The town hall,107 built in 1 840, was
enlarged in 1878. Gas is supplied by a company
established in i825,107a water is under public control,108
and the corporation has established electricity works.
Baths were opened in 1870. The cemetery, formed
in 1866, is in Dukinfield in Cheshire. The town
has a commission of the peace and a police force ; it
has also its own fire brigade. Stamford Park at
Highfield, opened in 1873, is managed by the cor-
porations of Ashton and Stalybridge jointly. The
West-end Pleasure Grounds near St. Peter's Church
were opened in 1893. The Libraries Act was adopted
in 1880, and a library was opened in the town hall
a year later; in 1893-4 this was removed to the
new technical school, presented to the town by the
trustees of the late George Heginbottom. The arms
used by the corporation are those of the Ashton family
differenced by a crescent gules.109 The plate includes
98 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i,
247-8.
9' Miles died in 1612, holding the
capital messuage called the Heyrod, with
lands, &c., of Sir George Booth, in socage
by 6s. %d. rent. His heir was his grand-
son John Ashton (son of John) ; Lanes.
Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i,
239. Maurice Ashton had in 1571 made
a settlement of messuages in Heyrod,
Harley, &c. ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 33, ...."". (30. Miles Ashton (son of
Maurice, according to the pedigree) made
a similar settlement in 1583 ; ibid. bdle.
45, m. 115.
A pedigree was recorded in 1613 ;
Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 14. A later one of
1664 shows that the family had been
scattered ; Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 13.
Heyrod was ' afterwards in the possession
of John Duckenfield of Duckenfield, esq.
and was held by Sir Charles Duckenfield,
bart. in 1750. It is now [1849] t^ie
property of Ralph Ousey, esq.' ; Raines, in
Notitia Ceitr. ii, 5.
98 The Ashtona of Shepley recorded a
pedigree in 1664, tracing their descent
from a Geoffrey son of Thomas Ashton,
who married the heiress of Shepley ;
Dugdale, Vint. 1 6. Geoffrey Ashton and
Margery his wife in 1450 made a feoff-
ment of three messuages, 60 acres of
land, &c., in Ashton ; Final Cone, iii, 117.
Geoffrey Ashton in 1467 complained that
a bull of his had been seized by John,
Richard, William, and Thomas Shepley of
Withington ; Pal. of Lane. Writs Proton.
(6 Edw. IV, C) ; see also Writs of Assize
(bdle. 8), 6 Edw. IV.
The estate descended in the Ashton
family till 1713, when Samuel Assheton
sold it to John Shepley of Stockport,
grocer. In 1675 Robert Assheton of
Shepley, John his son, and Thomas his
grandson, mortgaged the Great Ridings,
part of the demesne lands near Shepley
bridge ; Manch. Free Lib. D. no. 104.
'It is now (1854) vested in Edward Lowe
Sidebotham, esq., as heir of the late Mr.
John Lowe, a successful calico printer,
its intermediate possessor ' ; Booker,
Denton (Chet. Soc.), 137. It has since
descended to Mr. Edward John Side-
botham, of Erlesdene, Bowdon, the present
owner.
99 John Hulton (or Hilton), of Sunder-
land, occurs frequently in the time of
James I ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 234 ; iii, 334.
100 The nature of the Shallcross or
Shawcross tenure has been stated above.
101 George Chadderton of Nuthurst had
lands in Ashton in 1552 ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 14, m. 121. Robert
Chadderton of Bradshaw in Alkrington
had a messuage and lands in Audenshaw
in 1639 ; Towneley MS. C 8, 13 (Chet.
Lib.), 248.
John Carrington had messuages, &c., in
Audenshaw in 1573 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet
of F. bdle. 35, m. 30.
The Reddishes of Reddish had lands in
Audenshaw, held of the heirs of Sir
Thomas Ashton in socage by a rent of
i8d. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, 48 ;
xi, 60. In 1613 the rent was stated to
be 2s. lod. ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 253.
Joseph Taylor died in 1610 holding
Hartshead of the lord of Manchester by
the rent of a rose ; his heir was his
daughter Mary, a few months old 5 ibid,
ii, 1 20.
Richard Hartley, who died in 1620,
held a messuage and lands in Ashton of
the lord of Manchester ; ibid, ii, 189.
See also Lanes, and Ches. Rec. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 242.
Ralph Sandiford died at Hull in 1620
holding several messuages with lands,&c.,
in Ashton, of the lord of Manchester in
socage by the rent of a rose and the frac-
tion of a penny ; John, his son and heir,
was twenty-two years of age ; Lanes. Inq.
p.m. ii, 194. For this family see further
in the account of Nuthurst in Moston.
Their estate was called the High Ashes ;
Dugdale, Visit. 253.
The landowners contributing to the
subsidy of 1622 were : — Robert Ashton,
John Ashton, Randle Hulton, Thomas
Newton, William Walker, John Sand-
ford, and Thomas Chetham ; Misc. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 155.
A large amount of information as to
the different estates in Ashton will be
346
found in the histories of Ashton by James
Butterworth (1823) and Edwin Butter-
worth (1841). It has been summarized
and to some extent continued in the later
editions of Baines's Lanes. (1868 and
1889).
103 See the account of Royton.
108 These Acts have been repealed ; a
new Improvement Act was obtained in
1849 (12 & 13 Viet. cap. 25) and others
more recently.
104 The old market was opened on
2 July 1830; the new fish, game, and
meat market on 24 Feb. 1882.
I04a jjo evidence of this has come
under notice.
us The area of the parliamentary bo-
rough was in 1867 extended to include
Hurst.
106 Charter dated 29 Sept. 1847. In
1898 the southern boundary of the bo-
rough was denned to be the thread of the
Tame, which has at different times been
diverted. The boundaries of the wards
were fixed by the charter ; a detached
part of Audenshaw was included in Port-
land Place ward.
In 1898 part of Dukinfield in Cheshire
was added to Ashton and became part of
the administrative county of Lancaster ;
Loc. Govt. Bd. Order, P. 1416.
107 The old town hall, or manor court-
house, was a brick building, two stories
high, situated on the south-west side of
the market cross. The Court of Requests,
founded 1808, was held on the ground
floor ; Jas. Butterworth, Ashton, 86.
io/a The first Lighting Acts, since re-
pealed, were 6 Geo. IV, cap. 67 ; 7-8
Geo. IV, cap. 77.
108 The supply was begun by a private
company formed in 1835 ; their works
were purchased by the corporation in
1855 (18 Viet. cap. 70) and have been
greatly enlarged. In 1870 the control
was vested in a joint board called the
Ashton-under-Lyne, Stalybridge, and Du-
kinfield Joint Committee ; 33 & 34 Viet
cap. 131. There are eight reservoirs
109 The crest is a griffin's head etased
gules, with ducal collars and beaks or, issu-
ing from a mural coronet argent ; the
motto — Labor omnia vincit.
ASHTON-UNDER-LVNE PARISH CHURCH : GLASS IN SoUTH-WEST WlNDOW OF SOUTH AlSLE
ASHTON-UNDER-LVNE PARISH CHURCH : GLASS IN MlUDLE WlNDOW OF SOUTH AlSLE
SALFORD HUNDRED
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE
the mace, mayor's chain and badge, and silver loving-
cup.110
ST4LTBRIDGE, chiefly in Cheshire, though tak-
ing its name from a former hamlet in Ashton, obtained
a Police Act in l83o,m and was incorporated in 1857.
The boundaries were extended in 1 88 1 to include
Millbrook in Stayley and Heyrod in Ashton. It has
a council composed of mayor, eight aldermen, and
twenty-four councillors. The whole was included in
Cheshire in 1898."*
MOSSLET,113 formed from the three counties of
Lancaster, York, and Chester, has since 1888 been
included in Lancashire for administrative purposes. A
local board was formed in 1 864,"* and a charter of in-
corporation was granted in 1885 ; the council consists
of mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors.
The church of ST. MICHAEL is at
CHURCH the present day of greater historical than
architectural interest. The site is ancient ;
the church stands at the east end of the town in
what was formerly a picturesque situation on rising
ground on the north side of the River Tame, and con-
sists of chancel with north vestry, nave with north and
south aisles, south porch, and west tower. The
present church is entirely modern, but is the direct
descendant of a building which appears to have been
erected at the beginning of the i ,th century (c. 1413),
and which was repaired and enlarged about a hundred
years later, in the lifetime of Sir Thomas Ashton
(died 1514), when a new tower was built. In Janu-
ary I 79 1 this tower was struck by lightning and great
damage was done, necessitating a general repair of the
structure in the following year. In 1817 the tower
was taken down and a new one erected (1818), and
soon after the whole of the north side of the church
was rebuilt as at present. Whilst the work was in
progress (March 1821) a fire occurred, doing much
damage to the original building, which was only par-
tially repaired, the south side continuing in a more or
less ruinous state till 1 840, when a general rebuilding
began, and in the course of a few years the whole
fabric underwent a complete restoration and recon-
struction, assuming its present aspect (1840—4). The
work is of a very elaborate description, with rich orna-
mentation in wood and plaster, and is a good speci-
men of the florid Gothic of the period. The east end
of the chancel was rebuilt in 1883, and three years
later the tower, which was in a dangerous state, was
pulled down and a new one built (1886— 8). The
new tower, the total height of which is I 39 ft. 6 in.,
is 1 9 ft. higher than the former one, and 3 ft. longer
from east to west.
The arcade is of seven bays with a clearstory,
and there are side galleries and one at the west
end containing the organ. A highly-placed arch
structurally separates the two eastern bays from the
others, but the ritual arrangement of the chancel is
confined to the parts of the church east of the seventh
bay, in the fashion of the time in which the building
was erected. The roof is flat and panelled and of oak,
richly decorated with the arms of those who have
identified themselves with the building or patronage
of the church, and the chancel arch bears the royal
arms.119
There is some very good ancient stained glass in
the three windows of the south aisle, and in the west
window of the north aisle, belonging to the latter
part of the I 5th century (c. 1460-70). It appears
to be only a small portion of the glass belonging
to the* older church,116 and was till 1872 in the east
window of the chancel, when it was removed to its
present position in the south aisle. The glass now in
the north aisle was at that time put up in the tower
window, and there remained till the tower was pulled
down in 1886. It remained packed up till 1890,
when it was re-erected in its present position. The
first window from the east on the south side
contains figures of Sir John Ashton (d. 1428) and
his three wives, Sir Thomas Ashton and his three
wives, and the four sons and seven daughters of Sir
John Ashton,117 in the lower part of the lights.
The subject of the windows is the life of St. Helena
and the legends connected with her history, and
though much mixed up in places, and with many
pieces missing, the story is tolerably clear, and a very
fine piece of 15th-century work, the colours being
particularly rich. The window at the end of the
north aisle has figures of Kings Henry VI and
Edward IV.118
In the vestry is an oak chest dated 1776, and in a
glass case near the pulpit is a black-letter Bible with
hook and chain. Near the north door is a mural
monument to the ' memory of John Postlethwaite
who sustained the highest orders of masonry without
becoming proud, and died 2 February 1818, aged 70
years, preserved from indigence by the bounty of his
friends.'
All the fittings are modern.
The arrangement of the forms in the church in
1422 has been preserved.119 On the north side of
the church seven forms at the upper end of the
church were appropriated, and six at the lower end ;
on the south side only six forms were allotted, the
remainder being for strangers and others.
There is a ring of twelve bells,120 six belonging to
the year 1779, one to 1790, and three to 1818.
The other two were added after the completion of
the new tower in i888.121
110 These particulars have been taken
principally from the corporation's Manual
and the Lanes. Directory.
111 Stat. 9 Geo. IV, cap. 26.
112 Loc. Govt. Bd. Order, P. 1416.
The town hall is in Lancashire.
118 Mossley was thus described by Dr.
Aikin in 1795 : 'A considerable village,
with upwards of 100 houses, many of
them large and well built, chiefly of stone.
It is about three miles from Ashton, in
the high road to Huddersfield, with a
large chapel in the gift of or under the
rector of Ashton' ; Country round Man-
chester, 231.
Two fairs were established in 1824, on
21 June and the last Monday in October ;
Baines, Lanes. Directory, ii, 667.
The Mechanics' Institute was built in
1858, and the town hall in 1862.
114 Land. Gaz. 26 Feb. 1864.
115 Glynne visited the church in 1858,
and describes the interior as ' expensively
fitted up,' but 'heavy, though not with-
out grandeur.' Notes on the Churches of
Lanes. Dodsworth records that in his
time there was on the tower the name
Alexander Hyll, with a butcher's cleaver
and the five of spades. The story was that
Hill, playing cards, swore that if the five
of spades was turned up he would build a
foot of the steeple, and it did so ; J. E.
Bailey, quoting Dods. MSS. civ, fol. 116.
347
118 See J. Paul Rylands, ' Lanes. Church
Notes and Trickings of Arms,' Trans. Hist.
Soc. xlii.
"7 Ibid.
118 There is a detailed description of
the windows, with photographs, by the
Rev. G. A. Pugh, M.A., rector, in the
Trans. Antiq. Soc. xx, 'The old glass
windows of Ashton-under-Lyne Parish
Church.'
119 See Ashton Customs R. (Chet. Soc.),
112-15.
lao The only other churches in Lanca-
shire possessing twelve bells are St. Nicho-
las, Liverpool, and St. Mary, Oldham.
131 Brief Hist. Sketch of Ashton-under-
Lyne Parish Ch. (1888), loc. cit.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The plate consists of two patens of 1735, insrribed
'The gift of Emmanuel Smith, late of Taunton,
gentleman, to the Parish Church of Ashtor, July 251)1
1735;' two embossed chalices of 1753, inscribed
with the names of the churchwardens and the date
6 October 1753, and bearing the marks of William
Shaw and William Priest; a large paten of 1755,
'The gift of Edmund Harrop, yeoman, late of this
Town Deceas'd to the Church of Ashton under Line
1755,' with the same makers' marks; two large
flagons of 1764, one inscribed 'Mrs. Tabitha Smith
daughter of Emanuel Smith, gent, formerly of
Taunton, in the Parish of Ashton underline, gave
£zo towards this Flaggon AD. 1 764 ' ; and a modern
chalice, paten and flagon presented by Emma Hulme,
June 1893.
The registers of baptisms and marriages begin in
1594 and those of burials in 1596, with blanks as
follows: baptisms from 1641 to 7 December 1655
inclusive ; marriages from 1641 to November 1653,
and from April 1661 to 1668 ; burials from 1641 to
3 October 1653.
The accounts of the churchwardens begin with
those for 1639 (^e ^rst leaves are torn out)> an^ con~
tinue uninterruptedly till the end of 1657, when a
The following is a list of rectors : —
Instituted
c. 1262 . . .
oc. 1282 . . .
oc. 1292 . . .
1 6 Mar. 1305-6
4 April 1308
26 June 1322 .
1 2 June 1331 .
Name
Clement134 .......
William de Gringley 1S* . . .
William136 .......
Nicholas de Ardern w . . .
Adam de Leighton de Ardern1*8
Simon de Cranesley139 . . .
Ralph de Benningholme 14° . .
break of twenty-six years occurs, the next accounts
being those presented I April 1684."*
The church of St. Michael is
ADVOWSON in Domesday Book recorded to
have shared with the parish church
of Manchester an ancient endowment of one plough-
land.183 On the formation of the manor of Ashton
the advowson of the church was reserved, and was
granted with that of Manchester to the Grelleys.124
As late as 1304, however, the rector of Manchester
claimed to present on the ground that Ashton was
merely a chapelry belonging to his church.125 A
century later the reversion of the patronage was
transferred by Thomas La Warre to Sir John Ashton
and his heirs,1*6 and the advowson has since that
time descended with the manor of Ashton.117 The
trustees of the late Earl of Stamford are now the
patrons. The value of the benefice was reckoned as
20 marks or £20 in 1282,"* but the Taxation of
1291 did not allow it to exceed £io,lK and fifty
years later the ninth of sheaves, wool, &c., was only
£5 15*. 6</.130 In 1535 the value was recorded as
£26 13*. 4</.,lsl and by 1650 it had risen to
£113 6j. 8</.1If At present the rector's income is
recorded as £730."*
Patron
Thomas Grelley
Cause of Vacancy
Thomas Grelley
» »
John La Warre
d. Adam de Ardern
exch. S. de Cranesley
122 Brief Hist. Sketch of Ashton^under-
Lyne Parish Ch, (iS88), loc. cit.
128 y.C.H. Lanes, i, 287. It does not
appear that the rector of Ashton has ever
had any share of the revenue derived from
Newton.
124 In 1277 Robert Grelley, as grandson
and heir of Thomas Grelley, lord of Man-
chester, claimed the advowson against
Peter Grelley, his uncle, who claimed
by a grant from Thomas. It was proved
that although Peter had actually presented
to the church, he did so in the lifetime and
in the name of Thomas Grelley, who
died in 1262, and his claim was therefore
rejected ; De Banco R. 20, m. 25 d.; 23,
m. 2d.
At the same time the manor of Ashton
was in dispute between John de Kirkby
and Thomas de Ashton, but the advowson
of the church was expressly excluded.
IK Thomas son of Robert Grelley was
the plaintiff and Otho de Grandison de-
fendant in the suit ; De Banco R. 149,
m. 50 ; 151, m. 71. The advowson of
Ashton was included in settlements made
by the Warres of Manchester ; see Final
Cone, ii, 4, 157.
126 In 1403 Thomas La Warre, then
rector as well as lord of Manchester, in
conjunction with his trustees settled a
rood of land in the Smith's Field in Man-
chester, abutting on the Irk, together with
the advowson of the church of Ashton,
on the said Thomas for life, with reversion
to Sir John Ashton and his heirs; Manch.
Corporation D. See also Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Chet. Soc.), ii, 1 8.
1*7 From the account of the manor it
will be found that after the death of Sir
Thomas Ashton in 1514 the three co-
heirs agreed to present in turn — Booth,
Ashton, and Hoghton. The feoffees appear
to have presented Molyneux and Thom-
son ; then Sir Richard Hoghton sold the
next presentation to Sir Thomas Stanley;
William Booth being a minor the Crown
presented on the next vacancy, and then
Elizabeth Ashton having died, Thomas
Hoghton presented in 1564. George
Booth in 1590 sold his coming turn to
George Parker, whose widow and executors
in 1605 complained that their right was
questioned ; they appear, however, to have
established it. See the full statement in
Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 296, m. 6, 7.
128 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 249, 250.
129 Pope Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 249.
In the Manchester Survey of 1320-2
the value is recorded as 30 or 40 marks ;
Mamectitre (Chet. Soc.), ii, 274, 376.
180 Inq. Nonarum (Rec. Com.), 39.
Ml Valor Ecel. (Rec. Com.), v, 227.
ua Common-wealth Cb. Sur. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 21. The £13 6s. %d.
came from the parsonage house, with some
other tenements, and about 20 acres of
land ; the ,£100 from rents, profits, and
tithes. The tithes included a prescriptive
payment of £13 js. gd. from part of the
parish, on which the surveyors report
thus : ' The tithe corn of such lands which
pay the said prescriptive money, if they
were paid in kind are worth nought, but
they pay £i 5 per annum as we conceive.'
A terrier dated 1 722 is printed in James
Butterworth's Asbton, 167-70.
188 Manch. Diocesan Col. It was for-
merly worth very much more.
184 De Banco R. 20, m. 25 d. Clement's
death was the occasion of the dispute as to
the presentation in 1277.
185 He was plaintiff in a suit aga-'ast
John de Byron 5 De Banco R. 45,
m. 6.
1S6 William rector of Ashton in 1292
claimed a tenement in Ashton against John
de Byron; Assize R. 408, m. 72, 58.
Mr. Croston identified him with William
de Marchia, afterwards Bishop of Bath and
Wells, citing the plea above quoted respect-
ing the advowson (De Banco R. 151, m.
71) ; but that merely states that William
de Marchia while rector of Manchester
' usurped ' the church of Ashton during
the minority of Thomas Grelley (i.e.
some time before 1 300), and that his suc-
cessor Walter de Langton also had it as a
chapel to Manchester. It is possible that
William de Gringley continued in charge
all the time, though these rectors re-
garded him as their chaplain or curate and
took the tithes.
W Lich. Epis. Reg. i, fol. lob ; the
new rector was a clerk. It is clear from
the patron's name that he had succeeded
in establishing his right as against the
rector of Manchester.
138 Ibid, i, fol. 28* ; a priest. The
surname is also given as Arden.
139 Ibid, ii, fol. 98 ; an acolyte. This
rector is named in the survey of 1322 ;
Mameccstre, ii, 376.
140 Lich. Epis. Reg. ii, fol. 107 ; the
new rector exchanged his benefice of
Great Oxenden for Ashton.
348
ASHTON-UNDER-LVNB PARISH CHURCH : GLASS IN SoUTH-EAST WlNDOW OK SoUTH AlSLE
SALFORD HUNDRED
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE
Instituted
? July 1332
1 8 Jan. 1351-2
oc. 1356 . .
12 May 1362
13 Oct. 1372
i Nov. 1373
1 8 May 1374
c. 1400 .
22 NOV. 1424
12 June 1425
1 6 Nov. 1458
31 May 1486
2 Oct. 1535
1 1 Aug. 1554 .
12 June 1557
29 Jan. 1563-4 .
1605 . .
15 Mar. 1618-19
c. 1646 . . .
Name
Gregory de Newton m . . .
Thomas de Rodeston 14J .
Thomas de Wyk 143 ....
Thomas son of Thomas de Wyk 144
Thomas La Warre Ui . . . .
JohndeMarchford146 ....
Henry de Nettleworth 1J7 . . .
John Huntingdon 148
James Skellington 149 .
John Huntingdon 14° . . . .
Lawrence Ashton 151
Gervase Ashton 1H
Edward Molyneux li3 . . . .
William Thomson 1M . . . .
William Rogerson 1M . . . .
Hugh Griffith, D. Deer.156 . .
Robert Braboner 1M ....
Robert Parker, M.A. 1M . . .
Henry Fairfax, D.D. Ii9 . . . .
John Harrison, B.A. 16° . . . ,
Patron
Joan La Warre
Roger La Warre
Lewis de Clifford
John La Warre
T. La Warre . .
» »
Sir Thomas Ashton
Thomas Ashton
A. Radcliffe, &c.
Sir T. Stanley .
King and Queen
T. Hoghton .
Exors. G. Parker
Sir T. Fairfax .
Parliament .
Cause of Vacancy
exch. R. de Benning-
holme
d. Gregory de Newton
d. T. de Wyk
res. T. La Warre
exch. J. de Marchford
res. J. Huntingdon
res. J. Skellington
d. J. Huntingdon
d. L. Ashton
d G. Ashton
d. E. Molyneux
d. W. Thomson
d. last incumbent
d. H. Griffith
d. R. Braboner
d. R. Parker
141 Ibid, ii, fol. 1 08 ; the new rector
had been vicar of Blyth in the diocese of
York, and there had been an interchange
of letters between the archbishop and the
Bishop of Lichfield as to the purity of
motive for this exchange.
142 Ibid, ii, fol. 129; a chaplain. In
the previous October leave had been
granted to him to attend the obsequies
(insisterc olsequiis) of Sir Thomas de
Holland for two years ; ibid.
148 Ibid, ii, fol. 1 5 ; leave of absence
for two years. Ibid, v, fol. 36 ; licence
to him to attend the obsequies of Sir
Roger La Warre for two years from Dec.
1360. He was rector of Manchester
also.
144 Ibid. iv. fol. 80 ; the benefice had
been vacant since 16 March. To Thomas
de Wyk the younger leave of absence was
granted as follows : 1363 — two years to
attend the ttudium generate ; ibid, v, fol. 8.
1365 — two years 'in a fit and reputable
place'; ibid, v, fol. 96. 1366 — one year;
ibid, v, fol. 153. 1370-1 — two years;
ibid, v, fol. 24/>. (At the same time the
other Thomas de Wyk, rector of Man-
chester, obtained leave of absence also.)
It will be seen that this rector was little
resident.
146 Ibid, iv, fol. 86; in the first tonsure.
The rectory had become vacant on 14 July
at ' Skrerkynton,' dioc. Lincoln. For
Thomas La Warre see the account of
Manchester Church.
146 Ibid, iv, fol. 866.
147 Ibid, iv, fol. 87 ; the new rector had
been rector of Wakerley, dioc. Line. In
1379 he had a year's leave of absence ;
ibid, v, fol. 326,' also three years' leave in
1384 ; ibid, v, fol. 366.
'William rector of Ashton' occurs in
like manner in 1389-90, but he may have
been rector of Ashton-on-Mersey ; ibid,
vi, fol. 125^.
148 He is said to have begun the re-
building of Ashton Church in 1413. For
his life see Raines, Wardens of Manch.
{Chet. Soc.), 16-23, aru^ tne account of
Manchester Church, of which he was
•warden from 1422 to 1458, when he died.
In 1420 John Huntingdon, B. Can. Law,
rector of Ashton, obtained the papal
•dispensation to hold another benefice ;
Cal. Papal Letters, vii, 143.
149 Baines, Lanes, (ed. Croston), ii, 317,
from the Lichfield registers. Mr. Ear-
waker's note gives the name as ' Ikelyng-
ton.'
140 Croston and Earwaker, from Lich-
field registers.
161 Lich. Epis. Reg. xi, fol. 43* ,• a
chaplain. According to an inscription
formerly in the windows this rector con-
tinued the building of the church.
168 Ibid, xii, fol. 120*; a clerk. He
also took part in the erection of the church,
which was completed by Sir Thomas
Ashton. Rector Gervase was living in
1513 ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv,
80.
1M Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), T, 227.
He was rector of Sefton also. For the
presentations during this century see the
case cited above in Pal. of Lane. Plea R.
296, m. 6, 7.
164 Lich. Epis. Reg. xiii-xiv, fol. 34^ ;
a clerk. The patrons were Sir Alexander
Radcliffe, Sir Richard Ashton, and Thurs-
tan Tyldesley, by consent of Elizabeth
Ashton, widow, one of the heirs of Sir
Thomas Ashton deceased. For a tithe
dispute see Ducatui Lane. (Rec. Com.),
i, 167.
The will of the rector, dated 2 Sep-
tember, 1553, is printed in Piccope's
Will* (Chet. Soc.), i, 90-3 ; he left 401.
to Peter Bower his schoolmaster at
Standish.
165 Church P. at Chester. The patron
was son of the Earl of Derby and pre-
sented for that turn by grant of Sir
Richard Hoghton, the patron. William
Rogerson paid his first-fruits on 30 August
1554 ; Lanes, and Ches. Recs. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 409 (from which
place the other notices of the first-fruits
have been taken).
ls« Church P. at Chester. This Hugh
Griffith appears to have been outlawed in
1563 ; Ducatus Lane, ii, 265, 300.
He was probably the Hugh Gryffyn,
priest, who graduated at Cambridge in
1534-5 as B. Can. L. ; Grace Bk. r
(Camb.), 294.
1S? Mr. Earwaker's note. The first-
fruits were paid 4 Feb. 1563-4. Braboner
was ordained subdeacon in Sept. 1557;
Ordin. Bk. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
96. He was 'no preacher' in 1590 (S.P.
Dom. Eliz. xxxi, 47), and in 1604 was
reported to be ' unable to read ' — perhaps
349
from physical infirmity ; Visit. P. at
Chester. He was buried at Ashton, 25
Feb. 1604-5. To John Moores, his
curate, he left his best book and a mourn-
ing cloak. See also Ducatus Lane, iii,
107.
168 Of Lincoln College, Oxford, M.A.,
1596; Foster, Alumni. He was 'a
preacher* ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv,
App. iv, 1 2. The inventory of the goods
of Robert Parker, amounting to about
£80, is dated 24 Feb. 1618-19 ; and
administration was granted to his widow
Dorothy in July following. At the same
vacancy one Alexander Chaderton was
presented by Margaret Hulme, in virtue
of a grant by Dame Elizabeth Booth, but
was opposed by Elizabeth Parker and
others ; Act Bks. at Chester.
169 From this time the dates of institu-
tion have been compared with those in
the Institution Books P.R.O., printed in
Lanes, and Cbes. Antiq. Notes. Fairfax
paid first-fruits 1 1 May 1619. He con-
tributed to the clergy loan of 1 620 ;
Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 54.
At the visitation of 1622 it was reported
that Mr. Fairfax administered the com-
munion to those who did not kneel. His
curate did likewise, and sometimes omitted
the cross in baptism ; Visit. P. at
Chester. He is usually said to have been ,
expelled as a Royalist about 1643, and
dying 6 April 1665, was buried at Bolton
Percy.
He was a younger son of Sir Thomas
Lord Fairfax, and was fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge ; inherited Oglethorpe,
near Tadcaster, where he died. He is said
to have been beneficed in Yorkshire in the
Commonwealth period, holding Bolton
Percy from 1646 to 1660, which throws
doubt on the story of his expulsion from
Ashton ; moreover, he did not reclaim the
rectory in 1660, and is not mentioned in
the Royalist Composition papers. His
eldest son Henry, born at Ashton, became
the fourth Lord Fairfax ; a younger son,
Brian, was an author. There are notices
of Rector Fairfax and his son Brian in
Diet. Nat. Biog.
160 His possession was in tome degree
irregular. In 1650 he was described
as 'an orthodox, painful, able minister,'
who had been put in by the Parliament,
Chough Sir George Booth had formerly
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Instituted
25 Sept. 1662
14 Jan. 1662-3
3 May 1700
3 Mar. 1726-7
9 Sept. 1758
I Dec. 1797
5 Apr. 1799
7 May 1810
1 6 May 1816
— May 1829
31 Dec. 1870
13 Feb. 1893
1909
Name
Patron
Lord Delamere
Earl of Warrington
[Thomas Ellison, M.A. 161 .
John Simon de la Heuze .
John Penny, M.A. 16f „ „
Sir George Booth 16S T. Hunt
Oswald Leycester, M.A. 164 . . . Earl of Stamford and'War-
rington
Hon. Anchitel Grey, M.A. 16S . . „ „
John Hutchinson, B.A.
I George Chetwode, M.A. 167 .
Thomas (Thompson) Eager, M.A. 1M „ „ . .
George Augustus Pugh, M.A. 169 . The Stamford Trustees
Frederick Robert Chapman Hulton, M.A. „ „
Cause of Vacancy
ejec. J. Harrison
d. T. Ellison
d. J. S. de la Heuze
d. J. Penny
d. Sir G. Booth
res. O. Leycester
res. A. Grey
res. J. Hutchinson
d. G. Chetwode
d. T. Eager
d. O. A. Pugh
The rectors do not call for special notice. There
does not seem to have been any chantry or chapel of
ease in the parish before the Reformation, but the list
of ' ornaments ' existing in 1552 names three altars as
fully equipped.170 In 1 542 the rector had two assis-
tant clergymen, one paid by himself and the other by
Sir Richard Ash ton.171 In 1554 there was one curate,
who remained till 1565, though 'decrepit' in 1563 ;171
and a new curate occurs in the Visitation list of 1565.
In 1559 it was presented that the rector did 'no
service in the church,' nor did he distribute to the
poor as former parsons had done.173 There was prob-
ably no curate as a rule, unless when the rector was
non-resident,174 and the recommendation of the sur-
veyors of 1650 that a new parish should be formed in
the northern half of Ashton was not carried out.175
There was a school, but of no settled foundation,
in 17 I7-178
In consequence of the growth of population a large
number of places of worship have been erected in
the parish-township since the middle of the i8th
century. The following belong to the Established
Church : — St. John the Baptist's, Hey, 1 742 ; w
St. George's, Mossley, 1757, rebuilt 1882 ; 178
St. George's, Stalybridge, 1776 ; 179 St. Peter's, Ash-
ton, 1824 ; 18° the second or new St. George's, Staly-
bridge, i84o;181 Holy Trinity, Bardsley, i844;18»
St. Stephen's, Audenshaw, 1846 ; 18S Christ Church,
Ashton, 1 848 ; 184 St. John the Evangelist's, Hurst,
1849, 185 enlarged 1862 ; St. James's, Ashton, 1865 ;186
and Holy Trinity, Ashton, i878.187 In addition
there are a number of mission churches and rooms,
presented to the benefice ; Common-wealth
Ch. Sur-v. 21. He was a member of the
Manchester classis from its formation in
164.6. He signed the ' Harmonious Con-
sent' of 1648 as 'pastor' of Ashton. On
the other hand he paid his firstfruits on
2 April 1653, and exhibited a presentation
to the rectory, made by Sir George Booth,
as late as October 1655 ; Plund. Mins.
Accti. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 95.
He was a Royalist, and joined in the
abortive rising of 1659. He was ejected
for Nonconformity in 1662, and died in
1669. There is an account of him in
Diet. Nat. Biog.
161 Thomas Ellison (Wadham Coll.,
Oxford, B.A. 1665 ; Pemb. Coll., Camb.,
M.A. 1668) was proposed for Presby-
terian ordination in 1660 ; Munch.
Classis (Chet. Soc.), iii, 347. His nomi-
nation to Ashton was intended to be
favourable to the expelled rector ; Neiv-
come's Diary (Chet. Soc.), 184. He
appears to have been buried in Dukinfield
Nonconformist chapel, the register giving
the date as 26 Feb. 1699-1700.
i"2 Of Christ Church, Oxford ; M.A.
1707 ; Foster, Alumni.
i«8 The patron was the devisee under
the will of George Earl of Warrington, a
cousin of the new rector. The rector
was created a baronet in 1790.
164 King's College, Cambridge, M.A.
1777, rector of Stoke-upon-Terne 1806.
For pedigree see Ormerod, Cbes. (ed.
Helsby), i, 507.
166 Third son of the patron. He was
educated at Trinity College, Cambridge,
M.A. 1797 ; and became prebendary of
Durham in 1809, and rector of Thornton
in Craven in 1812.
1M He was a ' warming pan,' and on
resigning the rectory became curate to his
successor. He was afterwards first in-
cumbent of the new church of St. Peter,
1824.
167 M.A., Brasenose College, Oxford.
He was nephew of the patron, and per-
petual curate of Chilton, Bucks, from
1829, a second institution to Ashton being
necessary. He scarcely ever visited Ashton,
though drawing a large income from it.
16« M.A., T.C.D., 1840. He was a
native of county Derry and had been in-
cumbent of Audenshaw ; honorary canon
of Manchester, 1884.
"9 Of Jesus College, Oxford, M.A.
1876. Vicar of Swindon, Staffs., 1882.
tf<> Ch. Goods (Chet. Soc.), 16. The
church seems to have been well furnished;
among other things there were ' a pair
of organs,' a banner of green silk, and
a holy-water stock of brass. There were
then four churchwardens, and this con-
tinued to be the rule ; one was chosen by
the lord of the manor, another by the
rector, and the others by the parishioners ;
Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 5.
!<! Clergy List of 1541-2 (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 1 3.
i/2 Visitation lists in Chester Diocesan
registry.
I?8 Ch. Goods, 17, quoting S.P. Dom.
Eliz. x, 293.
174 A ' lecturer,' Mr. Peabody, occurs
in 1622 ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 66.
!~5 Commoniv. Ch. Sur-v. 22. The
proposed bounds were thus described : To
begin at the division where Lancashire,
Yorkshire, and Cheshire meet in Mossley
hamlet ; following the brook between
Lancashire and Yorkshire as far as the
beginning of Oldham at Watergate Mill,
then along the boundary between Oldham
and Ashton to the Park, thence to Alt
350
Hill, to Lily Lanes, to Knot Hill, to
' Otts ' upon Luzley, down to Barnard
Wild* to the water, including Mossley,
and thence back to the start.
i?6 Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 5.
W7 Patron, the rector of Ashton. It
was consecrated in 1 744 ; Church P.
at Chester. A district was assigned to
it in 1860 ; Land. Gam. 30 Oct. For it*
history see Oldbam Notes and Glean, i,
7»~3-
178 Patron, the rector of Ashton. A
district was assigned in 1865 ; Land. Gay.
19 May.
179 Patrons, the trustees of the will of
the Earl of Stamford. A district was
assigned in 1864 5 Land. Gats. 12 Apr.
iso Patron, the rector of Ashton. It
was built from a Parliamentary grant of
about ^"14,000. A district was assigned
in 1840 ; Land. Gax. 17 Apr. For
church bells see A', and Q. (Ser. 4), ix,
115.
181 Patron, the rector of Ashton. A
district was assigned in 1847 ; Land. Gav.
3° Jul7-
182 Patrons, Hulme's trustees.
183 Patrons, the Crown and the Bishop
of Manchester alternately. A district
had been assigned to it in 1844 ; Land.
Gaz. 3 June.
184 Patrons, the Crown and the Bishop
of Manchester alternately. A district
was assigned in 1846 ; Land. Gaz.
6 Mar.
18* Patrons and district as in the last
case.
186 Patrons, five trustees. A district
was assigned in 1866 ; Land. Gaz.
12 June.
187 Patrons, five trustees. A district
was assigned in 1879 ; Land. Gaz.
14 Feb.
ijgjj !
ASHTON-UNDER-L,YNE PARISH CHURCH I GLASS IN WEST WlNDOW OF NORTH AlSLE
SALFORD HUNDRED
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNK
including St. James's and St. Matthew's at Leesfield,
and St. Augustine's at Mossley.
The Wesleyan Methodists had a chapel in Ashton
in 1782 ;188 now they have churches in Ashton,
Mossley, Woodhouses, and Audenshaw. The New
Connexion had a chapel as early as 1798 ; they have
now four churches in Ashton,189 and others in Hurst,
Lees, Mossley, and Audenshaw. The Primitive
Methodists are represented in Ashton, Hurst, Lees,
Bardsley, and Mossley.190 The Independent Metho-
dists have a church in Ashton.191
There is a Strict Baptist chapel in Ashton ; also a
Baptist church.192
The Nonconformists of 1662 and later were able
to worship at Denton and Dukinfield ; the latter
congregation is now Unitarian. In 1816 the Con-
gregationalists took the old Methodist chapel in
Harrop's Yard, it being difficult for Nonconformists
to obtain land from the Earl of Stamford ; and they
built and opened a new chapel in 1817. This first
Albion Chapel was followed by a second in 1835 ;
and has now been replaced by a third, on another
site, opened in iSg^..193 There are now three Con-
gregational churches in Ashton itself, and another in
Mossley.1938
Albion school, connected with the first-named, had
a unique position in the town.
The Christian Brethren have meeting-places at
Lees and Mossley. The following also have churches
or meeting- rooms : — Unitarians (1897), Catholic
Apostolic, Church of Christ, Salvation Army, Welsh
Calvinistic Methodists, and Swedenborgians.
Mass was said in 1823 in a room near the market
cross, but ceased on Dukinfield chapel being opened in
i825.194 Of the present Roman Catholic churches,
St. Ann's, the oldest, was opened in 1852, and replaced
by a new church in 1859;"* St. Mary's, 1870;
St. Edward's, Lees, 1874-7 — at first served from St.
Mary's, Oldham ; and St. Joseph's, Mossley, 1863.
The adherents of Joanna Southcote were numerous
from about 1820 to 1885; they built a place of
worship in 1825, and at one time had four temples.
The Mormons also had a meeting-place.
Official inquiries as to the charities
CHARITIES of the parish were made in 1826
and i899.196 For distribution to
the poor there is available .£278 annually, mostly
of recent origin, the principal benefactors being
John Kenworthy,197 Benjamin Mellor Kenworthy,198
Edward Brown,199 and George Heginbottom.100 The
188 John Wesley preached there on
4 April 1782 5 Wesley's Workt (ed. 1829),
iv, 224.
189 The first chapel was in Harrop's
Yard ; a view is given in Nightingale's
Lanes. Nonconf. v, 298. A removal was
made to that in Stamford Street in 1799 ;
Butterworth, op. cit. One chapel at
Mossley was built in 1823 and rebuilt in
1835; and a second in 1824; Edwin
Butterworth, Ashton, 135. A chapel in
Stalybridge, opened in 1802, was removed
to Dukinfield in 1832 ; ibid. 150.
l*> 'The Primitive Methodists, com-
monly called Ranters, have a place for
religious worship in Church Street ' ;
Jas. Butterworth, Asbton (1822), 83.
Ml The Independent Methodists occur
as early as 1818 ; a chapel at Charles-
town was built in 1838, under the fol-
lowing circumstances : — ' " The Stephens-
ites " originated in the secession of the
Rev. J. R. Stephens from the Wesleyan
Methodists. The admirers of this singu-
larly distinguished personage erected in
1837 a large but plain building for wor-
ship in Charleston, which is calculated to
accommodate 1,100 persons ' ; Edwin
Butterworth, Ashton, 68. They had also a
chapel at Mossley and another at Ras-
bottom, Stalybridge, called Mount Zion.
193 It originated about 1836 ; E. But-
terworth, op. cit. 68. There was formerly
another at Mossley ; ibid. 136. The
General Baptists had a chapel in Ras-
bottom in 1819, removed to Cross Street,
Stalybridge, in 1828 ; ibid. 151.
On the early troubles of the Baptist
congregation at Stalybridge, which divided
into Arminian and Calvinistic, see A.
Taylor, Engl. General Baptists, 394.
198 Nightingale, op. cit. v, 299-303.
ima Ryecroft was founded in 1848, the
chapel being built in 1853 ; from this
the school-chapel at Hooley Hill has
sprung ; ibid, v, 306-8. Work at Moss-
ley originated in 1838, but Abney Church
there was not built till 1854-5 : ibid, v,
3"-
194 Edwin Butterworth, op. cit 67 ;
the room was the old Methodist chapel
in Harrop's Yard.
19« 'In 1868 (Aug.), the "poor chapel"
of the place was nearly destroyed by an
anti-Catholic mob incited by one Murphy,
a notorious Protestant lecturer. The
large crucifix was injured by pistol shots,
and windows and pews broken. The
priest, Fr. J. Beesly, endeavoured to ob-
tain compensation, but after a trial of the
case before the Salford Hundred Court,
was non-suited on the ground that " the
mob did not intend entirely to demolish " ' ;
Kelly, Engl. Cath. Missions, 58.
i»6 The report of the 1899 inquiry was
printed in 1901 ; it contains a reprint of
the previous one.
197 By his will of 1861, proved in 1869,
he left two sums of £2,000 each, the
interest to be distributed yearly among
thirty-six poor men and thirty-six poor
women, all over sixty years old, men em-
ployed in and about the collieries in
Ashton and Dukinfield to have prefer-
ence. The income of each bequest, in-
vested in the name of the official trustees,
amounts to £59 js. $d. The mayor and
churchwardens of Ashton distribute the
money.
198 In 1892 he bequeathed £2,000 for
warm underclothing for the aged poor,
cleanliness being insisted on. The capital
is invested in mortgages, and produces an
income of £82 101., distributed by the
trustees.
199 He gave a sum of £1,000, now
held by the official trustees, to provide a
weekly distribution of sixpenny loaves at
the parish church. The churchwardens
distribute the income, £32 10*., as
directed, but there is a difficulty in pro-
curing suitable recipients — poor aged per-
sons attending the church.
300 By his will of 1877 he bequeathed
five sums of £100 each, now producing
£2 \js. 4</. a year, for clothing for poor
persons in the five parishes of Holy
Trinity, St. Peter's, Christ Church, and
St. James's, Ashton, and St. Stephen's,
Audenshaw, the vicar and churchwardens
of each being responsible for the distribu-
tion. No distinction is made on account
of religious opinions.
351
The other benefactions for the poor
are as follows : — ,
Dame Elizabeth Booth in 1620 gave
£2 ioj. a year for penny loaves to be
given to twelve aged poor people afj^ir
morning prayer every Sabbath day. The
bread is still given by the rector and
churchwardens of the parish church.
Priscilla Pickford in 1720 gave 20*.
yearly for a Christmas gift to the poor.
The benefaction is charged on lands at
Greenacres Moor, Oldham, and is distri-
buted to twenty poor persons by the
churchwardens. Religious denomination
is not regarded.
Miles Hilton in 1 740 bequeathed £130
for gowns for the poor. The money,
with an additional £30 from other
sources, is invested in mortgages, and
produces £7 izs. for this charity. Cloth
gowns are given to ten women who attend
the parish church, the rector and church-
wardens selecting the recipients.
Mrs. Heywood bequeathed £15 to the
poor ; this is invested with the last
charity, and the interest, 151., is distri-
buted in sixpences among thirty old
women who have attended the church
service on Christmas Day.
James Walker in 1749 left £250 for
the provision of cloth coats for twelve or
more poor old men of the parish, regard
being had to attendance at church and
the Lord's Supper. The capital is now
in the hands of the official trustees, and
the income, £7 js. %d., is distributed in
coats at Christmas to seven or eight poor
men.
Ellen wife of the Rev. Thomas Baker
Dixon in 1872 bequeathed £100 to poor
communicants of St. James's, Ashton ;
the income to be distributed in flannel by
the incumbent. The capital is in the
hands of the official trustees, and the
income, £2 17*. 4<f., is distributed at
directed.
John McQuinn of Lees in 1881 left
£200 for the poor of Leesfield. The net
income is £5 i6s., and is paid by the
churchwarden to the church poor fund.
Alexander James Bulkeley, vicar of
Audenshaw, in 1898 bequeathed
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Infirmary has an endowment of £1,325 a year, gave £193 a year to the park.105 There are two
to which is added £414, the gift of Samuel Old- small church endowments.*04 For the new town-
ham.'01 The educational endowments amount to ship of Mossley an inquiry was held in the year
£$57™ and the above-named Samuel Oldham 1899.*°*
ECCLES
BARTON
WORSLEY
PENDLETON
PENDLEBURY
CLIFTON
The ancient parish of Eccles measures about 7
miles across, from the Irwell south-west to the Glaze-
brook, and has an area of 22,004 acres. The position
of the church, from which the parish takes its name,
was fairly central for the portion of the district
habitable in former times, while the great area of moss
land in the west was still unreclaimed, being close to
the boundary between Pendleton, Pendlebury, and
Clifton on the east, and the large areas of Worsley
and Barton on the west. The general slope of the
surface is from north to south, the highest land, about
300 ft. above sea level, being in the stretch of higher
ground between Worsley and Kearsley.
The parish was anciently divided into three ' quar-
ters' — Barton, Worsley, and Pendleton, assessed for
the county lay of 1624 at £3 iqs. 8^., £2 181. 3^.,
and £3 5/. 4f</. respectively, when the hundred paid
j^ioo.1 For the 'fifteenth' the townships paid as
follows: — Barton, including Farnworth, £i izs. ;
Worsley, £i is. ; Pendleton, 13*. 6d. ; Pendlebury,
5/. ; Clifton, js.y or £3 l8j. 6d. out of £41 i^s. ^d.
for the hundred.1
Though the parish is of great extent, and lies near
Manchester and Bolton, its particular history has been
uneventful. There was a skirmish at Woolden in the
Civil War, and in 1745 the Young Pretender's army
passed through in its advance and retreat. The
geological formation of the southern and central part
of the parish consists of the New Red Sandstone, the
northern part of the Permian Rocks and Coal Mea-
sures. Coal mines have been worked from the i6th
century, and perhaps earlier. In the i8th century
the Worsley navigation schemes led to a great develop-
ment of mines, and later of manufactures, and Eccles
and Pendleton have shared in the growth of Man-
chester trade. The following is the apportionment
of agricultural land within the ancient parish : Arable
land, 7,587 acres; permanent grass, 5,914; woods
and plantations, 716.*
Chat Moss remained waste until the beginning of
the last century.4 Defoe, who passed it on the way
from Warrington to Manchester early in the i8th
century, has given a description of it. It stretched
along the road for 5 or 6 miles, the surface looked
black and dirty, and it was ' indeed frightful to think
of, for it would bear neither horse nor man, unless in
an exceeding dry season, and then so as not to be
travelled over with safety.' The land was entirely
waste, 'except for the poor cottagers' fuel, and the
quantity used for that was very small.'5 Leland and
Camden tell of a great eruption of the moss in the
time of Henry VIII.6 The carrying of the Liverpool
and Manchester Railway over Chat Moss in 1830 was,
considered a great triumph of engineering.7 The
for coals and clothing at Christmas time
for the poor of Audenshaw. He desired
it to be considered an ecclesiastical charity.
Thomas Turner Broadbent in 1896
bequeathed the residue of his estate, after
the expiry of certain interests still [1899]
existing, to the foundation of a conva-
lescent hospital.
201 Full details of these endowments are
given in the Rep. of 1899, pp. 15-19.
302 John Newton, 1731,^3 rent-charge
on an estate called The Crime in Ashton,
for teaching six poor children.
John Walker, 1755, £6 8*. 4</., for
buying books and teaching the Catechism.
Edward Wright, 1882, £z ijs., for
Bibles for the children attending the
parish church schools.
George Heginbottom, 1879, £40 ex-
hibition, at Owens College, tenable for
three years.
Titus Tetlow, 1890, £212 ijs. $d^
exhibitions, &C., for Aihton-under-Lyne
Mechanics' Institution.
Samuel Broadbent, 1891, £3, for the
Woodhouses British Schools.
Helen Swallow, 5*. g</., for the Sunday
School.
Froghall School, 1824, £23 31. 3<£ ;
the school was discontinued in 1840, and
the income is paid to Hey Church of
England Schools and to Austerlands School
in Saddleworth.
Edward Hobson, 1764, £266 IQJ. 3^.,
for Audenshaw (British) School, and for
exhibitions.
203 Rep. 16.
204 For St. John the Baptist's, Hey,
£11 iis. 8</. ; for a Bible woman, St.
James's, Ashton, £2 1 8s. \d.
305 The report was published in 1900.
Mossley, from its composite formation,
has a share in some charities of Ashton-
under-Lyne, Mottram in Longdendale, and
Rochdale.
1 Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland), 22;
the third quarter's contribution was
divided thus: Pendleton, £i i6s. 9$</. ;
Pendlebury, los. z\d. ; Clifton, 181. 4§</.
2 Ibid. 1 8. For other assessments see
Manch. Sen. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 13 — House of Correction, 1616 ; and
60 — ox. lay, 1618.
8 The details given are : —
Arable Grass Wood, &c.
Acres Acres Acres
35
47 i
4 An effort was made to reclaim part by
William Roscoe in 1805, but it did not
succeed. Edward Baines then made a
352
Barton-on-
Irwell .
3 "4
911
Clifton .
206
504
Eccles
4
103
Irlam . .
2716
249
Pendlebury
47
272
Pendleton
12
562
Worsley .
1356
2487
Swinton .
122
826
further trial, with better success ; see hi*
Hist, of Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 133-5.
* Tour Through Gt. Brit. (ed. 1738), iii,
170-1.
6 A full account will be found in Lanes,
and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xx, 139—44 ; see also
Trans. Hist. Soc. xviii. The outbreak
took place in 1526 ; it choked the Glaze-
brook and covered 60 acres of arable land
on each side, overflowed the dam of Cul-
cheth Mill, and prevented the passage of
the ferry at Hollinfare for some days. Le-
land calls it ' Chateley More ' ; Itin. vii, 48,
7 A description of the railway, published
in 1830, speaks of the 'far-extended
waste' of 'this black and spongy tract/
and says : 'The line extends over it a
distance of 4! miles, about a quarter of a
mile of which, at each end, is moss em-
bankment, which now stands well, though
vast quantities of material disappeared,
particularly at the east border, in the
quick and faithless depths of the moss
before it was thus established. It was
long doubted whether a road was practic-
able over this soft and watery expanse,
upon many parts of which it was unsafe to
tread ; and its great depth — from 20 to 34
feet — together with its extent, precluded
all idea of piling. The engineer, however,
overcame every difficulty, and established
upon it the incrustation of a road. The
moss is higher than much of the land
round it, and draining was resorted to.
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
whole has now been reclaimed.8 The corporation of
Manchester has a sewage farm there.
Dr. Aikin says of Eccles in I 795 : —
The agriculture of the parish is chiefly confined to grazing, and
would be more materially benefited by draining ; but the tax
upon brick, a most essential article in this process, has been a
very great hindrance to it. The use of lime — imported from
Wales, and brought by the inland navigations to the neighbour-
hood of our collieries — has become very general in the improve-
ment of the meadow and pasture lands . . . The advance of
population in the parish of Eccles [the effect of the great demand
for hands in our manufactures] has been attended with a due
care respecting public worship and the religious education of
children. . . . The excellent institutions of Sunday schools were
early patronised in Eccles parish, and continue to receive the
steady and liberal support of the parishioners. There are now,
it is calculated, near one thousand children regularly taught in
these schools, and with very considerable improvement.9
Eccles gives a name to one of the parliamentary
divisions of the county formed of this parish and
Flixton ; it returns one member.
There are three newspapers published at Eccles, the
Advertiser, established 1853 ; the Journal, 1874 ; and
the Telegraph.
The church of ST. MART stands on
CHURCH elevated ground about 200 yds. to the
north of the old market-place, and
consists of chancel with north and south aisles, south
transept with vestry on the east side, nave with north
and south aisles, south porch, and west tower. There
is also a building, now used as a strong-room and
motor-house, with entrance porch, on the north side
of the north chancel aisle.
The whole of the east end of the church has been
rebuilt in modern times, but west of the chancel arch
the building, except the tower and south aisle, is of
early 16th-century date with some traces of 14th-
century work at the entrance to the rebuilt
south transept. The tower belongs to the 1 5th
century, and possibly incorporates in its lower stage
the masonry of an older structure.
Where it was softest, branches, brushwood,
and hurdles (twigs and heath twisted
and plaited in frames) were laid down to
form a foundation, and the whole was
covered with sand and gravel two to three
fe«t thick as occasion required. Upon
this, as it became compacted, were laid the
wooden sleepers for the rails, and the road
over the moss is now not inferior to that
on any part of the line.' The writer goes
on to speak of the efforts then being made
to reclaim the moss.
353
8 The moss abounded with vipers ;
Munch. Guardian N, and Q. no. 480. For
the Woolden Ringing pits on the moss, see
ibid. no. 848.
9 Country Round Mancl . 2 1 8-2 1.
45
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The earliest parts of the building are the responds
of the arch to the south transept in St. Katherine's
Chapel, which are of 14th-century date, and may
belong to the year 1368, when the chapel was
founded. These form the only remaining fragment
of a church which probably consisted of a chancel with
north chapel and nave with south aisle, to which this
chantry was added. Owing to the rebuilding of
1862-3 at the east end evidence of the extent of this
early church is wanting, but both the chancel and nave
seem to have been of the same length as at present,
though of less width. The east wall of the north
chapel, however, appears to have been standing up to
1 86 1 in a line with the east wall of the chancel, and
contained a good 14th-century window, of which
the present window in the same position is said to
aisle was added or reconstructed. The Jesus altar stood
here. This aisle was lighted at its west end by a three-
light window with cinquefoiled heads under a four-
centred arch, the remains of which may still be seen
blocked up on the outside. Later in the same century,
probably about 1450, when William and Lawrence
Booth founded (or refounded) a second chantry of St.
Katherine, the south aisle seems to have been rebuilt
further southward. The evidence of the old plinth, now
restored, showed it to be a later addition, and it is likely
that the entrance to St. Katherine's Chapel was at this
time taken down and reconstructed in its present posi-
tion. That the south aisle is earlier in date than the
16th-century rebuilding, which brought the church
to its present shape, is shown by the windows, whose
jambs are moulded, in contrast with the plain cham-
Nave Chancel
^r
£ century
15* -
!&!>
modern
PLAN OF ECCLES CHURCH
be a copy.10 Whether this earlier church had a
north aisle it is impossible to say, and its south aisle
was most likely narrower than the present one,
though there is nothing actually to show that the arch
to the south transept is not in its original position.
If it is, the aisle must have been of almost equal
width to the nave, which is unlikely. There was
probably a west tower to the 14th-century church,
but no positive evidence of this remains, successive
rebuildings and restorations making it almost impos-
sible to say whether the lower portion of the present
tower is older than the upper part. Whatever the
original western termination may have been, however,
the tower was built, or rebuilt, centring with the
nave, probably in the beginning of the 1 5th century,
and at the same time, or shortly afterwards, the north
fered jambs of the later work, and by the generally
better and more careful detail as shown in the
hood-moulds to the windows and in the buttresses,
which had cusped panelled fronts. In the rebuilding
of this wall much, if not all, of the old detail has
been lost, the middle buttress having disappeared, and
the diagonal one at the south-west having been re-
newed.
The south aisle of the chancel, if it did not exist
before, must have been built some time in the i$th
century, and is probably the ' new chapel ' which was
built by Sir Geoffrey Massey, who died in 1457, having
founded a chantry at the Trinity altar there in 1453.
The old views of the church show the south chancel
aisle with a three-light 15th-century window similar
to that in the west end of the north aisle, together
10 See Owen MSS. Manch. Reference Library.
354
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
with a priest's door with a pointed head and hood-
mould in the south-west corner.
It is possible that the south arcade of the nave was
rebuilt at the same time as the south aisle was en-
larged, but this would mean that the work then
executed was taken down within forty or fifty years.
It is more likely that the original north and south
arcade stood till the beginning of the 1 6th century,
when the great rebuilding of the church commenced.103
The south arcade was the first to be taken down, and
was reconstructed with a lofty clearstory on the same
line. The north arcade was afterwards pushed out
5 ft. to the north, bringing the north aisle wall flush
with the wall of the north chapel of the chancel, and
throwing the tower out of centre with the nave.
Whether there had been a chancel arch before this
date it is impossible to say, but the chancel seems to
have been reconstructed without one at this time or
shortly after, and similarly widened to the north. The
evidence of this was much more plain before the re-
building of 1862-3 by the way in which the roof of
the old chancel cut into that of the north chapel.11 The
axis of the chancel is twisted about 1 8 in. to the south,
but whether this took place during the 16th-century
rebuilding, or was so originally, there is nothing to
show, and the south arcade of the chancel may be on
the exact line of the former one. The only fixed
point in the church through the various rebuildings
seems to be the south pier between the chancel and
nave, though this of course was only built in its
present form in the 16th-century reconstruction.
The arches and piers of the chancel are similar to
those of the nave, but the arches are much wider and
higher, leaving no space for the clearstory like that
of the nave, unless the roof were taken very much
higher. But the unfinished end of the nave roof as
shown in old views of the church seems to suggest
that it was intended to carry it on over the chancel,
the two octagonal turrets alone marking the division
of nave and chancel on the outside.
The building as finished in the first part of the
1 6th century remained more or less intact until 1801
when the taking down of the east end was begun
prior to reconstruction. Many alterations, however,
took place in the interior between these two dates,
the first in I 595, when new pews and forms were set
up. At this date, too, there were 'repairs to the
church,' which probably included the insertion of much
of the window tracery. In 1713 the church was
' beautified,' and in 1715 the vestry, which had
been in the south aisle of the chancel, was removed
to the west end under the tower. In 17173 west
gallery was ordered to be erected, and at the same
time or shortly after the building was again thoroughly
repaired. The roof was releaded in 1719. In 1770
north and south galleries were ordered to be erected,
and in 1 790 the south porch was restored. A gallery
was erected at the east end of the nave in 1803 ex-
cluding any view of the chancel, but this was removed
in 1862. The other galleries still remain. There were
further repairs in 1832, 1846, 1854, and 1856, the
nave roof being repaired and the lead recast, new
roofs constructed to the aisles, and the old flagged
floor relaid.11* In 1862—3 the east end was entirely
rebuilt and a small clearstory of three triangular-shaped
lights added to the chancel walls. The work com-
prised the reconstruction of the chancel with its north
and south aisles, the addition of a vestry on the north,
and an organ chamber on the south, and the rebuild-
ing of St. Katherine's Chapel, which had long been
destroyed.1* Three large circular 18th-century win-
dows, formerly lighting the south gallery, were built
up at this time, but their position may still be seen
from the inside. The organ, formerly in the west
gallery, was transferred to the chamber on the south
side of the south chancel aisle and remained there till
1890, when a new one was erected on screens in the
first and second bay on each side of the chancel, and
the organ chamber turned into a vestry. At the same
time the vestry on the north was converted to its
present use. The organ chamber seems to have been
erected prior to the rebuilding of St. Katherine's
Chapel, as its west wall was built as an outside wall,
as may be seen by the diagonal buttress and the
blocked-up windows on that side. St. Katherine's
Chapel, which is supposed to be on the site of the
original chantry chapel, now forms a south transept.
The church is built of friable red sandstone, which
had decayed so badly that an almost complete refacing
of the old part became necessary in 1907. The work
was completed in 1908, and very little of the exterior
detail is now left. The interior was, till 1 875, covered
with an accumulated coat of limewash, but was then
stripped and all its stonework cleaned. Externally
the walls of the nave and aisles have battlemented
parapets and the roofs are covered with lead. The
aisles have lean-to roofs with a straight parapet on their
west end. The walls of the chancel, south chapel
and aisle, and transept also terminate in battlements,
and the vestry has a stepped gable on the south side.
The roofs of the chancel and chancel aisles are
covered with slates, but those of the vestry and transept
are leaded. The south aisle of the chancel has a lean-to
roof, but the roof of the north aisle retains its original
gable form.
The chancel is 43 ft. long by 23 ft. 6 in. wide and
has north and south arcades of two bays with centre
pier and east and west responds. The arches are
1 6 ft. 6 in. wide, and there is a piece of straight wall
at the east end 46. long. The columns and arches
are similar to those in the nave, but the capitals are
slightly different. The first bay from the west on
each side is filled with a modern screen with an organ
over and a similar screen partly fills the eastern bay.
loa Robert Langley of Agccroft in 1525
bequeathed £6 1 3*. \d. to the building of
the parish church of Our Lady of Eccles,
to be paid as the work went on ; Willt
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 62.
« See Owen MSS.
lla An account printed in the Manch.
Advertiser, 24 Oct. 1846, gives a melan-
choly description of the state to which the
building had been reduced ; for example :
•Over the chancel is a huge, unsightly
gallery, in which the people turn their
backs to the altar, and above this, in the
place of the ancient rood screen, is a re-
presentation of the royal arms' ; the
gallery had lately been erected ' by the lay
rector, Sir John Heathcote, of Longton
Hall, Staffs., who had sold the pews to
different holders.' There were still ' some
very rude massive oaken benches in the
nave ' which remained in their primitive
condition, but surrounded by high pews ;
and ' near the door of the south porch was
a very ancient alms box having three dis-
355
tinct locks.' On a board was painted the
information that ' This church was beau-
tified in the year 1713.' Baines {Lanes.
iii, 115) states that the ancient gates
leading to the chancel remained until
1803 ; this was the year in which the
chancel gallery was erected.
18 Old views of the south side of the
church show the arch to St. Katherine's
Chapel as an external feature, the lower
part built up and the upper part used as a
window.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The east window is a modern traceried one of five
lights in the style of the I5th century and belongs
with the clearstory and roof to the 1862-3 rebuild-
ing. The fittings are all modern and are of no
particular interest. The chancel arch is a modern
insertion of two chamfered orders springing high up
from shafts corbelled out from the large octagonal
piers which separate the nave from the chancel.
The pier on the south side is 4 ft. 6 in. in diameter
with a respond on its east and west faces and is built
solid. That on the north side is bigger and contains
a staircase leading to the roof, entered from the
north aisle. On the outside these piers are carried
up above the roof and are finished with pyramidal
stone roofs and finials. The north aisle of the
chancel, which is 17 ft. 6 in. wide, retains no
ancient features, but has a copy of the five-light
1 4th-century window with reticulated tracery already
mentioned at its east end. It has two three-light
windows on the north side and a door to the strong
room, with an outer door in the north-west corner to
the west of the old vestry. The south aisle of the
chancel, which is 1 6 ft. wide, has a three-light window
at the east end and two three-light windows on the south
side. The old organ chamber (present vestry) is built
out to the south at its west end and is separated from
it by a screen. The aisle contains a monument to
Richard Brereton and his wife, described below.
The nave measures 60 ft. in length and 23 ft. 3 in.
in width and is of four bays with north and south
arcades having octagonal shafts 2 ft. 6 in. in diameter,
their longer sides measuring 1 8 in. and the shorter
5 in., set diagonally. The longer sides have a hollow
moulding stopping under the capitals, which are of a
plain block character with upper and two lower fillets,
and are carved with plain shields, three on each
face. The capitals of the easternmost pier of the north
arcade and of the east respond are slightly different,
having only the upper and lower round fillet and two
shields on each face. The arches are pointed and of
two plain chamfered orders. On each side there are
four pointed five-light clearstory windows of very
poor detail. The jambs and heads are chamfered and
there is no external hood-mould, while the tracery is
straight and without cuspings. The sills of the
windows on the inside are more than 2 ft. above the
crown of the nave arcade, but they were formerly
much lower, as may be seen by a straight joint at each
side. In the recent restoration it was found that the
jambs of the windows were continued below the
present sills, these having been probably inserted at
the time that the galleries were built, when the roofs
of the aisles were raised in order to get head room.
Two courses of masonry between the crowns of the
nave arches and the sills of the windows above mark
the former level of the clearstory.
On the east wall of the tower the line of the
14th-century steep-pitched roof may still be seen,
together with the places where the purlins were
housed into the wall. The roof of the nave is of flat
pitch and probably retains a good deal of the original
1 6th-century timber, but it was repaired in 1 846 and
the decayed pieces replaced. The north-east diagonal
buttress of the tower, the lower part of which has been
cut away, is now an internal feature, together with
the string-course marking the upper or belfry stage,
with the lower part of a small window above. The
tower arch is of two chamfered orders, the outer one
of which is stopped at the springing, and is filled in
behind the west gallery with a modern wood seven-
light traceried window. Under the gallery a modern
doorway has been inserted. The west walls of the
north and south aisles are not bonded in with the
tower,1** and it is possible that an extension of the
nave westward or a rebuilding of the tower was con-
templated by the 16th-century builders.
The two east piers of the north arcade and the east
pier and east respond of the south arcade have canopied
niches in the sides facing south-west (towards the
entrance). The niches are empty, but show con-
clusively that the piers are of pre-Reformation date.'*
They are 3 ft. 6 in. high, and the shelf, which has a
plain shield under, is 5 ft. 3 in. from the ground. The
niche on the east respond of the south aisle, opposite
St. Katherine's Chapel, has carved on either side a
hammer and pincers together with a small cogged
wheel, possibly with reference to St. Katherine.15* The
west pier of the north aisle has a stone bracket about
6 ft. 6 in. from the ground.
The west and south galleries are in line with the
centre of the piers, but the north gallery is set back
about 6 ft. behind the arcade and rests on small iron
pillars. The north and south galleries retain their
18th-century pews, and are approached from the west
end of each aisle by staircases.
The 1 4th-century responds of the arch to the south
transept have been already mentioned. The capitals
are modern, but are probably copies of the originals,
and the arch over is a four-centred one of two rounded
orders. The chapel is modern and has a four-light
window on the south and one of two lights on the
west. The south aisle has two three-light windows
with moulded jambs and hood-moulds, as before men-
tioned. The mullions and tracery, however, are of
late date like those of the other windows of the church.
In the upper lights portions of the tracery have been
cut away as in other parts of the building. Each
aisle has a five-light window at its west end, and
the north aisle is lighted by four five-light windows
along its north side, all of which have been renewed.
The south porch appears originally to have been
erected in the I5th century with the south aisle, but
the front part was rebuilt in 1 790, which date is carved
upon it. The inner door is old, of thick oak and
nail-studded. The outer iron gates were set up in
1809.
The tower is rather squat and of two stages, being
divided about midway by a string-course. It has
diagonal buttresses of four stages, moulded plinth,
and embattled parapet with angle and intermediate
pinnacles. There is a vice in the south-west corner,
entered from the outside. Externally the tower is
20 ft. square, but the walls not being of equal thickness,
its internal dimensions are 1 1 ft. by 12 ft. 6 in. The
west doorway, which has a pointed arch, has been
rebuilt, and above, separated from it by a string-course
between the buttresses, is a three-light pointed
window with hood-mould, which is said to have origin-
ally shown signs of well-designed cusping. This had
been hacked off outside, but remained on the inside to
la» Information from Mr. Frank P.
Oakley, the architect of the restoration.
18 The canopy and ornament to the
niche of the east pier of the north aisle
have been hacked away.
356
18a St. Katherine with her wheel is the
crest of Booth of Barton.
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
the ringing chamber. The window, which was of
15th-century date has, however, been entirely recon-
structed and the ancient detail lost. The lower stage
of the tower has a single-light window on the north
side, but on the south is quite plain except for the
door to the vice. The belfry stage has a three-light
square-headed stone louvred window on each face,
with a clock face below on the north, south, and west
sides.
The fittings, including the font and the pulpit, are
all modern, dating principally from 1862-3 and sub-
sequent years. There are no traces of ancient ritual
arrangements. In 1856, when the old flagged floor
was relaid, two sepulchral slabs, one with a raised and
the other with an incised cross, were found near the
third column from the east on the south side of the
nave at a depth of 2 ft. 6 in. These slabs now stand
in the west porch under the tower at each side of the
inner doorway.14
The monument of Richard Brereton and his wife
was erected by the latter in 1600 and stands at the
east end of the south aisle of the chancel, but is not
in its original position. It is an altar tomb with
recumbent figures, the man being in armour with
helmet by his side and the lady in a ruff and with an
enormous headdress. There is a figure of a child
on a bracket on the south side of the tomb, around
which runs the inscription.
Besides the Brereton monument there is an old
brass to the Dauntesey family on the south side of the
chancel arch, and a painted wooden shield emblazoned
with the arms of George Legh (d. 1674) at l^e west
end of the north aisle.15
There is no ancient stained glass.
There is a ring of eight bells. Four are mentioned
in the inventory of Edward VI, but these were re-
moved in 1 709 and a new ring of six substituted.
One of these bearing the inscription * Prosperity to
this church ' still remains amongst the present ring.
The tenor has the inscription : ' I to the church the
living call and to the grave do summon all.' The
curfew is still rung every night.
The plate consists of two chalices of 1618, with
the date inscribed on each below the rim ; a paten of
1 68 1 with the date and names of the churchwardens ;
a flagon of 1723, inscribed ' Eccles Parish 1723' ;
another flagon of the year following inscribed * Eccles
Parish 1724' ; an almsdish of 1777 inscribed 'This
Dish given as a gratuity From the Several Inhabitants
of Barton for the use of the Parish Church of Eccles
1777' ; a paten of 1862-3 presented by Mr. Henry
Blacklock, inscribed with the names of the donor and
churchwardens, and the date 1863; and a chalice,
paten, and flagon, silver gilt, of 1893.
The registers begin in 1563 (baptisms and burials
1563, marriages I564).16
In the chancel are the banners of the Trafford
House and Hulme Hall Local Militia, and the Eccles
Corps of the Manchester and Salford Infantry Volun-
teers 1798.
The churchyard on the south and east sides is of
great extent and is now completely paved with grave-
stones. As late as the 1 8th century the church stood
amongst fields, and the churchyard was planted with
fir trees, but in 1806 it was levelled and the head-
stones laid flat. The churchyard coming to be re-
garded as a common playground, the greater part of
it was inclosed in 1886-7 by the erection of iron
palisading and the public restricted to footpaths
running from the north to the south and the east
to the west entrances. The aspect of the churchyard
is very desolate, though trees and shrubs have been
planted. The principal entrance is from the street
on the south-west by a flight of steps under a wrought-
iron screen gateway bearing the royal arms and the
date 1815, but set up in the year following at a cost
of £49.
Something of the early history of
4DVOWSON the rectory can be gleaned from the
charters of Whalley Abbey. It ap-
pears that just as the greater part of the parish, though
under different titles, had by 1 200 been acquired by
the Barton family, so the patronage of the rectory was
in their hands, partly perhaps in right of Barton and
partly in right of Worsley.17 At all events, the rectory
had been divided into at least four portions, held
usually by ' clerks ' who were married and whose sons
no doubt expected to succeed.18 Priests as chaplains
14 They are described in John Harland's
Eccles Church Notes, 1864. In the Owen
MSS. -details are given of two other stones
each bearing a cross and sword, one of
which was found serving as a lintel of a
doorway in the north wall of the aisle of
the chancel, and the other on the spot
once covered by St. {Catherine's chantry.
Owen also states that there were ' several
of this kind lying about.' Heywood,
Eccles Church (1907).
15 Heywood, op. cit. 26.
18 The entries 1563-1632 have been
printed by the Lanes. Par. Reg. Soc.
*7 In or before 1180 Albert Grelley pre-
sented William the Clerk to a fourth part
of the church of Eccles for life ; Wballty
Coucher (Chet. Soc.), i, 40. William'*
father Haisolf and his brother Matthew
had previously held it ; the grant was
made ' in pure and perpetual alms for the
souls of the grantor's father and mother
and for himself, his wife and children,' so
that William was not in the position of
the modern lay impropriator, but would
be obliged to pray and fulfil the church
services in return. Though the lord of
Manchester presented at this vacancy he
probably did so as the guardian of the heir
of Barton, for (before 1220) Gilbert de
Notion and Edith his wife presented the
son of William, also a William the Clerk,
to the same fourth part of the church, on
the same terms ; ibid, i, 46.
In 1191 Hugh Nonant, Bishop of Lich-
field, gave to Geoffrey de Byron, clerk, a
mediety of the church of Eccles, Edith de
Barton presenting with the concurrence of
Robert Grelley. Swain the Clerk had had
it before ; ibid, i, 39. It is not known
how long Geoffrey continued to hold it,
but in or before 1234 there were two
others besides William the Clerk holding
' portions ' of the rectory. One of them,
Thomas the chaplain of Flekho (or
Fleckenhow, in another deed) had been
presented by Roger de Notion, and he re-
signed to William the Clerk for an annual
pension of 6 marks ; the date is approxi-
mately known, because R. de Maidstone,
Archdeacon of Chester, one of the wit-
nesses, became Bishop of Hereford in
1234; ibid. 43.
18 A descent of three generations is
shown in the preceding note ; Haisolf,
Matthew and William his sons, and
William the son of the last-named. The
younger William was also married ; ibid.
357
i, 45. It was perhaps a son William who
about 1280 made a grant to Stanlaw ;
ibid, i, 42. On the other hand, as a vicar
of Eccles first appears in 1277, it is pos-
sible that William the Clerk held the
rectory from about 1220 to 1277.
William was 'parson of Eccles' about
1250; Cockcrsand Chart. (Chet. Soc.), ii,
723. William the Clerk occurs in 1273, but
is not styled ' parson ' ; Dep. Keeper's Rep.
xlii, App. 668. He left a son Robert and
a daughter Margery. The former married
Cecily daughter of Roger de Pendlebury,
but had no issue by her ; while Margery
had a son and heir Robert de Halghton,
who in 1351 and later years claimed cer-
tain lands in Eccles against Agnes, the
widow of Robert de Eccles the younger,
and Margaret daughter and heir, who was
under age ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. i
(July), m. id.; 2, m. 8 ; Assize R.
435, m. 32. Robert the younger was a son
of Robert son of William de Eccles, and
was married to Agnes as early as 1338, a
settlement bein£ made in that year ; Mr.
Vawdrey's D. The seal shows arms,
fretty, a fess.
William the Clerk gave lands to hi*
brother John and his sister Alice ; the
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
would have to be employed for mass and other rites,19
the clerks themselves no doubt taking their share in
those services for which holy orders were not necessary.
That ' the clerks of Eccles church ' were a regularly
established body is shown by the grant of rights of
common in the manor of Barton made by Gilbert de
Notton and Edith his wife.20 ' G. and H., W. and
T., clerks of Eccles,' as holding the rectory, sanctioned
the opening of a chapel at Worsley before 1233."
The initials no doubt stand for Geoffrey de Byron,
Hugh, William, and Thomas. Hugh and Thomas
must therefore have divided the fourth part of the
rectory between them. The former was son of Ellis
de Worsley, and was probably married, as his daughter
Ellen inherited his property.28 Thomas seems to have
been the only priest, and unmarried. He may be
identified with the * Master T. de Eccles ' who attested
a grant by Gilbert de Notton and Edith his wife.23
The prohibition of hereditary succession to bene-
fices and the requirement that those who held a bene-
fice which a priest should serve must within a limited
time be advanced to the priesthood put an end to the
customary arrangements at Eccles. In 12 34 Gilbert
de Barton granted to his lord, John de Lacy, Earl of
Lincoln, the advowson of the church of Eccles," and
Lacy at once conferred it upon Stanlaw Abbey.85
Some of the clerks who held the rectory seem to have
been induced to resign, or were perhaps otherwise pro-
vided for ; *6 episcopal and papal ratifications were
obtained,27 and a vicarage duly ordained.28
From this time until the suppression of Whalley,
the rectory remained in the possession of the monks.
In 1291 the revenues were taxed as £20 a year," and
in 1341 the ninth of the sheaves, &c., was found to
be £1$ js.30 In 1534 the gross value was returned
as £57 2J.,31 but about 1540, after the rectory had
come into the king's hands, the net revenue from the
glebe and tithe was found to be ^104." A division
now was made ; the tithes and other revenues of the
rectory were leased out and afterwards sold,*3 but the
advowson was retained by the Crown and presentations
are now made by the Lord Chancellor. An indepen-
dent vicarage was created in the chapelry of Deane,
thus increasing the royal patronage.
The vicarage of Eccles was formally constituted in
1277 ; a competent dwelling-house was ordered to be
provided, the land occupied by the de facto vicar was
secured, and a pension of 16 marks assigned to him
from the revenues of the church.54 This pension con-
tinued to be paid by the monks of Whalley ,K and then
by the Crown, but on the sale of the rectory it was
increased to £16 i$s. 4^., which is still paid.16 The
grant to John was in pure alms, and sub-
ject to an annual rent of a pound of in-
cense, payable to the church of Eccles ;
Whalley Couch, i, 43.
Geoffrey de Byron also was married.
19 David and Thomas, 'chaplains' of
Eccles, are mentioned in grants before
1 220 ; ibid. 47. Thomas was probably the
' clerk ' who had a portion of the rectory.
David, the priest of Eccles, attested a
Lever charter ; Add. MS. 32103, no 207.
20 Whalley Couch, i, 47.
31 Lord Ellesmere's D. no. 129.
28 Ibid. no. 232-33.
88 Whalley Couch, i, 47.
84 Ibid. 63. The grant included all
the liberties, &C., belonging to the advow-
son of the church in woods, meadows,
roads, waters, &c. ; also 10 acres in Bar-
ton adjoining Hennesden, between the
'great street' and moss by the boundaries
of Pendlebury. It excluded Gilbert de
Barton's hey of Bolesnape and allowed his
right to make fisheries, mills, &c., as he
might find it convenient. The considera-
tion for this grant was an acquittance of a
bond for 250 marks due to Aaron the Jew
of York. Gilbert had previously granted
or confirmed his grandfather's gift of free
common to the clerks of Eccles and their
men ; ibid. 45.
85 Ibid. 36. The witnesses are the same
as those to Gilbert de Barton's charter,
Roger de Notton being one. The grants
mention the chapels of Eccles, perhaps
those at Deane and Ellenbrook.
86 The release by Thomas the chaplain
to William the Clerk has been recorded
above. Hugh the Clerk of Eccles, ' of his
own free will,' resigned his ' portion ' in
the church of Eccles and its chapels in
Apr. 1235, in full chapter at Warrington ;
ibid. 48. Hugh was no doubt the ' H.
tune persona de Eccles ' of another deed ;
ibid. 42. After this it would appear that
only William the Clerk remained.
8? John de Lacy having intimated that
he had given the advowson of Eccles and
certain lands there to Stanlaw, Bishop
Alexander de Stavenby in Dec. 1234 rati-
fied the grant ; the prior and convent of
Coventry and the chapter of Lichfield
gave their consent in 1237 ; ibid. 37-9.
Alexander IV gave several confirma-
tions in 1255 and later years.
28 The pope, in sanctioning the appro-
priation of the rectory, after the death or
cession of the rector then in possession,
had in 1258 ordered that a perpetual chap-
lain should be appointed to serve the church,
with a fitting allowance for his support ;
ibid. 167 ; but in an earlier bull (Aug.
1255) he speaks of the Bishop of Lichfield
having asigned to the 'vicar ' a due revenue;
ibid. 170. In 1277 Bishop Roger de
Meulan ordained vicarages in Blackburn,
Rochdale, and Eccles ; ibid. 85.
29 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 249.
There was then in addition a pension of
£z I 31. ^.d. payable to the Prior of Lan-
caster, probably as a composition for the
demesne tithes of Salford arising within
the parish, which had been granted by
Count Roger in '1094 ; Farrer, Lanes.
Pipe R. 290.
^Inq.Non. (Rec. Com.), 39. Of the
total Barton gave 1 81. %d., Worsley 701. jd.t
Clifton i CM. i</., Pendlebury us., Pen-
dleton with Bolton by Eccles 2is. Bd.,
Heaton with Halliwell and Horwich
131. 4//., Hulton 121. Westhoughton
41*. 8d., Rumworth, 81. Thus the town-
ships afterwards forming the parish of
Deane were charged with 751. only. There
is a deficit of 1001. ; perhaps Barton should
be 1 1 8 j. 8</.
81 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 229.
The glebe lands gave £6 ; tithes of grain,
&c., £30 ; tithes of wool, &c., £j ; obla-
tions, Easter roll and small dues, ,£14 2s.
88 Whalley Couch, iv, 1247 ; the par-
sonage of Eccles proper brought £5 o 4*. i d. ;
Deane, £63 131.4^. The pension of the
vicar of Eccles had to be paid out of
this.
83 In 1 6 10 the rectory (i.e. the tithes
and other revenues) was sold by the Crown
to Francis Morris and Francis Phillips,
'the well-known traffickers in Church
spoils,' they sold to Downes and Mosley,
who before 1613 sold to James Anderton
of Lostock ; see Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec.
358
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 27. In this
family it descended until 1723, when Sir
Lawrence Anderton sold to Francis Col-
stone. In 1765 Mary Comyn, widow, his
sole devisee, sold it for £5,000 to Richard
Edensor of Congleton and John Cooke of
Salford, subject to the annual payment of
£16 131. 4</. to the vicar of Eccles, and
to another small payment for wine for
the Easter sacrament. The Edensor share
passed to the Heathcotes of Longton Hall
in Staffs, and the Cooke share to Susanna
Dorothea Cooke of Pendleton, who died
in 1848 ; Raines, in Gastrell's Notitia
Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 47. In 1864 the
impropriators were J. E. Heathcote and
Susanna wife of Frederick Phillips of
Manchester ; the stipend of the vicar of
Eccles, formerly paid out of the tithes, was
then paid from a sum invested in consols,
and a small tithe rent-charge ; the surplus
was allowed to accumulate for the repairs
of the chancel ; J. Harland (' Crux ') in
Eccles Cb. Notes, 22. For the Heathcote
family see the pedigree of Edwards-Hcath-
cote in Burke, Landed Gentry.
The story that the tithes of Eccles were
won by Anderton from the Duke of Suffolk
by a bet over a cockfight is obviously
erroneous ; Eccles Ch. Notes, 22.
A lease of the rectory for twenty-one
years was granted to Sir Thomas Hoi-
croft in 1545 ; Chest. Consist. Ct. Sir
Gilbert and Sir Thomas Gerard held it
about 1590; Ducatus Lane, iii, 256, 312,
and a lease was granted to Anderton in
1602 ; Pat. 44 Eliz. pt. 3. For the sale
to Morris and Phillips, see Pat. 7 Jas. I,
pt. 2 ; and 9 Jas. I, pt. 22. For the sale
(1723) to Colstone see Eccles Ch. Notes,
58 ; also Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
289, m. 93, where the plaintiff's name is
given as Francis Loggin.
8< Whalley Couch, i, 85.
K Valor Eccl. v, 227, 234. Out of his
1 6 marks the vicar of Eccles had to pay
the curate (later the vicar) of Deane £4. a
year.
86 Information of the Rev. F. D. Cre-
mer, vicar.
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
Commonwealth surveyors in 1650 found the tithes
of Eccles to be worth about £170; they had been
sequestered by the authorities for the ' delinquency '
of the impropriator, who had been accustomed to pay
£18 a year to the vicar. They recommended that
Ellenbrook Chapel should have a parish assigned to it,
that a new church should be built at Irlam, and that
some re-arrangement of the other boundaries should
be made.36* With the growth of Manchester the value
of the glebe increased, and the income of the vicarage,
which in 1718 was under £46," has now become
£700."
The following is a list of the vicars : —
Name
Roger "
John40
William the Parker 4l .
Simon " .
Instituted
oc. 1277 . .
oc. 1284 .
oc. 1294 . .
oc. 1310-15 .
25 July 1320.
31 Oct. 1349.
10 June 1372
oc. 1383 . .
oc. 1402 .
Patron
8 Feb. 1412-13.
5 Nov. 1456 .
12 Apl. 1471 . .
1474. .
8 Mar. 1504-5.
oc- 1534-54 • •
1557 \
20 June 1559 j
Adam de Blackburn 4» Abbot of Whalley .
John de Mulnegate44 „
Robert de Monton 43 „
John de Craunton 46
John de York47
John de Moreland
Richard Ewood *•
Robert Lawe 49 Abbot of Whalley .
Christopher Whitehead50 .... „
Thomas Wright " Bishop of Lichfield
Thomas Holgate " Abbot of Whalley .
Thomas Crane*1
Edward Pendleton, B. Gram.54
The Crown .
Cause of Vacancy
d. A. de Blackburn
d. J. de Mulnegate
res. J. de Moreland
d. R. Ewood
res. R. Lawe
d. T. Wright
res. T. Crane
88» Commoniv.Ch. Surv.(Rec. Soc. Lanes.
and Ches.), 13.
A terrier of 1663 is printed in Eccles
Cb. Notes, 49 ; it gives details of the lands
held by the vicar, the vicarage house and
outbuildings, and the cottages built upon
the land. The same volume contains,
among other interesting records, a case and
opinion concerning certain fir trees in the
churchyard which the vicar had cut down
and sold (ibid. 35) ; an account of the
pews in the church in 1595 (24) ; and
the galleries erected in 1717 and 1769-
7» (59)-
W Notitia Cestr. ii, 46. The glebe land,
14 acres, let for £21, and surplice fees
amounted to ,£6. Warden Wroe of Man-
chester had stated the value as £80 in
1706. 'In the terrier of 1705 it is stated
that the vicar has no tithes, nor are there
any estates in the parish tithe free ; neither
has the vicar mortuaries, oblations, obven-
tions, or herbage. He has liberty of a little
common called the Warth, lying at the
river side of the Irwell, and a property in
the waste with the other charterers, to-
gether with the herbage of the churchyard.'
There were six wardens and six assistants;
two wardens were nominated by the Duke
of Bridgewater, two by Mr. Trafford, one
by the vicar, and one was appointed alter-
nately for Clifton and Pendlebury, the
outgoing warden nominating.
88 M anch. Dioc. Cal,
89 He attested a number of the local
charters, including three of the year 1277;
Whalley Couch, iii, 906, 910, 913. As
this was the date of the ordination of the
vicarage, it may be assumed that Roger
was the first vicar. Among the tenants
when John de Barton sold his manors to
Robert Grelley were 'Roger de Eccles,
chaplain, William de Eccles, clerk' ; so
that Roger may have been the officiating
priest before becoming vicar ; De Trafford
D. no. 202.
40 Whalley Couch, iii, 912.
41 Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, p. 120.
41 He attested a Worsley charter ; El-
lesmere D. no. 237. Also a Sharpies
one, 1315-16; Harl. MS. 2112, fol. I45/
181.
48 Lich. Epis. Reg. i, fol. 87. The
benefice had been vacant a fortnight, the
previous incumbent (not named) 'having
obtained a similar one,' i.e. probably one
requiring residence in person.
In 1330 Richard son of Henry de
Worsley granted to Adam de Blackburn,
perpetual vicar of Eccles, all his lands in
Swinton ; and exactly two years later
Adam transferred them to the monks of
Whalley ; the same witnesses attested
both grants ; Whalley Couch, iii, 932, 934.
44 Lich. Epis. Reg. ii, fol. 125 ; the
new vicar was a priest. He died on
Tuesday after Ascension Day, 1372.
48 Ibid, iv, fol. 86 ; a priest. Monton
was vicar in 1381, acting as Sir Geoffrey
de Worsley's proxy in the divorce pro-
ceedings of that year ; Ellesmere D. no.
268 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvi, App.
540.
46 Named in Towneley MS. DD, no.
1499. He was vicar also in 1390. See
Crosse D. no. 112, for John de Craun-
ton (or Cronton), rector of ' Werinton ' in
1409 ; Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), vi,
293, 294.
4? Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App. 9 ;
he is named as vicar in 1408 ; Final
Cone, iii, 68.
In 1405 John de Cronton, rector of
Cadington, executor of John de Crockton,
vicar of Eccles, and co-executor of Adam
de Cronton, released to Nicholas de York,
Abbot of Whalley, all actions ; Add. MS.
32108, no. 522. Unless there is some
error in the dates or names the succession
must have been John de Cronton, John
de Crockton, John de York, John de
Moreland.
48 Lich. Epis. Reg. vii, fol. 102* ; he
was a chaplain and his name is here spelt
Euwode. He had a brother Geoffrey, to
whom lands were given in Heap, near
Bury, in 1419-20 ; see also Dep. Keeper's
Rep. xxxiii, App. 13, 31.
359
49 Lich. Epis. Reg. xi, fol. 41 ; a chap-
lain. Robert Lawe was a feoffee of Otti-
well Worsley in 1465 ; Ellesmere D.
no. 35.
80 Lich. Epis. Reg. xii, fol. 105 ; a
chaplain.
61 Ibid. 1 08. The abbot and convent
of Whalley had presented one John Bol-
lyng to the vicarage, but upon e: anvna-
tion he was found to be ' unfit and un-
able,' and the bishop thereupon collated
Thomas Wright. This vicar is named as
trustee in 1481 ; Raines MSS. (diet.
Lib.) xiv, 86.
sa Lich. Epis. Reg. xiii-xiv, fol. 53*5
a chaplain. The entries in the Act Bks.
at Chester Dioc. Reg. begin here. Holgate
was one of the trustees of Thomas Hyde
of Urmston in 1517; Harl. MS. 2112,
fol. 161.
83 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 227 ; he
was also present at the visitation in 1554.
He is called Craven in the suit by the
vicar of Deane in 1544 regarding the
stipend formerly paid to Deane by the
vicar of Eccles ; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 197. As Thomas
Craven he was a witness to the will of
Dorothy Booth in 1553 ; Piccope, Wills
(Chet. Soc.), iii, 57. The will of Tho-
mas Craven of Eccles, bastard son of the
vicar, was proved at Chester in 1591 ;
Cb. Gds. (Chet. Soc.), 22.
From this time see Baines' Lanes, (ed.
Croston), iii, 255, &c. for lives of the
vicars.
84 For an account of Pendleton's life
see Fellow of Manch. Coll. (Chet. Soc.), i,
5 1-4. He was a nephew of Dr. Henry
Pendleton, one of Bonner's chaplains,
with whom (as in Diet. Nat. Biog.) he has
sometimes been confused, and was himself
educated at Brasenose Coll. Oxford. An
Edward Pendleton, perhaps a relative,
was one of the Manchester priests in
1542 ; Clergy List (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), ii. Edward Pendleton was school-
master and chantry priest in the collegiate
church there in 1548 ; Raines, Chantries
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Instituted
7 Dec. 1576
20 May 1606
9 Jan. 1610-1 1.
. •
19 Nov. 1662
25 July 1671 . .
24 Aug. 1678
10 Jan. 1721-2 .
8 Jan. 1724-5 .
27 Nov. 1725
27 July 1726. .
9 Mar. 1747-8.
3 June 1765. .
27 Dec. 1768. .
31 Oct. 1792 .
9 Apl. 1 8 1 8 . .
8 Apl. 1837.
Name
Thomas Williamson, M.A." .
John White, D.D.46 . . .
John Jones, D.D.67 ....
Edmund Jones, B.A.6S . . .
Robert Hartley, M.A.5' . .
Thomas Usherwood60 .
Thomas Hall, M.A.61 . . .
Thomas Chaddock, B.A.6'. .
Thomas Bell
William Crooke M . . . .
Thomas Vaughan, M A.64
Benjamin Nicholls, M.A.65 .
Cudworth Poole M ....
John Crookhall, B.A5 . .
John Clowes, M.A « . . .
Thomas Blackburne, M.A.«9 .
William Marsden, B.D.70 . .
Patron
The Crown
The Crown .
Cause of Vacancy
d. E. Pendleton
d. T. Williamson
res. J. White
exp. E. Jones
d. T. Usherwood
d. T. Hall
d. T. Chaddock
d. T. Vaughan
d. B. Nicholls
d. C. Poole
d. J. Crookhall
d. J. Clowes
res. T. Blackburne
(Chet. Soc.), 247 ; and graduated at Ox-
ford, B. Gram, in 1547-8; Foster,
Alumni. Anthony Wood calls him ' the
famous schoolmaster of Manchester" ;
Athenae (ed. 1691), i, 700. He was pre-
sented by Philip and Mary to the vicarage
of Eccles in 1557 and made one of the
fellows of Manchester when it was re-
stored. He conformed to the Elizabethan
changes and was instituted to Eccles a
second time in 1559; he married, re-
tained his charges at Manchester and
Eccles, and died in 1576. His will is
printed in Chantries, 249.
65 Mancb. Fellows, 80-3. He was
made fellow of the church of Manchester
in 1578 ; he was also vicar of Childwall
for a brief time, 1589. In 1590 he was
described as 'a preacher,' but ' insuffi-
cient' ; S.P. Dom. Eliz. xxxi, 47. He
was a member of the Ecclesiastical Com-
mission for the North, which conducted a
vigorous persecution of recusants in the
last quarter of the i6th century. A
Thomas Williamson, born in Westmor-
land and educated at Sedbergh, entered St.
John's Coll. Cambridge in 1567 ; B. Wil-
son, Sedbergh Reg. 6 1.
58 Son of Peter White, vicar of St.
Neots, Hunts. ; educated at Gonville and
Caius Coll. Cambridge ; Venn, Admissions,
6 1. He was a chaplain to King James,
had a benefice in Suffolk, was a fellow of
Manchester 1606 ; Mancb. Fellows, 104-
8 ; Diet. Nat. Biog. At Eccles he showed
himself a Puritan, and was presented for
not wearing the surplice in 1608, but in
1609 he and the curate ' sometimes ' wore
it; Visit. P. at Chester. About 1610 he
was reported to be ' a preacher ' ; Hist.
MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 12. He
was brother of Dr. Francis White, suc-
cessively Bishop of Carlisle, Norwich, and
Ely (1626—38), who printed his works,
including the Way to the True Church
(issued in 1608) in 1624.
*7 From this time the institutions have
been taken from the Institution books,
P.R.O., as printed in Lanct. and Ches.
Antiq, Notes } there were no payments of
first-fruits.
Mr. Jones contributed to the ship
money and other exactions of Charles I
from the clergy, though in 1639 he was
described as ' poor ' ; Misc. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 123, &c. He was a
Puritan. In 1622 it was reported that
he gave the communion to those who sat;
and though nobody stood at the creed or
bowed at the name of Jesus, no present-
ments were made at the visitation ; Papers
at Chester Dioc. Reg. He adopted Pres-
byterianism when established by law, and
signed the ' Harmonious Consent ' of
1648. In 1650 he was assisted by his
son Edmund Jones ; Commoniv. Cb. Sur-v.
13. He was still 'minister of Eccles' in
April 1659 ; Plund. Mins. Accts. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 312. He is
called D.D. by Piccope (xvi, 35) ; note by
Dr. W. A. Shaw. His son John matricu-
lated at Oxford (Brasenose) in 1626, being
sixteen years of age ; M.A. 1631 ; Foster,
Alumni.
88 Edmund Jones, son of the pre-
ceding vicar, entered St. John's Coll.
Cambridge as a sizar in 1645, being
twenty-one years of age ; Admissions,
i, 73. In Manch. Classis (Chet. Soc.)
his ordination is recorded, 123, 131,
132. He was ejected from Eccles in
1662 for nonconformity, but continued to
minister in the district until his death.
He is mentioned in Oliver Heywood's
Diaries, i, 197 ; iii, 81. 'Good Mr. Jones
of Eccles walked out, was tolerably well
though he had been distempered, went to
bed at nine o'clock, was dead before
twelve ; 2 May 1674' ; ibid, iii, 137.
He is also mentioned frequently in Henry
Newcome's Diary and Autobiog. (Chet.
Soc.), being described as ' a true-hearted,
serious man, and a faithful minister.'
M He entered Brasenose Coll. Oxford,
in 1650, being described as 'plebeian';
M.A. 1655 ; Foster, Alumni. He was
nominated as vicar 25 Sept. 1662 ; Pat.
14 Chas. II, pt. 19, no. 143. He is
mentioned in Newcome's Diary, 153.
60 The name is also spelt Isherwood.
He was of Christ's Coll. Cambridge, and
was ordained in 1654 to the charge of
Blackrod ; Bury Classit (Chet. Soc.), 237.
Of his death Oliver Heywood records :
' I could not but reflect on my old school-
fellow, Mr. Thomas Isherwood, vicar of
Eccles, that had been drinking with some
gentlemen, returning home fell off his
horse, was drowned in a ditch that scarce
covered all his head' ; Diaries, iii, 331.
61 Also fellow of the Collegiate Church,
Manchester, 1688 ; educated at Corpus
Christi Coll. Cambridge; M.A. 1688;
Manch. Fellows, 192. He was 'con-
formable' in 1689; Hist. MSS. Com.
Ref>. xiv, App. iv, 229.
68 He was of Brasenose Coll. Oxford ;
B.A. 1692 ; and had been licensed to
Ellenbrook in 1709.
68 Mentioned in a petition by John
Bridge of Eccles, printed in Eccles Ch.
Notes, 33. A William Crooke was pre-
360
bendary of Chichester from 1727 to 1753;
Le Neve, Fasti, i, 273, 276. One of
these names matriculated at Oxford in
1716 ; another or the same was M.A. at
Cambridge, 1724.
84 Educated at Brasenose Coll. Ox-
ford ; B.A. 1712 ; and St. Catharine's,
Cambridge; M.A. 1719; vicar of Pawlett,
Somerset, 1723-6 ; Foster, Alumni. A
letter of his, dated Edingdale, 1727, to
the parish clerk shows him to have been
non-resident, for the vicarage was let ; he
remarks, ' I suppose the surplice fees rise
high this sickly time' ; Eccles Ch. Notes, 34.
65 Probably the Benj. Nicholls who
matriculated at Jesus Coll. Oxford, in
1734; M.A. 1740. He is supposed to
have attracted favourable notice in high
quarters by a vehement sermon against the
rebels of 1745. He lived twenty miles
from the church, which he seldom visited,
performing duty there not above two or
three days a year ; Eccles Ch. Notes, 36.
66 Cudworth and Edward Poole, aged
eighteen and seventeen respectively, sons
of Edward Poole of Woolden, but born at
Newhall in Cheshire, entered St. John's
Coll. Cambridge, in 1734; Admissions, iii,
75. Cudworth Poole died at Woolden,
8 Nov. 1768.
*7 Probably the John son of James
Crookhall of Clifton, who matriculated at
Queen's Coll. Oxford, in 1743 ; B.A.
1747 ; Foster, Alumni. In 1789, having
fallen into debt, his benefice was seques-
tered for a time ; Eccles Ch. Notes, 39.
He was also rector of Woodchurch in
Cheshire from 1747 to 1792. His will
(1788) is in the Manchester Reference
Library ; note by Mr. E. Axon.
68 Educated at Trin. Coll. Cambridge ;
M.A. 1774. He died at the vicarage 28
Mar. 1818 ; he was also incumbent of
Trinity Church, Salford. He had a son, the
Rev. Thomas Clowes, who lived at Eccles.
69 Son of John Blackburne of Orford ;
educated at Brasenose Coll. Oxford ; M.A.
1815 ; Foster, Alumni. He was also
rector of Crofton, Yorks, 1817, and on
being presented to the rectory of Prest-
wich in 1836, he resigned Eccles.
7° Educated at Brasenose Coll. Oxford ;
M.A. 1796; B.D. 1811; incumbent of
St. Michael's, Angel Meadow, Manches-
ter. He died 15 Feb. 1861, and was
buried at Chelmorton ; there is a monu-
ment to him in Eccles Church. His son,
John Howard Marsden, fellow of St.
John's Coll. Cambridge, became a canon of
Manchester. Foster, Alumni ; Manch.
School Reg. (Chet. Soc.).
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
Instituted Name Patron
Feb. 1 86 1. . James Pelham Pitcairn, M.A.71 . . The Crown . .
— 1893. . Hon. Arthur Temple Lyttelton, M.A." „
— 1899. . Frederic D'Austini Cremer, M.A." . „
Cause of Vacancy
d. W. Marsden
d. J. P. Pitcairn
prom. A. T. Lyttelton
Before the Reformation the regular staff consisted
of the vicar, who was bound to reside, and three
chantry priests ; there were, however, others residing
in the parish, and at the visitation of 1 548 seven
names were recorded, while six appeared in 1554.
The old priests dying out, there were only four at the
visitation of 1563 ; viz. Edward Pendleton, the con-
forming vicar, who had also to attend to the school at
Manchester ; his curate ; George Wirrall, the survivor
of the chantry priests ; and John Pilsworth, chap-
lain of the Lady Brereton of Tatton. Two years
later the curate had disappeared, his place being taken
by ' a reader ' ; George Wirrall still survived, but the
chaplain had no mention.74 The parish church and
the chapel at Ellenbrook were probably served for
some time by the vicar and a licensed reader. In
1592 it was stated that the vicar, Thomas Williamson,
did not wear the surplice, and the warden was enjoined
to offer it to him 'so often as he shall hap to minister
the sacraments.' Two men were presented for abusing
one another in time of divine service, and giving bad
words to * the reader.' 7S
It was not long before things improved somewhat,
for in 1610 the vicar and the incumbent of Ellen-
brook were both * preachers.' 76 In 1650 the parish
church had two ministers, but Ellenbrook, which was
not endowed, had sometimes 'a preaching minister*
and sometimes not.77 Little or no change seems to
have been made until last century.78 Many of the
1 8th-century vicars were non-resident, the curate of
the parish church and the minister of Ellenbrook
composing the working staff. The first additional
church was that at Pendleton in 1 776.
Attached to the parish church there were formerly
several chantries. That at the altar of the Trinity
in the south chancel aisle was founded by Sir Geoffrey
Massey of Worsley in 1453, for a priest ' to celebrate
mass and divers obsequies for the souls of him and his
antecessors.' The endowment, ^4 8j., was derived
from lands at Wigan and in Cheshire.79 The Booths
of Barton founded more important chantries about
the same time. Lawrence Booth, Bishop of Durham
1457 to 1480, secured the king's licence in 1450 to
found a perpetual chantry at the altar of St. Katherine
in Eccles Church ; * there were to be two chaplains,
and a rent of 24 marks was assigned for their support.
In addition to their special duties, on double feasts
the chaplains were to take part in the procession with
the other priests and celebrate the canonical hours
' in their surplices, with note devoutly and with
skill, within the choir of the church.' 81 An appro-
priation of the rectory of Slaidburn was obtained,
but lost again, and this chantry failed about I5io.8*
Lawrence's half-brother, William Booth, Archbishop
71 Educated at Jesus Coll. Cambridge ;
M.A. 1851 ; rector of St. John's, Long-
sight, 1850-61. It was during his time
that Eccles Church was restored.
?a Son of the fourth Lord Lyttelton ;
educated at Trinity Coll. Cambridge ;
M.A. 1 877 ; master of Selwyn Coll.
1882-93 5 Hulsean Lecturer, 1891. He
published a volume of sermons and con-
tributed to Lux Mundi. In 1898 he was
made suffragan Bishop of Winchester,
with the title of Bishop of Southampton.
He died in 1903.
7« Educated at Wadham Coll. Oxford ;
M.A. 1873 5 v'car °f Upholland, 1881 ;
rector of Keighley, 1888.
7< From the visitation lists at the Chest.
Dioc. Reg.
The church ornaments, &c., existing in
1552 are recorded in Ch. Gds. (Chet. Soc.),
20.
78 Lanes, and Cbes. Antiq. Soc. v, 61—2.
At the same time a number of non-
communicants were admonished and the
churchwardens were ordered to levy the
I2</. fine for non-attendance at church,
which had not been done. Two parish-
ioners were censured for killing a pig ' at
time of divine service upon the Sabbath
day.'
'* Hitt. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 1 2.
The vicar of Eccles and the curate or lec-
turer of Ellenbrook appear somewhat later
in the list of clerical contributors referred
to above ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 54, 66, &c.
77 Commoniv. Ch. Sur-v. 13, 14.
~8 The visitation list of 1691 shows
the vicar and the Ellenbrook curate to
have been the only clergy ; the latter was
also master of the school.
?9 Raines, Lanes. Chant. (Chet. Soc.),
i, 129 ; the ornaments were a chalice,
two sets of vestments, a missal, 'two
curtains for the altar ends, of silk,' &c.
An account of the foundation of this
chantry is given in Duchy Plead, i, 49-5 1 .
Sir Geoffrey Massey in 1453 8et apart
certain lands to the intent that his feoffees
' should find a pnest to say mass and do
other divine service yearly in the chapel
of the Trinity at Eccles.' John Rainford,
it was stated, was the first chantry priest,
and was succeeded by Geoffrey Grims-
ditch. He in 1510 complained that he
had been deprived of his income by the
injustice of Sir John Brereton and Dame
Joan his wife, who had appointed another
priest — possibly the Richard Penkethman
joined with them as a defendant. The
chantry is also mentioned in Sir Geoffrey's
will of 1457, in which John Gartside is
named as first chantry priest, to be suc-
ceeded by Roger Bentley ; Ellesmere D.
no. 189.
Thomas Swain was cantarist in 1534
(Valor Eccl. v, 227) and Randle Antrobus
in 1 548 (Chant, loc. cit.). The latter is
stated to have been possessed in 1552 of
' a silver cup standing on an eagle's foot,'
perhaps part of the old chantry furni-
ture; Ch. Gds. 21. In 1569-70 he was
living at Frodsham — ' an old papist priest,
and doth not minister ;' ibid. 22.
80 Thomas de Booth of Barton in 1368
directed that his body should be buried
in Eccles Church, before the altar of
St. Katherine the Virgin; Chant. 131.
81 The statutes of the 1450 foundation
are printed in Chant. (132, 133) from the
Lich. Epis. Reg. x, fol. 89, &c. William
Booth, then Bishop of Lichfield, vested
the lands (of the value of 24 marks a year)
in Lawrence Booth, Sir John Byron, and
Seth Worsley, but the Bishops of Lich-
field were to nominate the two chaplains.
361
These chaplains, receiving equal portions
of the endowment, were not to be absent
more than thirty days in the year, nor
hold any ecclesiastical office outside the
parish ; they were daily to say the office
and mass for the dead, for the souls of the
founders and others named, also 'for all
persons to whom God had made him a
debtor." On the founder's obit 30*. was
to be distributed as follows : To the vicar
and each chaplain and stipendiary priest
there present, 6d. each ; to other chap-
lains and to the parish clerk, 4</. each ;
to each of the four clerks singing, id. ;
the rest to the poor, with zos. additional,
id. being given to each person. A board
was to be fixed in St. {Catherine's Chapel,
bearing the names of the founder and
others who were to be prayed for.
The following names of the chaplains
have been found in the Lich. Epis. Reg. :
(i) In 1466, Robert Baguley, chaplain,
having died, Ralph Legh (or Lees) was ap-
pointed ; ibid, xii, fol. 103. After Ralph's
death, Robert Almon was in 1487 ap-
pointed ; xii, fol. 121. (ii) In 1468
Peter Berdesley having resigned, Oliver
Smoult was appointed ; xii, fol. 104.
Smoult in turn resigned, and Ralph Der-
wynd was appointed in 1473 ; xii, fol. 1 08.
One vacancy must have followed, for in
1487 William Bulkley was instituted, after
the death of Henry Reddish ; xii, fol. 121.
Both chaplaincies were filled up on th:
same day ; and the same thing occurred
again in 1498, when Thomas Seddall and
William Bretherton were appointed ; xiii,
fol. 231.
82 Whitaker, Whalhy (ed. Nichols), ii,
511 ; the advowson of Slaidburn, held by
the Prior of Pontefract, was purchased in
1456 by the Booth feoffees, but the king
afterwards claimed it successfully, and the
46
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
of York 1452 to 1464, secured in 1460 the appro-
priation of Beetham rectory to the new chantry or
college of Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary, for
which the Jesus Chapel was built on the north side
of the chancel. A house of residence adjoined for
the use of the chaplains.8* At the time of the
Suppression the clear revenue was £20 is. %d., out
of which the two chaplains or ' fellows ' received
each I o marks, the ' conduct ' or assistant priest had
7 marks, and 2O/. was given in alms. The incum-
bents were bound to celebrate mass daily in the
chapel and ' maintain the choir ' at divine service,
and all three, « by the occasion of the large circuit of
the said parish and the vicar thereof not [being] able
to minister to all the same ' were ' enforced often and
many times to minister sacraments to the parishioners.' M
Jesus Chapel was acquired by the TrafFords, and Trinity
Chapel by the lords of Worsley, as representatives of
the founders.85
There was an ancient schoolhouse in the church-
yard.86 The schoolmaster of Eccles formerly claimed
a small sum from each newly-married couple ; if re-
fused, the boys took the bride's garter. The custom
having become a nuisance, the churchwardens abolished
it, levying \d. or 6d. at each marriage, to be paid to
the schoolmaster of Eccles.87
A place in the churchyard was known as Scots'
Hole, the tradition being that a number of rebels had
been buried there after execution.88
Near the church is a spring called the Lady's
well.881
The ancient charities of Eccles
CHARITIES were but small.89 There was in
1828 a Poor's stock of about £60 ;
and James Bradshaw of Croft's Bank had in 1800
left a rent-charge of £iz a year for education in that
hamlet, while a school had been founded at Roe
Green in Worsley as early as lyio.90 The more
recent charitable endowments are chiefly educational
or ecclesiastical.91
appropriation was consequently nullified.
Paul II in 1466 confirmed the appropria-
tions of Slaidburn and Beetham to the
respective chantries ; and both chantries
benefited under the will of Archbishop
Booth ; Test. Ebor. (Surtees Soc.), ii, 266.
88 Chant. 1 34-8 ; from Lich. Epis. Reg.
x, fol. 95-105. The royal licence was
granted I Dec. 1460. The statutes were
similar to those of St. Katherine's chantry.
The chapel in 1548 seems to have been
suitably furnished, though there was only
one chalice ; the mansion-house had a
garden, croft, and orchard adjoining ; a
rent of 31. 4</. was paid for it to the vicar
of Eccles; Chant. 138, 139.
The following names of cantarists occur :
On 5 June 1460 John Badsworth and
Thomas Shipton, priests, were appointed
to the new foundation ; Lich. Epis. Reg.
zii, fol. 98. In 1466, Badsworth having
resigned, Peter Halstead succeeded ; ibid,
fol. 1 02 A. Halstead died two years after-
wards, and was followed by James Bruche ;
ibid. fol. 104. In 1474 Charles Prestwich
was appointed, on the resignation of Bruche;
ibid. fol. 109. These refer to 'the first
chaplaincy.' In 1475 Ralph Derwynd
was promoted from St. Katherine's to be
second chaplain at the Jesus chantry in
place of John Worthington, resigned ;
ibid. foL 109*. Edmund Beswick fol-
lowed, and in 1497, on his resigning,
William Cramp succeeded ; ibid, xiii, fol.
230*. In July 1534, Thurstan Cocker
having died, George Bowker succeeded
him ; ibid, xiii-xiv, fol. 34. A year or
so later Thomas and George Bowker
were the fellows or chaplains ; Valor Eccl.
v, 227. George Bowker resigned in 1539,
and was followed by Roger Okell ; Lich.
Epis. Reg. xiii-xiv, fol. 37^.
Okell was celebrating at the Suppres-
sion, being then aged fifty-two. His fellow-
priest was George Wirrall, aged forty-six,
who had paid firstfruits in 1538 on appoint-
ment to succeed Thomas Bowker,deceased;
Lanes, and CAes.Rec.(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), ii, 408 ; Church Papers at Chest.
Richard Hyde, a scholar of Cambridge,aged
twenty- two, was their assistant; Chant.i 3 1,
1 37. Roger Okell was buried at Middleton,
5 Nov. 1565 ; Ch. Gdi. 21. In 1556-7
Roger Okell and George Wirrall, clerks,
complained that Thomas Fleetwood had
disturbed them in possession of a mansion-
house by Eccles Church ; Ducatus Lane.
(Rec. Com.), i, 287.
84 Chant, loc. cit.
84 A grant of Trinity Chantry was
made in 1583; Pat. 25 Eliz. pt. i.
Gilbert Sherington held the lands in
1567 ; Ducatus Lane, ii, 354-
86 Notitia Cestr. ii,'53. For the history
of the school see End. Char. Rep.
W Pal. Note-Bk. i, 91 ; Local Glean.
Lanes, and Ches. ii, 170, 175.
88 Loc. Glean, ii, 26, 35.
888 Lanes, and Cbes. Antiq. Soc. xxii, 105.
89 A fund of £37 was reported to
Bishop Gastrell about 1720 ; Notitia Cestr.
ii, 53-
90 The details may be seen in the report
of 1826, reprinted in the Eccles Endowed
Char. Rep. 1904.
In the more recent report the township
of Pendleton, as being in the borough of
Salford, is not included, but it had no
special charities in 1826.
The principal benefactors of the poor's
fund were Dr. Richard Sherlock, Hannah
Leigh (for Barton, Eccles, and Worsley
Lower End), and Edmund Goolden, £10
each in or before 1689. Thomas Smith,
schoolmaster, left £20 to Eccles School.
The capital seems to have been used for
the erection of a gallery in the church,
the wardens paying interest, which in
1826 was distributed among the poor.
The gallery was made free in 1862, but
no repayment of the poor's fund was
made, so that it has been lost.
James Bradshaw's lands were at Davy-
hulme — the Croft, Little and Great Wheat-
field, Carr Hill, Digpool, and Higher and
Lower Red Racker. Of the whole charge
£7 i cxs. was for education ; £3 IQJ. for
bread, linen, &c., for the poor, and £1 to
the curate of Eccles Church for preaching
two sermons on the second Sunday in
June on texts specified. The gift was
enlarged by the donor, who died in 1806,
and the income was £43 a year in 1826.
The income of the Bradshaw charity is
now about £5 5, and is administered under
a scheme made by the Charity Commis-
sioners in 1895, part being given to the
sick and poor and part to education.
The Roe Green School was founded
by the will of Thomas Collier, who gave
a rent-charge of £5 on lands at West-
houghton, called the Ashes, owned in
1826 by William Hulton of Over Hul-
ton. The rent-charge is still paid, the in-
fant schoolmistress at Roe Green National
School being the beneficiary.
The poor benefited under the bequests
of Dame Dorothy Legh, who in 1638-9
362
left £500, invested in the purchase of
Common Head in Tyldesley, a fourth
part of the income going to the poor of
Worsley. In 1826 the overseers had
£11 3*. 4-d. to distribute on this account.
The income of the trust estate has since
then largely increased, and the Worsley
share amounts to ,£55 to ,£60 a year ; it
is distributed in doles of 6s. each.
91 John Greaves of Irlam Hall in 1847
left £1,000 for the poor of Barton, Eccles.
Irlam, and Cadishead, also of Pendlebury
and Pendleton, and for Church of England
Sunday schools. Only £608 was actually
received from the estate, but wag allowed
to accumulate until 1882, when the
total fund was £1,166. The income is
£28 I2J. 4<f., and is managed by the
vicars of churches named by the Charity
Commissioners in 1882.
On the death of the Hon. Algernon
Egerton in 1891 a memorial fund of
£1,100 was raised for. scholarships and
prizes ; the borough of Eccles and town-
ship of Worsley share in the benefits.
James Anderson, who died in 1884,
gave £700 for widows of the village of
Worsley. The income is distributed in
doles of 91. to 1 2J. to widows in the ham-
lets called Alder Forest, Roe Green, and
Mesne Lea. William Samuel Forester of
Roe Green left £100 chiefly for the poor of
Worsley. Thomas Farnworth of Booths-
town left a rent-charge of £i 10*. for the
school fees of poor children of the place.
The income, now £i 5*., is given in
prizes to the children of the Church of
England School at Boothstown.
The Very Rev. G. H. Bowers, Dean of
Manchester, who died in 1872, left £50
for the poor of Swinton ; the income is
£2. John Higham of Swinton left £340
Manchester Corporation Stock on a simi-
lar trust ; the income, £10 41., is dis-
tributed with the last fund. John Doming
of Swinton left £1,500 to trustees, in-
structing them to give £80 a year to the
poor until the fund should be exhausted.
Catherine Dauntesey Foxton of Age-
croft left £6,000 towards providing a dis-
pensary in Pendlebury, but the bequest
lapsed, as it was thought no dispensary
•was needed. The money is stated to have
been applied in founding scholarships at
Owens College.
The following charities also are noticed
in the report : — Eccles Church school,
with Edward Tootal's endowment ; Mon-
ton Presbyterian (Unitarian) Church and
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
BARTON
Barton, 1 195 ; there is no variation to record.
Barton, usually called Barton-upon-lrwell to dis-
tinguish it from other places of the name, has a length
of 7 miles from the north-eastern end, at which the
parish church of Eccles is situated, to the Glazebrook,
which forms the south-western boundary. The
greater part of it lies on the northern side of the
Irwell, but there is on the south bank a considerable
area, forming the modern township of Davyhulme.
The Manchester Ship Canal, opened in 1894, has re-
placed the Irwell for the existing boundaries. The
central and southern parts of the township lie upon
the pebble beds of the New Red Sandstone ; Trafford
Park, Barton, Patricroft, and Monton on the Upper
Mottled Beds and Winton on the Permian rocks and
Coal Measures. Round the parish church the town
of Eccles has grown up, and is now a borough ; the
limits include the village of Barton, a mile to the
south-west, with the hamlets of Peel Green and
Patricroft to the west, and Winton,1 Monton, and
Chorlton Fold on the northern boundary. Ellesmere
Park is in the north-east corner.
The greater part of the area to the south-west of
Barton village was formerly part of Chat Moss, but on
the bank of the Irwell, about a mile north of its
junction with the Mersey, the village of Irwellham,
now Irlam, managed to exist ; and in the south-west
corner, between the Mersey and Glazebrook, was
Cadishead, with Great and Little Woolden to the
north-west on the banks of the Glazebrook. Barton
Moss and Irlam are the names of the modern town-
ships which have resulted from the subdivision of the
ancient Barton. The village of Irlam includes
Higher and Lower Irlam and Jenny's Green.
The Davyhulme portion was crossed from east to
west bj a small brook, a tributary of the Irwell, the
confluence marking the boundary between Barton
and Flixton. Hulme or Davyhulme proper, and
Moorside are on the south side of this brook, with
Calderbank to the west, and Lostock in the eastern
corner. On the north bank of the brook Bent Lanes
occupied an area formed by a bend of the Irwell,
now almost obliterated by the canal ; Crofts Bank,
Wilderspool, Dumplington, and Bromyhurst, going
northwards, occupy the centre, and Trafford Park,
formerly Wickleswick or Whittleswick, lies in the
north-eastern portion, between Stretford and Eccles
Church.
The area of the whole is 10,622 acres,1 or nearly
half the parish. Numerous changes of boundaries
have been made within the last twenty years.3 The
surface is generally level, varying in the main between
50 ft. and 90 ft. above the sea, but there is lower
ground in the south, along the Irwell, Mersey, and
Glazebrook. The population in 1901 numbered
40,169, including 34,369 in Eccles, 234 in Barton
Moss, 4,335 in Irlam, and 1,231 in Davyhulme.
The principal road is the highway from Manchester
to Warrington, passing through Eccles, Irlam, and
Cadishead. A road from Pendleton joins at Eccles,
and others branch off in various directions, the chief
being that through Worsley to Astley and Tyldesley.
The London and North Western Company's line
from Manchester to Liverpool (1830) crosses the
northern part of the township, with stations at Eccles,
Patricroft, and Barton Moss. From Eccles a branch
to Bolton and Wigan goes north-west, with a station
at Monton Green, and a single line branch goes north-
east to Clifton. The Cheshire Lines Committee's
Railway from Manchester to Liverpool passes through
the southern corner, with a station at Irlam ; near
this it is joined by the line from Stockport, on which
is the station of Cadishead. The pioneer Bridge-
water Canal between Worsley and Manchester, formed
in 1758, passes south through the village of Barton ;
the old-time wonder of the aqueduct carrying it over
the Irwell4 has been succeeded by the swing bridge
by which it crosses the Manchester Ship Canal. The
latter great waterway, as above stated, has in this
parish practically replaced the Irwell ; it has two sets
of locks within the township, known as Barton and
Irlam Locks. At Barton the road it carried over it
by a swing bridge. At Irlam there is a ferry, and
another crosses from Davyhulme to Boysnope, where
formerly was a small bridge. There was formerly a
ford and later a ferry to Whittleswick from the Warth,
south of Eccles Church.
While agriculture is the chief industry of the
Davyhulme and reclaimed Chat Moss district, Eccles
and Barton have long been centres of the cotton
manufacture. Fustian cutting is carried on at Cadis-
head. At Patricroft an extensive ironworks was
founded in 1836 by the celebrated engineer, James
Nasmyth, whose hammer is represented on the arms
of the borough of Eccles.
The Eccles Wakes, abolished in 1877, were very
popular ; bear-baiting, cock-fighting, and other sports
were held.5 * Eccles cakes ' have long been famous.
school; Monton recreation ground; Trinity
Wesleyan Chapel at Peel Green, Patri-
croft ; Sarah Anne Tetlow's benefaction
to St. Catherine's, Barton, church and
school ; endowment of St. Mary's, Davy-
hulme ; the school at Davyhulme, founded
1792; Greaves* School, Irlam, founded
1834; Irlam Church charity; Taylor's
charity for Cadishead Wesleyan school ;
Allotment land, Cadishead. For Pendle-
bury, the Greaves' Free School and St.
Augustine's National School ; endowment
of St. John's Church ; parish club room
and mission room at St. Augustine's.
1 In Winton are Kitepool (formerly
Kidpool) and Cleaveley.
a Made up as follows : — Barton, 1,108
acres ; Eccles, 400^ ; Monton, 434$ ;
Winton, 319$ ; Newhall, 85$; Foxhill,
729$; Boysnope, 416$ ; Higher Irlam,
1,288 ; Lower Irlam, 1,129^ ; Cadishead,
2,111 ; Davyhulme, 706$ ; Croft, 285^ ;
Lostock, 423^5 Bromyhurst, 115$;
Dumplington, 359^ ; Whittleswick, 708 J.
The census report of 1901 gives the
details of the new townships thus : Eccles,
2,057 > Barton Moss, including 21 acres
of an unnamed area, 1,489 ; Irlam, 4,620 ;
and Davyhulme, 2,658, the total being
10,824. These areas include 40, 40, 81,
and 8 1 acres of inland water respectively.
8 The Manchester Ship Canal has been
adopted as the boundary in Irlam, as more
convenient than the old course of the
Irwell ; Local Govt. Bd. Order, 34989
(30 Sept. 1896). By the Salford Cor-
poration Act, 1892, modifications were
made of the Barton and Pendleton areas.
* It was used for passenger boats down
to 1860. The Manch. Dir. of 1800 thus
describes the route : 'The aqueduct which
passes the navigable river Irwell at Barton
Bridge is astonishingly grand. It begins
upwards of 200 yds. from the river, which
363
runs in a valley ; over the river itself it is
conveyed by a stone bridge of great
strength and thickness, consisting of three
arches, the centre one of which is 63 ft.
wide and 38 ft. above the surface of the
water, admitting the largest barges navi-
gating the Irwell with masts standing.
The spectator is here gratified with the
extraordinary sight, never before beheld
in this country, of one vessel of burden
sailing over another." The fares from
Manchester to Worsley were is. and 6d.
and is. 6d. and 9</. return. There is a
view of the bridge in Aikin's Country
round Mancb. 113.
6 Manch. Guardian N. and Q. no. 361,
1292, where it is stated that bull-baiting
ceased in 1834, and bear-baiting soon
afterwards ; no. 974, 1101, refer to a pic-
ture of the Wakes. See also E. Axon,
Bygone Lanes. 175. The Wakes continued
to be held, but on private ground.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The close of the marling time was formerly marked
by a * guising.' 6
A company of volunteers was raised at Eccles in
1797-7
For local government Barton, Eccles, Winton, and
Monton obtained a local board in 1854.' *n x^92
this area was constituted a municipal borough. The
remainder of the ancient township of Barton was at
the same time divided into three : Barton Moss, in-
cluding Foxhill and Boysnope ; Irlam, including Cadis-
head ; and Davyhulme, including all to the south-east
of the Manchester Ship Canal. Minor changes of
boundaries were made in 1896. Irlam since 1894
has had an urban district council of twelve mem-
bers ; the other new townships have parish councils.
The Eccles Town Hall, built in 1881, is on the
site of the old cock-pit.
At Patricroft are a hospital and a home for chil-
dren. There also is the workhouse ; the new build-
ing was opened in 1 894. Newlands cemetery was
formed in 1879. The Salford Corporation has a
sanatorium in Eccles New Road.
The inclosure award for Cadishead Moss, with
plan, is at Preston.
The shaft of a Saxon cross was found near Eccles
Church in making the Ship Canal.9 A later cross was
at Barton Old Hall.10 During the cutting of the Ship
Canal a canoe and a hollowed log were discovered.11
A causeway has been traced, probably mediaeval.
The hearth tax return of 1666 shows that Barton
proper had 101 hearths liable ; the principal houses
were those of George Legh, with fourteen ; Thomas
Sorocold, thirteen, and John Barlow, six. Davy-
hulme had seventy-eight, no house having more than
four hearths ; Irlam thirty-seven, Mr. Lathom's, with
six, being the largest dwelling ; Cadishead, twenty-
eight, Thomas Holcroft having eleven ; Eccles and
Monton eighty-two, John Valentine's house having
eleven, and Thomas Minshull's eight."
There are a large number of interesting field
names, among them the following : Lower Irlam —
Eaves, Morley Croft, Bosses, Poos, Sparth, Summer
ley (in strips) ; Jenny Green — Balshaw Fields ; Boy-
snope— Stocky Dole, Parr Round Field, Pipers Field ;
Foxhill — Wall Congre, Hare Horn Meadow ; New
Hall — Stick Ings, Patch Ings, Broad Eyes, Street,
Bagoletine, How Lane Head; Barton Village — Neckars,
Scythy Field, Hoasefield, Acker Meadow ; Barton
Lane — Crossfields ; Barton Bridge — Laster, Warth,
Boatfield ; Dumplington — Wall Congre, Slopes, War-
cock Hill ; Bromyhurst — Shoe Broad, Orkot, Cockle-
ney (Great, Old, Greens) ; Bent Lanes — Shoe Broad;
Davyhulme — Alder Forest ; Croft's Bank — Cercicile,
White Laches, Knows Corn Hill.
Dr. John Hewitt, born at Eccles in 1614, became
chaplain to Charles I, and was executed in 1658 for
taking part in a plot for the restoration of Charles II."
Richard Martinscroft, mathematician, 1586-1667, is
said to have been a native of Eccles.14 Barton Booth,
a tragedian, is said to have been born at Barton in
1 68 1.14 William Tong, Presbyterian divine, was
born at Eccles or Worsley in 1662 ; he ministered
in London till his death in I727-16 John Johnson,
Baptist minister, was born at Lostock in 1 706 ; he
died in 1791." William Hill, a writer on mnemonics,
who died in 1881, was another notability.18 Joseph
Wolstenholme, a mathematician of distinction, fellow
of St. John's College, Cambridge, and professor at
the Indian Engineering College, Cooper's Hill, was
born at Eccles in 1829. He died in 1891."
Under the lords of Manchester the
MANORS great manor or fee of B4RTON was
held by a family using the local sur-
name. In its full extent the fee extended over the
greater part of the parishes of Eccles and Deane, and
as the family held also the manor of Worsley with
Hulton of the king in thegnage, the only townships
exempt from their lordship were Pendlebury, Pendle-
ton, and Clifton in the east, and Rumworth and
Horwich in the north.10 Originally the Barton fee
appears to have been accounted as that of two knights,
but, probably by division among co-heirs, a knight's
fee and a half only was held in 1212 by Gilbert de
Notion in right of his wife, Edith daughter of Mat-
thew son of Leysing de Barton." Of Edith's father
and grandfather nothing is certainly known." She
• The Hht. of Eccles and Barton's Guis-
ing War, printed about 1778, is noticed
in Fishwick's Lanes. Lib. 13.
7 Local Glean. Lanes, and Ches. i, 251.
8 Land. Gam. 7 July 1854. The local
board was constituted the Burial Board in
1877.
9 Now in the Museum, Manchester
University.
10 Lanes, and Cbes. Antiq. Soc. xi, 1 20.
For these and other crosses see also ibid,
xxii, 105-8.
11 r.C.H. Lanes, i, 248-51.
19 Subs. R. bdle. 250, no. 9.
18 An elaborate account of Dr. Hewitt,
with portrait and list of works, was given
by Mr. J. P. Earwaker in Local Glean.
Lanes, and Cbes. i, 267, &c.
14 Gillow, Bibl. Diet. ofEngl. Cath. iy,
494 ; Pal. Note Bk. i, 1 24. Martinscroft
is not a local name.
u He died in 1733. See Diet. Nat.
Biog.
16 Diet. Nat. Biog.
J7 Ibid.
18 Gillow, op. cit. iii, 310.
19 Diet. Nat. Biog.
*> The lordt of Manchester retained
some portions in their own hands, e.g.
Snydale in Westhoughton.
al In 1195 Hugh Putrell owed 5 marks
for a writ of right concerning the fourth
part of the fee of two knights in Barton
and Worsley, the tenants being Edith,
Lescelina, and Maud ; Farrer, Lanes. Pipe
R. 94. This shows that the Barton fee
was originally one of two knights. The
explanation suggested for Hugh Putrell's
claim is that he had married one of four
sisters, whose name is unknown, and that
Edith, Lescelina and Maud were the
others. A difficulty is that while three
parts of the knights' fees were reunited
and came to Edith and Gilbert de Notton,
the other part did not descend in the same
manner. Though Hugh Putrell had
possession of the thegnage manors of
Worsley and Hulton, and granted them to
the ancestor of the Worsley family, they
were found in 1212 to be held by Edith
and her husband ; so that Worsley was
retained or regained, while the fourth part
of two knights' fees was lost ; Lanes. Inq.
and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.)
'» 53» 65. In later inquests, however,
Worsley and Hulton were stated to be
held of Hugh Merrill or Hugh Newell ;
ibid. 301 ; Dods. MSS. cxxxi, fol. 3 7 b.
The half of a knight's fee thus alienated
from Barton does not reappear, and must
364
have been purchased by the lords of Man-
chester, unless it escheated to them. The
knights' fees of Robert Grelley seem to be
given completely in 1212, so that the lost
Barton half fee must have been granted
out again — perhaps to Richard de Lathom
— or compensated by the new gift to
Robert de Byron ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents,
i, 52-6.
M Two sons of Leysing, named Sweyn
and Leysing, owed money in 1129 for
an agreement between themselves and
Stephen, Count of Mortain, as lord of the
land between Ribble and Mersey ; Lanes.
Pipe R. i. It is suggested that the
younger Leysing may have been the
grandfather of Edith de Barton, and it
may be a confirmation of this that the
Barton family were the successors in
Cadishead of a certain Sweyn ; Lanes. Inq.
and Extents, i, 66. Lescelina daughter of
Matthew son of Leysing, lord of Barton,
made a grant in Swinton ; ibid, (quoting
Ellesmere D.) ; and Eda (Edith) daugh-
ter of Matthew, already married to Gilbert
de Notton, was plaintiff in 1203 ; Cur.
Reg. R. 26. The other sister, Maud, is
probably the Maud de Barton who made a
grant in Monton ; Whalley Coueh. (Chet.
Soc.) iii, 894.
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
was one of four daughters and co-heirs, and by her
first husband, known as Augustine de Barton,*3 she
had a son John, who died young, and a daughter
Cecily, who married William, a son of Gilbert de
Notion by a former wife/4 and carried to him the
manor of Barton, and also in right of her father that
of Breightmet.
Gilbert, the eldest son of William and Cecily, was
a minor in 1220 at the death of his grandmother
Edith, but had livery of his lands two years later ; *5
he adopted Barton as a surname, and was made a
knight. He fell into the hands of Aaron, the Jew of
York,26 and parted with large portions of his lands,*r
and finally sold his great lordship to Robert Grelley
his feudal superior.18 This sale was confirmed by his
son John.*9 Gilbert retained or regained the manor
of Barton, but this was given to his daughter Agnes,30
perhaps in view of her marriage with a Grelley,31 and
K Lanes. Inq. and Extend, i, 137, 301.
He was also known as Augustine de
Breightmet, which place in 1212 was held
by William de Notion ; ibid. 71. See
Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), i, 422, citing
the Mobberley charters.
"HWhalley Couch, ii, 521 ; Edith, lady
of Barton, -with the assent of her husband
Gilbert de Notion, for their salvation and
that of her son John and her daughter,
wife of William de Notion, granted half
of Cadishead to Stanlaw Abbey. Edith
and her husband were in other ways bene-
factors of this abbey ; ibid, i, 46, &c.
The son John had seisin of a moiety of
Mobberley as heir to his father ; Ormerod,
Chei. i, 411. William de Notion and
Cecily his wife about 1200 confirmed a
grant to Mobberley which had been made
by Cecily's uncle Patrick with the assent
of her father ; ibid, i, 422.
84 In October 1220 the sheriff was
directed to put Robert Grelley in seisin
of the fee of one knight and a half in
Barton, because the heir of Edith, formerly
wife of Gilbert de Notion, viz. the son of
Edith's daughter, was under age, and his
wardship belonged to Robert j Rot. Lit.
Claus. (Rec. Com.), 438.
In 1222 Gilbert, described as nepos et
heres of Edith de Barton, had livery of 32
oxgangs of land in Barton and Worsley
and the members ; Fine R. 6 Hen. Ill,
m. 7.
*• He sold the advowson of Eccles before
1234 to John de Lacy, because of an
acquittance to Aaron ihe Jew of York
which Lacy had made ; fPhalley Couch, i,
41. Aaron son of Joseus the Jew of
York refeoffed Sir Gilbert de Barton of
the manor of Barton, wilh remainder lo
John son of Sir Gilbert, and lo Agnes ihe
daughter; Dods. MSS. clxix, fol. 154*.
Geoffrey de Chetham assigned to Sir
Thomas Grelley the land and rent de-
mised to him by Aaron, to hold until 205
marks should be paid to Sir Thomas,
either by ihe granlor or by Gilberl de
Barton ; ibid. fol. 153^.
V To Thomas Grelley he sold at diffe-
rent times all his right in Westwood, 3
oxgangs of land held by Agnes widow of
Geoffrey de Worsley and by Adam de
Bowdon, 3 oxgangs of land held by Adam
and Thomas de Hulme, 20 oxgangs of
land held by Adam son of Wronow dc
Wardley, an orchard called ihe Imp Yard,
and olher lands ; De Trafford D. no. 188-
97. To one of these deeds (194) is
appended the seal of Gilbert de Notion,
showing a pile ; lo another (195) Gilberl
de Barton's own seal, paly of four.
Gilbert de Barlon in 1235 granled to
Richard de Bracebridge 3 oxgangs of land
in Brinsop in relurn for a release of all
claims on the Barton fee ; Final Cone.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.) i, 62. In
1 241 for a similar release he sold 4 ox-
gangs of land in Heaton to Richard son of
Christiana de Allerton — probably Richard
de Hulton ; ibid, i, 88.
28 In 1242 Gilberl de Barton held a
knight's fee and a half of Thomas Grelley,
and Thomas held of the Earl of Ferrers,
and he in chief of the king ; Lanes. Inq.
and Extenti, i, 153. In 1246 Thomas
Grelley claimed from Gilbert de Barlon ihe
customs and services due in respect of the
fee of a knight and also in respect of 1 3 ox-
gangs of land where 17 oxgangs made
half a knight's fee ; that he should do suit
at the court of Manchester from three
weeks to three weeks, and render 141. 8</.
a year as sake fee and castle ward. Gil-
bert undertook to do this, and promised
nol to grant, sell, mortgage or alienate
ihe said lenement in Barton in the future
without the licence of Thomas Grelley
or his heirs ; Final Cone, i, 93.
It is evident from several facls — e.g.
lhal ihe Abbol of Cockersand held Wesl-
houghlon as one oxgang by ihe service of
ihe fortielh part of a knighl's fee — lhat
the original fee of Barton was of eighty ox-
gangs or ten plough-lands. Of this a fourth
part had been alienated before 1212;
possibly, as above suggesled, one plough-
land in Aspull, one in Turlon and half in
Brockholes. Of ihe remainder ihree ox-
gangs may have been given in alms, so
that seventeen oxgangs were responsible
for ihe service of half a knighl's fee, in-
slead of ihe original twenty. Of these
seventeen, four must have been sold, so
thai Gilberl de Barlon was liable only for
ihe service from ihirteen.
At Easier 1250 ihe complainl was re-
newed, bul wilh respecl lo ihe ihirteen
oxgangs only — ihe rest may have been
sold — and 41. id. for sake fee ; but
Thomas Grelley further alleged thai Gil-
berl had granled to his daughter, then
only eighl years of age, a moiely of ihe
lenement. Gilbert was adjudged in the
wrong; Cur. Reg. R. 139, m. 9; 140,
m. 7 ; Final Cone, i, 117.
There seems lo be no record of Gilbert's
sale of ihe lordship, which is inferred from
ihe laler hislory.
Gilberl de Barlon was a benefaclor of
Slanlaw ; Wholly Couch, i, 50.
He died in or before 1275, when in-
quiry was made if he had held four
messuages and certain lands, 6s. 8</. renl,
and two parts of a mill in Barton, then in
ihe possession of Robert Grelley ; a fine
was made by which Robert's right was
acknowledged and he granted certain lands
to Gilbert's son John de Barton and his
heirs; Assize R. 123$, m. 11. This
granl included Salleye, half of Boysnope
and land belween ihe Irwell and Chat
Moss ; Copped Greave, Deep Lache, Der-
boch, and ihe Hay are menlioned among
the bounds.
M Whalley Couch, iii, 88 1. John de Bar-
ton in this as in other deeds is described
as 'son and heir' of Sir Gilbert, though
Agnes is called ' daughter and heir.' The
Barton fee released to Robert Grelley
(who died in 1282) comprised, in addition
to Barton proper, the whole or parts of
Aspull, Brinsop, Westhoughlon, Hul-
lon, Halliwell, Breighlmel, Farnworlh,
Norlhdene, Eccles, Monlon, Worsley,
Weslwood, Winlon, Newham, Irlam,
365
Bromyhursl, Davyhulme, Dumplington,
Whitlleswick, and Cromplon wilh Bele-
moor. These were held by various len-
ures ; ihe knighl's fee and a half held of
ihe barony of Manchesler is supposed lo
have been originally constituted as follows:
Barton, Eccles, Dumplinglon, Farnworlh,
Weslhoughton, Brinsop, Aspull, and
Heaton under Horwich — one fee ; and
Irlam, Davyhulme, Bromyhurst, Newham,
Winlon, Monlon, and Whillleswick —
half a fee ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, $4 ;
Mamecestre, ii, 379, where eight oxgangs
of land in the last-named hamlets and in
Barton are said to have rendered the
service for the half-fee in 1322.
By another charter John son and heir
of Sir Gilbert de Barton granted to Robert
Grelley the services of David de Hulton,
Roger de Pendlebury, Richard de Urms-
lon, Robert de Hulton, Germain de
Newham, Richard de Winlon, Roger de
Eccles (chaplain), William de Eccles
(clerk), larfrid de Barlon, Ellis de Barton,
William son of Slephen de Barton,
Thomas son of Adam de Hulme, Adam
son of Thomas de Hulme, Alexander the
Mey, Robert de Birches, John son of
Ralph the Ferryman, Adam son of Henry
de Irlam and John de Bromyhurst ; DC
Trafford D. no. 201. In the same col-
lection (202-205) are ihe charier ciled
above from ihe tVballey Couch, and olhers
connecled wilh ihe Iransfer. In 1302
John de Barlon released lo Thomas
Grelley all his claim arising from ihe
wilhdrawal, after ihe dealh of Sir Roberl
Grelley, of a robe of ihe suit of his es-
quires and of maintenance for a groom
and horse ; Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 151.
Sir Gilbert had a brother William, who
died without issue ; Duchy of Lane.
Assize R. 6, m. 2 d. (Sept. 1357); yet
two years earlier (1355) John de Barton
had claimed a messuage and lands against
Richard son of William de Barton ; ibid.
R. 4, m. 5.
80 Sir Gilbert de Barton granted to
Agnes, his 'daughter and heir," for her
marriage a moiety of the vill of Barton
in homages and services, of Dumplington
and Hulme in demesnes and services, of
Irlam, &c., in services ; Dods. MSS. cxlix,
fol. 150. He granted her wardship to
Sir John de Blackburn, and she was to
be married to his eldesl son and heir ;
ibid. 1 50 b. Sir John, however, released
lo Sir Thomas Grelley ihe said wardship
and marriage ; ibid.
There was anolher daughter Alice, who
made granls of land near Boysnope ; De
Trafford D. no. 206-09 i also a daughler
Amery ; Assize R. 408, m. 16.
81 II appears lhal Agnes was married lo
John Grelley, whose place in ihe Grelley
pedigree is unknown ; for Loretla, daugh-
ler of John Grelley, was in 1292 a
plaintiff in a Barlon case ; Assize R. 408,
m. 4 d. Agnes, as daughler of Gilberl de
Barlon, was plaintiff from 1275 onwards
in various suits respecting the manor.
Against Peler Grellfy, uncle of Roberl,
she soughl half ihe manor in 1275, and
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
her daughter and heir Loretta by marriage with John
del Booth, about 1 292, carried it into a family which,
as Booth of Barton, retained it for 300 years.
John de Barton, the son of Gilbert, retained lands
in the township which his descendants enjoyed for
some generations ; occasionally they laid a claim to
the manor."
By 1282 the manor was in the hands of the
lord of Manchester, and it was surveyed with the
estates of Robert Grelley, who died in that year.*8 In
1320—2 Barton proper seems to have reckoned as
half a knight's fee, or eight oxgangs of land.34
Of the Booth family only a brief sketch can be
given. Loretta, the heiress of Barton, was perhaps still
unmarried in June 1292 ;**
but about this time, if not ear-
lier, John del Booth or Booths
married her." He was suc-
ceeded by his son Robert ; 31
in or before 1343 Robert was
followed by his son Thomas del
Booth,38 who died, apparently
by violence,89 in 1368, having
directed his body to be buried
before the altar of St. Kathe-
rine in Eccles Church.40 His
eldest son John succeeded, and
BOOTH of Barton.
Urgent three boars' heads
erect and erased table
langued gules.
lived until September 1422 ; he had a numerous
next year demanded two-thirds, or two-
thirds of a moiety, against Robert Grelley ;
De Banco R. 7, m. 21 ; 13, m. 3 ; 17,
m. zjd. Cecily, the widow of Gilbert de
Barton, had the other third ; ibid. R. 33,
m. 48 ; see De Trafford D. no. 1 99, 200.
Agnes may have married, secondly,
Alexander le Mey of Bromyhurst ; Alex-
ander and his wife Agnes in 1 277 granted
to the former's son Alexander a messuage
and two parts vof an oxgang of land in
Barton, to be held of the heirs of Agnes ;
Final Cone, i, 152. If so, she was living,
a widow, in 1292 ; Assize R. 408, m. 32,
3 d. The Mey family long continued to
hold lands in Barton.
M John de Barton was engaged in
various suits regarding the manor in 1278
and 1279; De Banco R. 27, m. 39 d,
43 d. ; 30, m. 48.
Thomas del Booth and Gilbert de Bar-
ton, with his sons Hugh, Edmund, and
John, were implicated in a seizure of
cattle and assault at Barton in 1345 ;
De Banco R. 344, m. 21. Gilbert de
Barton was a defendant in 1353 ; Assize
R. 435, m. 4. In the following year
John son of Gilbert son of John de Barton
claimed certain lands in Barton which hi*
father Gilbert had demised to Robert de
Hulme and his heirs ; Duchy of Lane.
Assize R. 3, m. 3. In 1361 he claimed
two-thirds of the manor of Barton against
Roger La Warre, Eleanor his wife, Thomas
del Booth, and Ellen his wife ; Assize R.
440, m. i.
In 1360 John de Barton 'and Robert
hit son granted Thomas del Booth an acre
by the Pool Brook near the Pool Bridge,
to strengthen Thomas's mill race and
enlarge the mill pool ; De Trafford D.
no. 224. In 1363 John de Barton, in
conjunction with Denise his wife and
Robert his son, enfeoffed Thomas del
Booth and Ellen his wife of all their
lands in Barton, between Eccles and
Irlam and between Newham and Davy-
hulme, for an annuity of 201. ; ibid. no.
225. Releases were afterwards given by
Alice and Margaret sisters of Robert de
Barton, and by Edmund, a son of Gilbert
de Barton ; ibid. no. 227, 228.
In 1388 Maud, widow of Robertson
of John de Barton, released to John del
Booth her rights, including her dower in
Boysnope, for a rent of 301. ; ibid. no.
232, 233. In 1404 Thomas de Barton
allowed John del Booth and his heirs to
bear his arms — three boars' heads sable ;
Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. i6oi. ; Ormerod,
Chet. (ed. Helsby) i, 524 ; while in 1423
Thomas son of Gilbert de Barton, perhaps
the same person, gave a release to Thomas
del Booth of all his right in the manor of
Barton, and in all messuages, lands and
tenements, rents and services in the vill ;
De Trafford D. no. 239. With re-
gard to the permission to use the Barton
arms, it may be noted that variations of
the coat had already been assumed by the
Booths ; Visit. 1533 (Chet. Soc.) 79 ; also
De Trafford D. no. 256.
88 Lanci. Inq. and Extents, i, 246. There
were 40 acres in the demesne, bringing in
261. 8</. a year ; a garden and plat of
meadow were in the lord's hands ; the
fishery yielded i Sd. and the herbage and
pannage 91. ; perquisites of the halmote
were valued at 5*. ; lands let brought in
381. 8d. ; and the rents of the free ten-
ants 171. n^d. ; the mill was worth 45*.
a year, but one-third was held as dower
by the widow of Sir Gilbert de Barton.
84 Mamecestre, ii, 362, 379. The mill
of Barton, situated by the Irwell, was
worth 401. in 1322; the tenants of the
lord ground thereat to the sixteenth mea-
sure. A several fishery between Barton
ford and Frith ford was worth %d. ;
four fens had been partially inclosed for
building upon, and with some arable land
let at 121. ; ibid. 371, 372, 364. The
lord's tenants of Irlam and seven other
hamlets held eight oxgangs of land, and
paid i6d. sake fee, 51. for castle ward, and
provided puture for the Serjeants ; ibid.
289.
84 Loretta, as daughter of Agnes daugh-
ter of Sir Gilbert de Barton, released her
lands in Barton to her trustee, Ralph de
Monton, chaplain ; De Trafford D. no.
210. No direct proof of the marriage
with John del Booth has been met with,
but it may be assumed from the descent of
the lands ; Loretta is not heard of again.
86 Averia, wife of Adam son of Simon
de Barton, in 1284 demanded against John
de Barton a messuage in Barton, and
against John del Booths an oxgang of land
in the same vill ; De Banco R. 52, m. 24.
In 1292 Amery, daughter of Gilbert de
Barton claimed land in Barton against
John del Booths, but was non-suited on
failing to appear ; Assize R. 408, m. 16.
Ten years later John de Booths did not
prosecute a claim against Cecily widow of
Gilbert de Barton ; Assize R. 418, m. 8.
The plural form, Booths, which occa-
sionally appears, leads to the supposition
that the place from which this family
derived its name was Booths in Worsley.
If so, the founder of it may be identified
with a John de Booths, who as late as
1303 was claimed by Henry de Worsley as
his native and fugitive, but who produced
Henry's charter, releasing to him all
action of nativity, so that he with his
sequel and chattels should remain free and
of free condition for ever ; De Banco R.
145, m. i d.
87 By fine in 1307 a settlement of lands
in Barton was made, Robert ion of John
366
del Booths being plaintiff, and John del
Booth of Barton deforciant ; Mr. Ear-
waker's note. Robert de Booth attested
charters in 1317 and 1325 ; De Trafford
D. no. 265, 264. Agnes widow of
Robert del Booth is named at Easter,
1354; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 3,
m. 2.
88 John son of Gilbert dc Barton in
1343 granted to Thomas del Booth and
his tenants at Bickford common of pasture
on Pool Moss in Barton, viz., between
Pool Brook and Sandyford under Harley
Cliff in Boysnope, and between the fences
of Poolfields and the bounds of Worsley
upon Chat Moss ; Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol.
i$8£. Thomas del Booth had claimed
common of pasture as the right of his
father Robert, dispossessed by Gilbert de
Barton, John his son and Denise his wife,
and Robert son of John ; De Banco R.
334, m. 179 d.
In 1345 John La Warre, lord of Man-
chester, and Joan his wife granted to
Thomas son of Robert del Booth 30 acres
of the waste in Barton at a rent of ICM.,
with remainder to John son of Emma de
Bury, brother of the said Thomas ; Dods.
MSS. cxlix, fol. 157*. Roger La Warre,
lord of Manchester, confirmed to Thomas
del Booth all the lands, &c., in Barton
which had descended to him from his
father, and his other lands more recently
acquired ; ibid. fol. 1600. Roger La
Warre in 1355, after reciting that John
La Warre had granted Thomas del Booth
30 acres in Barton at a rent of 291. 4^.,
and 30 acres of the waste at a rent of
ioj. ; and that Joan La Warre and Roger
had granted to Thomas and Ellen his wife
and their heirs lo acres for the rent of id.
during the life of Thomas and 51. after-
wards, reduced the total rent to zd. a year
for the life of Thomas and his sons
Thurstan and Robert, 441. \d. to be paid
afterwards, and granted other lands ; De
Trafford D. no. 219. The rent was in
1357 reduced to id. after the death of
Thomas ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv,
no. 1 5. Roger, a son of Thomas, is named
in 1362 ; De Banco R. 418, m. i d.
89 In 1369 Ellen his widow appeared
against John son of Thomas de Hulme,
Robert son of Richard de Worsley, and
many others, concerning her husband's
death; Coram Rege R. 434, m. nd.
John de Hulme was pardoned in 1384 for
his share in the matter ;CaI. Pat. 1381-5,
P- 393-
40 Raines, Chantries (Chet. Soc.), 131.
His will is printed in Baines, Lanes, (ed.
1868), i, 283 ; from Had. MS. 2112, fol.
133/169. Licences for his oratories were
granted to Thomas del Booth of Barton in
1361, 1365, and 1366 ; Lich. Epis. Reg.
v, fol. 6, II, 1 5 b.
SALFORD HUNDRED
offspring, of whom Sir Thomas, the eldest son, suc-
ceeded him ; Sir Robert married Douce daughter and
co-heir of Sir William Venables of Bollin in Cheshire,
and became ancestor of the Booths of Dunham Massey,
Earls of Warrington ; Roger, a third son, was ancestor
of the Booths of Mollington ; William and Law-
rence, other sons, became respectively Archbishop of
York and Bishop of Durham." John del Booth died
seised of the manor of Barton, with various messuages
and lands in Barton and Manchester, all held of
Thomas La Warre in socage by the service of \d.
yearly, and worth £60 a year. Thomas his son and
heir was over forty years of age.4*
The new lord of Barton, who became a knight,
was succeeded by his son Thomas a and his grandson
Robert. The last-named left a son and heir, Sir John
Booth,44 slain at Flodden in 1513 ;45 his son and
heir John, then about twenty-three years of age, died
in December 1526, leaving as heir an infant son
John,46 who died in 155 2,47 and whose son John,
then ten years of age, died in 1576, leaving four
daughters as co-heirs — Margaret, who in 1564 was
contracted to marry Edmund Trafford ; Anne, who
ECCLES
married George Legh of East Hall in High Legh, she
being his second wife ; Katherine, who died in 1582
unmarried ; and Dorothy, who married John Moly-
neux, a younger son of Sir Richard Molyneux of
Sefton.48
Edmund Trafford at first claimed the whole estate,
in right of his wife as eldest sister; but in 1586 a
division was agreed upon, by which the manor of
Barton and a moiety of the lands went to him, the
other moiety being divided between Anne and
Dorothy. The portion of the former of these in-
cluded Barton Hall, and descended to two George
Leghs, son and grandson of Anne ; the younger
George died in 1674, and nis s'lster Elizabeth being
unmarried, the estate went by his will to his cousin,
Richard Legh of High Legh, descended from the
first-named George Legh by his first wife.49
Barton Old Hall was described in 1836 as a
' brick edifice with two gables in front, a projecting
wing, and mullioned windows.' 49a It was demol-
ished in 1879, but for many years previously had been
used as a farm-house.
The issue of Margaret and Edmund Trafford were
41 For Sir Robert Booth and his descen-
dants see Ormerod, C&«. (ed. Helsby), i,
523, &c. For Roger, ibid, ii, 382.
William Booth, after study at Cam-
bridge, became prebendary of Southwell in
1416, and steadily rose till he was made
Bishop of Lichfield in 1447 and Arch-
bishop of York in 1452. He founded
the Jesus Chantry at Eccles. He died
at Southwell in 1464, and his will is
printed in Test. Ebor. (Surtees Soc.), ii,
264. There is a notice of him in Diet.
Nat. Biog.
Lawrence Booth, master of Pembroke
Hall, Cambridge, from 1450 till his death,
and chancellor of that university, adhered
to the Lancastrian side in the wars of the
Roses, being chancellor of Queen Mar-
garet and tutor to her son the Prince of
Wales. He became Bishop of Durham in
1457, and though suspected by Edward
IV, was afterwards reconciled to him, and
was Lord Chancellor in 1473-4. He was
promoted to the archbishopric of York in
1476, and died four years later. See
Diet. Nat. Biog. He founded a chantry
in Eccles Church.
The Booth family provided other not-
able ecclesiastics in the i5th century.
43 Towneley MS. DD. no. 1486 ; Dtp.
Keefer't Rep. xxxiii, App. 24-5. John del
Booth was knight of the shire in 1411 and
1420 ; Pink and Beaven, Par/. Repre. of
Lanes. 47, 51.
There are grants of land to John son of
Thomas de Booth in De Trafford D. no.
232, &c. John de Booth of Barton
had licence for his oratories in 1421 ;
Lich. Epis. Reg. ix, foL 3*.
48 In 1421 Thomas son of John Booth
leased to his brother Robert the land called
Westslack, as recently inclosed ; De Traf-
ford D. no. 238. In 1429 Thomas
Booth the elder and Thomas his son were
defendants in a Barton case ; Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. 2, m. 14. Sir Thomas
Booth was living in 1445 ; ibid. R. 8, m.
20, 37^. In 1454 William Booth, Arch-
bishop of York, and Sir Robert Booth,
sons of John Booth, as surviving feoffees,
granted to Thomas, son and heir of Sir
Thomas Booth, various lands in Salford,
Flixton, Hulme, and Croft, with ultimate
remainders to the heirs male of John
Booth ; De Trafford D. no. 102.
Nicholas Booth of Barton, and Henry,
sons of Sir Thomas Booth, were with
others in 1445 called to answer Alice
widow of Nicholas Johnson, who accused
them of the death of her husband ; Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. 8, m. 29 ; 9, m. 27.
44 He was made a knight by Lord
Stanley in the Scottish Expedition of
1482 ; Metcalfe, Book of Knights, 7. Sir
John was made a justice of the peace in
1487 ; Dods. MSS. cxlii, fol. 162.
45 The statement is an inference from
the date of his death, 9 Sept. 1513 ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, 15. The
inquisition gives an outline of his descent
from Thomas del Booth 1357, which has
been followed in the text.
46 Ibid, vi, no. 46 ; the manor of Barton,
Barton Hall, and lands in Barton, Irlam,
Hulme, Newham, &c., Poolmill, Barton
Mill, Croft Mill and fishery, &c., were
held of the lord of Manchester in socage
by id. rent. Dorothy [Boteler] his wife
survived him. John, the heir, was only
a year old. At the Vint, of 1533 he
was said to be six years of age ; Chet. Soc.
78.
47 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, 39.
The estate included 200 messuages, three
water mills, a fulling mill, &c., in Barton,
Manchester, Bradford, Openshaw, Higher
and Lower Ardwick, Pyecroft, Florelache,
Marshallfield, and Salford ; the lands in
Salford were held of the queen in socage
by a rent of 41., but all the rest were held
of Lord La Warre. Anne, the widow,
afterwards married Sir William Davenport,
and was in possession of her dower in
1564, when the inquisition was taken ;
she was the daughter of Sir Richard
Brereton of Worsley, and was still living
at Bramhall in 1576. For a suit between
her and her son John Booth in 1559, see
Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 209.
48 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, 8 ; the
ages of the daughters are thus given : —
Margaret Trafford, 15 ; Anne, 13 ; Doro-
thy, 12 ; and Katherine, 12. Katherine
died early in 1582 while still under age
and in the queen's guardianship, holding,
as it was wrongly stated, a fourth part of
the manor of Barton by the fourth part of
a knight's fee ; ibid, xiv, 13. The mar-
riage agreement between Edmund Traf-
ford and John Booth for the marriage of
367
the former's son Edmund with Margaret,
' daughter and heir ' of the latter, is printed
in the Visit, of 1533, vii-ix. In 1574
John Booth had a dispute with his father-
in-law, Sir Piers Legh, as to his wife's
marriage portion j Ducatus Lane, iii, 14.
49 From an abstract of title prepared
about 1700 in the possession of W.
Farrer. The pedigree is given in Orme-
rod, Cbes. i, 462 ; also Visit, of 1664, p.
179. Anne Booth married George Legh
in 1587; she was dead in 1612, when
her son George married Frances Brooke.
George Legh paid £10 in 1631 on declin-
ing knighthood ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 215. In 1651 he com-
plained that his estate had been seques-
tered, though he had always assisted the
Parliament, lent money, and taken the
Engagement. It appeared that before the
war had actually broken out he had sent
two men armed to the force raised by Lord
Strange, but had afterwards taken refuge in
Manchester ; Cal. of Com. for Compound-
ing, iv, 2898 ; Royalist Comp. P. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), iv, 78.
George, the grandson, who died in
1674, bequeathed his lands in Barton to
his wife for life, and his lands in Man-
chester to his sister Elizabeth for her life,
with remainder to his cousin Richard Legh
and male issue, and then to Thomas
Legh. Elizabeth agreed to this settle-
ment.
It appears from the fines that a settle-
ment of the manor was made in 1586,
Sir Peter Legh and Sir Edmund Trafford
being plaintiffs, and Edmund Trafford and
Margaret his wife, Anne Booth, and John
Molyneux and Dorothy his wife, deforci-
ants ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 48,
m. 4. In 1588 a settlement was made
on George Legh and Anne his wife, the
estate being forty houses, 400 acres of
land, &c., in Barton, Openshaw, &c. ;
ibid. bdle. 50, m. 115. For John Moly-
neux, see Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii,
24.
Dorothy Booth's share descended to a
daughter, who married Robert Charnock
of Astley in Chorley, and their daughter
and heir married Richard son of Sir Peter
Brooke of Mere in Cheshire ; Visit, of
1613, p. 9 ; Ormerod, op. cit. 1,465.
49a Baines, Lanes.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
for some reason passed over by the husband, the
manor of Barton and the estate there being bestowed
upon Cecil, his son by a second marriage ; it has
descended like Stretford.60 Courts leet and baron
continued to be held until about 1872."
The vill of Eccles" is named in ^th-century
charters ; it appears to have been largely in the
hands of the monks of Whalley, being a rectory
manor." Possibly MONKS' HALL, standing on
higher ground a quarter of a mile to the north-west
of the church, took its name from them.*4 In 1632
Christopher Anderton of Lostock, as impropriator of
the rectory, sold Monks' Hall to Ellis Hey.Ma The
Hey family were of some continuance in the neigh-
bourhood, and a pedigree was recorded in i664.Mb
In the Civil War they experienced the displeasure of
the Parliamentary authorities for aiding the king's
forces." After the Restoration the hall became the
place of worship for a Nonconformist congregation.56
By the end of the I yth century it had been acquired
by the Willises of Halsnead near Prescot.66*
Monks' Hall was described in 183635 a 'venerable
wood and plaster fabric now a farm-house.' Of this
timber building, however, only a portion remains at
the back of the present house, and a picturesque
black and white half-timber end facing the garden
on the east side has been spoiled by the insertion
of a large bay window on the ground floor. A stone
wing, now entirely modernized, has been added,
probably in the I yth century, in front of the old
timber building ; it is covered with rough-cast, and
has little or nothing to distinguish it from an ordinary
modern villa, except that the roofs are covered with
stone slates. The building has long ceased to be
used as a farm-house, and is now a private residence.57
A stone with the inscription, ' Mrs. Helen Willis,
relict of Martin Willis, gent, deceased, me aedifi-
cavit,' 58 is said to have been in the older part of the
MONKS' HALL
60 The manor of Barton has been regu-
larly included in the records of Traffbrd
estates ; see Lanes. Inq, p.m. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 329 ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 80, no. 4 ; 100, no. 22 ;
282, no. 99.
41 Information of Messrs. Taylor, Kirk-
man & Co.
w There is no variation in the spelling
of the name calling for notice, except
Heckeles, 1278.
" Whalley Couch, i, 42. William de
Eccles released 8 acres belonging to the
church of Eccles in exchange for half an
oxgang of the church land, formerly held
for life. To John his brother the same
William granted 16 acres in the vill of
Eccles ; ibid, i, 43. Monithorns was ad-
jacent to Eccles and to Monton, and was
granted by Gilbert de Barton to the monks
in pure alms ; a pit at Sevenlows was one
of the boundaries ; ibid, i, 50, 49. lor-
werth son of Morgan de Barton and
Agnes his wife released all their claim to
Monithorns in consideration of a payment
of 6s. ; ibid, iii, 921. lorwerth de Barton
and Richard his son were also benefactors
regarding Westwood ; ibid, iii, 912-13.
54 In 1394 Richard de Burghton
[Broughton] granted to Henry del Monks
and Margaret his wife all his messuages
and lands in the vill of Barton ; Ear-
waker MSS. There was thus a family
surnamed Monks living in the township,
who may have given a name to Monks'
Hall, or taken one from it.
S4a Anderton of Lostock D. (Mr.
Stonor), no. 112. A pleading of 1632
shows that Ellis Hey of Monkton Hall in
Eccles, Chorlton Hall, Bolton le Moors,
&c., had a son and heir Ellis, then mar-
ried to Mary, daughter of StephenRadley ;
Pleas of Crown, Lane. bdle. 331. The
younger Ellis and his wife were both
under age.
34b Dugdale, Visit. 133 ; they are de-
scribed as of Chorlton Hall in 1664.
Dorothy Hey occurs at Irlam in 1529 ;
Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.), i, 136. John
Hey about 1540 held a house, garden, and
land at Frearforth Green in Monton, pay-
ing 1 31. 4</. a year to the Abbot of Whal-
368
ley; Couch, iv, 1238. Roger Hey in
1541 contributed to the subsidy 'for
goods ' ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 140. In 1552 Thomas Hey
and Isabel his wife had a suit with Ro-
bert Edge, Margaret his wife, Thurstan
Woodward and Ellen his wife, respecting
a house, &c., at Eccles ; Ducatus Lane.
i, 255.
85 Ellis Hey of Monks' Hall was, about
1647, stated to be 'very old and infirm,
and too much in debt to compound ' ; but
later he or the trustees of his infant grand-
son and heir paid a fine of ,£309 for his
' delinquency in assisting the forces raised
against the Parliament ' ; Cal. of Com. for
Compounding, iii, 1923 ; Royalist Comp.
Papers, iii, 221.
46 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. v, 3.
561 Raines, in Gastrell's Notitia, ii, 53.
V Canon Raines (loc. cit.) says that
when it was a farm-house the public had
the privilege of a passage way through
the building.
" She married Willis in 1681.
SALFORD HUNDRED
house or in a barn adjoining, but no trace of it can
now be found.
Opposite the hall was formerly an orchard, the re-
mains of which existed until recently, where, in August
1864, while laying a new street, an earthen vessel
was discovered containing about 6,000 silver pennies,
chiefly of the reigns of Henry I, II, and III, several
of John, and a few of William I of Scotland. The
coins were claimed as treasure trove by the Duchy of
Lancaster, but selections were presented to the British
Museum and to several museums in Lancashire.59
BENTCLIFFE was another mansion-house in
Eccles, lying to the south-east of the church, on the
border of Pendleton ; it was for a long period the
residence of the Valentine
family, who died out in the
1 8th century. They were ori-
ginally of Flixton.60 Richard
Valentine died in July 1556,
leaving a son Thomas, only
three years of age. The capi-
tal messuage of Bentcliffe was
held of the heir of William
the Clerk in socage by render-
ing a pound of incense to the
church of Eccles, this rent
identifying it with the estate
granted by William the Clerk
to his brother John about
1250." Land in Barton was held of the heir of
Agnes daughter of Gilbert de Barton by the rent of
a gillyflower, and messuages, &c., in Little Houghton
and Haslehurst in Worsley of the lord of Worsley,
by a pair of white gloves or \d. yearly.61
Thomas Valentine was succeeded by his son John
and grandson John.68 The younger John's estate
was sequestered by the Parliamentary authorities,
because when he was high constable of the hundred
of Salford in 1644, Prince Rupert, advancing into
VALENTINE of Bent-
clifFe. Argent a bend
sable between six cinq-
foils gules.
ECCLES
Lancashire, lodged at BentclifFe, and ordered its
owner to send out warrants for provisions for the
prince's army ; this he did, ' being in great fear and
terror,' but nothing was actually secured for the
troops. As soon as Prince Rupert had departed, the
garrison at Manchester sent for John Valentine, and
under threat of imprisonment and loss of his estates,
he was ordered to bring in £zo in money and £10
worth of provisions ; and this was performed. In
spite of this ready compliance a Parliamentary Com-
mittee ordered sequestration, and he redeemed his
estate in 1651 by the payment of £255 47. 9</.6*
A charter of incorporation was
BOROUGH granted to ECCLES in 1 892," and a
grant of the commission of the peace
was made two years later,66 armorial bearings following
soon afterwards. A new council chamber and police
courts were opened in 1 899. The town is provided
with parks, library,67 baths, sewage works, cemetery,
electricity station, fire station,
tramways,68 and other conveni-
ences under public control.
The area within the borough,
in addition to Eccles proper,
includes Patricroft, Monton,
Winton, and Barton village ;
it is divided into six wards,
each with an alderman and
three councillors, viz. North-
east or Monton and Park, East
Central or Eccles, South-east
or Irwell, West Central or
Patricroft, West or Winton,
and South-west or Barton.69
BOROUGH OF ECCI.KS.
Or on a mount vert a
church proper ; on a chief
azure between two branchet
of the cotton plant proper
a pale argent toith a steam-
hammer sable thereon.
Gas and water are supplied by the corporations of
Salford and Manchester respectively.
MONTON10 was the manor of the monks of
Whalley, being held of the king in socage as 2 ox-
gangs of land, by a rent of 6/.71 The tenure of the
59 Mr. John Harland prevented the
coins from being dispersed in the first
instance.
90 From the Vawdrey deeds it appears
that Thomas Valentine, living in 1476
and 1487, had sons John, George, and
Geoffrey. John, who was dead in 1508,
had sons John and Thomas, of whom the
latter survived. Thomas Valentine of
BentclifFe, son of John Valentine, and his
mother Joan Langtree, widow, in 1516
made a feofFment of messuages, lands, &c.,
in Eccles, Barton, Little Houghton, Wors-
ley, and Bedford. In 1536 he granted all
his lands in Eccles, Barton, and Worsley,
to his bastard sons John and Richard for
life, with remainder to his right heirs.
It is probable that this was the Thomas
Valentine of BentclifFe — the place is also
called BenclifFe and BeanclifFe — whose
will (dated 1550) is printed by Piccope,
Wills (Chet. Soc.), ii, 1 34, his son Richard
being the chief beneficiary.
« Whalley Couch, i, 43.
M Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. x, 31.
M Thomas Valentine was buried at
Eccles 21 Apr. 1614, and his son John
30 Mar. 1625. For the latter, see Duchy
of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxv, 18. John his
ion and heir was born in 1611.
64 Vawdrey D. Cal. of Com. for Compound-
ing, iv, 2725. He recorded a pedigree in
1664, giving his age as fifty-five ; Dugdale,
Visit. 320. He died early in 1681, and
his son Thomas was buried a week after
his father. Richard Valentine, the son
and heir, was born in 1675, and appointed
sherifF of the county in 1713. He died
two years later, and by his will (1714)
left BentclifFe to 'Thomas Valentine,
clerk, formerly of Dublin College, his
kinsman.' This Thomas is believed to
have been the son of Francis Valentine of
Manchester, younger brother of Richard's
father. Thomas Valentine lived at Frank-
ford in Kilglass, co. Sligo, and 'in 1766
(1763) devised the estate to Samuel, eldest
son of John Valentine of Boston in New
England, by a member of which family
the hall and 50 acres of land were sold
about the year 1792 to a Mr. Partington ';
Piccope, Wills, loc. cit. Samuel Valen-
tine of BentclifFe paid a duchy rent of
32*. jd. in 1779 ; Duchy of Lane. Ren-
tals, 14/25.
This account of the Valentines is taken
partly from the late Mr. Earwaker's notes
on the family, compiled from the Eccles
registers, wills at Chester, and other
sources.
68 26 May 1892.
66 4 Aug. 1894.
*7 The library was established in 1904,
and the present building erected in 1908.
Information of Mr. C. J. Mellor, libra-
rian.
68 The tramways are worked by Salford
Corporation.
*9 A full description of the boundaries
is given in the council's Year-book, com-
369
municated to the editors by the town
clerk, Mr. E. Parkes.
7° Maunton, Mawinton, xiii cent.
71 Rentals and Surv. 379, m. 13.
Monton was rated as 3 oxgangs of land,
as appears by a charter of Maud de Barton
granting half an oxgang there, 'to wit, the
sixth part of the town ' ; Whalley Couch.
i, 56. The abbot's holding is described
as 2 oxgangs in 1324 ; Dods. MSS. cxxxi,
fol. 37^. The survey of 1346 records
that the Abbot of Whalley held half the
land in Monton in socage by a rent of 61.;
Lord La Warre and the Abbot of Cocker-
sand held the rest, the Abbot of Whalley
holding of them ; Add. MSS. 32103,
fol. 146. The rent of 6s. appears in
the sheriffs compotus of 1348 ; while
in an extent made in 1445-6 it is re-
corded that ' the abbot of Whalley holds
the moiety of all the lands and tenements
in Monton in socage, and renders 6s.
yearly ; he says that he holds in frank
almoign ' ; Duchy of Lane. Knights' Fees,
2/20.
Hugh the clerk of Eccles, who held
i oxgang, gave 10 acres in Monton and
Old Monton to Cockersand Abbey ; Chart.
(Chet. Soc.), ii, 702, 703.
The Whalley lands were derived largely
from grants by the Byron and Worsley
families. Early in the I3th century
Maud daughter of Matthew de Barton
granted half an oxgang of land in Monton
to William the Clerk of Eccles, at a rent
47
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
abbots appears to have been quite uneventful."
After the suppression 7J it was in 1 540 granted to
Sir Alexander Radcliffe of Ordsall.74 In 1612 it was
sold to Roger Downes of Wardley.74 The Slack is an
ancient name in the locality.76
WINTON " gave a name to the chief residents.73
This family seems to have been succeeded by the
Wydales or Wedalls, who continued here till the
1 6th century.79 NEWH4M, apparently represented
by the more recent Newhall, was in the neighbour-
hood.80 BOTSNOPE, anciently Boylesnape, is several
times mentioned in the charters.81 The name has
practically become obsolete, but there is a Boysnope
Wharf on the Ship Canal.
of \od.y with free common on her lands
in Swinton, Little Houghton, and Mon-
ton ; Wballcy Coucb. iii, 894. William
the Clerk sold all his right to Geoffrey de
Byron for 13 marks ; ibid. 891. Gilbert
de Barton granted land as an appurtenance
of Monton to Geoffrey, the bounds be-
ginning at Gildenhaleford, following the
hedge of Eccles as far as the monks' gate,
across Westslack to the brook by Torthalen,
and along the brook to Caldebrook and up
this to Denebrook ; ibid. 880. Richard
de Monton son of Hugh the Clerk, and
Ellen the daughter of Geoffrey de Byron,
granted to Geoffrey son of Geoffrey de
Byron lands of his mother in Monton,
the rents being, to Cockersand izd. and
to Richard de Worsley \6d. ; ibid. 898.
Geoffrey de Worsley granted an oxgang of
land in Monton, previously held by Adam
de Kenyon, to Richard son of Geoffrey de
Byron, and this seems to have come to
the younger Geoffrey as heir of his brother
Richard ; Whalley Couch, iii, 897 ; Assize
R. 404, m. 7.
The two Geoffreys de Byron had various
lawsuits respecting their properties in
Barton and Worsley from 1250 onwards ;
Cur. Reg. R. 162, m. 3 d. ; 171, m. 8 d. ;
178, m. 1 3d.; Assize R. 1235, m. 1 1 d.
Geoffrey the son finally granted his manor
of Monton, with lands in Swinton, to the
monk* of Stanlaw ; Whalley Couch, iii,
877. It was alleged that he was of un-
sound mind at the time, having been
paralysed ; and the monks had to refute
this charge, and thought it prudent to
procure releases and quitclaims from all
those who could in any way allege a title
to the lands included in the grant : Ed-
mund Earl of Lancaster, Richard son of
Geoffrey de Worsley, Henry de Worsley,
Isabel daughter of Geoffrey de Byron and
sister of the grantor, and Ellen another
daughter of the elder Geoffrey ; ibid.
882-900.
At the grange of Monton in 1291 the
monks were found to hold 2 plough-lands
worth 301. a year, assized rents of 33*.,
and profit of store cattle, z6s. %d. ; ibid, i,
335-
7a In 1292 Agnes widow of Richara de
Monton made a claim for dower in an
oxgang of land in Monton, but on the
abbot showing that she had lived in adul-
tery with Elias de Whittleswick and then
with William le Norreys, and had never
been reconciled to her husband, her claim
was refused ; Assize R. 408, m. i d.
Henry son and heir of Richard de Worsley
in 1296 granted to Geoffrey son of Thomas
son of Litcock de Salford the rents due
to him from the monks of Whalley, viz.
2t. 8</. in Monton, zs. •$</. in Swinton, and
y. in Little Houghton ; Ellesmere D.
no. 218.
In 1465 Ottiwell Worsley, Rose his
wife, and Rowland the son, granted to
Robert Lawe, vicar of Eccles, and John
Reddish of the Monks' Hall, the elder,
the lands called Monton, Monton Hey,
the mill, the Westwood, Huntington
Clough, &c., held of the Abbot and Con-
vent of Whalley for a term of years, at
the rent of £9 101. 8</. ; 6s. was due to
the king and i id. to the lord of Barton ;
Ellesmere D. no. 35.
7" The survey made for the king at
that time states that the court had always
been held at Eccles for the hamlets within
the parish. The mill was a corn-mill, out
of repair. The tenants of Monton and
Swinton had common on Swinton Moor,
and the abbot used to pay 71. i id. to the
lord of Worsley ; the tenants of Monton
also had common in the pasture of Alve-
shaw. They were not to fell timber
without the licence of the lord or his
officers ; Wholly Coucb. iv, 1236-40.
7« Pat. 32 Hen. VIII, pt. iv ; see also
Duchy of Lane. Pleadings, cxv, B, 4.
76 In a fine of 1607 regarding the
manor of Monton and various messuages
and lands in Barton and Worsley, Roger
Downes was plaintiff and Sir John Rad-
cliffe with Oswald Mosley, jun., and Anne
his wife, deforciants ; Pal. of Lane. Feet
of F. bdle. 71, m. 41. In the fine of
1612 Sir John Radcliffe and Alice his
wife were the deforciants ; ibid. bdle. 82,
m. 31. In the inquisition taken in 1639
after the death of Roger Downes of Ward-
ley, Monton is not described as a manor,
but the lands, &c., there were said to be
held of the king by knight's service ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvii, 54.
7fi Simon del Slack in 1329 granted to
a feoffee all his land in Barton, with the
rent of jd. and the homage and other
services due from John son of John de
Prestwich ; De Trafford D. no. 213.
Richard son of Simon sold all his rights
in the Slack to Thomas del Booth in
1348 ; ibid. no. 217 ; Dods. MSS. cxlix,
fol. 157, 158. Thurstan son of Thomas
del Booth claimed a messuage and lands in
Barton in 1359 against William son of
Simon del Slack ; Duchy of Lane. Assize
R. 7, m. i.
77 Anciently Withinton.
78 Thomas Grelley, who died in 1262,
granted to Richard de Winton 7 acres,
within bounds beginning where Tordal
Syke ran down to Caldebrook, at a rent
of I4<£ ; Whalley Couch, iii, 910.
Richard son of Richard the Rymour of
Winton in 1277 released his right in
Westwooa to the monks of Stanlaw, and
about the same time made a grant of land
near Blakelow in the field of Eccles ;
Agnes his widow in 1284 released her
claim for dower in return for a cow, &c.,
given by the monks ; ibid. 909-11. John
de Winton also released his claim to
Westwood ; ibid. 912. Richard the
Rymour and John his brother attested a
Barton charter ; De Trafford D. no.
206. Margaret widow of Henry de
Worsley and John de Winton were in
1326 charged with trespass by digging in
the Abbot of Whalley's turbary in Swin-
ton ; De Banco R. 264, m. 57 d.
In 1531 the Abbot of Whalley leased
to John Booth of Barton Westslack,
Kitepool (Kepill), and Westwood, at a
rent of £2 51. ; Whalley Couch, iv, 1241.
7» In 1353, at Pentecost, Richard de
Wydale and Cecily his wife obtained a
messuage and lands in Barton from Mar-
gery widow of John de Winton, and
370
John, Alice, Cecily, and Ellen his chil-
dren ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 2, m. i d.
This appears to be connected with an
earlier suit, in which John son of Roger
de Barlow claimed from Cecily daughter
of David de Hulton, Thomas del Booth,
and John son of Robert de Worsley, two
messuages and 24 acres in Barton ; Ellen,
the mother of Cecily, had settled these
lands on her, but had afterwards married
the plaintiff and given them to him, and
Cecily, under age, had been induced to
release her claim. It was held that she
was justified in repudiating the release ;
ibid. R. I, m. 3. The former suit was
still proceeding in 1359; Dtp. Keeper's
Rep. xxxii, App. 340. Alice, Emma, and
Cecily, daughters of Margaret de Winton,
were charged with depasturing at Barton
in 1362 ; De Banco R. 411, m. 233 d.
Richard Wedall, one of the charterers
of Barton, died in 1523, and his son and
heir, being a minor, became the ward of
John Booth ; Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 165.
Giles Wedall contributed to the subsidy
in 1541, 'for goods'; Misc. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 140.
80 William son of Odo de Newham
occurs as defendant in 1261 ; Cur. Reg.
R. 171, m. 8 d. In 1275 Germain de
Newham complained that Geoffrey de
Byron of Monton and Robert Abbot of
Stanlaw had deprived him of his common
of pasture in too acres of wood in Bar-
ton. Geoffrey replied that he had by a
hey inclosed 30 acres of the said 100
acres, and that the abbot held that in-
closed portion, but the plaintiff had never
had any right in it, though he might
have in the residue; Assize R. 1235,
m. II d.; 1238, m. 34. Margery the
daughter of Germain de Newham about
1295 married Thomas son of Thomas de
Hulme ; De Trafford D. no. 251.
In 1351 Hawise widow of Richard de
Newham claimed dower in two messuages
and various lands in Barton, Hugh son of
Gilbert de Barton being the defendant ;
Duchy of Lane. Assize R. i, m. i d. By
fine in 1385 an assignment of dower was
made to Margery de Newham out of the
estate of John son of Richard de New-
ham, by the intervention of John son of
William de Newham. The tenement
was two messuages, 40 acres of land, &c.;
Final Cone, iii, 24.
'Robert Cliveley of Newham within
Barton' occurs in a deed of 1664.
81 A mediety of the wood of Boylsnape
was among the lands granted to John de
Barton by Robert Grelley ; De Trafford
D. no. 203. Alice daughter of Gil-
bert de Barton, in a grant of lands and
easements, excepted Boylissnape in re-
citing ' pannage in all the woods of the
vill of Barton ' ; ibid. no. 206.
In 1322 the lord of Manchester had
in Boysnope 1 2 acres of pasture worth
6s. ; and the third part of the wood, being
covered with oaks, was attached to
Cuerdley Wood; Mamecestre, ii, 367, 370.
Maud widow of Robert de Barton leased
to John son of Thomas del Booth all her
dower lands, &c., in the Boylsnape egh in
1388 ; De Trafford D. no. 233.
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
IRLAM ** was early divided among several ten-
ants.83 From one family, which adopted the local
surname,84 the Hultons of Hulton acquired a holding M
which descended to the Farnworth stock, and appar-
ently to an Irlam branch.86 The surname Irlam is
found in the district down to the i8th century.87
About the i6th century the Lathoms of Irlam appear;
they were the principal local family for about two
centuries, holding, according to one inquisition, a
third part of the manor, and they had another estate
at Hawthorn, near Wilmslow, on the Cheshire side
of the Mersey.88 At the end of the i8th century
Irlam Hall was owned by John Greaves, a wealthy mer-
chant, partner with Sir Robert Peel as a banker, and
it descended in his family till 1 866.89 Baines noted
in 1836 that the hall was used as a farm-house, and
was of Elizabeth's time, containing a principal beam
of massive size, the largest, probably, in the county.
C4DISHE4D>°vras in the izth century held of
the king by serjeanty of carpentry, one Edwin being
8a Irwulham (1292) ; 'Irlam alias Ir-
wellham ' (1680).
83 In 1322 Irlam, like Newham, Win-
ton, and Monton, was a hamlet of Barton,
in the possession of the lord of Man-
chester ; Mamecestre, ii, 379.
84 Dolfin de Irlam about 1190 granted
his part of the land between the crooked
oak and the stub at the head of Wulpit-
croft, and his part of the wood between
Elmtree Pool and Elbrook, to the canons
of Cockersand ; Simon, the brother of
Dolfin, and John de Hulme concurred ,
Cockertand Chartul. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 719-
21. About 1245 Henry, Abbot of Cocker-
tand, granted this land to Geoffrey de
Irlam and his heirs at a rent of i6d. ; a
mark of silver was to be paid at death in
lieu of relief, and half a mark at the
death of a wife; ibid. 722. In 1461
Richard del Booth held land in Irlam at
a rent of i6d. ; ibid, iv, 1238.
William son of Avice de Irlam granted
to Adam son of William de Irlam certain
lands upon the ' Ruedis ' between the
high road and the marsh, at the rent of a
pair of white gloves or id. ; De TrafFord
D. no. 259. In 1292 inquiry was
made if William son of Avice de Irlam,
uncle of William son of Cecily de Irlam,
had been seised of a messuage and land
then tenanted by Adam de Didsbury and
Margery his wife ; Adam stating that he
held by grant of Cecily sister and heir of
the former William. The charter was
alleged to be a forgery, but a verdict was
given for Adam ; Assize R. 408, m. 5 d.
85 Adam de Irlam (see last note) was
defendant in suits respecting lands in
1278 and 1279, the plaintiffs being
Richard and Ralph de Irlam ; De Banco
R. 23, m. 53; 24, m. 4; 28, m. 33.
Agnes widow of Adam in 1301 released
to Richard de Hulton the elder all her
right in her husband's lands ; De Trafford
D. no. 262 ; while Thomas, the son of
Adam, had in 1298 leased all his lands in
Irlam for six years to William de Hulton,
excepting the dower lands of his mother
Agnes ; Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. i6zb.
Richard son of John de Irlam granted
to Richard de Hulton part of his land on
'Ruyedishe' in Irlam ; ibid. fol. 162. To
William son of John de Irlam, Richard
son of Richard the Harper released all
his claim upon Plumtree Butt, Thomas
son of Richard de Irlam being a witness ;
De Trafford D. no. 263, 266. In 1317
William son of William son of John de
Irlam granted all his lands in Irlam to
Richard de Hulton ; ibid. no. 265.
86 Richard de Hulton in 1306 gave his
son Adam lands in Irlam and Sharpies
and the mill pool of Flixton, with the
service of John son of William de Hul-
ton from all lands in Irlam ; Dods. MSS.
cxlix, fol. 162.
In 1324 Margaret widow of Adam
de Pendlebury claimed as dower the third
part of a plough-land in Irlam ; Richard
de Hulton was defendant, and charged
Margaret with adultery, but she alleged
that she had been reconciled to her hus-
band 5 De Banco R. 248, m. I54d.
Richard de Hulton in 1325 gave to
Robert son of Adam de Hulton, for life,
all his lands in the hamlet of Irlam in
the vill of Barton, excepting those which
he had acquired from Adam del Birches
of Didsbury ; Robert and his tenants were
to grind their corn at Richard's mill at
Flixton to the twentieth measure ; De
Trafford D. no. 264. The grandson,
Richard de Hulton, made a similar grant
in 1331 (ibid. no. 267), and in 1334 gave
to John son of Henry de Hulton [of
Farnworth] his purparty of the waste of
Irlam, then held for life by Robert son of
John de Hulton ; John de Hulton and
his tenants were to grind at the Flixton
mill, without giving multure, being ' hop-
per free ' for ever. William son of Ellen
de Irlam, one of the tenants, paid an
arrow as rent ; ibid. no. 270—2. Adam
de Hulton granted his lands in Irlam to
his son Robert in 1340, with remainder
to another son, Adam ; ibid. no. 269.
The Booths of Barton acquired lands from
Cecily daughter of David de Hulton in
1350 from John de Barton in 1362,
and from Henry son of John de Hulton
of Irlam in 1425 ; ibid. no. 273-$. In the
last grant the ' Ferry houses ' are men-
tioned ; in 1360 there lived William del
Ferry of Irlam; Assize R. 451, m. 3.
Adam son of Adam de Hulton in 1368
sold his lands in Irlam to Thomas del
Booth ; Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 163.
The Hultons of Farnworth continued
to hold land in Irlam in socage of the
lords of Manchester ; Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Chet. Soc.), ii, 6. The Booths of Bar-
ton and Asshaws of Shaw were also land-
owners in the i6th century, as appears by
the Cal. of Inquisitions p.m. In 1563
John Booth acquired from Richard Dut-
ton messuages and lands in Irlam, and a
free fishery in the Irwell ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 25, m. 269.
87 Richard de Irlam and Alice his wife
and Thomas (son of Richard) and Maud
his wife were plaintiffs in 1360; Duchy
of Lane. Assize R. 8, m. 13. William
Irlam occurs in 1472 ; Agecroft D.
no. 345. In 1580 John Johnson alias
Irlam and Edmund Hey were deforciants
in a fine respecting property in Irlam,
Humphrey Barlow and Ellis Hey being
the plaintiffs ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 42, m. 181. Thomas Irlam and
Isabel his wife in 15 84 sold land to Hum-
phrey Barlow ; ibid. bdle. 46, m. 98.
Thomas Irlam of Barton in 1631 paid
^lo on declining knighthood ; Misc.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 215.
Frances Irlam of Pendleton in 1717 re-
gistered an estate as a 'papist' ; Engl.
Catb. Nonjurors, 153.
88 Pedigrees are given in Dugdale's
Visit. 175 ; Earwaker, East Ches. i,
133 ; and Baines, Lanes, (ed. Croston),
iii, 272. The origin of this branch of
the Lathom family and of its interest in
Irlam has not been ascertained, but they
371
may have succeeded to the Westleigh
family; see Final Cone, ii, 1 2 1, and the
account of Rivington. In 1448 Oliver
Barton and George Massey were defor-
ciants of messuages and lands in Barton,
Irlam, Rivington and Westleigh ; appar-
ently the same as those held in later times
by the Lathoms ; ibid, iii, 1 14.
In 1582 George Lathom made a settle-
ment of his estate of ten messuages, 100
acres of land, &c., in Irlam, Rivington,
Bedford, Westleigh and Liverpool ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 44, m. 42. George
Lathom died in Dec. 1602 ; he desired to
be buried in Eccles Church, where his
wife was buried. To his son Thomas he
left all his implements of husbandry, and
he names his other sons John and Henry;
Munch. C. Lett Rec. ii, 187.
Edmund Lathom, grandson of George,
died 2 Apr. 1639, leaving as heir his son
Edmund, then twenty-four years of age.
The inquisition recites a settlement made
by the grandfather, and states that the
third part of the manor of Irlam was held
of Sir Cecil Trafford ; Towneley MS.
C 8, 13 (Chet. Lib.), 755. Robert Tip-
ping of Irlam died in 1622, holding a
messuage and lands of Edmund Lathom
(the son of Thomas) by the rent of a pair
of white gloves — possibly the land of
Adam de Irlam already mentioned ; Lanes.
Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii,
371.
In 1680 Thomas Lathom of Irlam
agreed with his mother, Jane Lathom of
Hawthorn near Wilmslow, respecting her
annuity of £10, granting her his capital
messuages, Irlam Hall and Bedford Hall,
and lands there and in Rivington, Angle-
zarke, Manchester and Audenshaw, for
twenty-one years, to discharge the annuity
and various other debts ; deed in Man-
chester Free Library. John Halsall,
claiming by demise of John Leigh, com-
plained in 1695 of having been ejected by
Thomas Lathom from an estate in Irlam,
Bedford, &c. ; Exch. of Pleas, Trin. 7
Will. Ill, m. 41.
Thomas Lathom actively assisted in the
revolution of 1688. His ultimate heir
was a daughter Jane, who married John
Fmney of Fulshaw Hall ; Earwaker, Eatt
Ches. i, 130, where it is stated that
Thomas Lathom had so far involved his
estate by his efforts in favour of William
III that he left his heir ' nothing more
than the coat of arms.' An account of
the Finneys is given, ibid, i, 153-6.
89 Burke, Commoners, iv, 106. John
Greaves of Irlam died in Dec. 1815, and
his son John succeeded him ; being suc-
ceeded in Apr. 1 849, by his sister Mary,
who died in 1866 ; Raines, in Gastrell's
Notitia, ii, 50 ; Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1868),
i, 595 ; monument in Eccles Church. In
1886 the hall was owned by Mr. J.
Browne ; Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. iv,
307, 308.
90 Cadwalesate, 1212 ; Kadewaldesire,
1222; Cadewallessiete, 1226 ; Cadewalle-
set, c. 1300 ; Cadewallesheved, 1350.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
the tenant. Afterwards Sweyn had it, and in 1212
it was held in thegnage by Gilbert de Notion, in right
of his wife Edith de Barton, by a rent of 4*." In
1222 there were two under-tenants, Geoffrey de
Dutton and Alexander de Cadishead, each apparently
paying z/. yearly.91 Before this date Edith de Barton
had granted to the monks of Stanlaw the land which
Alexander held of her, they paying the king the
customary rent of zs.K Afterwards ' the land of
Cadishead ' was granted to the monks by William de
Ferrers, with the assent of Agnes his wife, at a rent
of 6s. 8</. a year ; M this rent he released about 1240,
after the death of his son's wife Sibyl, and the monks
held in frankalmoign.94 In the sheriffs compotus of
1348 the 4/. thegnage rent was still found charged
against the Abbot of Whalley, but on the abbot's
producing the second charter of William de Ferrers,
showing that he held in alms, the 4^. was deleted.
WOOLDEN appears as Vulueden in 1299. In 1331
John son of John de Woolden made an agreement
with Adam son of Thomas de Holcroft respecting
land by the Glazebrook.96 On the suppression of the
abbey, Cadishead, with Great and Little Woolden,
was granted to Sir Thomas Holcroft,97 but appears to
have been transferred by him to the Holcrofts of
Holcroft. Like Holcroft Hall it was in 1619 in the
possession of Ralph Calveley of Saighton, near Ches-
ter, being held of the king in chief by the fortieth
part of a knight's fee.98 In the 1 8th century it was
held by the Poole family,99 and was afterwards sold
to the Bridgewater Trustees.
DAVTHULME™ was a portion of the original
Barton fee. It gave the surname of Hulme to a
family, or probably two distinct families, who held
lands of the Bartons and their successors in title, the
lords of Manchester.101 But little is known of them,
though they continued to hold lands here till the
1 8th century.10* Inquisitions were taken in 1600 and
91 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 66. The
jury did not know how the land had been
alienated from the king's service. The
land is called 'one oxgang.' Edwin the
carpenter had held it ' by the service of
making carpentry in the king's castle of
West Derby' ; ibid. 133. If Sweyn was
the son of Leysing (see above) the King
Henry who granted Cadishead to Edwin
was probably Henry I.
92 Ibid, i, 133. That each paid 2j. is
inferred from the rent of 41. due from
the whole of Cadishead (ibid. 137), and
from Edith de Barton's charter to Stan-
law, in which it is stated that Alexander
held a moiety.
98 Wholly Couch.ii, 521.
94 Ibid. 519. The 6s. %d. would include
the zs. due from the moiety the monks
already held ; how they acquired the
other moiety is not apparent, unless it
had in some way escheated to William de
Ferrers, who thereupon granted it to them
at an increased rent.
95 Ibid. 520. William de Ferrers died
in 1247 ; his son William had by Mar-
garet, his second wife, a son Robert, born
in 1241,80 that Sibyl, the first wife, must
have died earlier than that year.
At Cadishead in 1291 the monks were
said to hold two plough-lands worth 40*. a
year ; they had 40;. also from the profits
of the store cattle ; ibid, i, 335. About
1540 the tenants at will, nine in number,
paid £7 os. jd. a year ; ibid, iv, 1 240.
M Kuerden MSS. iv, G. 5.
W Pat. 3 1 Hen. VIII, pt. J ; Lanes, and
Ches. Rec. (Ree. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
ii, 382. For subsequent disputes see
Ducatus Lane, iii, 95, 129, &c.
98 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), ii, 260. He seems to have
held it as trustee of Dame Alice Fitton,
the daughter and heir of Sir John Hol-
croft of Holcroft. His son John suc-
ceeded him, and was tenant at his death
in 1634, when Charles I granted Great
and Little Woolden and Cadishead to Sir
Kenelm Digby ; Pat. 9 Chas. I, pt. 5 ;
Cat. S.P. Doat. 1631-3, p. 41. The jury
in 1634 found that John Calveley was a
bastard ; Lanes, and Ches. Rec. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 346.
Edward Calveley died in 1636 possessed
of the Cadishead lands ; his son and heir
John was then seventeen years of age ;
Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxviii, 75.
John Calveley' s lands were sequestered by
the Parliamentary authorities, but the
Holcrofts appear about 1652 to have tried
to regain possession ; Exch. Deps. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 28, 129, 35 ;
Cal. Exch. Pleas, C. 4. In the reference
last given Cadishead is called a manor.
The Holcrofts retained or recovered part
of their estate, as Woolden is named in
1652 and 1680 as part of their property ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 152, m.
77 ; bdle. 204, m. II, 35. In 1700 it
was owned by Richard Calveley, who sold
Great Woolden to — Poole of Warring-
ton ; Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1868), i, 595.
99 The manor of Cadishead and mes-
suages, water-mill, lands, &c. in Cadis-
head and Glazebrook were in 1723 settled
upon Edward Poole and Mary his wife ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 289, m.
73. Cudworth Poole, the son, vicar of
Eccles, died at Great Woolden Hall in
1768. For the family see Ormerod,
Ches. (ed. Helsby), i, 583 ; iii, 461.
Little Woolden was sold by Richard
Calveley to — Leach of Warrington, and
was owned in 1868 by John Arthur
Borron of Warrington ; Baines, Lanes.
(ed. 1868), i, 596.
100 Hulme was the usual name ; Dew-
hulm, 1313; Defehulme, 1434; Deaf-
hulme, 1559: Devyhulme, 1737.
101 Gilbert de Barton granted to
Thomas Grelley, who died in 1262, two
oxgangs of land held by Adam de Hulme 5
and about 1270 the homages of Thomas
son of Adam de Hulme and of Adam
son of Thomas de Hulme were named
in the grant by John de Barton to Ro-
bert Grelley ; De Trafford D. no. 190,
201. Adam de Hulme was a plaintiff in
1276-8, in respect of common of pasture
in Barton ; Assize R. 1235, m. ii j 405,
m. 4 d.
103 John de Hulme made a grant of part
of Whittleswick, apparently before 1217 ;
De Trafford D. no. 280. By a deed
dated 1222 ('anno regni regis Henrici
septimo ') Thomas de Hulme granted to
his brother Richard a moiety of his
mother's dower, viz. a sixth part of his
land in Hulme with half of his share in
Saltey, viz. one acre, which his father
John had divided with Eda, lady of Bar-
ton ; a rent of zoJ. was payable ; De
Trafford D. no. 250. Robert son of
Richard de Hulme in 1295—6 granted a
half of his land in Hulme and Saltey to
Margaret, daughter of Germain de New-
ham, and her heirs by Thomas son of
Thomas de Hulme; ibid. no. 251. Richard
de Hulme was a witness, and Robert was
a clerk. Thomas de Hulme and John his
372
brother attested a Barton grant made
earlier than 1262 ; ibid. no. 196.
There were several Adams. In 1278
Adam de Hulme complained of disseisin
by Robert Grelley in Hulme and Barton ;
Assize R. 1238, m. 31. Alice daughter
of Gilbert de Barton, widow, granted to
Adam son of Simon de Hulme land in
Saltey near Boysnope ; Adam ' the Earl '
(comes) of Hulme was a witness ; De
Trafford D. no. 206. Stephen de Barton
granted to Robert son of Simon de
Hulme 3 acres in Hulme, lying between
the Limme and the street ; W. Farrer
D. The estates of Adam the Earl (' le
Horl' ; De Trafford D, no. 298) seem
to have gone to a Birches family, for
Ellen widow of Robert del Birches in
1309 released to Robert son of Sir Henry
de Trafford all her right in the lands in
Hulme formerly belonging to Adam ' le
Erie" by charter of Gilbert de Barton ;
and Alexander de Birches did the same ;
ibid. no. 252, 253. Joan widow of
Alexander and Robert his son, a minor,
occur in 1311; De Banco R. 1 84, m. 113.
Robert de Birches made an exchange with
Adam de Hulme, including an oxgang of
land in ' Ruchfinee ' ; C. of Wards,
Deeds, and Evidences, box 153, no. 6.
There was also in 1324 an Adam son of
Adam son of Roger de Hulme ; Assize R.
426, m. 9.
Thomas de Hulme was in 1292
acquitted of a share in the death of
Alexander de Barlow ; ibid. 408, m.
20. He was probably the Thomas son of
Adam to whom Agnes de Barton released
all claim on lands in Hulme and Barton ;
De Trafford D. no. 208. In 1313 he
was a plaintiff, John La Warre and Joan
his wife being defendants ; while eleven
years later there were other disputes
between the latter pair and Thomas de
Hulme and his wife Ellen ; Assize R.
424, m. II ; 426, m. 9 d, 6, 27. Thomas
was living in 1338, when he attempted to
recover land in Barton against the -La
Warres ; but the writ was quashed for a
grammatical error — ' Questus est nobis
Thomas de Hulme et Elena uxor ejus ' ;
ibid. 1425, m. 6. His son John in
1339 had 'the sixth part of the manor of
Barton ' settled upon him by his parents,
Thomas being here called ' the elder ' ;
Final Cone, ii, ill. In the same year
Thomas granted to a trustee all his lands
in Barton, together with the reversion of
the dower of Margery widow of Robert
de Hulme. De Trafford D. no. 216.
SALFORD HUNDRED
i64l.los They acquired the adjacent manor of
Urmston.10* The hall was purchased by William
Allen, banker, of Manchester, who became bankrupt
in 1788, when Davyhulme was sold to Henry Norris,
a Manchester merchant, who died in 1819. His
daughter Mary conveyed it in marriage in 1809 to
Robert Josias Jackson Harris, of Uley, Gloucester-
shire, who adopted the surname of Norreys, and died
in 1 844 ; their son Robert Henry Norreys resided
in the hall till his death in 1887. The hall was
ECCLES
afterwards demolished and the grounds are used as
golf links.105 The house was entirely of brick, the
only signs of antiquity being some old beams, perhaps
belonging to a former house. In front of the house
was a sundial made at Manchester in 1809. Other
families formerly connected with Davyhulme were the
Byroms of Salford Ia6 and the Bents.107
BROMTHURST became the seat of a branch of
the Barton family,108 and of another surnamed Mey,
who also were known as 'de Bromyhurst.' 1W In
In 1317-18 Robert son of Thomas de
Hulme had released to Sir John La Warre
hit claim on the soil and common of
pasture of all the waste in Barton ; Dods.
MSS. cxlix, fol. 156*. As late as July
and Michaelmas 1354 Margery widow of
Robert son of Thomas de Hulme, then
wife of Henry de Bolton, was defendant
in a plea concerning land which Gilbert
de Barton had granted to Robert de Hulme
and his heirs, and which John de Barton
*ought to recover ; Duchy of Lane. Assize
R. 3, m. 2, 3.
The Thomas son of Thomas de Hulme
already mentioned made an exchange of
land in Davyhulme, and on the Holt, and
on the Hill, in 1313; De Trafford D.
no. 254. ' Magote ' widow of Thomas son
of Thomas de Hulme occurs in 1324 ;
C. of Wards, Deeds, and Evidences,
box 153, no. 5.
Margaret widow of Thomas de Hulme
the younger in 1347 received from the
trustee lands in Flixton, the remainders
being to John ion of Thomas, and then
to Thomas's brother ; De Trafford D.
no. 113. Margaret widow of Thomas de
Hulme, and John and Adam his sons,
were defendants in a Barton casein 1354 ;
Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 3, m. I.
John son of Thomas de Hulme was a
defendant in 1356 and later; Duchy of
Lane. Assize R. 5, m. 10 d. ; 7, m. 3 d. ;
8 m. 5, 12. In 1361 he claimed land in
Barton as kinsman of Robert de Hulme ;
Assize R. 441, m. 3. Two years later he
made a feoifment of all his lands in Bar-
ton, with common of turbary in Urmston,
and the reversion of the dower of his
mother Margaret ; De Trafford D. no.
226.
In 1356, while still a minor, William
son of another John de Hulme com-
plained that Thomas del Booth, to whom
his custody had been granted by Sir Roger
La Warre, had made waste in his estate,
consisting of fifteen messuages, 100
acres of land, &c., in Barton ; messuages
and granges had been pulled down, and
twelve apple trees, worth 6:. $d. each, had
been cut down and sold ; Duchy of Lane.
Assize R. 5,m. 28. William de Hulme in
1383 granted an annuity of 40*. to John
de Cholmondeley and Agnes his wife,
charged upon his lands in Hulme within
the vill of Barton ;De Trafford D. no. 255.
William de Hulme — probably there were
two persons — attested deeds in 1389 and
1430 ; ibid. no. 285, 257. In Jan.
1477-8, John, son and heir of Alice
widow of William Hulme, made a feoff-
ment of his lands in Hulme, Manchester,
and elsewhere in the county, Alice re-
leasing her right in the same. Hugh
Hulme, chaplain, son of John Hulme,
was one of the trustees ; C. of Wards,
Deeds, and Evidences, box 153, no. 9.
A writ for an inquisition after the
death of James Hulme of Davyhulme
was issued on 5 Apr. 1434 ; Dtp. Keeper's
Rep. xxxiii, App. 34. A deed of 1435
mentions James Hulme (deceased), and
his son William, whose wife was named
Alice ; Mascy of Tatton D. in War-
rington Museum. The marriage in-
dentures of James Hulme of Davyhulme
and Clemence daughter of William Rad-
cliffe of Ordsall are dated 1477 ; Mr.
Earwaker's notes.
In 1490 James Hulme, one of the
charterers of Sir John Booth, did homage
at Warrington ; Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol.
165. James Hulme, perhaps the same,
made a feoffment of seventeen messuages,
twelve burgages, 500 acres of land, &c.
in Davyhulme, Manchester, &c., in
1528 ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. II,
m. 145. In 1559 a James Hulme had
recently died, and James was his son and
heir, and of full age ; Manch. C. Lett
Rec. i, 47. In or before 1566 he sold lands
in Manchester to John Hunt ; ibid, i,
97. James Hulme was a partner in the
waste called Lostock Moor in i 574 ;
Ducatus Lane, iii, 14.
108 Robert son of James Hulme died
at Newhall in West Derby 1 8 Apr. 1 600,
leaving a daughter and heir Anne, one
year old. His father being seised of the
manor of Hulme and all its members,
hall, windmill, &c., held of the queen
by the hundredth part of a knight's fee,
had in 1598 settled certain lands on
Robert on his marriage with Bridget
daughter of John Molyneux ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. xviii, 9.
The will of James Hulme of Davy-
hulme, dated 10 Oct. 1611 and proved in
1613, mentions Ellen his wife, William
and John his sons, Elizabeth his daughter,
Thomas Green of Croft and Ralph Board-
man of Swinton, his brothers-in-law.
William Hulme of Hulme in Barton
died 20 Jan, 1640-1, holding the hall of
Hulme and various lands in Hulme and
Barton of Sir Cecil Trafford as of his
manor of Barton, by the sixtieth part of
a knight's fee and the yearly rent of i^d.
Richard, his son and heir, was seven-
teen years old ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
zxix, 90.
In 1683 H. Hulme of Davyhulme
sent a request to be placed on the com-
mission of the peace ; Hist. MSS. Com.
Rep. xiv, App. iv, 170. Thomas Sorocold
of Barton, William Hulme of Davyhulme,
and Peter Egerton of Shaw were among
the gentlemen invited by Lord Derby in
1685 to meet him 'to consider of fit per-
sons for knights of the shire and burgesses
for the ensuing parliament' ; ibid. 178.
' A stone on some cottages in Station
Road, Urmston . . . records the fact of
a William Hulme of Davyhulme being
there in 1738' ; R. Lawson, Flixton, 139.
George Taylor of Davyhulme Hall was
admitted a burgess of Manchester in Oct.
1737 ; Manch. C. Lett Rec. vii, 66.
104 See further under Urmston. la
1735 Anne daughter and heir of John
Hulme of Davyhulme and Urmston
married at Flixton Thomas Willis of
373
Bletchley. They had several children ;
Flixton Reg. There are pedigrees of the
Hulme family in the Piccope MSS. i,
327, and the Barritt fol. MS. 142.
105 Lawson, op. cit. 139-41. There is
a pedigree in Gregson, Fragments (ed. Har-
land), 200, 201. William Allen was the
father of Joseph, successively Bishop of
Bristol and of Ely ; see Manchester.
106 In 1496 Richard son of Richard
Moss sold to Adam Holland of Man-
chester lands in Hulme purchased by his
father from Charles Wase and Ellen his
wife ; and Adam Holland of Crumpsall
in 1554 sold to George Byrom of Sal-
ford, merchant, his messuage and land in
Hulme in Barton ; W. Farrer D. See
also Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 16,
m. 161 ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xvii.
39 ; Manch. C. Lett Rec. ii, 141.
10< Edward Bent of Hulme died at the
end of 1578, his eldest son being John
Bent ; ibid, ii, 29. Another Edward
Bent died in Nov. 1639, holding a mes-
suage and lands in Davyhulme and Bar-
ton, including the Hakeshutts and Saltey
Mill, held of Edward Mosley by the two-
hundredth part of a knight's fee. He
had married Ellen Arderne in 1624, and
his son and heir, John, was fifteen years
of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxviii,
57. John Bent, late of Hulme, gent., is
named in the will (1652) of John Parr,
who had bought land from him ; note of
Mr. E. Axon.
108 John de Bromyhurst, a son of Gil-
bert de Barton, in 1280 released to the
monks of Stanlaw all his claim to their
heys and closes within Barton and to
Westwood ; Whalley Couch, iii, 906, 907.
In 1321 Gilbert de Bromyhurst granted
to a younger son John, on his marriage
with Cecily daughter of Robert del
Bridge of Bury, all his lands in Bromy-
hurst in Barton, with remainders to his
other children, Thomas, Robert, Thomas,
Adam, and Agnes ; Dods. MSS. ex ix, fol.
163/1. Eight years later, John the son
released to Thomas del Booth all his right
in his father's lands ; and in 1382-3
Robert son of Thomas de Bromyhurst
gave a similar release to John sou of
Thomas del Booth ; ibid. fol. 164, 1646.
Gilbert de Bromyhurst and John his
brother were defendants in 1351 in a suit
respecting Barton lands brought by Wil-
liam de Stockton and Agnes his wife ;
Duchy of Lane. Assize R. I, m. 2.
109 There were cross suits in 1276 be-
tween John de Bromyhurst on one side
and Alexander de Bromyhurst (or ' the
Mey ') and Agnes his wife on the other ;
it was stated that Bromyhurst was neither
vill nor borough but a hamlet of Barton
held as one oxgang of land ; Assize R.
405, m. i, 2.
In 1278 Alexander son of Alexander
the Mey was acquitted of the charge of
disseisin brought by John de Bromyhurst
respecting common of pasture in 15 acres
in Barton ; ibid. 1238, m. 31 ; 405,
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
1322 the lord of Manchester had 120 acres of wood
or moor there.110
DUMPLINGTON, which formerly included the
modern hamlet of Crofts Bank, was with Cockney in
Bromyhurst in 1225 demised by Sir Robert Grelley
to Cecily daughter of lorwerth de Hulton m for six
years. Four years afterwards Siegrith de Dump-
lington released to Robert Grelley her right in 40
acres in Dumplington.11* John son of Thomas de
Booth held the place in I4OI.113 The lords of
Manchester had a wood in Lostock.114
WHITTLESWICK™ was from an early date
regarded as a manor,116 being held by the Pendlebury
family.117 From Roger de Pendlebury it passed to his
son Ellis,118 and then to a younger son William, who
enfeoffed Adam de Prestwich.119 Henry, the son of
Adam, had a daughter Katherine, who married John
son of Robert de Bold. Their son Geoffrey forfeited
his lands for treason, having taken part in the Hot-
spur rebellion of 1403 ; 12° but Whittleswick was
afterwards restored, and Agnes daughter of Nicholas
son of Geoffrey de Bold had livery in 1442-3. She
married Hugh, a son of Sir Geoffrey Massey,1" and
the manor continued in their family for nearly two
centuries,1** descending to Dorothy daughter of
Thomas Massey and wife of Thomas Liversage of
m. 4 d. Avina, widow of John the son
of Wasce, claimed 6 acres in Barton
against Alexander son of Alexander the
Mcy in 1292, but it was shown that
Agnes, widow of Alexander the father,
was in possession of a portion ; Assize
R. 408, m. 3d.; see also m. 32, 54.
Nine years later, Alexander the Mey
proceeded against Gilbert de Bromyhurst
and others concerning a tenement in Bar-
ton ; ibid. 1 321, m. 9 ; 41 8, m. 1 2 d.
Some of the Mey charters have been
preserved. Alexander the son gave a
quitclaim respecting Westwood in 1281 ;
Whalley Couch, iii, 914. Alexander the
Mey of Bromyhurst granted to Robert
son of Matthew de Birches lands in
Saltey meadows and White-ridding ; the
seal had a fleur-de-lis with the legend
s' ALZXANDR : D' : BROMIHVRST ; De Traf-
ford D. no. 212. Alexander the Mey
(Meych) gave his son Hugh a moiety of
the whole sixth part of the vills of Bromy-
hurst and Dumplington, a rent of 6d.
being due to the chief lords ; De Trafford
D. no. 224.
110 Mamecestre, ii, 370.
111 De Trafford D. no. 109 ; the
grant was made ' in the year in which
Richard the king's brother was made Earl
of Cornwall.' Cecily paid 6 marks and
was to pay an annual rent of 41. 6J.
Twenty-four acres in Dumplington and
4 acres in Kokenay were among the lands
held in 1253 by Jordan de Hulton, in
which Amery widow of Robert de Hulton
claimed dower; Final Cone, i, 151. Gil-
bert de Barton son of William de Notion
granted the land of Cockney, between
Waspool and Cockney Pool, to Peter de
Dumplington his servant ; Dods. MSS.
cxlix, fol. 154.
lla Final Cone, i, 56.
118 De Traffbrd D. no. 247 ; by this
Ralph de Walkden released his right in
Dumplington and in Heaton Norris to
John de Booth, having already enfeoffed
John of his lands there.
An account of Dumplington, with plan
and many details, is given in Lanes, and
Ches. Antiq. Soc. xxiv, 21.
114 Gilbert de Barton granted Sir
Thomas Grelley all his wood in Lostock ;
Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 163*. In 1322
the wood of Lostock was valued with that
in Cuerdley ; the lord of Manchester had
also 20 acres of pasture in Lostock, in
which all the tenants of the lord of Bar-
ton had common of pasture except during
six weeks in the time of pannage, and the
lord and tenants of Urmston had a similar
right, zs. a year rent being paid ; Lanes.
Inq. and Extents, ii, 57.
116 Quicleswic, Quyclisweke, xiii cent.;
Whikleswyk, 1287; Quycleswyk, 1389;
Whiclesweeke, 1632.
116 There is an article on the descent of
the manor in the Ancestor, no. 4, pp. 205-
24. It was a dependency of Barton, and its
tenants contributed to the sake fee and
other charges on that manor ; Mame-
cestre, ii, 289. It was included in the
transfer of the manor of Barton to the
Grelleys ; De Trafford D. no. 204.
There is little further trace of the Barton
connexion.
U7 Adam de Pendlebury received from
John de Hulme the sixth part (?) of an
oxgang in Whittleswick, the rent being a
pair of spurs. To this charter Ellis de
Pendlebury (perhaps his father) and Adam
and Robert de Yealand were witnesses ;
De Trafford D. no. 280.
A release by Alice daughter of William
the Clerk of Eccles to Roger de Pendle-
bury of all her right in Whittleswick is
the only indication of the origin of the
Pendlebury tenure ; De Trafford D.
no. 277. Alice is no doubt the Alice de
Whittleswick who had a brother William,
of the Whallcy Couch, i, 66 ; a Thomas
de Whittleswick is also named ; ibid.
1,67.
Gilbert de Barton released to Matthew
son of William Laling, and to Margery
niece of Gilbert, all his claim upon the
manor of Whittleswick, with liberties and
common rights in all places in Barton,
except Boysnope ; the ancient rent was to
be paid in lieu of all services. The
bounds are thus given : — From Merley
following the pool to Irwell, along the
Irwell to Harelache, then across to the
Moss and so to Dedmere and the starting
point ; from an old copy in the De
Trafford D. (no. 108). Another copy
states that the 'ancient rent' was io</.
(no. 290).
118 Roger de Pendlebury granted the
manor of Whittleswick to his son Ellis,
who afterwards restored it to his father ;
De Trafford D. no. 276, 278.
119 For the Pendlebury family see the
account of that township. William son
of Roger de Pendlebury gave the manor
of Whittleswick, which he had by the
death of Maud daughter of his elder
brother Ellis, to Adam de Prestwich
in 1292 ; De Trafford D. no. 290.
Adam son of Alexander de Pilkington
had in 1291 released to Adam de Prest-
wich and to William de Pendlebury his
right in the ' manor,' derived from his
former wife Maud ; ibid. no. 282, 283.
Beatrice, the other daughter of Ellis,
in 1300 released her rights also ; Final
Cone, i, 1 88. The 'one oxgang in Bar-
ton* of the fine is identified with 'the
hamlet ' of Whittleswick by De Trafford
D. no. 281, 284. Adam de Hulme
released to Adam de Prestwich the rent
of id. due for the sixth part of the manor;
ibid. no. 279.
The new owner, having thus assured
374
his title, settled the manor in 1301 upon
Henry, his son by Alice de Trafford, with
remainders to his daughters by her, Mar-
garet, Ellen, Margery, and Joan ; Final
Cone, i, 196. The estate is described as
' a messuage, eighty acres of land, six
acres of meadow, ten acres of wood and
100 acres of pasture in Barton.' In
1308 Avice, elsewhere called Alice, widow
of William de Pendlebury claimed dower
in four messuages, &c., in Barton against
Henry son of Agnes de Trafford ; De
Banco R. 173, m. 345.
130 The inquisition, taken in 1423-4,
is in Towneley MS. DD, no. 1485.
lal For this part of the descent see
Dtp. Keeper s Rep. xl, App. 5 3 5-6 ; for
pedigrees, Piccope MS. Ped. (Chet. Lib.),
ii, 65 ; Cole MSS. xi, fol. 54.
It appears that Geoffrey de Bold had in
1389 enfeoffed Henry son of Sir Henry
de Trafford of this manor, and that in
1426 Sir Edmund de Trafford was in
possession ; De Trafford D. no. 285—7.
Testimony as to the fact of enfeoffment
was forthcoming ; ibid. no. 288. It
further appears, however, that a pardon
was obtained in 1403 for Geoffrey's share
in the rebellion, and that he made a feoff-
ment of Whittleswick in 1422; Dods. MSS.
cxlix, fol. i64^;cxlii, fol. 209^(114). The
restoration of his manors was for Geof-
frey's life, and they afterwards came into
the king's hands, who gave the custody of
Whittleswick to William Booth ; Add.
MS. 32108, no. 1677. A lease to Rojer
Booth was made in 1433 ; Fine R. 240,
m. 6.
In 1440 Hugh Massey and Agnes his
wife set out their title by descent, and
petitioned the king for restoration, and
this was after trial granted ; livery being
ordered on 8 Feb. 1442-3 ; De Trafford
D. no. 290 (as above) ; also Pal. Lane.
Chan. Misc. 1/7. In some pedigrees
Hugh Massey is described as 'of Cod-
dington, Cheshire, sixth son of Sir John
Massey of Tatton ' ; but this is discoun-
tenanced by Ormerod (Cbcs. ii, 729-31).
He seems in fact to have been an illegi-
timate son of Sir Geoffrey Massey of
Worsley ; he was defendant in an assault
case in 1444 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 6,
m. ib. He was living in 1466 ; Elles-
mere D. no. 100.
ia» Thomas Massey died 13 Aug. 1590,
holding the manor of Whittleswick of the
heirs of Adam de Prestwich in socage.
The pedigree is given thus : — Thomas was
son and heir of Thomas, brother and heir
of John, son and heir of Thomas, son
and heir of Nicholas, son and heir of
Agnes, wife of Hugh Massey ; and Agnes
was daughter and heir of Nicholas Bold,
son and heir of Geoffrey Bold, son and
heir of Katherine, wife of John Bold and
daughter and heir of Henry de Prestwich.
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
Wheelock, who in 1632 sold it to Sir Cecil Traf-
ford.123 It has since descended like Stretford, and
was till recently the chief residence of the Trafford
family, taking the name of Trafford Park from them.
They appear to have resided here from the beginning
of the 1 8th century.1*4
Trafford Hall was originally erected in the middle
of the 1 6th century, but the modern classic building
was built in 1762 by John Trafford, who is said to
have removed the front of the older building for this
purpose. The brick gabled wing on the north-west
is supposed to belong to the original house, but is
probably a later refacing and rebuilding. In James's
view (1825) the four lower gables next to the house
only are shown, the building farther north apparently
having been erected since that date. The 18th-century
mansion is a plain stuccoed two-story classic building
with four engaged columns and pediment in the front
or south elevation. A modern stuccoed wing runs
northward on the east side of the house, parallel with
the brick wing already mentioned. The house is
now used as the head quarters of the Manchester Golf
Club.
The Barton landowners contributing to the subsidy
of 1622 were — Thomas Charnock, George Legh,
Katherine Brereton, Dorothy Liversage, Ralph Ains-
worth, — Hope, Richard Worsley, John Valentine,
Edmund Lathom, James Crompton, and John Bent.1*5
The Sorocolds of Barton recorded a pedigree in
1 66s.1*
The land tax returns of 1797 preserved at Preston
provide a long list of landowners, arranged under these
divisions : — Barton with Winton, Eccles, Monton,
and Swinton ; farther side of water, including Urms-
ton and Davyhulme ; Irlam and Cadishead. The
principal estates were those of the Duke of Bridge-
water, John Trafford, — Willis, — Lee, William
Turner, John Page, Henry Norris, and Robert
Barker.1"
The parish church has been described above. In
recent times a number of new churches have been
consecrated to the service of the established religion.
At Eccles, St. Andrew's was built in i879,118 and at
Barton, St. Catherine's, built in i843,129 was enlarged
in 1893 ; the patronage of these churches is vested in
five trustees. At Patricroft is Christ Church, built in
1868 ;1SO the Bishop of Manchester is patron ; under
it is St. Michael's Mission-room, Monton. At Winton
is St. Mary Magdalen's. St. John the Baptist's,
Irlam,131 was built in 1866, and has a mission-room at
Cadishead ; the patronage is in the hands of five
trustees. To St. Mary the Virgin's, Davyhulme,1"
built in 1 890, the Bishop of Manchester and Mr. J. B.
Norreys Entwisle present alternately.
The Presbyterian Church of England has a con-
gregation at Eccles, founded in 1902.
The Wesleyans originated with the preaching of
Wesley himself, who appeared at Davyhulme in 1 747.
They now have churches at Barton, Barton Moss,
Monton, Cadishead and Davyhulme, Eccles, Patri-
croft and Irlam ; 1$s the Primitive Methodists at
Eccles, Barton, and Davyhulme ; the United Free
Methodists at Eccles, Winton, and Patricroft ; and
the New Connexion at Eccles.
The Baptists have a church at Eccles.
The Congregationalists at Patricroft and Eccles
trace their rise to the preaching begun in 1796 in a
barn at the former place ; a chapel was erected in
1 800, and a church formed four years later. A new
and larger chapel was built in 1870. Efforts were
made in 1810 and later to establish services in Eccles,
but failed ; a fresh start was made in 1857, and the
present church, an offshoot of Hope Chapel, Salford,
was opened in i86o.134 At Cadishead services were
begun in a small shed in 1875 ; the present school
chapel was opened in i883.135
The Society of Friends have a meeting-place at
Eccles.136
There is an interesting Unitarian Church at
Monton. Edmund Jones, the vicar of Eccles, ejected
in 1662, continued to preach in the neighbourhood.
A Nonconformist congregation also met at Monks'
Hall for some time ; but in 1697 a chapel was built
at Monton. The building was in 1715 wrecked by
a * Church and King ' mob, led by Thomas Siddall,
the Manchester Jacobite, but it was repaired by the
Government.137 The congregation numbered 612,
of whom 29 were county voters.138 It was rebuilt in
1802, and replaced by the present church in 1875.
The usual change of doctrine took place during the
Thomas Massey, father of the Thomas
who died in 1590, had granted a third of
the manor as dower to Dorothy, widow
of his elder brother John, and she was
•till living at Elton in Cheshire ; Thomas
the son assigned to Katherine widow of
Thomas a third part of his two-thirds of
the manor, and she was living at Whittles-
wick ; Thomas himself married Jane
daughter of Thomas Lancaster, and she
too was living at Whittleswick when the
inquisition was taken, 28 Sept. 1591.
Dorothy, the daughter and heir, was nine
months old ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
xv, 31. A later inquisition is extant
(xvii, 85), the jurors altering the rinding
by stating that Adam de Prestwich died
at Barton, Henry being his son and heir,
and that Whittleswick was held of the
queen by the tenth part of a knight's
fee.
In 1 500 William Massey of Whittles-
wick, being seventy years of age, was ex-
cused from serving on assizes ; Towneley
MS. CC (Chet. Lib.), no. 689.
Thomas, father of the last Thomas
Massey, died at the end of 1576, his son
being then a minor ; Manch. Ct. Lett
Rec. i, 184. For his will see Wilh (Chet.
Soc., new ser.), i, 222.
Jane, the widow of the son, afterwards
married William Moreton of Moreton in
Cheshire.
123 The deeds are printed (from Raines
MS. xxv.) in H. T. Crofton's Stretford
(Chet. Soc.), iii, 272, &c. See also Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 121, no. 15.
The manor is mentioned in later Traffbrd
settlements; e.g. 1654 and 1718; ibid,
bdles. 156, m. 194 ; 282, m. 99.
For the Liversages see Ormerod, Chet.
(ed. Helsby), iii, 121. Dorothy afterwards
married Thomas Balgay of Hope in
Derbyshire ; Journ. of Dertys. Arch. Soc.
vi, 23.
124 Lanes, and Cbes. Antiq. Soc. vi, 228.
125 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
', 153.
W6 Dugdale, Visit. 276.
127 Land tax returns.
128 For district assigned see Land. Gaz.
25 May 1880.
129 Ibid, i Mar. 1867; see also End.
Char. Rep. for Eccles, 1904, p. 23.
375
180 For district, Land. Gats. 19 Mar.
1869.
181 Ibid, i Jan. 1867. A site for a
church and cemetery was set apart in
1841 by John and Mary Greaves of
Irlam, but being found unsuitable another
site of the same area was given in 1864,
and the church built on it. For Endow-
ment see End. Char. Rep. 1904, 28-31.
182 The services were held in a school
given in 1880 ; the church was consecrated
23 June 1890. For endowments, &c., see
End. Char. Rep. Eccles, 1904, p. 23.
188 For Trinity Wesleyan Church,
Patricroft, see ibid. 22. For Cadishead, ibid.
31. The Wesleyan chapel at Davyhulme
dates from 1779 ; a new church was
opened in 1905.
184 B. Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. v,
11-16. Joseph Rawson, a muslin manu-
facturer of Manchester, who died in 1824,
had workmen at Patricroft and so began
the preaching there.
1Si Ibid. 79.
186 It was built in 1877.
13? Pal. Note Bk. ii, 240, 242.
188 O. Heywood, Diaries, iv, 310.
\
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
1 8th century, and before 1800 Unitarianism was
« boldly preached.' '»
Roman Catholics ll0 have All Saints' Church,
Barton ; the mission was founded in 1798, having
before been served from Trafford Park, and the
present church was erected in 1868 ;141 also St.
Mary's school chapel at Eccles, opened in 1879, and
St. Theresa's, Irlam, which became a separate mission
in 1900. An iron church, St. Anthony's, was
opened at Trafford Park in 1 904. In 1827 the old
chapel at the Park was pulled down and rebuilt in
Dumplington ; but it does not appear to have re-
mained long in use.
WORSLEY
Werkesleia, 1195 ; Wyrkedele, 1212 ; Whurkede-
leye, c. 1220; Worketley, 1254; Worcotesley,
Workedesle, 1276; Wrkesley, Wrkedeley, Worked e-
ley, 1292 ; Wyrkeslegh, Workesley, 1301 ; Worsley,
1444; 'Workdisley afiaf Workesley alias Worseley,'
1581.
The ancient township of Worsley measures 4^ miles
from east to west, the breadth varying from I mile to
4 miles ; the area is 6,928 acres.1 Land 300 ft. and
more in height divides it from Clifton and Kearsley ;
the slope in general is towards the south. Ellenbrook
in the west divides it from Tyldesley and Astley,
while another brook, rising near the boundary of
Clifton and flowing south to the Irwell, divides
Worsley proper from Swinton on the east. Swinton
has now grown into a small town, lying on the road
from Manchester to Wigan ; to the north and north-
east are Newton and Hope Mill ; to the south-east
Deans and Lightbown Green ; to the south Moor-
side, Sindsley, Broad Oak, and Dales Brow ; Little
Hou *hton, in the same quarter, has now disappeared
from the maps ; Drywood and Westwood occupy the
south-west corner. The Worsley or western section
of the township has Worsley Hall almost in the
centre ; to the west lie Booths Hall, part of Booths-
town, Ellenbrook Chapel and Parr Fold ; Walkden,
now a town, and Linnyshaw occupy the north-west
corner. Kempnough Hall, Daubhole, and Whittle
Brook lie to the north of Worsley Hall ; Hazelhurst,
Roe Green, and Wardley are in the eastern portion.
The southern half of this part of the township — the
loo-ft. level being roughly the boundary — was
formerly within Chat Moss, so that it has no ancient
houses. To the south of the Bridgewater Canal and
to the south-east of Hazelhurst, the Geological
Formation consists mainly of the Pebble Beds of the
New Red Sandstone. North of Boothstown and
Winton the Coal Measures are everywhere in evidence.
An intervening band of the Permian Rocks extends
from Monton to Astley. In 1901 the population of
Worsley was 12,462, and of Swinton 18,512.
The chief road is that from Manchester to Wigan,
through Swinton, Wardley, and Walkden, along or
near the track of a Roman road. From this a road
branches off to go west through Worsley to Booths-
town and Astley, and this has southerly branches
from Swinton and Worsley to Eccles. There are
numerous cross roads, including one from Worsley to
Walkden. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's
railway from Manchester to Hindley runs west
through the northern part of the township, with three
stations — Swinton, Moorside and Wardley, and
Walkden. The London and North Western Company's
line from Manchester and Eccles to Wigan, begun in
1 86 1, has stations at Worsley and Ellenbrook ; from
it the Bolton line branches off at Rose Green, with a
station at Walkden. There is also a single-line branch
from Eccles to Clifton through Swinton. Down to
1860 passengers were taken from Worsley to Man-
chester by the canal.
In 1 666 the hearth-tax returns show that Wardley
Hall was the largest residence, having nineteen
hearths ; Worsley Hall and Booths had seventeen
each. The total number of hearths in the township
was 276, of which Worsley proper had 191.*
A century ago the collieries and the Duke of
Bridgewater's canal were the notable features of the
township, but the spinning and manufacture of cotton
were also actively pursued. The same industries
continue, the latter advancing. The south-west
portion is agricultural.
In 1826 an archery society was established at
Worsley.
Queen Victoria visited Worsley Hall in 1851 and
1857, and King Edward VII in 1869 when Prince
of Wales.
At Worsley is a monument to the first Earl of
Ellesmere, an octagonal shaft 132 ft. high. At
Walkden an ' Eleanor cross ' stands as a memorial to
his countess. The Bridgewater Estate Offices are at
Walkden. At Swinton is the Manchester Industrial
School.
At Daubhole is a great boulder known as the
Giant's Stone, the legend being that it was thrown
from Rivington Pike by a giant.
A local board for Swinton and Pendlebury was
formed in 1867.* The district was afterwards extended
to include part of Barton township.4 Since 1894 it
has been governed by an urban district council
of fifteen members. The remainder of Worsley,
except a small part in the borough of Eccles, has also
an urban council of fifteen members.
The lords of the manors have in many cases been
men of distinction, as will be seen by the following
record of them. Another ' worthy ' of the place was
Christopher Walton, 1809-77, of Wesleyan training,
but ultimately a mystic or theosopher ; his collections
are in Dr. Williams's Library, London.4*
The earliest record of tTORSLET
MANORS is in the Pipe Roll of 1195-6 in the
claim of one Hugh Putrell to a fourth
part of the fee of two knights in Barton and Worsley.*
Worsley, as half a plough-land, was held of the king
"• Nightingale, op. cit. v, i-io ; re-
ference it made to a history of the chapel
by the Rev. Thoma$ Elford Poynting,
minister for thirty-one year* until his
death in 1878. For endowment, &c, see
End. Char. Rep. Eccles, 1904, pp. 18-21.
140 A list of recusants in the parish of
Eccles in 1588 is given in Hist. MSS.
Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 582.
141 It was built by Sir Humphrey de
Trafford.
1 Made up thus : Higher Worsley,
i, 362$ acres; Lower Worsley, 3,319};
Boothstown, 1,120 — 5,802 ; Swinton,
634 J ; Little Houghton, 491} — 1,126.
The Census Rep. of 1 90 1 gives the area
of Worsley as 5,412 acres, including 70
of inland water ; and Swinton, 1,346,
3/6
including 10 of inland water. Part of
Pendlebury has been included with
Swinton.
* Subs. R. Lanes, bdle. 250, no. 9.
* Load. Gaa. 26 Mar. 1867.
4 42 & 43 Viet. cap. 43.
*» Diet. Nat. Biog.
* Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 94.
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
by the Barton family in thegnage,6 and of them by a
family which took the local name. The earliest known
member of it is Richard de Worsley, who in 1203
was defending his right to twenty acres of wood in
Worsley,7 and as Richard son of Elias in I 206 gave a
mark for a writ.8 Six years later he held a plough-
land of Gilbert de Notton and his wife Edith de
Barton, half of the land being in Worsley.9 It
appears that Hugh Putrell had granted ' to Richard
son of Elias de Worsley the manors of Worsley and
Hulton, i.e. half a plough-land in Worsley, which
was the whole of Worsley, and half a plough-land in
Hulton, rendering for all services los. for Worsley
and 6s, 8J. for Hulton,' these being the rents paid
by Hugh to the king or chief lord.9* The mesne
lordships were very quickly ignored, and the Worsleys
were said to hold directly of the Earls or Dukes of
Lancaster. Richard was a benefactor to the canons
of Cockersand,10 and two other of his charters have
been preserved.11
His son Geoffrey succeeded and was in possession in
1254;" he died before 1268, leaving a widow
Agnes." His son and heir Richard de Worsley made
several grants and acquisitions of land,14 and was still
living in I292.14 He had many children, including
Richard, who seems to have died about the same time
' Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rcc. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 65. The whole
14 oxgangs so held may have been
— Worsley 4, Swinton, 4 (or 3), Mont on 2
(or 3), and Hulton 4. This, however,
makes Monton a thegnage estate, though
situated in Barton, which was held by
knight's service.
7 Curia Reg. R. 26 ; the plaintiff was
Eda (or Edith) daughter of Matthew. The
writ was found to require amendment,
because her husband, Gilbert de Notton,
was not named in it ; and then because
she had sisters, likewise not mentioned
in it.
8 Lana. Pipe R. 216. Nothing is known
of Elias the father of Richard. The
legendary founder of the Worsley family
was an Elias the Giant, who lived in the
time of the Conqueror, became a Cru-
sader, 'fought many duels, combats, &c.,
for the love of our Saviour Jesus Christ
and obtained many victories,' and died
and was buried at Rhodes ; Harland and
Wilkinson, Lanes. Legends, 78.
9 Lanes. Inq. and Extent*, loc. cit.
** Abstract among the Ellesmere deeds.
Another deed shows that Lescelina, a sister
of Edith de Barton and co-heir, gave to
the same Richard a moiety of Swinton
and Little Houghton ; ibid.
Hugh de Nowell (sic) in 1324 is said
to have held in Worsley and Hulton six
oxgangs by the service of 201. a year ; this
should perhaps have been amended to ' the
assign of Hugh Putrell ' and ' six oxgangs
and half a plough-land' ; Dods. MSS.
cxxxi, fol. 37^. About the same time
the receiver of the forfeited estates and
offices of Sir Robert de Holland rendered
account of '201. of farm of land of Hugh
de Menill, which William de Nevill and
Gerard de Camvile formerly held in Wors-
ley and Hulton ' ; L.T.R. Enr. Accts.
Misc. No. 14, m. 76 d. For William
and Gerard see Lanes. Inq. and Extents,
i, 62, 65 ; they represented the heirs of
Adam son of Sweyn in 1212.
In the sheriff's compotus of 1348 the
rent of Henry de Worsley for « the manor
of Worsley' was returned as 1 31. ^.d. —
that for Hulton being 6j. %d., as above —
so that the moiety of Swinton paid 31. 4</.;
the whole thegnage rent was 20*. The
remainder of the z6s. payable by the
Bartons in 1212 was contributed at the
later date by the Abbot of Whalley for his
tenement in Monton. In an extent made
about 1445 it is recorded that Sir Geoffrey
Massey held the manor of Worsley for
half a plough-land in socage, rendering
131. 4</.; the additional oxgang in Swin-
ton was not reckoned, though the rent
was paid ; Duchy of Lane. Knights' Fees,
2/20.
10 Coekertand Chart. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 717.
The bounds were Scaithlache, Millbrook,
Cartlache, Modibrook, Stanwall Syke, by
Stanwall to Wolfpit Greaves, and by
Peveril's Gate to the starting-point.
11 To Thomas de Fleckenhow, chaplain,
one of the rectors of Eccles, he leased
14^ acres in Wardley for twenty years,
beginning in Nov. 1218, at a rent of 41.,
with one pig, * if the said Thomas or his
men dwelling on the said land shall have
pigs fattened on the mastfall of the said
vills ' of Wardley and Worsley ; Lord
Ellesmere' s D. no. 133. R. de Maid-
stone, Archdeacon of Chester, was a
witness. In 1219 became to an agree-
ment with Richard de Hulton as to the
six oxgangs in Hulton pertaining to
Worsley ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i. 41.
A« Richard son of Elias de Worsley he
granted to Hugh the clerk, otherwise
Hugh de Monton, his brother, the whole
land of Hazelhurst and other land beside
the brook flowing from Wardley Spring ;
Ellesmere D. no. 232. Half of Hazel-
hurst was afterwards given by Hugh's
daughter Ellen, in her widowhood, to
iohn son of Robert de Shoresworth, who
ad married her daughter Margery ; ibid,
no. 233. The whole appears to have
been afterwards acquired by the Worsley
family from Richard son of Hugh de
Monton, Ellen de Hazelhurst herself (in
1276), Margery de Hazelhurst, and
William son of Alice daughter of Ellen
de Hazelhurst ; ibid. no. 234-7. Hugh
the clerk had been a benefactor of Cocker-
sand ; Chart, ii, 718.
Richard de Worsley took part in the
inquiry as to the advowson of Flixton ;
Lanes. Fife R. 355.
18 In that year he was one of the jury
to inquire into certain trespasses on
Thomas Grelley's parks ; Lanes. Inq. and
Extents, i, 193. He occurs also in the
Assize Roll of 1246 (R. 404, m. 7). He
made grants in Hulton ; Ellesmere D.
no. 40, 45.
To his daughter Isabel, wife of Richard
de Bolton, Geoffrey gave in free marriage
certain land in Holeclough, with ease-
ments in Worsley, Mokenis excepted, the
rent being a pair of white gloves ; Elles-
mere D. no. 11$. This land Richard
de Hulton in 1289 granted to his son
Henry ; ibid. no. 141.
18 The lands which Richard de Worsley
and Hugh the clerk had granted to Cocker-
sand were by Abbot Roger given to Geof-
frey son of Richard de Worsley at a rent
of zs., half a mark being payable at the
death of himself, his wife, or heirs ; ibid,
no. 139. In 1268 Richard de Worsley
was in possession, so that Geoffrey had
died before this year ; Cockersand Chart.
ii,7i8.
Agnes widow of Geoffrey de Worsley
released to the Abbot of Stanlaw all claim
377
to land in Little Houghton which her
husband had sold to Richard de Byron ;
Richard de Worsley, her first-born, was a
witness ; Whalley Coucher, i, 55. She
also released her claim to dower in lands
in Monton and Swinton given to Geoffrey
de Byron ; Ellesmere D. no. 214.
14 To Geoffey de Byron he granted for
life lands bounded as follows — from the
brook flowing from the moss in Stani-
street, the hedge as far as Huntley Brook,
across to the lower part of Linnyshaw
(Lillyngeshald), to Holeclough, by the
middle of the great moss to Leparslache,
across to Tornedeheg, and so to the start-
ing point ; the rent was izd. ; Ellesmere
D. no. 126. This grant was extended
in 1271 ; no. 216. In the year named
he came to an agreement with Gilbert son
of Thomas de Lymme and Richard son of
John de Hulton, respecting a portion of
the waste in Worsley, lying between the
king's way and the bounds of Farnworth,
Wichshaw and Longshaw at one side and
Orlinhead at the other being also limits ;
the land was for ever to be in common
between the parties and their heirs and
their men of the Wich ; ibid. no. 136.
In 1276 Robert Abbot of Stanlaw granted
the land called Drywood-ridding to Ri-
chard de Worsley at a rent of 6d. ; no.
137. The same abbot allowed him a
free chantry; no. 127. Richard also
secured lands in Hulton from Richard son
of John de Hulton, and made a further
agreement as to the Worsley six oxgangs
with David son of Richard de Hulton ;
no. 46-7.
15 Assize R. 408, m. 32 ; he was
defendant to a claim for common of pas-
ture brought by Richard son of Roger de
Worsley.
Richard married, probably as his second
wife, Maud daughter of Alice daughter of
William the clerk of Eccles ; and on their
marriage John de Wardley granted them
all his land in Wardley (Worthier) in
Worsley, with remainder to Robert the
brother of Maud ; Alice was still liv-
ing ; Ellesmere D. no. 161. John de
Wardley and Alice are named in the
Whalley Coucher, i, 6$. Alice de Wardley
was living in 1301 ; Assize R. 1321, m.
8 d. Richard son of John de Wardley
gave his lands in Wardley in 1293 to
Adam son of Richard and Maud ; Elles-
mere D. no. 143. Adam again occurs in
1316 and 1317; and his widow Cecily in
1331; ibid. no. 116, 117, 165 ; also
De Banco R. 201, m. 5. John the son of
Adam de Wardley was a plaintiff in July
1357 ; Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 6,
m. 4.
An Adam son of Wronou de Wardley
occurs earlier ; he held two oxgangs of
land of Gilbert de Barton ; de Trafford
D. no. 194.
48
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
as his father ; 18 Henry, who succeeded, and held
Worsley for about ten years, dying in or before 1 3 04 ;17
and Jordan, who had Wardley. Henry de Worsley
was twice married, and left two sons, Richard and
Robert ; the latter, by the second wife,18 had a share of
the manor, known as Booths, assigned to him in 1323,
so that in future, out of the free rent, he and his heirs
were to pay zs. to the chief lord, leaving i8s. to be
paid by the lord of Worsley.19 Richard, who was
living in 1332,*° was succeeded by his son Henry, dead
in 1350 ;" and Henry in turn was followed by his
grandson Sir Geoffrey de Worsley, son of Geoffrey .**
Sir Geoffrey de Worsley, who fought in the French
wars, married Mary daughter of Sir Thomas de
Felton, about 1376 ; but a divorce was procured in
1381, and Mary retired to a nunnery.*1 Thereon Sir
Geoffrey married Isabel daughter and eventual heir of
Sir Thomas de La thorn, but died shortly afterwards
leaving a daughter by her named Elizabeth, only one
year old. His former wife then left her convent,
asserting that she had only entered it by compulsion,
and as she also established the validity of her mar-
riage, the infant daughter of Sir Geoffrey lost the in-
heritance as illegitimate, the manors of Worsley and
Hulton passing into the hands of Alice sister of Sir
Geoffrey and wife of Sir John Massey."
16 Richard son of Richard de Worsley
attested a grant made to his father in
1293 ; Ellesmere D. no. 143. He
had been defendant to a claim made in
1292, but it was shown that his brother
Henry was in possession of the lands in
dispute ; Assize R. 408, m. 72 d.
W Henry may have been the eldest son ;
he describes himself as ' son and heir of
Richard formerly lord of Worsley,' in a
charter of 1296; Ellesmere D. no. 218.
His first wife Joan was dead in 1293, when
he granted a pound of wax for the service
of the high altar of Eccles Church for her
soul and the souls of his father, ancestors,
Ac.; ffAalley Coucner, iii, 923. He then
married Margaret, who survived him
(1304) and became the wife of Robertson
of Richard de Radcliffe in or before 1305;
De Banco R. 149, m. 41; 153, m. 315 d.
In 1292 Henry de Worsley made a
grant to Adam de Lever and his tenants
in Farnworth of certain easements in
Worsley by Walkden Brook ; Ellesmere
D. no. 142. He granted lands in Wors-
ley to his brother Jordan, with remainder,
in default of issue to the latter, to his own
children by Margaret his wife ; no. 130.
In another grant to Jordan he mentions
his uncles John and Geoffrey ; no. 131.
He made yet another in 1299 ; and a
little later Olive de Bolton released all her
claim in these lands ; no. 146, 148.
For a Roger de Worsley, indicted in
1299, see Lanes. Inq. and Extend, i, 305.
18 In 1299 Henry son of Richard de
Worsley granted to Robert his son land
in Worsley called Mokenis, the bounds
beginning at Acornsyke, where it was met
by the fall of Kronkysker, between
Worsley and Astley ; along the fall to
Blackbrook, thence by the bounds of
Astley and Irlam, across the moss to
Ringand Pits, and thence going down to
the Meadowyard ; Ellesmere D. no. 147.
This was perhaps the grant confirmed in
1301 ; Final Cone, i, 193. In 1322
Margaret, formerly wife of Henry, sold
and released to Robert her son all her
goods in Worsley, movable and immovable,
for £40 sterling which he had paid her ;
Ellesmere D. no. 140.
19 Ibid. no. 162.
80 In 1295 Maud, Margaret, and Ellen,
daughters and heirs of Robert son of John
•on of Meuric de Hulton, released to
Richard son of Henry lord of Worsley
and Margaret his wife all claim on the
lands which their father had held of
Richard de Worsley according to the
charter in possession of the above-men-
tioned Richard and Margaret ; Ellesmere
D. no. 145. In 1299 Richard had a grant
of land in Worsley from his father (Final
Cone, i, 187); though Henry the father
was still living at the time the sons Richard
and Robert (see preceding note) were in
the guardianship of one Robert de Ashton.
Margaret, the wife of the son Richard, is
mentioned in 1296; Ellesmere D. no. 51,
52, 218. In 1311 Roger the Barker of
Salford, as trustee, granted the third part
and the other two-thirds of the manor of
Worsley to Richard and Margaret, with
remainder to Henry son of Richard ;
Final Cone, ii, 1 1.
Jordan de Worsley, Richard's uncle, in
1305 granted him all his lands in the mill
house in Worsley ; Ellesmere D. no. 149.
In 1307 Richard assigned dower to Mar-
garet his father's widow in two granges
&c. outside the hall gate on the eastern
side by the road to Manchester, in the
demesne lands, in the holdings of certain
under-tenants, together with the mill of
Worsley and its appurtenances; no. 151.
Three days later Margaret and her husband
Robert de Radcliffe demised these dower
lands to Richard at a rent of £ i o, payable
in Manchester Church; no. 152; also
no. 157(1317).
In 1310 William son of Richard de
Radcliffe agreed with Richard son of
Henry de Worsley that William's son and
heir, Robert, should marry Ellen daughter
of Richard ; Ellesmere D. no. 257.
Henry's widow Margaret lived on until
about 1363, when her will was made ;
ibid. no. 271. In the same year she gave
her son Thurst an de Holland all her goods
movable and immovable ; ibid. no. 270.
See further under Denton, and Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 1 50.
Richard de Worsley was returned as
holding lands of £15 annual value in
1323 ; Palgrave, Par!. Writs, II, ii, 639.
Four years later he was one of the com-
missioners of array for the Hundred of
Salford, in anticipation of a war with
Scotland ; Rot. Scot. (Rec. Com.), i, 2 1 7.
In 1331 he, as lord of Worsley, made a
grant for life to Cecily widow of Adam de
Wardley of a messuage and land pre-
viously held by Henry the Flecher, son of
William de Tyldesley ; Ellesmere D. no.
165. In the following year he contributed
to the subsidy ; Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), 39.
w As early as 1305 Henry was one of
the defendants to the claims for dower
made by Margaret wife of Robert de
Radcliffe ; De Banco R. 156, m. 92. In
1323 Henry de Worsley joined with his
father in the above-cited agreement with
Robert de Worsley as to the 2s. rent for
Robert's portion of the manor ; Elles-
mere D. no. 162. In 1332 he seems to
have been living in Hulton ; Exch. Lay
Subs. 39. Two years later he had become
lord of Worsley ; Ellesmere D. no. 58.
In 1354 Alice widow of Henry de
Worsley granted certain lands in Hulton
to Thomas Thirlwind and Alice his wife ;
ibid. no. 59. Ten years later she gave to
378
Henry her son an annual rent of 121.
from lands in Hulton held by William de
Shakerley and Margaret his wife (no. 60);
while in 1366 she granted to Henry de
Worsley all her dower lands at a rent of
501. 4</. ; no. 1 66. Henry son of Henry
de Worsley was defendant in a Worsley
suit in July 1356 ; Duchy of Lane. Assize
R. 5, m. 20.
23 In 1350 John de Harrington and
Katherine his wife laid claim to the custody
of the lands and heir of Henry de Wors-
ley, the defendants being Gilbert de Hay-
dock and Anabel widow of Geoffrey de
Worsley; De Banco R. 363, m. 212.
From the Legh of Lyme deeds it is evident
that Anabel was the daughter of Gilbert
de Haydock ; she is named as early as
1335 ; Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xixviii,
43, 165, 263, 146. Then, in July 1356,
Geoffrey son of Geoffrey de Worsley was
the first defendant to a claim for land in
Worsley put forward by John son of Agnes
daughter of Henry de Hulton ; Gilbert
de Haydock was another defendant ;
Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 5, m. 20.
About the same time Geoffrey de Wors-
ley proceeded against Richard de Kenyon
of Worsley regarding waste ; ibid. m. 9.
It would appear therefore that Henry de
Worsley died in or before 1350, leaving as
his heir a minor, Geoffrey de Worsley
the younger, who had come of age by 1356.
On the other hand the jury in 1401 found
that Geoffrey the son of Henry succeeded
his father, and was in turn followed by
his son Geoffrey ; Ellesmere D. no. 203.
23 Sir Geoffrey de Worsley in a petition
for redress endorsed by the Commons
stated that he had served in the wars and
took the order of chivaler at the battle
in Spain ; he had entrusted his wife to the
care of Thomas Pulle, who had abused
the trust, and then induced her to seek a
divorce. Sir Geoffrey and Thomas after-
wards met at Reading, and after high
words came to blows, Thomas being
wounded, so that when he died his friends
tried to make Sir Geoffrey responsible.
He, however, averred that Thomaa had
been cured of his wounds, and had espoused
the said wife; AncL Pet. P.R.O. 103/5109.
Mary entered religion among the Minor-
esses in London, but after Sir Geoffrey's
death appealed to the pope, who issued a
commission; ibid. 146/7276. These re-
ferences are due to Mr. Francis Worsley.
34 A full statement of the descent is
given in the deed last quoted, the record
of a search made in 1593 for the account
of the trial of 1401, when Robert de
Worsley of Booths and Arthur his son
sought the manor of Worsley as the right
of Arthur's wife Elizabeth, the daughter
of Sir Geoffrey.
In 1374 Sir Geoffrey de Worsley
granted his manors of Worsley and Hul-
SALFORD HUNDRED
WOMLSY of Worsley.
jtrgent 4 (kief gules.
MASSEY of Tatton.
Quarterly gules and ar-
gent.
ECCLES
Sir John was the son of Hugh Massey of Tatton,
who died about 1371, and by his elder brother's
death succeeded to the paternal estates." His mar-
riage with Alice de Worsley took place in or before
1372." He was sheriff of Cheshire in 1389." He
sided with Richard II in 1399 and was imprisoned
in Chester Castle ; K four years later he joined in the
Hotspur rising and was killed at the battle of Shrews-
bury." Thomas his eldest son incurred forfeiture on
the like account,30 but was restored, and dying in
1420, was succeeded by his brother Geoffrey."
Their mother Alice died eight years later, Geoffrey
being then forty years of age." On his death in 1 45 7
without lawful issue M the Worsley manors went to
ton with their appurtenances, as also his
lands in Salford and Manchester ; the
feoffees were to settle the same upon him
and his iseue, with remainder to his sister
Alice, wife of Sir John Massey of Tatton;
ibid. no. 121. Two years later the
feoffees regranted the manors to Sir
Geoffrey and Mary his wife, daughter of
Sir Thomas de Felton ; no. 167, also no.
122, and Final Cone, iii, 4. A further
feoffment and fine were made in July and
Aug. 1381 ; Ellesmere D. no. 169, and
final Cane, iii, 1 2. The proceedings for
divorce bad already begun at Chester.
It was stated that in 1374, in the chapel
of Sir Thomas de Felton's mansion-house
in Candlewick Street in London, his
daughter had married Sir Thomas Breton,
and that in 1376 in the parish church at
Leamington she had married Sir Geoffrey
de Worsley, her former husband not dying
till Nor. or Dec. 1380, in Aquitaine.
On this account the second marriage was
declared Bull ; Ellesmere D. no. 268.
For the subsequent proceedings see Sir
Peter Leycester's account in Ormerod's
Chet. (ed. Helsby), i, 441. The above-
cited record of 1401 merely states that
Geoffrey bad married Mary de Felton, by
whom he had no issue, and then, during
her life, had taken to wife Isabel daugh-
ter of Sir Thomas de Lathom, by whom
he had a daughter Elizabeth ; Ellesmere
D. no. 203. In 1401 John de Stanley
and (the same) Isabel his wife released to
John Massey and Alice his wife all their
interest in the manors of Worsley and
Hulton ; no. 175.
In 1376 the sheriff was ordered to
arrest Sir Geoffrey to answer for 6,000
marks he had acknowledged due to Sir
John Massey and others. Not finding
him, the sheriff took a full account of his
possessions. The manor of Worsley had
a house with hall, chamber, chapel,
kitchen, &c. ; there were a forcellenum
called the Peel, a water-mill, and various
lands, messuages, and wood, &c. The
free rents amounted to 6os. &d. ; a profit
in Worsley, for digging and selling sea-
coals, was worth 15*. a year. Among
the out-goings were 181. a year paid to
the Duke of Lancaster for the tenements
in Worsley, and 5 marks a year from
Hulton to ' one Anabel, who was the
wife of John Comyn ' — no doubt Anabel
mother of Sir Geoffrey. The sheriff
handed all manors, &c., to the petitioning
creditors ; De Banco R. 462, m. 98 d.
The story of the refeoffment of Sir
Geoffrey in his manor of Worsley is told
in Dtp. Keeper's Rep. xxxvi, App. 540.
After that he went abroad, it is stated, and
died there fully seised.
He died on the Thursday before Easter
(30 Mar.) 1385, his daughter and heir
Elizabeth being about a year old. The
manor of Worsley was held in socage by
a rent of 1 31. 4</., worth 40 marks clear ;
the manor of Hulton, three parts of the
vill, also in socage, by a rent of 61. jd.,
and worth 12 marks ; tenements in Sal-
ford in free burgage by a rent of izd. for
each burgage, and worth 40*. ; Ellesmere
D. no. 172 (a copy), and Lanes. Inq. p.m.
(Chet. Soc.), i, 23, 46. Elizabeth was
regarded as heiress of the Lathoms in
1389, and was then five years of age;
ibid, i, 3 5. It appears that a life interest
in the manor of Worsley had been secured
to her ; ibid, i, 1 1 8. She proved her age
and had livery of her lands in 1401 ; Dtp.
Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App. 2. She was
born at Worsley on the Friday after St.
Matthew, 1383, and baptized at Eccles
by John de Craunton, vicar, her god-
parents being Thomas de Worsley and
Emma de Hindley ; Towneley MS. DD,
no. 1499. The widow, Isabel de Lathom,
had married Sir John de Stanley before
the end of 1385 ; Parl. R. iii, 204, 205.
as Ormerod, Chet. i, 441.
26 Alice daughter of Geoffrey dc Wors-
ley was wife of Sir John Massey in 1372;
Raines MSS. zxxviii, 238.
Immediately after the death of Sir
Geoffrey de Worsley his trustee, Richard
de Worsley, chaplain, granted to Alice
the manors of Worsley and Hulton ;
Ellesmere D. no. 171. Yet about three
years later, when in the chapel at Deane,
he was induced or compelled, as he after-
wards confessed, to enfeoff Robert de
Worsley or his representatives of the
manors ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvi, App. 540.
*l Ibid. App. 329.
88 Ibid. 332. In 1373 Sir John Massey
had had an annuity of 50 marks from
Edward the Black Prince, he to serve the
prince at all times, and during war with
an esquire ; this was confirmed in 1377
by Richard as Prince of Wales ; ibid. 329.
M Ibid. 333 ; Ormerod, Ches. i, 442,
where his and other Massey inquisitions
are printed.
80 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvi, App. 334 ;
a grant to Alice, the widow, of a third of
Sir John's possessions forfeited by the re-
bellion of himself and his son. In 1401
Sir John Massey of Tatton, Alice his
wife, and Thomas, Geoffrey, and Richard
their sons, had joined in a grant to
Elizabeth wife of Arthur de Worsley, the
dispossessed daughter of Sir Geoffrey 5
Ellesmere D. no. 177, 178.
81 Dep. Keeper't Rep. xxxvii, App. 516;
Thomas Massey had died on 24 Aug.
1420, and Geoffrey his brother and heir
was thirty years of age. A statement of
the descent, drawn up at this time, will
be found in Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii,
App. 29. >a Ibid. xxxvii, 517
379
M Sir Geoffrey made feoffments of his
manors in 1429 and 1441 ; in the latter
Margery his wife was a beneficiary ;
Ellesmere D. no. 185, 186.
In the White and Black books among
Lord Ellesmere's muniments is a copy of
an extent of the manor made in 6 or 16
Hen. VI. It describes the manor-place
with its moat, the chapel, great barn, &c.,
the wastes of Walkden Moor and Swin-
ton Moor. The value of the lands in the
lord's holding was £38 8*. 6d. The free
tenants paid ijs. $d. as follows : The
Abbot of Whalley for Swinton, Monton,
and half of Houghton, js. lid. ; Robin
Langley for Northdene, a pair of iron
spurs, and for Droilsdene two iron arrows;
Nicholas Halghton for half Hulton i$d.
and for Ollerfordehurst (now Alderforest
in Worsley) 3*. 4</., and for Walwerk
i zd. ; Oliver Parr, 21. ; Perkin Worsley
for Stanistreet, %d. ; Thurstan Holland
for Wardley, gd. ; Thomas Tyldesley, 6d.;
William Lever, James Hulton, Richard
Prestall, Alison Redford, and Ralph
Astley, id. each for Walkden Moor ;
Richard Farnworth for Tasker Place and
common of pasture on Walkden Moor,
id. ; Denis Warton, a pair of gloves. The
tenants at will paid ^30 6s. lod. a year,
and gave various services ; thus one
tenant's ' average ' was a plough, harrow,
turf delver, turf cart, ' worthing ' cart, a
mower, seven days' 'shearing,' six hens,
with a 'takke' of i6d. ; and three tenants
paid 6s. 8</. each for the ' cole mole.'
Sir Geoffrey in his will dated 25 Sept.
1457 desired to be buried in the 'new
chapel ' he had made on the south side of
the chancel of Eccles Church, and left
£40 for the establishment of the chantry
therein ; 20 marks for an ' overlay of
marble ' above his body, with two images
of copper and ' ayregild ' representing
himself and his wife, a suitable inscrip-
tion, and four escutcheons. Apprehending
that his heir William would create trouble
he bequeathed to Thomas Lord Stanley
' all the glazen windows, clock bells,' &c.
at Worsley and Tatton, with a request
that he would see that his said wife
' might be at her liberty to demean her-
self and not constrained against her will,
disseised, spoiled, nor robbed of her lands
nor goods, nor in likewise the said John'
his son. He protested that he was in
debt to no one, though ' informed that
certain untrue and false people, because
they supposed he was greatly diseased
with sickness, slandered and noised in the
country* that he owed them debts.
Printed in Wills (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), 12.
In addition to the above-named John
he had a son Hugh, ancestor of the Masseys
of Whittleswick.
\
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
his nephew William son of Richard Massey."
William died eleven years later ; " his son and heir
Sir Geoffrey M left an only child Joan, who by her
first husband, William Stanley," also left an only
daughter Joan, heiress of Worsley, aged eighteen at
her mother's death in 1511."
By John Ashton, her first husband, who died in
1513, Joan Stanley, the daughter, had no issue ;
but by her second, Sir Richard Brereton, a younger
son of Sir Randle Brereton of Malpas, she had two
sons and a daughter.39 The eldest, Richard, died
without issue, before his parents ; 40 the second,
Geoffrey, died in 1565, leaving an only son Richard,
who at his grandfather's death in 1570 succeeded to
Worsley.41 He married Dorothy daughter of Sir
Richard Egerton, of Ridley in Cheshire, but their
only child Richard died in infancy. It was no doubt
by Dorothy's influence that the Worsley manors were
then granted by will to her father's illegitimate son,
Sir Thomas Egerton, a distinguished lawyer, who
rose to be Lord Chancellor, and was created Viscount
Brackley in 1616." Richard Brereton died in 1598;
his widow Dorothy afterwards married Sir Peter Legh
ofLyme, and dying in 1639 was buried at Eccles
with her former husband.43
Shortly after Lord Brackley's death in 1617 his son
John was created Earl of Bridgewater ; " he succeeded
to Worsley in 1639, as above, and died ten years after-
wards,45 being succeeded in turn by two namesakes,
the second and third earls, who died in 1686 and
1701 respectively. Scrope, the son of the third earl,
was created Duke of Bridgewater in 1720. He died
in 1745, leaving three children — John, second duke,
who survived his father but three years ; Francis
third duke, the great canal-maker, who died in 1803'
and Louisa, who married the first Marquis of Stafford
84 In 1452 William Massey son and
heir of Richard, brother of Sir Geoffrey
Massey, released his claim to manors,
lands, services, &c. in Worsley, Hulton,
Salford, Manchester, Tatton, Ollerton,
Leigh, Northwich, Knutsford, and Ros-
therne, then in the hands of his uncle's
feoffee* ; Ellesmere D. no. 187, 262.
3* Ormerod, loc. cit.
88 Sir John Boteler in July 1457 re-
ceived 6 marks from Sir Geoffrey Massey
towards the maintenance of Geoffrey son
and heir of William Massey, who had
married Isabel daughter of Sir John ;
Ellesmere D. no. 275. In 1466 William
Massey of Worsley and Geoffrey his son
and heir, leased to Henry Buckley land in
Nether Acres at the south end of Man-
chester at a rent of 21.5 ibid.no. 125.
As Sir Geoffrey Massey of Worsley, he
made a lease of Hulton Hey in 1484 ; no.
71. Sir Geoffrey is frequently named in
the Chester Recognizance Rolls from
1475 to 1489 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvii,
App. 526-8.
Sir Geoffrey died 28 Sept. 1496, and
his daughter and heir Joan, widow (1499)
of William Stanley, was then twenty-four
years of age. The manor of Worsley was
found to be held of the king as Duke of
Lancaster by knight's service and the
yearly rent of I Of. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. iii, 68.
*7 The marriage took place in or before
1480, for in a charter of that year the
remainders are to Joan daughter of Sir
Geoffrey Massey and her issue by William
son and heir apparent of Sir William
Stanley; Ellesmere D. no. 190. This
Sir William was the brother of the first
Earl of Derby, afterwards executed for
high treason, all his lands being forfeited.
A further settlement was made in 1488 ;
ibid. no. 191.
Joan was left a widow in or before
1499 ; she married Sir Edward Pickering
shortly afterwards, and after his death
about 1503 she married Sir John Brere-
ton, who was living in 1510; Ellesmere
D. no. 211, 280, 284. There was a
recovery of the manors of Worsley and
Hulton in 1501, Sir Edward Pickering
and Joan his wife being tenants ; Towne-
ley's MS. CC (Chet. Lib.), no. 703. Sir
John Brereton and Dame Joan his wife
were defendants in a case relating to the
Massey chantry at Eccles in 1510 ; Duchy
Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 49.
88 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iv, 95
(now illegible). An old abstract states
that Dame Joan with William Pickering
held the manor of Worsley and Hulton,
with lands, wood, &c., rents of 30*., a
pair of spurs, two arrows, a pair of gloves
in the same, in socage by a rent of 181.
The value was £60 a year. She also
held lands, burgages, &c. in Salford,
Wigan, Manchester, Kearsley, and Farn-
worth. Joan wife of John Ashton was
her daughter and heir.
89 Ormerod, Chet. i, 442.
40 An annuity for Dorothy, Richard's
widow, was settled in 1560 by Joan
Brereton, widow, and Geoffrey her son
and heir ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
22, m. 146. Dorothy Brereton adhered
to 'the old religion,' and was accordingly
in trouble in 1584 ; Gibson, Lydiate Hall,
227 (quoting S.P. Dom. Eliz. clxvii, 40).
41 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xii, 5.
Richard Brereton paid i i*. $d. to the
Duchy for Worsley, 6s. 8d. for Middle
Hulton ; the other zs. of ancient rent was
paid by Robert Worsley for Booths ;
Baines, Land. (ed. 1868), i, 447.
48 Ormerod, loc. cit. See Foss, Judges ;
G.E.C. Complete Peerage, and Diet. Nat.
Biog. He was created Baron of Elles-
mere in 1603. As to his religious posi-
tion his contemporary Fr. John Gerard
states that ' he had been a Catholic ; but
went over to the other side, for he loved
the things of this world ' ; Morris, Life of
Gerard, 185. He was one of the feoffees
in a settlement of the manors in 1577 ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 39, m. 6.
In Nov. 1599 Sir Thomas Egerton
and Dorothy Brereton, widow, stating that
Richard Brereton had died in the pre-
vious December, recited that he had about
1593 conveyed his manors of Worsley,
Hulton, and Bedford with other lands in
Lancashire to the use of himself for life,
then of the said Dorothy for life, and
then of Sir Thomas and his heirs male ;
and his Cheshire manors and lands to
the use of Sir Thomas. After Richard's
death Anne Davenport, widow of Sir
William Davenport, George Legh of
High Legh and Anne his wife, Henry
Cocker of High Legh, and Richard Swer-
ton had entered upon the lands, claiming
as the next of kin; Duchy of Lane. Plead,
clxxxviii, £2 ; cxcvii, £5 ; ccx, £7. Anne
Davenport was the aunt of the deceased
Richard Brereton and next of kin ; she
had married (i) John Booth of Barton,
their daughter and co-heir Anne being the
wife of George Legh, and (2) Sir William
Davenport of Bramhall ; Earwaker, East
Cbes. i, 437 ; Dugdale, Fiat. (Chet. Soc.),
179.
380
After the death of Viscount Brackley
it was found that his heir male was the
Earl of Bridgewater, but an elder son had
left two daughters — Mary wife of Sir
Thomas Leigh, and Vera wife of William
Booth ; Chan. Inq. p.m. II, v, 396, 151.
43 Brereton monument in Eccles
Church ; and Funeral Cert. (Chet. Soc.),
80. The will of Dame Dorothy
Legh, with inventory, is printed in Pic-
cope's Wilh (Chet. Soc.), iii, 201-12.
She desired to be buried in the tomb of
her former husband, made a large number
of bequests to the Egertons and others,
and to servants ; to the poor in Worsley
20 nobles, to those in Eccles 401., in
Middle Hulton 401., and about Deane
Church zos. &c. ; to twelve old persons
her tenants in Worsley and Hulton a
black coat or gown ; ' there is armour in
the armour house at Worsley which be-
longeth to the late tenants of my former
husband, Mr. Brereton, both in Cheshire
and Lancashire ; my will and desire is to
have it kept and preserved for use.' By
a codicil she gave 101. each to 'the work-
men in or at the coal pits and cannel pits
in Middle Hulton.'
Her ghost was said to haunt an ash
tree near the hall, and an account of its
laying by seven clergymen of the district
is given in Mancb. Guardian Notes and
Queries, no. 805. A live cock chicken
was offered to appease it, but a human
life should have been offered ; hence the
spirit was allowed to appear at Worsley
Hall once a year in the form of a swal-
low.
44 This sketch of the descent is from
Ormerod 's Cheshire, and the Peerages.
There are lives of several in Diet. Nat.
Biog.
45 He married Frances daughter and co-
heir of Ferdinando, fifth Earl of Derby.
The chief residence of the family was at
Ashridge, Herts., and the monumental
inscriptions in Little Gaddesden Church
are in Collins's Peerage. According to
them the first earl ' was a profound scholar,
an able statesman, and a good Christian ;
he was a dutiful son to his mother the
Church of England, in her persecution as
well as in her great splendour ; a loyal
subject to his sovereign in those worst of
times when it was accounted treason not to
be a traitor. ' His estates do not seem to have
been interfered with by the Parliament.
An extent of the holdings of the Worsley
tenants of John, Earl of Bridgewater, made
in 1653, >8 ia tne Exch. of Pleas (Cal. W.
238).
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
and whose son was the first beneficiary under the
Bridgewater trust. On the death of the third duke
the title of Earl of Bridgewater and part of the family
estates passed to a cousin, Lieut. -General John William
Egerton, seventh earl,46 who died without issue in
1823, and was succeeded by his brother, the Rev.
Francis William, eighth earl, originator of the Bridge-
water Treatises. On his death without issue in 1829
the earldom expired.47
The second Earl of Bridgewater divided the Worsley
and Tatton estates between two of his younger sons,
Sir William and Thomas. The latter became ancestor
of the Egertons of Tatton, but the former leaving no
sons, Worsley reverted to the main line of the family.
Sir William's widow married Hugh, Lord Willoughby
of Parham, and they lived at Worsley Hall, though
not happily.48
Scrope, first Duke of Bridgewater, devised a naviga-
tion system for Worsley, but it was not carried out.49
His son Francis, the third duke, on breaking off his
match with Elizabeth widow of the fourth Duke of
Hamilton, devoted himself to carrying out his father's
plans. He lived at the Brick Hall in Worsley, now
pulled down, and limiting his personal expenses to
£400 a year, employed the remainder of his income
in canal-making. He obtained Acts of Parliament in
1758 and 1759 for the construction of a canal from
his collieries in Worsley and Farnworth to Salford
and to Hollinfare. Starting from the underground
colliery workings, the canal reached the surface near
the centre of Worsley,50 and was carried, without locks,
by a circuitous route and by the famous aqueduct over
the Irwell, to Castlefield in the south of Manchester.
The engineer was the celebrated James Brindley ;
John Gilbert, the duke's agent, also took an active
part in the work. The subterranean canal extends
nearly 6 miles in a straight line, its terminus being
near Deane Church, 5 50 ft. below the surface of the
ground ; it has numerous branches intended to serve
the collieries ; and though no longer used for carrying
coal, it is useful in draining the workings. Before the
first canal was finished the duke, in 1761, obtained an
Act for the construction of a more important one from
Manchester to Runcorn, at which point a descent is
made to the Mersey by a series of locks. By these
undertakings the duke, who took the keenest personal
interest in the works, rendered important help to the
rapidly growing commerce and manufactures of the
Manchester district, and enormously enriched himself.
By his will he left his estates in Lancashire and
Cheshire, and at Brackley, with Bridgewater House,
London, its art treasures and valuable library, on trusts
for the benefit of his nephew the Marquis of Stafford,
afterwards Duke of Sutherland, with remainder to his
second son, Francis Leveson-Gower, and his issue ; he
directed that in case Lord Francis or his issue should
succeed to the marquisate of Stafford, the Bridgewater
estates should pass to the next in succession. The
trust came to an end in 1903, but in 1872 the canals
had been transferred to a company, and were purchased
in 1887 by the Manchester Ship Canal."
Lord Francis in 1833, in accordance with the duke's
will, took the surname and arms of Egerton, on suc-
ceeding his father as the beneficiary of the trust. He
determined to reside at Worsley, conceiving, as he said,
that * his possessions imposed duties upon him as bind-
ing as his rights.' He found it 'a God-forgotten
place ; its inhabitants were much addicted to drink
and rude sports, their morals being deplorably low.
The whole district was in a state of religious and
educational destitution ; there was no one to see to
the spiritual wants of the people, and teaching was all
but nullity itself.' The women working in the coal-
mines were at once withdrawn, and helped to maintain
themselves till they could find more suitable occupation.
Churches and schools were built ; a lending library
instituted ; the cottages of labourers and artisans re-
paired and rebuilt ; and Lord Francis and his wife
afforded a suitable example of life. He built Worsley
Hall, rebuilt Bridgewater House, and added to its
literary and artistic collections, and also made his
mark in literature ; nor did he neglect public duties,
serving the state in Parliament and in office. He was
created Earl of Ellesmere in 1 846, refusing the offer
to revive the earldom of Bridgewater.58 Dying in
1857 he was succeeded by his son George Granville
Francis, who only lived till 1862, being followed by
his son Francis Charles Granville, born in 1 847, the
third earl, who in 1903, on the close of the trust, be-
came not only the beneficiary, but the owner of the
estates in Worsley and elsewhere.
At the beginning of last century courts baron were
48 Son of John Egerton, successively
Bishop of Bangor, Lichfield, and Durham,
who died in 1787, and who was son of
Henry Egerton, brother of the first Duke
of Bridgewater, and Bishop of Hereford
1724-46. By the will of the third duke
he had the family estates ini Herts., Bucks,
and Salop. By the seventh earl's will
these have become the possession of Earl
Brownlow ; G.E.C. Complete Peerage.
The Duchy rents of 18*. for Worsley
and is. for Booths were paid in 1779;
Duchy of Lane. Rentals, bdle. 14, no. 25.
•*7 He gave his collection of manuscripts,
known as the Egerton MSS., to the British
Museum. See Diet, Nat. Biog.
<8 SirWilliam Egerton was made a Knight
of the Bath at the coronation of Charles II
in 1661. The grant of Worsley to him in
tail male was made in 1674; Ellesmere D.
He died in 1691 and was buried at Hemel
Hempstead. His wife was Honora, sister
of Thomas Lord Leigh of Stoneley; their
only son died young, while of four daugh-
ters one married ; Collins, Peerage. For
Lady Honora and her second husband see
Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 417-21.
Sir William's daughter Honora married
Thomas Arden Bagot of Pipe Hall, Staffs.,
whose descendants own land in Worsley
and Hulton.
*' The Irwell and Mersey Navigation
was begun by Act of Parliament in 1720
(7 Geo. I, cap. 15) ; it effected improve-
ments in the waterway between Manches-
ter and Warrington. In 1737 the Duke
of Bridgewater procured an Act (10 Geo.
II, cap. 9) for making Worsley Brook
navigable from Worsley Mill to the River
Irwell.
Two settlements of the Worsley manors
by Scrope, Earl and Duke of Bridgewater,
are recorded — in 1703 and 1739 ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 250, m. 17 ; Plea
R. 549, m. 6.
50 In the formation of the canal this
order was no doubt reversed, the canal
being driven in underground till a seam
was reached ; the coal was then worked
and carried away by the canal, the mines
and canals progressing together ; note by
Mr. Holme.
61 From an account in the Times of 25
Aug. 1903, derived from one in the
Quarterly Rev. of Mar. 1844, by the Earl
of Ellesmere.
A pamphlet describing the Bridgewatet
Navigation was published in 1766, with
later editions in 1769 and 1779; it con-
tains a map of the canals and gives an
abstract of the Act of Parliament. There
are early notices of the canals by A. Young,
Six Months' Tour (1770), iii, 251, and
Aikin, Manchester (1795), 1 1 2-1 6 ; see
also Diet. Nat. Biog. and Smiles, Engineers,.
For a note on the portraits of the duke,
see Pal. Note Bk. ii, 130.
M From a Guide to Wonley (Eccles,
1870) : also G.E.C. Complete Peerage, and
Diet. Nat. Biog. The earl was the first
president of the Camden Society, and
wrote a Guide to Northern Archaeology.
One of his sons, the Hon. Algernon
Egerton, M.P., resided at Worsley Old
Hall, and was superintendent of the Bridge-
water Trust for many years. After his
death in 1891 a memorial fund of £1,100
was raised, the interest of which is given
in exhibitions or scholarships to pupil
teachers proceeding to college.
381
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
held at Easter and Michaelmas.48 They continued to
be held regularly until 1856, but only two have been
held since, in 1877 and 1888. Some court rolls are
extant for the end of the 1 6th and beginning of the
I 7th centuries ; the regular series begins in ijzz.**
Worsley Hall is a large house built in 1840-6 by
Lord Francis Egerton as above stated, Edward Blore
being the architect. It stands on high ground looking
southward over Chat Moss, and is a spacious stone
building of florid Gothic style, with a skyline which
from the lower ground is very imposing. It replaces
Brick Hall, which was pulled down in 1845.
Worsley Old Hall, which was abandoned as the
residence of the lord of the manor when the 1 8th-
century house was built, yet stands in the park to
the north of the modern mansion. It is a pic-
turesque low two-storied building, partly of wood
and plaster, and partly of brick, but has been so
much altered that it has now little or no architec-
tural interest. It makes a very charming picture,
however, with its level lawns, ivy-covered walls,
and contrast of colour in black and white work, red-
brick chimneys, and grey-slated roofs. The house was
originally built round three sides of a quadrangle, the
fourth, facing north, being open ; but the courtyard has
now been almost entirely built over, and the interior of
the building so much altered that little or nothing of
the original disposition of the plan remains. There is
nothing to indicate the date of the building, but it
would not appear to be older than the I7th century.
Parts of an older structure, however, are possibly in-
corporated in it, some of the roof-beams and principals
in the south and south-east parts of the house appear-
ing to be of earlier date. The cellars under the cen-
tral portion of the house, however, are vaulted in brick,
and are certainly not earlier than the 1 7th century.
The principal front faces south, and is of timber and
plaster, with gables at the ends, and two brick chimney
stacks breaking the long line of the outside wall and
roof. The timber work is of simple construction, being
composed almost entirely of uprights and diagonal
bracings, two quatrefoils near the garden entrance
being the only enrichments. The timber construction
is continued round the gable at the east side. The
hall is said to have been moated, but no signs of a
moat now remain. The three sides of the original
courtyard are set at slightly different angles. In
modern times a corridor was set along the side of the
courtyard, connecting the two ends of the old wings,
but this has disappeared in subsequent alterations.
The courtyard was first encroached on at the east side
by the erection of a wide entrance-hall, the principal
entrance to the house being on the north side. The
quadrangle was by this means reduced to a space of
about 34 ft. square, and this was almost entirely
covered in 1905 by the erection of a billiard-room.
The north entrance front of the house is entirely
modern ; it carries out the picturesque half-timber
character of the garden front, but the black and white
work is chiefly paint and plaster. About the middle
of the last century (after 1855) a new west wing
was added alongside the old one, with a timber gable
at each end. This was originally of one story, but
was afterwards raised. Further alterations took place
in 1891, when the morning-room in the east wing
was extended and a new bay added on three sides
of the house, and in 1 906 a further addition was
made by the erection of a small north-west wing.
There was formerly a bell turret over the west wing,
but this has disappeared.
For a long time before the new Hall was built,
Worsley Old Hall was divided into tenements, and it
was not till the Hon. Algernon Egerton came to live
there in 1855 and the house was entirely renovated,
that it was again used as a residence. At the end of the
1 8th century when the Duke of Bridgewater was con-
structing his canal, James Brindley, the engineer, lived
for some time at Worsley Old Hall, where the duke
often consulted with him. The hall is now the resi-
dence of Viscount Brackley.
The carved oak panels which were brought from
Hulme Hall, Manchester, at the time of its demoli-
tion, to Worsley Old Hall, have been removed to the
new mansion and are now in Lady Ellesmere's sitting-
room. They consist of a series of spirited grotesques,
allegorical subjects, and ornamental devices, and are
apparently 16th-century work.54
The formation of the estate or manor of BOOTHS
in 1323 has been narrated.46 Robert son of Henry
de Worsley, the original grantee, was succeeded by
his son William,47 and the latter by Robert de Worsley
his son,48 who died 28 March 1402, seised of 'the
manor of Booths,' which was held of the king as Duke
of Lancaster in socage and by the yearly rent of 2/. ;
it was worth 20 marks. His son and heir Arthur
was then of full age.49 As already stated, the father
had planned the reunion of the whole manor through
the marriage of Arthur with Elizabeth daughter and
heiress of Sir Geoffrey de Worsley, but was balked
by the success of the Masseys in proving her ille-
gitimate.
Arthur Worsley was stated to have been an idiot
from his birth. He was entrusted to the guardian-
ship of John Booth of Barton, who in 14.14 was
M Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1836), iii, 145.
M Information of Mr. Strachan Holme.
In 1877 the bounds were perambulated.
The officers of the manor used to be the
moss reeves, moor drivers, burley men,
affeerers, constables, and pinfold keepers.
65 They are engraved in Baines, Hist, of
Lanes, (ist ed.), iii, 144.
*• Final Cone, i, 193 ; also Ellesmere
D. no. 147, 162, quoted above.
W In 1350 Agnes widow of Robert de
Worsley claimed her dower in twenty-one
messuages and various lands in Worsley
and Heaton Norris. William son of
Robert, in defending, denied Agnes' s mar-
riage, but she averred that it took place
on the Wednesday after 29 Aug. 1 346, at
the door of St. Mary's Church, Deane ;
De Banco R. 363, m. 78 d. William son
of Robert de Worsley occurs again in
1353 ; Assize R. 435, m. 9 d. William
de Worsley had licence for his oratory in
1360, 1362, and 1366; Lich. Epis. Reg.
v, fol. 4, 8, 15.
8» Robert de Worsley and Isabel his
wife in 1376 claimed dower in certain
lands in Blackrod ; Isabel was the widow
of John de Worthington ; De Banco R.
462, m. 235. Robert had licence for his
oratory in the manor of Booths in 1378 ;
Lich. Epis. Reg. v, fol. 31^. In 1401
Robert son of William de Worsley had a
release from the Masseys of all claim to
Booths and Stanistreet ; Ellesmere D.
(Black Bk.). Robert de Worsley was
knight of the shire in 1386 and 1391 ;
382
Pink and Beaven, Part. Refre. of Lanes.
43-4. He complained that in order to
ruin him the Masseys and others had
accused him of treason in 1387, so that
he had been imprisoned for some time in
the Tower ; Par!. R. iii, 445.
69 Towneley MS. DD, no. 1448 ;
an inquisition taken at Manchester on
3 Oct. 1402. The writ had been issued
6 Aug. 1402 ; Dtp. Keeper's Rep. zzxiii,
App. 2, where the date seems to be 1401.
In the inquiry as to the sanity of Arthur
de Worsley, however, Robert's death is
said to have happened on Easter Sunday,
1403 ; and it is recorded that he held the
Rakes in Heaton Norris, in addition to
'certain lands and tenements called the
Booths ' in Worsley.
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
accused of having caused waste in the possessions in
his charge ; M the guardianship had been transferred
to John Stanley.81 Arthur did not long survive,
dying in December 1415, and leaving as heir his son
Geoffrey, then about six years of age.61 Geoffrey
appears to have been succeeded by a brother named
Robert.88 About 1460 Robert Worsley was in pos-
session, he and his son Robert, with other gentlemen
and yeomen, being accused of complicity in the death
of Robert Derbyshire ; M and at the same time he
charged William Massey, Sir Geoffrey Massey, and
others, with the death of William Worsley his brother.84
Robert Worsley the son is probably the Robert Wors-
ley who died at the beginning of 1497, leaving a
son and heir of the same name, thirty years of age.
His possessions are described as the manor of Booths,
held of the manor of Worsley ; also messuages, land,
and pasture called the Rakes in Heaton Norris, held
of the king as Duke of Lancaster. The services were
unknown.86
Robert Worsley recorded a pedigree in 1533 ; it
shows that his eldest son Robert had married Alice
daughter and co-heir of Hamlet Mascy of Rixton,
and had left a son Robert, then married to Alice
daughter of Thurstan Tyldesley.67 The grandfather
died later in the year, holding lands in Urmston,
Hulme, Ashton under Lyne, Rusholme, and Farn-
worth ; the manor of Booths was, as in the earlier
inquisitions, found to be held of the king by a rent
of 2f. ; Robert, the grandson and heir, was twenty -
one years of age.68 He was afterwards made a knight,
and acquired the lands of Upholland Priory;69 but the
family did not prosper, and though his son and heir
Robert was appointed keeper of the New Fleet prison
in Salford, while it was filled with recusants during
the persecution which marked the latter half of
Elizabeth's reign,7" he sold the family lands, appar-
ently piecemeal.71 Afterwards little is heard of Booths
as a manor. It was held by Charnock n and then by
Sherington n in the 1 7th century. The house was
in the latter part of the i8th century owned by the
Clowes family.73 It was eventually acquired by the
60 The first inquiry as to Arthur's
sanity was made in Sept. 1413, and the
next at Bolton a year later ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. i, 24, 244, 24^. Richard
Worsley had had the custody of the lands
for two years from the death of Robert ;
then John Booth of Barton the elder had
had it for eight years — see the grant to
him dated 18 Dec. 1403 in Dtp. Keeper's
Rep. xl, App. 531 — and had caused waste
by felling and carrying away eighty oaks,
worth 6s. %d. each, in a certain wood
called Mokens, parcel of the tenements in
Worsley ; also forty saplings in the Rakes,
and forty more in Winlehurst in Wors-
ley ; he had also damaged the hall and
chapel at the Rakes and the ' manor
place ' of the Booths.
41 The grant to John Stanley was made
on 20 Nov. 1413, shortly after the former
inquiry ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i,
1 1 8 ; but see Dtp. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii,
App. n, for a renewal of the grant to
Booth.
w Lanct. Inq. loc. cit. ; Pal. of Lane.
Plea R. 2, m. 24*. Besides the Booths
and the Rakes he had held the manor of
Worsley, except the site and certain lands,
for the life of his wife Elizabeth. There
seems to have been a further inquiry in
1417 ; Dtp. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii, App. 14.
68 In 1432 Robert son of Arthur
Worsley and Edmund Worsley granted to
feoffees lands in Withington, Heaton
Norris, Urmston, Barton, Ashton under
Lyne, and Stanistreet in Worsley ; Elles-
mere D. no. 26.
« Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 28, m. 9 d.
The other defendants included Hamlet
and William Atherton of Bickerstaffe.
•» Ibid. The other defendants were
Thomas Tyldesley, Richard Prestall,
Nicholas Massey, Gilbert Parr, and John
ton of William Massey the elder. An-
other William Worsley, Dean of St.
Paul's, 1479—99* i* supposed to have been
of the Booths family ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
69 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. iii, 50.
« Visit, of 1533 (Chet. Soc.), 81.
88 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vii, 5 ; a
settlement of 1524 is recited.
*• See the account of Upholland.
Thurstan Tyldesley says in his will
(1547) : 'Notwithstanding that my son-
in-law Sir Robert Worsley knight is
married to Margaret Beetham, his wife
yet living, yet I remit and pardon to him
£7 icu., upon condition that he give
yearly unto my daughter Alice his wife
£5 or more for her exhibition during her
absence from him, or upon condition that
he take his said wife into his company
and entreat her as he ought to do ' ;
Piccope, Wills (Chet. Soc.), i, 101. The
bigamous union mentioned probably ac-
counts for the three illegitimate children
in the pedigrees.
Deer were kept at Booths in 1547 ;
Ducky Plead. (Rec. Com.), iii, 2.
Sir Robert Worsley in 1563 made a
settlement of the manors of Booths and
Upholland and his estates there ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 25, m. 21.
About 1570 quarrels broke out between
Sir Robert and his son Robert, and by the
arbitration of Gilbert Sherington of Gray's
Inn it was agreed that the son should
occupy certain lands called the New Ridd,
Mokens Wood, &c., in Booths Park ; the
son to pay the father a rent of £14 6s. 8</.
in Ellenbrook Chapel. The father after-
wards asserted that the agreement had not
been kept ; Duchy of Lane. Plead. Eliz.
xcvi, W. 9.
Sir Robert was buried at Eccles in Dec.
IS.8S 5 Reg.
70 Peck, Desiderata curiosa, bk. iii, no.
52, &c.
71 In 1582 Robert Worsley sold 120
acres in the Booths and Worsley to
Robert Hindley ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 44, m. 4 ; and in 1587 he and
Thomas his son and heir apparent sold
various messuages and lands in Stanistreet
in Worsley to Francis Sherington ; ibid,
bdle. 49, m. 51. In the following year
Robert Worsley was deforciant in a fine
relating to a messuage, mill, dovecote,
300 acres of land, &c., in the Booths and
Worsley, the plaintiffs being Robert
Hindley and John Ashton ; ibid. bdle. 50,
m. 3. For the later history of the family
see Foster, Torks. Pedigrees (North Riding),
and the baronetages. The manors of
Coulston, Holthorp, and Hovingham in
the county of York were in Sir Robert
Worsley's possession in 1563, when he
made a settlement ; Piccope, quoting
Dods. MSS. cxlvi, fol. 59.
A letter in favour of Robert Worsley,
the son of Sir Robert, is printed in Lanes,
and Chet. Antiq. Notes, i, 18.
Some arrangement for the benefit of
the younger children of Robert Worsley
383
seems to have been made in 1596, when
a fine concerning messuages and lands in
Stanistreet, Worsley, and Bedford was
made, John Egerton and George Leyces-
ter being plaintiffs, and William Gerard,
John Willard, and John de Cardenas de-
forciants ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
59, m. 90.
In Aug. 1648 Thomas Worsley of
Hovingham prayed for relief against
Thomas Charnock, heir and executor of
Robert Charnock, respecting the manor
of Booths, which had been mortgaged and
sold by petitioner's father ; Hist. MSS.
Com. Rep. vii, App. 41.
'a Robert Charnock of the Booths was
a freeholder in 1600; Misc. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 246. He appears
also in 1613 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 232. Thomas
Charnock had lands in Worsley in 1622 5
Misc. ut sup. i, 152.
7*3 An account of the Sheringtons of
Wardley and then of Booths is given in
Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Notes, i, 31.
Gilbert Sherington of Wardley died in
1597 (see under Wardley below) and was
succeeded by his brother Francis, who
died three yean later. Francis Shering-
ton, of Wardley 1606, and Booths 1636
and later — perhaps there were two of the
same name — followed ; from papers in
the Clowes deeds it seems he died between
1677 and 1681.
Francis Sherington took part in the
defence of Lathom House in 1645 ; Royal-
ist Camp. Papers, i, 265. He, called a
'delinquent,' owned Booths in 1648;
Cal. Com. for Advance of Money, ii, 965.
He had to pay a fine of £373 ; two-thirds
of his estate had been sequestered for his
recusancy ; Cal. Com. for Compounding, ii,
1191. In 1660 his son John was heir
apparent. Gilbert Sherington, another
son, aged eighteen in 1670, was fellow of
Brasenose College, Oxford, and died there
in 1683 ; Foster, Alumni. Francis Sher-
ington of Eccles occurs in 1688 ; Hist.
MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 195. A
John Sherington was living at Claughton
m 1734 ; Fishwick, Garstang (Chet. Soc.),
126.
78 « The manor and hall of Booths
were settled by act of Parliament about
1789, in exchange for other lands, upon
the younger children of Samuel Clowes
of Manchester and his wife Martha,
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Bridgcwater Trustees, the Earl of Ellesmere being the
present owner.74
WARDLEY, the possession of Jordan de Worsley
in the first half of the I4th century, has been men-
tioned above. Jordan held part of Wardley of the
Hospitallers by a rent of Sd. ;74 he hnd other
lands in Wardley and Worsley, held of the lord
of Worsley.76 He left an only daughter Mar-
garet as his heir ; she was a minor and in ward to
Richard de Worsley. In November 1330 a number
of the neighbours carried her off from Richard's
house and married her to Thurstan son of Richard
de Tyldesley.77 She was still living in 1401, when
in conjunction with her son Thomas she made a
settlement with the Masseys regarding her estate in
Worsley.78 This descended to another Thomas
Tyldesley, who died in 1495," leaving as his heir
a son Thurstan. By his first wife Thurstan, who
died in I554,80had a son Thomas,81 succeeded two
years later by his son Thurstan,8* who died in 1582,
having between 1562 and 1568 sold Wardley and
other lands in Worsley to William and Gilbert
Sherington.83 This family did not hold them long,
selling to Roger Downes, who was living at
Wardley in i6og.8* He had various public em-
ployments85 and was twice married. The eldest
son by the first marriage having died before his
father,86 the heir at the latter's death in 1638 was
found to be Francis Downes, eldest son by the second
wife.67 Francis also seems to have died without
daughter of John Tipping of Manchester ' ;
Raines in Gastrell's Notitia, ii, 51. In a
recovery of the manor of Booths in 1799,
Samuel Clowes the elder and Samuel
Clowes the younger were vouchees ; Pal.
of Lane. Aug. Assizes, 39 Geo. Ill, R. 6.
1* Samuel Clowes in 1 8 1 o sold the
manor of Booths and the estate there to
Robert Haldane Bradshaw of Worsley,
the first superintendent under the Duke
of Bridgewater's will. He contracted to
sell his properties in the neighbourhood
to the first Earl of Ellesmere, and his
executors carried the contract out in
1836. The trustees of the Earls of Elles-
mere held the estate till 1900, when it
was sold to the Bridgewater Trustees ; in
1903 it was transferred, with the other
properties, to the Earl of Ellesmere.
7* The prior of the Hospitallers called
upon Gilbert de Barton to warrant him in
1246; Assize R. 404, m. 13. Wardley
(Wordelegh) is named among the Hos-
pitallers' lands in 1292 ; Plac. de Quo War.
(Rec. Com.), 375. In 1329 the prior
alleged that Richard de Worsley (4 acres),
Jordan de 'Worleye' (20 acres), and
Ellen daughter of Adam de Worleye (2
acres) had withheld their due services ;
De Banco R. 279, m. i8od; 280, m.
294 d.
About 1 540 the Hospitallers' tenants
were Thurstan Tyldesley, who paid %d.
rent, and Richard Holland (of Denton),
who had Little Wardley and paid 4</. ;
Kuerden MSS. v, foL 84.
7* A grant has been quoted in a previous
note ; see also Final Cone, i, 190, 202,
for lands in Worsley and Hindley. In
1301 Richard son of Roger de Worsley
demanded common of pasture in 300
acres of wood and 100 acres of moor
which Henry lord of Worsley had ap-
proved from the waste ; Jordan brother
of Henry was the tenant. It was shown
that plaintiff had sufficient pasture, and
the verdict was against him ; Assize R.
321, m. 8.
<7 Assize R. 430, m. 16 ; in one place
Thurstan is called ' son of Henry de Tyl-
desley' ; Henry was the father of Richard.
Thurstan occurs in 1357 ; Final Cone, ii,
151. He had a licence for an oratory at
Wardley in 1361 ; Lich. Epis. Reg. v,
foL 6.
78 Final Cones, iii, 62 ; Def. Keeper's
Rtp. xxxiii, App. 2. Wills of Thomas
Tyldesley of Eccles and of St. Giles,
Ciipplegate, 1410, are in P.C.C.
The succession from this point is not
clear. Hugh de Tyldesley held Wardley
of the Hospitallers in 1420 ; Ellesmere
D, no. 184. James de Tyldesley of
Worsley occurs in 1444 ; Pal. of Lane.
Plea R. 6, m. \b ; Thomas Tyldesley,
senior, about twenty years later ; ibid. R.
28, m. gd. Adam son of Thomas Tyl-
desley in 1457 bequeathed money to the
church of Deane and the chapel of Ellen-
brook ; Towneley MS. HH, no. 972.
In 1471 Hugh Tyldesley, perhaps of
Wardley, contracted his son and heir
Thomas to marry Ellen daughter of
Richard Bruche ; Ellesmere D. no. 263.
7» Had. MS. 2112, fol. 146.
80 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. x, 44.
He held Wardley Hall, with messuages,
water-mill, and lands, of the king and
queen (in right of the prior of the Hos-
pitallers), in socage by a rent of %d. ; the
annual value was 20 marks. He also
held lands in Tyldesley of the lord of
Warrington ; in Swinton, Little Hough-
ton, Westlackes, Kidpool (Kitepool),
Westwood, and Moorland in Worsley of
the queen in chief by the tenth part of a
knight's fee and a rent of 351. and other
lands in Amounderness. Thomas his
son and heir was forty-three years of
age.
The will of Thurstan Tyldesley, with
inventories of his goods at Wardley and
Myerscough, is printed in full in Piccope's
Wills, i, 97-114. He mentions his son
Thomas and grandson Thurstan ; also a
brother Richard, who had been a monk
at the Shene Charterhouse. Referring to
his long service under the Earl of Derby
and his father he declared that, so far as
he knew, there was ' nothing comen into
his hands or possession of the lands, rents,
fines or ingressions, rewards, or other
things but such as he had truly paid for
and put in his book of accounts, without
fraud or coven and without corrupt con-
science or advantage to himself."
For the pedigree see Vhit, of 1567
(Chet. Soc.), 44.
81 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. x, 27 ;
the lands are described as in the last-
quoted inquisition. Thurstan the son
and heir was twenty-four years of age.
82 A settlement was made in 1558, the
remainders being to Hugh, Richard,
George, Thomas, Gilbert, and James,
brothers of Thurstan ; then to Edward
Tyldesley, and to Ralph Barton ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 19, m. 61.
88 In 1566 William and Gilbert Sher-
ington purchased from Thurstan Tyldesley
six messuages, a water-mill, dovecote, and
lands ; ibid. bdle. 28, m. 278 ; and three
years later Gilbert Sherington purchased
twelve messuages, &c., in Worsley and
Swinton from Thurstan and Hugh Tyl-
desley ; ibid. bdle. 31, m. 124.
The Sheringtons, lawyers and money-
lenders, appear to have been much dis-
liked by their Worsley neighbours ; refer-
ence to the Ducatus will show that they
384
had many quarrels and disputes in conse-
quence of their acquisitions. In 1568
Gilbert Sherington, of Gray's Inn, stated
that Thurstan Tyldesley had about six
years before sold Wardley to William
Sherington, brother of Gilbert ; and after-
wards he sold his lands in Swinton and
Worsley to Gilbert. Edward Norris,
Edward Tyldesley, and Thomas Tyldesley,
brother-in-law, uncle, and son of Thur-
stan, had with others assembled at Mor-
leys, thence going to Wardley and taking
possession ; and Gilbert was unable to
recover ; Duchy of Lane. Plead. Ixxvii,
S. 8. Two years later Robert Worsley
of Booths, Christopher Anderton of Los-
tock, and Gilbert Sherington of Gray't
Inn, complained that Thurstan Tyldesley
and Hugh his brother had forged a deed
of feoffment to the use of Thurstan, and
disturbed the quiet possession of Wardley
and other lands ; ibid. Ixxxiv, W. 10.
Gilbert Sherington died at Wardley
23 Aug. 1 597, holding the capital mes-
suage called Wardley Hall and lands there
by the tenure already stated, also monastic
lands in Swinton, &c. ; his heirs were the
daughters of his elder brother William,
viz., Susan wife of James Bankes of Win-
stanley, Hester wife of John Andrewes
of Cambridge, and Sarah wife of Denis
Hartridge of Macking, all over twenty-four
years of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
xvii, 86.
84 Lanes. Inq . p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes.
and Ches.), i, 172; he was the son of
Roger Downes, supposed to have been of
the family of Downes of Shrigley in
Cheshire, who married Elizabeth sister
and co-heir of Ralph Worsley of Pember-
ton, and had the Worsley estate in that
township. He recorded a pedigree in
1613 ; Vhit. (Chet. Soc.), 133.
85 He represented Wigan in Parliament
in 1 60 1 and 1621 ; Pink and Beaven,
Parl.Repre. of Lanes. 223-4. In 1625 he
was appointed vice-chamberlain of Che-
shire ; Def. Keeper's Rep. xxxix, App. 102.
It was perhaps his father who was feodary
of the county in 1603-4 ; Lanes. Inq.
p.m. i, 2, 29.
86 He was living in 1613.
8' Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvii, 54.
This shows that Roger Downes had in
1620 married as his third wife Mary
widow of Adam Eccleston. The hall of
Wardley and lands in Worsley and Swin-
ton were held of the Earl of Derby in
right of the dissolved hospital of St. John;
lands in Monton were held of the king.
Lands in Barton and Farnworth, and the
Worsley estates in Pemberton, &c., also
appear in the inquisition. Francis the
son and heir was thirty years of age.
He had represented Wigan in the two
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
issue,88 the heir being his brother John, who took
sides with the king in the Civil War and died in
i648,89 leaving by his wife Penelope, a daughter of
Sir Cecil Trafford, two children — Roger, born about
the year named, and Penelope.90 The son, after a
short and dissipated career in London — Lord Roches-
ter was one of his companions — died from a wound
received in a brawl with the watch,91 and his sister
inherited the estate. By her husband Richard Savage,
fourth Earl Rivers,92 she had a daughter and heir
Elizabeth, who in turn left a daughter and heir
Penelope by her husband James Barry, fourth Earl of
Barrymore.93 Penelope married General James Chol-
mondeley, but was divorced for adultery, and died
childless in I786.94 Wardley was sold by her in
1 760 to Francis Duke of Bridgewater, and now forms
part of the Earl of Ellesmere's estate in Worsley.94a
Wardley Hall is a quadrangular building of great
interest, which, though very much restored, yet pre-
serves many of its ancient features and retains to a
great extent its original arrangement of plan. The
house is situated about a mile north of Worsley vil-
lage, and stands on high ground at the head of a
wooded hollow. Its immediate surroundings are yet
of a rural character, though the workings of collieries
have entirely changed the aspect of the district
around.
The house was formerly surrounded by a moat, but
of this only a portion remains on the west side, where
it has been formed into a small lake, adding greatly to
the picturesqueness of the building.
The date of the first house is not known, but the
oldest part of the present structure, containing the
great hall, may belong to the end of the I5th or first
half of the 1 6th century. The building has been so
much altered and restored in the course of the igth
century, however, that it is very difficult to affix a
date definitely to any portion of it. At the begin-
ning of the last century it was in a very dilapidated
condition, and some repairs were effected about 1 8 1 1 .
WARDLEY HALL : THE GATEWAY
Parliaments of 1625 ; Pink and Beaven,
op. cit. 224.
The will of Roger Downes, dated 1637
and proved in 1638, mentions his brother
Francis as married, his sons Francis and
John, and his daughter Jane, then wife of
Ralph Sneade ; his cousin Bessie Halli-
well ; and John Preston and Arthur
Alburgh, who had married his sisters.
In his later years Roger Downes appears
to have been reconciled to the Roman
church, and his sons adhered to the same
faith. John Downes, the younger son,
stayed a week in the English College at
Rome in 1638 ; Foley, Rec. S.J. vi, 616.
88 A settlement by Francis Downes in
1 642 is mentioned in Exch. of Pleas, Cal.
of D. enrolled, L. 124.
Francis died 5 Mar. 1648, and his wife
Elizabeth 9 Mar., John following in May;
The M onth, xcviii, 379, &c. (from informa-
tion of Mr. Joseph Gillow).
The will of Francis Downes, 'being
a member of the Catholic Church,' dated
1642 and proved 1650, is transcribed in
Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxv, 245. His
books were to be an heirloom at Wardley
according to his father's desire. He de-
sired to be buried at Wigan in the burial
place belonging to the hall of Worsley (in
Pemberton) near his father Roger. He
names his brother John and his sister
Jane.
89 Civil War Tractt (Chet. Soc.), 51.
90 Dugdale, V'uit. (Chet. Soc.), 100.
91 His monument in Wigan Church
states that he died 27 June 1676, aged
twenty-eight ; Bridgeman, Wigan Ch.
(Chet. Soc.), 713. The account of his
death may be seen in the Hatton Carres.
(Camden Soc.), ii, 133 (quoted by Mr.
W. Axon).
93 For this dissolute nobleman see G.E.C.
Camp. Peerage, vi, 373. He was one of
385
the first to join William III on his landing
in 1688, and had many public offices and
honours. He married Penelope Downes
in 1 67 9, and died in 1712. Penelope died
before 1688.
93 Ibid, i, 253, 254 ; Elizabeth was his
second wife and died in 1714.
94 Ormerod, Chet. (ed. Helsby), iii, 638.
The separation was made in the Bishop
of London's court in 1737. In 1741 a
fine relating to a settlement of the estates
was made, George Lewis Scott being the
plaintiff ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle.
327, m. 80. In 1738 they had been
leased to James Earl of Barrymore.
94a A History of the hall has been pub-
lished by Capt. Hart-Davis and Mr.
Strachan Holme. It contains views and
plans, including one of part of the estate
about 1600 (p. 79), a rental of the estate
in 1678 (p. 113), and other documents as
well in the text as in the Appendix.
49
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
A further repair appears to have taken place about
1849; and in 1894, the hall having fallen into decay,
a further and more complete restoration was carried
out. For about twenty years before this time the
house was unoccupied, with the exception of the east
wing, which had been made into three cottages, ten-
anted by colliers. During that period it had only
been so far repaired as to be kept weather-proof, and
had suffered some damage from the coal-workings be-
neath it. The only two living-rooms were those now
called the boudoir and the dining-room ; the lower
part of the hall was a washhouse, and its upper part
divided into several rooms, and the minstrels' gallery
used as a dovecote. The principal entrance to the
house from the courtyard had been built up and a
later one made on the west side near to the staircase
bay. Other rooms were used as places for firewood
right up to the walls on this side, if this view is to be
taken as correct. The ground is now levelled right
up to the building. The elevation on this side is of
brick, and is about 60 ft. in length, standing in front
of the rest of the house. The roof, which was for-
merly lower on the east side of the gatehouse, is now
of uniform height and pitch with overhanging eaves
and a plaster cove. The appearance of the house on
this side, relieved only by the central gateway with its
single gable and two tall chimney-stacks, is plain and
uninteresting, the end gables of the two side wings of
the quadrangle standing too far back to enter into the
composition of the north front. To the west of the
gatehouse, the recess formed by the junction of the
north and west wings is now occupied by a low one-
story addition erected in 1895-6.
The courtyard is of irregular shape, none of its
A mCHE CONTA1NIN6 SKULU;
TMC PW!3trtT GUM ROOM IS THE OLD BUTTERY,
Ttie SERVA/lTS'quAinERS Wt« IN THE.
CAST WlrtG 4 TWC MAM DEDAOOnS Irt THE WtSI
PLAN OF WARDLEY HALL
and rubbish, and the whole structure had been most
cruelly mutilated. The work aimed at restoring as
much of the building as possible to something like its
former state, and reconstructing the remainder.
The house is of two stories throughout, and the
entrance is under a gatehouse on the north side of the
quadrangle. Immediately opposite, and occupying
the whole of the south side of the courtyard, is the
great hall. The family apartments were no doubt
originally in the west wing, and the servants' rooms
in the east wing. The west wing now contains the
dining-room, kitchen, and offices, while the east wing,
which has been successively used as cottages and stables,
was converted into a drawing-room and study in 1903.
The gatehouse was formerly approached over a
bridge, and is so shown in Philips's view of the house
made about 1 822, 96 the moat at that time coming
sides being square with the others, and measures about
45 ft. by 35 ft., the greater length being from west to
east. The east and west wings, which converge
slightly to the south, are said to follow the lines of
two streams which fed the moat.96 All the outside
elevations, with the exception of the central portion
of the south front, which is of timber, are of brick
with stone dressings and with timber in some of the
gables, and all the windows are new, both in the
brick and timber portions of the house. Three sides
of the courtyard are of timber on a stone base, the
north or gatehouse side only being of brick. The
roofs are covered with stone slates.
The entrance to the house by the courtyard is by
the door at the north end of the passage behind the
screen. The passage is still retained and on the side
opposite the hall has its two doors to the east wing.
»6 Henry Taylor, Old Halh in Lanes, and Chet. 47.
386
» Ibid.
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
This part of the house has been entirely modernized,
what was probably the buttery being now a gun-
room, and the passage to the kitchen now leading to
a modern drawing-room and study. The great hall,
originally about 40 ft. long by 2 1 ft.,97 was, at a com-
paratively early date, divided into two by a wall about
1 2 ft. from its west end. A floor appears to have
been inserted at the same time, and the staircase in
the south-west corner of the courtyard built. The
appearance of the open timber-roofed hall may, how-
ever, still be realized in the upper room, the whole
extent of the original roof having been exposed in the
last restoration. The roof is divided by two princi-
pals into three bays, and is of a plain king-post type
with curved and moulded pieces underneath the tie
beam. It has a flat wooden ceiling with moulded
ribs at the level of the tie beams. The arrangement
rooms retain their ancient ceiling beams, and the
dining-room had a fine masonry fireplace, now re-
built. The dining-room ceiling is crossed by four
moulded beams, with moulded joists between, the
mouldings of the beams being carried down the walls
on oak posts loin, thick. In the upper room over
the kitchen there is a roof similar in style to that
over the great hall.
The timber framing on three sides of the quad-
rangle and on the south side of the house preserves its
ancient character, and consists principally of uprights
with diagonal bracings. There has been a good deal
of reconstruction on both the east and west sides of
the court, however, and many of the timbers are new,
replacing old ones. A former doorway and recess on
the west side of the quadrangle on the ground floor
have been destroyed, and the whole of that side made
WARDLEY HALL : COURTYARD FROM NORTH-EAST
of the great hall followed the usual type. The screens
were at the east end, with a gallery over, and the
room was lit on the north side by a range of windows
to the courtyard. On the opposite side was the ingle-
nook and a window to the garden. Beyond the fire-
place at the west end to the right of the high table
was the bay window with a projection and width of
about I o ft. All these arrangements may still be
seen, but the greater part of the dais end of the hall
together with the bay window is now a separate room
(boudoir), and the masonry fireplace is a restoration.
The fireplace in the upper hall, however, has its old
stone arch reinstated after having been repaired.
Both these fireplaces were discovered and opened up
in 1895-6. At the north-west end of the hall is the
staircase occupying a projecting bay in the south-west
angle of the courtyard, and beyond this a corridor
giving access to the rooms in the western wing. These
of uniform character. At the same time a new stair-
case bay and entrance were added in the north-west
corner of the courtyard. In the original plan there
was a smaller projecting bay in the south-east corner
of the courtyard with a small gable facing north,
forming a kind of balancing feature to the large gable
of the staircase bay, but in the reconstruction this
feature has been merged into the general arrangement
of the east side of the house by the rebuilding and
advancing of the east side of the quadrangle to the
line of the former angle-projection and the continuing
of the little gable as a second and smaller roof along
the whole length of the east wing. The courtyard is
paved with stone sets.
Over the gatehouse was formerly the date 1625,
which though usually taken to indicate some alteration
or addition to the building, probably refers to the
year of the erection of the gatehouse, or at any rate
'7 40 ft. including the screen, 34 ft. without.
387
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
to its facing in brick. There may have been a wooden
building on the site before, but the timber front to
the gatehouse shown in old drawings of Wardley Hall,
which was so characteristic a feature of the house
in the view from the north, was not timber at all, but
only a painted plaster covering in front of the brick-
work. The old brick walls have now been restored
to their original appearance. The other brick eleva-
tions are, perhaps, more rebuildings than restora-
tions, and have no special interest. The room east
of the gatehouse upstairs is said to have been a chapel,
but there appears to be no documentary evidence
for this, and the building itself at the present time
offers none. The position, however, would be a
convenient and likely one for the purpose, and a
former tenant of the hall is stated to have said that he
formerly saw evidences of the apartment having been
a chapel.98
In an inventory of goods in Wardley Hall dated
10 July 1638, the following rooms and places are
mentioned : — 98a
' The little parler, the old yeaman's chamber, newe
flored chambers, buttery chamber, maydon's chamber,
gatehouse chambr, mattdd chamber, garden chamber,
steare head chamber, yellowe chamber, corner cham-
ber, inner corner chamber, chamber over hall,
chappell chamber, cookes chamber, masters' cham-
ber, inner chamber, chamber over pantry, greate
parlor, grounde parlor, the hall, servantes chambr,
oxe house chamber, garner chamb', mylne, stable
chamber, brewhouse, back house, dry larder, wett lar-
der, dryhouse, cheese chamber, kytchein, Mr. Milling-
ton's clossett, storehouse, washe house, buttery and
seller, mylne.'
A peculiar interest has long been attached to the house
on account of a human skull being kept there. The
superstition is that if the skull is moved from its place
great storms will follow, to the damage of the dwelling.
The skull is in a niche in the wall on the staircase
landing, carefully protected by glass and a wooden
outer door. Concerning it there are several legends and
traditions, but it is now supposed to be that of the
Ven. Ambrose Barlow, who served the private chapel
at Wardley along with other places in South Lanca-
shire, but was arrested on Easter Sunday, 1641, and
executed in the September following at Lancaster.
After his execution it is thought that his head may
have been secured by Mr. Francis Downes, and pre-
served by him at Wardley Hall." The story of the
skull being that of the last Roger Downes (died 1676)
has been disproved.
The Hollands of Denton held another part of the
Hospitallers' lands in Wardley by a rent of 4^.'°°
Another ancient estate in Worsley was KEMP-
NOUGH,m granted early in the 1 3th century by
Richard de Worsley to Roger his brother (or son) at
a rent of zs.103 Richard son of Roger appears fre-
quently as a witness to local charters and in other
ways during the second part of the i jth century.105
Probably he was the father of Robert the Clerk of
Worsley, whose grandson Richard in 1346 made a
settlement of his lands in Worsley upon his son
Robert, with remainder to his daughter Ellen.104 The
last-named seems to have succeeded. She married
Richard de Parr, and in 1408 a further settlement
was made, Oliver being their eldest son.105 Oliver
married Emma daughter and heir of Margery, widow
of Henry Tootill ; she had lands in Tyldesley, which
descended to their son and grandson, each named
Richard.106 The estate descended to John Parr, who
in 1560 made a settlement.107 His heir was his
daughter Anne, whose marriage with Nicholas Starkie
carried Kempnough into this family,103 and their
descendants, the Starkies of Huntroyde, retained
possession until 1876, when it was sold to the Bridge-
water trustees.109
98 Taylor, op. cit. 68 n.
»8> Printed in H.V. Hart-Davis's Hist, of
Wardley Hall, Lancashire (1908), 120-35.
99 An authoritative account will be
found in Hart-Davis's and Holme's Ward-
ley Hall, 153. See also Harland and
Wilkinson, Lanes. Legends, 65-73 5 Lanes,
and Ches. Antiq. Soc. i, 31-8 ; xvi, 143 ;
Month, xcviii, 379.
H» Kuerden MSS. v, fol. 84 ; Lanes. Inq.
pjn. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 146.
101 Kempenhalgh and other variations
of spelling occur.
108 Towneley MS. DD, no. 948. The
bounds began at Peverelsgate, went by
Haysbrook to Holclough across to
Hankechirche, by Hulteley Brook to
Millbrook, along this to Scaythelache,
and so to the starting point. The grantor
must have been Richard son of Elias de
Worsley, for Roger de Worsley made a
grant of land in Swinton in 1231 ; Elles-
mere D. no. 215.
Richard de Worsley gave to Roger his
son an oxgang and a half in Swinton ;
Whalley Couch, iii, 904. As ftto im-
proves the pedigree, seeing that Roger's
son Richard lived till the end of the cen-
tury, fratri may be an error in transcrip-
tion. Cecily de Rivington was Roger's
widow ; ibid. 905.
108 In 1278 he claimed the common of
pasture pertaining to 80 acres of arable
land in Worsley against Richard son of
Geoffrey de Worsley, Agnes widow of
Geoffrey, and many others, in virtue of a
grant made by plaintiff's ' ancestor,"
Richard de Worsley, to Roger ; Assize R.
1238, m. 34 d. Richard was still living
in 1292 ; ibid. 408, m. 32.
In 1334 Thomas son of Richard son of
William de Bowdon claimed a messuage,
&c., in Worsley against Richard son of
Richard son of Roger de Worsley and
Ellen his wife ; De Banco R. 300, m. 244.
104 Richard son of Robert the Clerk of
Worsley gave his lands in Worsley to his
son Richard, with remainder to another
son Robert ; DD, no. 291. The wit-
nesses include Richard lord of Worsley
and Alexander his brother. In 1334
Richard son of Robert de Worsley claimed
common of pasture against Alexander son
of Richard de Worsley ; Coram Rege R.
297, m. 1 20. Alexander de Worsley
attested a grant made in 1345 or 1346 by
Richard de Worsley to his father Richard
son of Robert the Clerk; DD, no. 950.
At the same time or a year later the settle-
ment named in the text was made ; DD,
no. 952. This Alexander de Worsley
may have been the ancestor of the Wors-
leys of Pemberton.
105 Final Cone, iii, 64. In addition to Oli-
ver seven sons and a daughter are named.
106 From an abstract of title, c. 1480 ;
DD, no. 959. In 1484 Hugh son and
heir of Richard son of Richard Parr was
contracted to marry Constance sister of
Thomas Tyldesley ; Richard the father
had married an Elizabeth, and his father
Richard had married Margaret, afterwards
388
the wife of Henry Undskoles ; Hunt-
royde D. T. 8.
10' The pedigree in the Visit, of 1567
(Chet. Soc.), 1 20, states that John
Parr was the son of Thurstan son of
Hugh son of Richard Parr. Anne, the
only child of John, was at that time wife
of Thurstan Barton of Smithills. See
also Topog. and Gen. iii, 359. In the fine
of 1560 the estate is described as sixteen
messuages, a dovecote, 40 acres of land,
&c.; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 22,
m. 73. The family is noticed also in the
account of Cleworth in Tyldesley.
108 In 1578 a further settlement was
made of nine messuages, a dovecote, 300
acres of land, &c. in Worsley and Tyldes-
ley, the deforciants being John Parr,
Nicholas Starkie, and Anne his wife ;
Nicholas and his wife were sole deforciants
five years later ; ibid. bdle. 40, m. 1 1 ;
45, m. 61.
In 1580 Richard Brereton of Worsley
stated that he had inherited a parcel of
waste called Roe Green, and a parcel of
turbary and moss ground called Linny-
shaw Moss, but Nicholas Starkie and
Anne his wife had made various encroach-
ments thereon, besides destroying twenty
wagon loads of turf taken from the moss.
Starkie replied that he and his wife had
entered by inheritance after the death of
John Parr, her father ; Duchy of Lane.
Plead. Eliz. cxv, B 8.
109 Information of Mr. Daniel Howsin,
of Padiham.
WORSLEY : WARDLEY HALL, FROM THE SOUTH-WEST
PENDLEBURY : AGECROFT HALL, NORTH-EAST ANGLE OF COURTYARD, c. 1875
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
Kempnough Hall is a small black and white tim-
bered building on a stone base, much renewed with
brickwork, and said to have been almost entirely re-
built in comparatively recent times. Much of the
old timber work has been preserved, though the
greater part of the * timber ' front is paint on plaster.
The house is a two-story building with a slightly
projecting gabled wing at each end, and is now divided
into three cottages. It lies, surrounded by trees, about
half a mile north-east of Worsley, near to Roe Green,
but presents no remarkable features. The roofs are
covered with stone slates and the chimneys are
of brick. Two gates, with piers, which in the
early part of the igth century stood in front of the
house have now disappeared. There is a large stone
chimney at the east end of the house, and the
ceilings of the lower rooms are crossed by oak beams.
The back of the house shows the original timber
framing. For some time during the latter half of
the last century (c. 1850-75), a room in the building
was set apart and maintained by the Countess of
Ellesmere as a free medicine dispensary for the Worsley
tenantry.
In addition to Wardley the Hospitallers had an
estate in SITINTON™ The abbey of Whalley also
had a considerable estate in Swinton and LITTLE
HOUGHTON,111 the monks regarding it as part
of their manor of Monton near Eccles. On the
Suppression Swinton and other of the abbey lands
were granted to Thurstan Tyldesley.11* Hope in
WORSLEY : KEMPNOUGH HALL
110 Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 375.
Gilbert de Barton gave to William
de Swinton two parts of the land which
Ellis son of Godwin de Swinton held of
the Hospitallers, in exchange for an ox-
gang in Chadderton ; Ellesmere D. Roger
de Worsley granted to Richard son of
Geoffrey de Byron half of Swinton — being
all he held — except 1 2 acres given to the
Hospitallers ; Whalley Couch, iii, 905.
There are other allusions to the Hospital-
lers' holding ; ibid. 929, 934. The prior
of the Hospitallers in 1329 made a claim
against Elota the widow and Richard the
son of Alexander de Swinton ; De Banco
R. 297, m. I Sod.
In 1325 it was found that Joan wife
of William de Multon held, among other
properties, the third part of an estate at
Swinton, which her former husband,
William de Holland, had held of the
Hospitallers by a rent of izd. a year ;
Inq. p.m. 19 Edw. II, n. 96.
About 1540 the Hospitallers' tenants
were Thomas Holland, paying 5j^-,
William Chapman, for half of Little
Scholecroft, 7^., and James Eckersall,
2^d. ; Kuerden MSS. v, fol. 84.
111 Whalley Couch, iii, 877-936 ; see
further in the account of Monton in Bar-
ton. In 1331 Richard Hunewyn granted
to the abbey all his lands in Swinton in
Worsley, his eldest daughter Alice con-
firming it ; ibid. 926-28.
Paulinus de Halghton granted to Cecily
daughter of lorwerth de Hulton the
third part of the vill of Little Houghton ;
ibid, i, 59 ; this seems to have been given
to the abbey ; ibid, i, 55. An oxgang and
a half in Little Houghton was among the
lands of Robert and Jordan de Hulton in
12535 Final Cone, i, 151. Geoffrey de
Byron gave half the vill to his brother
John, who gave it to the monks ; Whalley
Couch. 57, 58 ; see also iii, 901.
The abbey lands were largely derived
from the benefactions of Geoffrey de
Byron, who in 1275 accused Richard de
Worsley of a burglary at Swinton ; Coram
Rege R. 15, m. I2d. A year or two
later Geoffrey and the abbot were de-
fendants in claims made by the Smith
family 5 Assize R. 1238, foL 31, 31^;
1239, fol. 39. Later the abbot had dis-
putes with the Boltons. In 1292 he re-
covered damages from Adam de Rossen-
dale and others, who had cut and felled
timber without licence, for the use of
Ellen de Bolton, but Ellen herself was
acquitted ; and at the same time Richard
389
de Bolton, Richard son of Roger de Wors-
ley, and others, were non-suited in a
claim against the abbot for eight mes-
suages, two mills, land, &c. ; ibid.
408, m. 102 d., 100, 101, 23 d. More
interesting was the claim by Olive de
Bolton for common of pasture in too
acres of moor and heath as belonging to
her free tenement, formerly held by
Richard de Worsley. The jury found
that John de Worsley (probably of Little
Houghton), who had enfeoffed Olive, had
in the time of Geoffrey de Byron, lord of
Swinton, been accustomed to common in
the pasture. After Geoffrey had granted
his lands to the abbot the latter refused
common until John impleaded him in the
king's court. It was accordingly ordered
that Olive should recover seisin and
damages of half a mark ; ibid. m. 17.
Grants to and from Henry de Worsley
and Olive de Bolton are among the
Ellesmere D. no. 148 (dated 1300), 256.
In 1327 Henry son of Richard de Bolton
granted his land in Holclough heys in
Worsley to his son John, who granted
the same to Richard de Worsley ; ibid,
no. 163, 164.
«a Pat. 32 Hen. VIII, pt. 4. The
grant included Swinton, Little Houghton,
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Swinton118 and Stanistreet m were other estates or
portions of Worsley named in the ancient deeds.
Westwood also was among the lands of Whalley Ab-
bey.114* Little Houghton gave a surname to a resident
family.115 This estate seems to have passed by de-
scent or purchase to the Valentines of BentclifFe in
Barton. 11Sa
W4LKDEN, down to the 1 5th century, appears to
have had a wider meaning than at present, spreading
into Farnworth and Little Hulton.116 It also gave a
surname to a local family.1" Northdene in Worsley —
probably ' the Deans ' in Swinton, north of Little
Houghton — was another estate.118
Many of the neighbouring landowners, as appears
from the inquisitions, held estates also in Worsley and
Swinton.1'9 Until the end of the 1 7th century all
the farms in the district were held on life leases ;
somewhat earlier it was customary for the leases to
contain a provision that the tenants should rear one
or more hunting dogs for the lord.
The principal landowner in 1786 was the Duke of
Bridgewater, owning apparently over half the land ;
Samuel Clowes had a large estate at Booths, and the
smaller owners included the Rev. Walter Bagot,
James Hilton, and — Starkie.110
In 1686 an agreement was made as to the inclosure
of Swinton Moor and Hodge Common in the parish
of Eccles.111 Walkden Moor, a great part of which
is or was in Little Hulton, was inclosed about
i765.1IU
Westlakes, Kitpool, Westwood, and Mar-
land (or Moorland).
Generally speaking, there was little
disputation during the tenure of the
monks. After the Dissolution a long
quarrel was waged between the Shering-
tons, as representing the Tyldesleys, and
others. A precept to keep the peace with
Thurstan Tyldesley of Wardley was
issued in 1566 to Sir William RadcliiFe,
Edward Holland, Thomas Valentine,
Robert Chapman, and others ; Agecroft
D. Many references will be found in
the Ducatus Lane. Richard Brereton of
Tatton, son of Geoffrey son of Joan
Brereton, as lord of Worsley, in 1581
claimed the waste grounds called Swinton
Moor and Walkden Moor, and the moss
called Pendleton hey. Gilbert Shering-
ton then held the last-named ground, and
Sir John Radcliffe claimed Swinton Moor
as representing Whalley Abbey ; John
Gawen occupied an inclosure from the
moor as tenant of Gilbert Sherington ;
and John Derbyshire had a barn in the
Stanistreet 5 Duchy of Lane. Plead. Eli/.
cxv, B 4. Ten years later Gilbert Sher-
ington claimed an inheritance in Swinton
Moor as part of his manor of Swinton.
He stated that the moor on the east ex-
tended to Hendene Brook, dividing Swin-
ton from Pendlebury, and on the west to
a brook near Wardley wall ; and that
parcels of it had been improved by
Geoffrey de Byron in the time of Ed-
ward I, by the Abbot of Whalley about
1460-80, and by Thurstan Tyldesley,
Thomas his son, and Thurstan his grand-
son, more recently. A witness stated
that the tenants of Roe Green had had
common of pasture on Swinton Moor.
The moor included Pendleton (or Pelton)
hey and moss and the White Moss ; ibid.
civ, 89. In 1594 Richard Brereton com-
plained of the inclosures of Gilbert Sher-
ington adjoining Linnyshaw Moss at the
head of a mere called Howclough ; ibid,
clxii, B 9.
For a plan of Worsley and Linnyshaw
see Lanes, and Cbes. Rec. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 24.
1U Whalley Couch, iii, 889, 916, 917,
921. It is now within the borough of
Eccles.
"« Ibid, iii, 886.
U4» Ibid, iii, 907-15.
m Paulinus de Halghton has been
mentioned ; he is also called ' de Barton '
in a grant by his widow Beatrice ; ibid, i,
5J. Thomas son of Robert de Halghton
in 1 276 released to the Abbot of Stanlaw
all his right in the new inclosures of the
Hope in Swinton made by Geoffrey de
Byron ; ibid, iii, 921.
John de Halghton was one of the de-
fendants in a Worsley suit in 1 301 ; Assize
R. 1321, m. 8. Robert son of John de
Halghton was a defendant in July 1356 ;
Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 5, m. 40.
Nine yean later the Abbot of Whalley
took proceedings against Robert de
Halghton for waste ; De Banco R. 419,
m. 203. Robert de Halghton in 1373
made a settlement of his estate — a moiety
of Little Halghton and the Solinhurst —
in favour of himself and his wife Margery,
with remainders to his son John and
grandson Robert son of John ; Valentine
deeds among the Ellesmere muniments.
From another of these deeds it appears
that this estate had been originally granted
by Richard, lord of Worsley — probably
Richard son of Geoffrey — to his son
John ; John son of Richard de Worsley
occurs in 1292 ; Assize R. 408, m. n d.
John de Halghton in 1413 sold to
Geoffrey Massey the lands called Old
Houghton (Valentine D.) ; while in
1458-9 the Abbot and convent of Whalley
came to an agreement with Nicholas
Halghton as to the division of certain
lands in Worsley which they held in com-
mon 5 ibid.
lisa Thomas son of John Valentine of
BentclifFe in 1516 recovered against Joan
Langtree various lands in Eccles, Barton,
Little Houghton, Worsley, and Bedford ;
ibid. The Valentine lands in Little Hough-
ton and Hazelhurst were held of the lord
of Worsley by the rent of a pair of white
gloves or id. ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m.
*> 3i-
Another estate in Worsley held by a
like rent may be mentioned. In 1292
William de Waverton (or Warton) de-
manded from John de Chelworth acquit-
tance of the service demanded by Edmund
Earl of Lancaster for a tenement consist-
ing of a messuage and 20 acres, held by
fealty and the service of a pair of white
gloves yearly. The earl had distrained
plaintiff to find puture for all his ser-
vants and also to find a ' witness man.'
The jury decided that John de Chelworth,
as mesne lord, must discharge these ser-
vices ; Assize R. 408, m. 71. John de
Chelworth is otherwise unknown, but the
Warton family long held land in the
district.
118 See the account of Farnworth. In
1404 Richard son of Henry de Farn-
worth of Charnock granted to feoffees ' a
piece of land . . . called Walkden, lying
in Farnworth, a hamlet of Barton, be-
tween the common of Worsley on the
one side and Walkden brook on the
other,' tenanted by William the Tasker ;
Ellesmere D. no. 3.
"7 e.g. Robert de Walkden attested a
charter in 1394 ; ibid. no. 2.
390
118 In 1722 William Chapman, senior,
of Northdene Bank in Worsley, fustian
weaver, settled his estate there in favour
of his son William ; it was leasehold of
the Duke of Bridgewater ; Manchester
Free Lib. D. no. 114. Among copiei
of the Chapman deeds in the Ellesmere
muniments are the following : 1358 —
William son of Roger the Barker and
Margaret his wife, daughter of Richard de
Swinton, granted land in Swinton to
Robert Morsell of Monton ; the original
deed is at Agecroft. 1371-2 — Robert
Morsell purchased other land in Swinton
from Thomas de Eccles (who had it from
Henry son of Henry de Cliveley), and
gave it to his son Richard. 1440-1 —
Alice widow of Robert Chapman settled
the land on her son William. It seems.
to have been held in 1471 by William
Chapman, and in 1495-6 by Robert
Chapman.
119 The inquisitions of the i6th and
1 7th centuries show the following :
William Hulton of the Park, who held of
Lady Joan Brereton in socage in 1556 ;
Leonard Asshaw of Flixton ; Thomas
Fleetwood of Norbreck, who in 1576
held of the heir of Geoffrey Massey by a
rent of 41. ; Ralph Assheton of Lever,
who held of Richard Brereton ; James-
Sorocold ; Thomas Mort of Little Hulton ;.
Andrew Norris of West Derby ; also in
Swinton the Daunteseys of Agecroft and
Hollands of Clifton.
In 1824 a pair of spurs with leathers
was paid by the owner of Agecroft to-
the lord of Worsley as a chief rent for
lands on Swinton Moor ; Agecroft D_
no. 268.
Ralph Sorocold in 1586 and 1587 pur-
chased lands in Worsley and Tyldesley
from John Gregory and Richard hi*
younger son, and from John Gregory and
Alice his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F.
bdle. 48, m. 96 ; 49, m. 91.
120 Land tax returns at Preston.
181 Agecroft D. no. 158. The parties to
the agreement were Sir William Egerton,
K.B., lord of the soil of the said commons,
on the one part, and on the other the
charterers, Richard, Lord Colchester (after-
wards Earl Rivers) and Penelope his wife;
Sir Robert Coke, bart., John Dauntesey
and John Starkie, esquires ; Richard Val-
entine (by Thomas Sorocold his guardian),
James Chetham, and Henry Coulborne,
gentlemen ; Richard Edge, John Peake,
John Lomas, and George Ormerod.
lau For a dispute about Walkden Moor
in 1505 or thereabouts see Duchy Plead. \r
37-
An inclosure award, with plan, is pre-
served at the County offices, Preston.
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
The chapel of ELLEN BROOK™
CHURCH owes its foundation to the lords of Wors-
ley, and has remained to the present day
a donative in their gift. The Abbot of Stanlaw, as
rector of Eccles, between 1272 and 1295, granted his
licence to Richard de Worsley to have a free chantry
in his chapel of Worsley, provided that no loss was
caused to the mother church, to which 6J. was to
be paid yearly as oblations.1*3 There is no con-
tinuous record of the chapel's existence, but in 1549
Sir Richard Brereton complained that his son Richard,
among other lawless deeds, had recently taken a
chalice from his chapel in the manor of Worsley,
which chalice the inhabitants had purchased for use
in divine service.1*4 The fate of the chapel in the
Reformation period is uncertain, but as the lords of
Worsley appear to have conformed to the Elizabethan
system without difficulty, service was probably con-
tinued in it with but little interruption. Dame
Dorothy Legh in 1638 left the interest of £50 for its
maintenance, and other small gifts were made ; lf*
but in 1650 it was found that there was no certain
income, and that it sometimes had a preaching minis-
ter and sometimes not.1*6
In 1677 the Bishop of Chester made an order as to
the payment of seat rents, the endowment of the
chapel not exceeding £zo a year.1*7 Lord Willoughby,
on coming to live at Worsley about 1693, appears to
have had a design to use this as a Nonconformist
place of worship ; he locked out the curate in charge
and put a Mr. Cheney in as preacher, but was de-
feated by the feoffees, headed by Roger Kenyon, and
the bishop.1*8 In 1719 Bishop Gastrell found the
income to be £23 6s. $J., of which £ij was the rent
or value of the house and ground attached to the
chapel.129 Though it was a donative the curates
.appear at times to have been licensed to it by the
bishop.1*0 The following are the names of some of
them :— 181
oc. 1 6 1 o
oc. 1617-26
1646
1647
1648
1650
1654
1657
oc
oc
oc.
1664
? 1669
1682
1709
oc. 1725-48
oc. 1769
1792
1819
1854
1872
1890
1907
— Hunt1"
Thomas Johnson m
Roger Baldwin, M.A. (Edin.) "*
Hugh Taylor, M.A. (Edin.) »
— Boate 1S6
James Valentine1*7
James Brads haw lss
William Coulburn, B.A.1*9 (St. John's
Coll., Camb.)
Joseph Hanmer, M.A. (Trin. Coll.,
Camb.)
Samuel Hanmer "°
Miles Atkinson M1
Thomas Chaddock, B.A.1"
John Key 14J
John Crookhall, B.A.144
John Clowes, M.A.144
Wilson Rigg
St. Vincent Beechey, M.A.1*6 (Caius
Coll. Camb.)
Constantine Charles Henry Phipps,147
Earl of Mulgrave
Frederick Carslake Hodgkinson, M.A.
Thomas Harrison
Since 1854 this chapel has been held with St.
Mark's, Worsley, which was built by the first Earl of
Ellesmere and opened in 1 846 ; it has an effigy of
the founder. St. Mark's is a vicarage, the Earl of
Ellesmere being patron. Several other churches have
been erected for the Established worship. St. Peter's,
Swinton, built in 1869, replaces an older building
erected in 1781 ; the vicar of Eccles is patron.148
Holy Rood, Moorside, and the school-chapels of All
Saints and St. Stephen, are also in Swinton. At
122 The dedication is now given as St.
Mary the Virgin.
138 Ellesmere D. no. 127. The chap-
lain to be provided was to be presented
to the abbot at Eccles and swear fidelity
and obedience to the abbot and the church,
and thus receive the ministry of the
chapel.
124 Duchy of Lane. Plead. Edw. VI,
XXT, B, 15. Though the chapel is called
Sir Richard's the gift of a chalice by the
people is evidence that it was not a private
chapel at Worsley Hall.
125 End. Char. Rep. Eccles, 1904, pp.
6, 34; Dame Legh in 1638 gave ,£400
for charitable uses to trustees, one of
whom in 1654 deposed that 'her intention
was that it should go for the maintenance
of a minister at the chapel of " Ellen-
borough," so that the bishop should have
no hand in the putting in, placing or dis-
placing of the minister there . . . and
for so long time as the Lord Bridge-water
should suffer the chapel to stand.'
128 Commoniv. Ch. Surv. 140. It ap-
pears that £40 a year had in 1646 been
ordered to be paid to the minister at Ellen-
brook out of Christopher Anderton's se-
questered tithes, but the order had to be
renewed in 1 650 ; Plund. Mint. Accts.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Che*.), i, 88,
252.
W Hitt. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv,
104.
la8 Ibid. 275, 289, 290 (' Perhaps if
j ou told my Lord Bridgewater of the Lord
Willoughby's designing to make Ellen-
brook Chapel into a barn, to conventicle
it, it might do good service'), 417, 418.
The endowment is stated to have been
then £33 a year.
139 Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 53.
uo Ibid. 54; nominations in 1669 and
1 709 are mentioned to the ' free chapel '
of Ellenbrook.
131 This list is due in part to the late
Mr. Earwaker.
1M Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv,
1 2 ; he was ' a preacher.'
188 Piccope, Frills, iii, 207 ; Misc.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 54, 66,
where he is called ' curate ' and ' lecturer.'
He was presented in 1622 for not wearing
the surplice ; Visit. P. at Chester.
184 Plund. Mint. Accts. i, 265. Accord-
ing to Calamy he became vicar of Pen-
rith, and losing this at the Restoration,
was afterwards minister of the Noncon-
formist congregation at Monks' Hall,
Eccles.
us Ibid. ; Manch. Classis (Chet. Soc.), i,
53-
188 Plund. Mint. Accti. i, 260, 266.
"" Ibid, i, 88, 242.
188 Mancb. Classis, iii, 419 ; ejected
from Hindley in 1662 ; life in Diet. Nat.
Biog.
189 Manch. Classis, ii, 266 ; iii, 423.
He conformed in 1662.
140 There was a vacancy in July 1668 ;
Hist. MSS. Com, Rep. xiv, App. iv, 82.
141 Visit. List of 1691. He was ' com-
391
formable' in 1691 ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep.
xiv, App. iv, 229. It was he who was lock-
ed out in 1697 by Lord Willoughby, and
Roger Kenyon, writing to the Bishop of
Chester, says : ' Mr. Atkinson has been
our minister, I think, at least a dozen
years,and his local licence was exhibited and
allowed at your Lordship's late visitation,
as it had often been before ; but he now
saith he is willing to resign when your
Lordship and the minister of the parish
and the feoffees have a person such as they
approve of, ready for the place." Lord
Willoughby had put in ' one Cheney, who,
as is said, never saw an university, but
has been a justice of the peace his clerk,
and proving a gifted brother, used to
preach to all the conventicling barns about
him, and now frequently uses so to do ' ;
ibid. 417.
148 Gastrell, Notitia, ii, 54. He became
vicar of Eccles in 1721, and died three
years later.
1<8 End. Char. Rep. Eccles, 7.
144 Vicar of Eccles 1768-92 ; probably
held Ellenbrook chaplaincy also.
145 Vicar of Eccles 1792-1818.
146 Previously vicar of Flcetwood ; one
of the founders of Rossall School.
147 Now Marquess of Normanby; canon
of Windsor. He revived the May Day
festivities at Worsley ; Pal. Note Bk. ii,
131.
148 For district assigned in 1865, see
Land. Gam. 10 Jan.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
Walkden is the church of St. Paul, opened in 1838,
and rebuilt in 1848 ; the Earl of Ellesmere is
patron.149 St. John the Baptist's, Little Hulton, is
also within Walkden, at Hill Top ; it was built in
1874 ; the Bishop of Manchester is patron.150
There are Wesleyan chapels at Worsley, first built
in 1 80 1, and at Boothstown ; also at Swinton and
Walkden. The Primitive Methodists have two chapels
at Swinton and one at Walkden. At Swinton there
is also a Methodist Free Church. The Independent
Methodists have a chapel at Roe Green,1" and another
at Swinton.
The Congregationalists have two churches at
Swinton ; also one at Sindsley Mount and another at
Walkden.1*1
At Swinton is a Unitarian Free Church.163
The Swedenborgians built a church at Worsley in
1849.
At Swinton is the Roman Catholic church of
St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, opened in
1859.
PENDLETON
Penelton, 1 1 99 ; Pennelton, 1212; Penilton,
1236 ; Penhulton, 1331 ; Penulton, 1356, con-
tracted into Pelton ; Pendleton, c. 1600.
This township measures about z\ miles from the
Irwell on the east to Gilda Brook on the west ; the
area is 2,253^ acres.1 From a ridge of higher land
which juts into the centre from the north-west the
ground slopes away to the north-east, east, and south.
The greatest height is 2 30 ft. above sea level. The
population in 1901 was 66,574.
The great road from Manchester to Bolton, with
a branch to Wigan, crosses the township in a north-
west direction. From it several other roads branch
off; one goes west to Eccles, others north-east to
Broughton, and from these a road runs north-west
to Agecroft in Pendlebury. The Lancashire and
Yorkshire Company's railways from Manchester to
Bolton and to Hindley pass through, the former
having a station at Pendleton, and the latter at
Broad Street, Pendleton, and at Irlams-o'-th'-Height.*
The two lines effect a junction on the south-east
border of the township. The London and North-
Western Company's Manchester and Liverpool line
crosses the southern part of the township, and has
two stations — Seedley andWeaste. The Manchester
and Bolton Canal goes along by the side of the former
railway. From Hope Hall to Pendleton a band of
the Permian Rocks divides the New Red Sandstone
to the south from the Coal Measures on the north.
A fault almost on the line of the Manchester and
Bolton Canal has left the New Red Sandstone in
evidence on the eastern side.
The supposed camp at Hyle Wood, in the northern
bend of the Irwell, has been found to be a natural
hill. The Roman road from Manchester to Wigan
passed through Weaste and Hope. There was
formerly a cross on Pendleton Green.*
In 1 666 there were 138 hearths liable to the tax ;
the largest house was that of John Hollinpriest, with
nine, but there were several with five hearths each.*
The Pendleton morris dancers occur in 1792.*
In 1833 there were cotton mills, with dyeing,
printing, and bleaching establishments, also a flax mill
upon an improved principle ; others of the people
were employed in silk manufacture and others in the
neighbouring collieries. Most of these industries still
remain in the township. The Spence Alum Works
were removed to Newton Heath in 1857 in conse-
quence of a law suit.
A large portion of the surface is covered with
dwelling-houses and factories. Pendleton being a
suburb of Salford, the whole township was taken into
the borough in 1852 ; a small part was added to
Eccles in 1891. The township is divided into six
wards — St. Thomas's, St. Paul's, Charlestown, Hope,
Seedley, and Weaste. Charleston and Douglas Green
occupy the northern corner, Irlams-o'-th'-Height the
north-west ; Paddington lies on the eastern border,
Little Bolton to the south-west, Weaste in the south,
and Wallness on the north-east. Chaseley and Seedley
lie between Pendleton and Weaste ; and Hope Hall
and Buile Hill to the west. Brindle Heath, formerly
Brindlache, lies on the western edge of the urban part
of Pendleton proper.
Pendleton Town Hall was built in 1868. A
Mechanics' Institution was founded in 1856. A
small library was established in 1829,* but does not
seem to have continued. A branch of the Salford
library was opened in 1878 at Pendleton, another
branch at Weaste in 1894, and a third at Irlams-o'-
th'-Height in 1 90 1 . A reading room was opened at
Charlestown in 1894.^
A park at Buile Hill has been acquired by the
corporation.7 The mansion-house there was in 1906
converted into a natural history museum. The
David Lewis recreation-ground lies on the eastern
side of the township, bordering on the Irwell. The
new Manchester Race-course is a little distance to the
149 An Anglican Sunday School was
opened as early as 1784, but after
thirty years fell into the hands of the
Wesleyans. St. Paul's Chapel was a fore-
taste of the great public benefactions of
the first Earl of Ellesmere. An Act was
passed in 1840 to enable the Bridgewater
Trustees to endow it, and it was conse-
crated in 184.1. There is a churchyard.
For district see Load. Ga». 28 July 1863,
and 20 Feb. 1877.
180 For district, ibid. 20 Feb. 1877.
lsl A manufacturer named Richard
Clarke turned part of his house into a
•mall chapel ; when the Independent
Methodist chapel was built it absorbed the
congregation already formed there ; in-
formation of Mr. Holme.
1M A Congregational chapel was built
in 1824 in Hilton Lane, Worsley, but it
failed about 1 840. Preaching at Swinton
began about 1825, from Pendlebury, and
Trinity Church, built in 1882, represents
the old congregation of Pendlebury. The
church in Worsley Road began in 1861
through the efforts of some men of a local
mill; the building was raised in 1870;
Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf. v, 20-4.
188 Built 1825 (or 1829); rebuilt
1857.
1 2,430, including 50 of inland water ;
Census Rep. 1901. In 1883 a part of
Pendlebury was brought within Pendle-
ton ; Loc. Govt. Bd. Order 14672.
8 The village so named is partly in this
township and partly in Pendlebury. It
took its name from one Irlam, who kept
the Packhorse Inn there ; Manch. Guar-
dian N. andQ. no. 392 ; Pal. Note Bk. ii,
»74-
392
8 Land, and Chet, Antiq. Soc. xxii, 104.
4 Subs. R. Lanes, bdle. 250, no. 9.
5 W. Axon, Manch. Annals, 119.
8 Lewis, <7<zz. (ed. 1833).
'a Information of Mr. B. H. Mullen,
librarian.
7 Bewle Hill is named in the Salf.
Portmote Rec (i, 13), in 1598. On 25
Dec. 1695 Alice widow of Leftwich
Oldfield leased to Edward Birch of Pen-
dleton, whitster, a close called the Bule-
hill containing 2 acres. Alice Oldfield
was daughter of Richard Haworth of
Manchester; Morley, Bolton Hist. Glean.
i, 347. On 4 Jan. 1717-18 Edward Byrom
of Manchester leased to William Gregory
of Pendleton, whitster, a field called the
Bulehill, late in the holding of Edward
Birch. Note by Mr. Crofton.
SALFORD HUNDRED
north of it.8 There are other recreation-grounds.
Claremont is the Manchester seat of Sir Arthur
Percival Heywood, bart.
The worthies of Pendleton include Peter Gooden,
Roman Catholic controversial writer, who died 1695 ;
Felix John Vaughan Seddon, orientalist, 1798—1865 ;
George Bradshaw, who published the railway guides,
1801—53 ;9 Robert Cotton Mather, a missionary in
India, 1808-77. Notices of them will be found in
the Dictionary of National Biography.
PENDLETON was originally included
M4NOR in the royal manor of Salford. King John
in 1199 gave it to lorwerth de Hulton
in exchange for Broughton and Kersal on the Man-
chester side of the Irwell, which, while Count of
Mortain, he had bestowed on lorwerth.10 It was
assessed as four oxgangs of land, and held by the
service of a sixth part of a knight's fee.11 It remained
for about fifty years in the Hultons' possession ; ll
but was in 1251 exchanged for Ordsall in Salford and
ECCLES
part of Flixton." Robert de Ferrers ten years later
granted Pendleton to the priory of St. Thomas the
Martyr, Stafford." The right of the prior was
called in question in 1292," but was soon afterwards
allowed,16 and the house retained possession until the
Dissolution.17
Pendleton, as part of the priory estates, was in
1539 granted to Rowland Lee, Bishop of Lichfield.18
On his death his property was divided among his four
nephews, and the priory site, together with the manor
of Pendleton, went to Bryan Fowler,19 whose descen-
dants enjoyed it down to the beginning of the i8th
century. The family, who adhered to the old re-
ligion, do not seem to have resided at Pendleton, nor
is there much sign of their connexion with the place.
Walter Fowler, the great-grandson of Bryan, took the
king's side in the Civil War, and the ' well affected
inhabitants of Stafford ' complained of him to the
Parliament 'not only as a Papist, but a malignant,
because he took up arms for the king and abused and
8 It was opened in 1902. Races had
been held on the same ground from 1847
to 1868. Mr. J. L. Purcell FitzGerald,
the landowner, refused to renew the lease
on moral grounds ; ' he took a warm in-
terest in the evangelization of the masses ' ;
W. Axon, Annals of Mane A. 372.
9 On the origin of the Guide in 1839
see AT. and Q. (Ser. 6), xi, 16.
10 Chart. R. (Rec. Com.), 27 ; the gift
was of ' the vill of Pendleton and all its
appurtenances ' to be held ' by the service
of the sixth part of one knight.' See also
Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 112, 115, &c.
11 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 65.
la In 1218 Richard de Hulton had not
paid the 20 marks relief on succeeding
his father lorwerth at Pendleton ; Rot.
Lit. Claus. (Rec. Com.), i, 380. To
Eccles Church he gave a piece of land in
Pendleton, on the west side of the road
to Pendlebury, as a site for the tithe-barn;
no one was to dwell in it ; Whalley
Couch. (Chet. Soc.), i, 52.
In 1236 Richard de Hulton, and in
1242 the heirs of Richard de Hulton,
held the sixth part of a fee in Pendleton ;
Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 144, 153. It
is noteworthy that in 1256 the Hultons'
estate was described as a plough-land and
half a plough-land in Pendleton, not half
a plough-land only, as recorded in 1212;
Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 122. As late as 1302 Richard de
Hulton was recorded as holding the sixth
part of a fee in Pendleton, but this is a
duplication (in error) of his tenement in
Ordsall and Flixton, which is also given ;
Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 314.
18 William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby,
granted to David de Hulton his land in
Flixton and manor of Ordsall in July
1251 ; Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland),
347-
M The grant in frankalmoign was made
in Dec. 1261 ; it included the manor of
Swineshurst and of the Walneys (now
Wallness) by Salford, with the mill on
the Irwell, &c., the town of Pendleton
with all the villeins holding the villeinage
of the town, their chattels, and sequel ;
Phillips MS. 7899, printed in Staffs.
Coll. viii.
The bounds of the waste of the New
Hall by Saltfield and of Pendleton about
the same time were as follows : — From
Wallness Pool to Broad Oak Snape, fol-
lowing the lache to Wetsnape, by the
Rowe Lache to Saltfield Clow as far as
Wolfhays meanigate ; thence by the high
road [? to Eccles] to Little Leyhead and
thence to Gildenaver Ford [Gilda Brook]
and so by Tippesbrook [Folly Brook]
to Bispeslowe [? Irlams-o'-th'-Height],
thence by the Black Lache to Alwine
Mere and Redford, and by the syke under
Pendlebury Park to the Irwell, and down
this to the starting-point ; Coll. Tofog. et
Gen. i, 248.
In 1 2 84 the king granted the Prior and
convent of St. Thomas free warren in
their demesne lands of Swineshurst; Chart.
R. 77, m. 6, no. 45. For a further licence
see Cat. Pat. 1292-1301, p. 146.
There is a brief notice of St. Thomas's
Priory in Dugdale, Man. vi, 471. Some
charters and notes will be found in Staff's.
Coll. (Wm. Salt Soc.), viii, 125-201, re-
ferred to above.
18 Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 386.
The estate was eighteen messuages, twelve
oxgangs (i.e. a plough-land and a half) and
1 20 acres of land, a toft, and a mill, held by
the sixth part of a knight's fee. Master
John de Craven was in possession. It
was asserted that the grant to the priory
had been made without the king's licence.
The sheriff took possession, and returned
the annual value as ^18 131. 4^.5 ibid.
228.
16 The king confirmed the grant of
Robert de Ferrers in Aug. 1295 ; Cal.
Pat. 1292-1301, p. 146.
A curious claim was made in 1292.
Agnes widow of David de Hulton claimed
dower in Pendleton, on the ground that
the tenements in Flixton and Ordsall
which William de Ferrers had given her
in exchange for Pendleton were not of
equal value. The jury agreed, finding
Pendleton the more valuable by £6 a
year, and averred that Agnes should re-
tain her dower in Flixton and have a
further 40*. a year from Pendleton ;
Assize R. 408, m. 39. This claim
appears as early as 1285 ; De Banco R.
59, m. 31. Possibly there were other
suits, for in 1302 she surrendered her
right in return for an annuity of 441., to
be paid by the prior out of Pendleton ;
Staffs. Coll. viii.
In 1324 account was given of 15*. of
the farm of eight oxgangs of land which
Sir Robert de Holland had in farm of the
prior of St. Thomas, among Sir Robert's
393
other forfeited lands ; L.T.R. Enr. Accts.
Misc. no. 14, m. 76 d. (2).
V Maud de Worsley in 1332 granted
to the prior her interest in lands, &c., in
Pendleton, Newhall, Woodhouses, Wall-
ness, and Swineshurst ; Staffs. Coll. viii.
Henry, Earl of Lancaster, in 1339 gave
the prior 1 2 acres of heath in Salford and
Pendleton as recompense for the priory's
common of pasture on the heath ; Duchy
of Lane. Anct. D. L, 2084. To the aid
levied 1346-55 the Prior of St. Thomas
contributed 6s. Sd. for the sixth part of a
knight's fee, held in free alms ; Feud.
Aids, iii, 91. In the survey of 1346 a
rent of 1 1 \d. was charged for one plough-
land held by the prior ; this reappears in
an extent made a century later, the prior
stating that he held in frankalmoign and
not in socage ; Add. MS. 32103, fol. 146 ;
Duchy of Lane. Knights' fees, 2/20. In
1525 the prior demised lands in Pendle-
ton to Ottiwell Wirrall for a term ; Staffi.
Coll. viii.
18 Pat. 31 Hen. VIII, pt. vi ; see
L. and P. xiv (2), 156.
19 The account of the Fowlers is in the
main taken from Gillow, St. Thomas's
Priory, where a pedigree of the family is
given, 147-57.
Bishop Lee (see Diet. Nat. Biog.) died
in 1543. His sister Isabel had married
Roger Fowler of Broomhill, Norfolk, and
the four nephews were Rowland of Broom-
hill, Bryan, William of Harnage Grange,
Shropshire, and James of Pendeford, Staf-
fordshire.
Bryan Fowler in 1547 took action
against Robert Shaw, the king's farmer,
respecting Brindlache and other lands in
Pendleton ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec. Com.),
ii, 93. He was frequently imprisoned for
recusancy, and died in 1587. By his wife
Jane, daughter and heir of John Hanmer
of Bettisfield, he had a son Walter, who
died in 1621, leaving a son Edward, father
of the Walter Fowler named in the text.
Inquisitions are extant taken after the
death of Bryan Fowler, whose son Walter
was thirty-six years of age in 1588 ; and
of Walter Fowler, who died in 1621,
leaving a son and heir Edward, aged
thirty. The tenure of Pendleton is not
stated ; Chan. Inq. p.m. ii, 216, 393.
Edward Fowler died in Nov. 1623, hold-
ing the manor of Pendleton, and leaving
a son and heir Walter, only three years
old ; ibid. (Ser. ii), vol. 404, no. 126.
50
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
cruelly ill-treated the adherents to Parliament ; yet
he was sequestered only as a recusant, and he under-
valued his estate, which was worth £1,500 a year.'*0
His lands in the counties of Stafford, Lancaster,
Chester, Derby, and Flint were declared forfeit and
sold for the benefit of the Navy." As in other cases,
however, they were recovered,*8 and he was succeeded
by his sons Walter and William. The latter, the
last male representative of the family, died in 1717.
By his first will, dated 1712, he left his estates to his
niece Katherine, wife of John Betham, who took the
name of Fowler, and as a * papist ' registered his estate
in 1717, Pendleton being included.*3 He left as heir
an only daughter Katherine, who in 1726 married
Thomas Belasyse, fourth Viscount Fauconberg.*4
William Fowler had, however, secretly made a
second will in 1715, by which a nephew, Thomas
Grove, son of the testator's elder sister Dorothy, be-
came entitled to a moiety of the estate. This will
was at first overlooked,*4 but brought forward in 1729,
and, after a suit in Chancery, and an appeal to the
House of Lords, was established ; Rebecca, the
daughter and heir of Thomas Grove, being in 1733
declared co-heir.*6 She had married Richard Fitz-
Gerald, an Irish barrister.*7 * Dying sine prole, he
bequeathed the manor of Pendleton . . . and certain
other Fowler estates in Staffordshire, to his relatives
the FitzGeralds, who still retain possession.' K The
present representative of the family is Mr. Gerald
Purcell FitzGerald, of the Island, Waterford, who
owns a considerable estate in the township.
The HOPE in Pendleton appears to be the estate
of two oxgangs of land held by Ellis de Pendlebury
in 1212 of lorwerth de Hulton by a rent of 4/.29 It
was afterwards held by the Radcliffes, who succeeded
the Hultons at Ordsall, but by the greatly increased
service of £4. zs.30 It seems to have been acquired
by a branch of the Bradshaw family.31 In the i8th
century it was purchased by Daniel Bayley of Man-
chester, whose son succeeded him ; but it was again
sold on the latter's death in 1802."
BRINDLACHE, a name represented by Brindle
Heath, was leased and then purchased by the Lang-
leys of Agecroft.33 Windlehey descended with this
20 Cal. of Com. for Compounding, iii,
1 891-6. Among other complaints against
him was one that he, 'being admitted
tenant to his own estate, put the tenants
to rack rents " to screw up the fifths." '
In 1654 there was granted the discharge
from sequestration of lands in Pendleton
Pool, Eccles Parish, bought by John
Wildman.
In 1651 Constance wife of Walter
Fowler had been allowed her fifth of
her husband's sequestrated estate ; ibid,
v, 3289.
81 Index of Royalists (Index Soc.), 30.
28 A pedigree was recorded in 1663 ;
Staffi. Coll. (Wm. Salt Soc.), v (2), 1 34-7.
Walter Fowler died in 1684, and his son
Walter about 1695.
88 Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath.
Nonjurors, 115. Katherine, who died in
1725, was the daughter of William
Fowler's younger sister Magdalen, whose
husband's name was Cassey.
84 In a fine of 1733, after the decision
of the lawsuit narrated in the text, the
deforciants of the manor of Pendleton
alias Pendleton Pool, and lands there,
were Thomas, Viscount Fauconberg, and
Katherine his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet
of F. bdle. 307, m. 130.
85 The will remained in the custody of
the lawyer who drew it up, Christopher
Ward of Stafford. After his death it was
discovered by his son Edward, who com-
municated with Lord Aston, the principal
Fowler trustee, and he in turn laid it be-
fore Richard FitzGerald, who saw that
Rebecca Grove would be entitled to a
moiety of the estate at her father's death,
and married her ; Gillow, op. cit. 73,
quoting Clifford's Par. of Tixall, 39.
38 The father had died during the pro-
gress of the suit.
It is said to have been disgust at the
result of the suit that led Lord Fauconberg
to sell his Lancashire estates and renounce
his religion 5 but Smithills had been sold
earlier ; he conformed to the Established
Church in 1737, being rewarded with an
earldom. He is said to have returned to
the Roman communion on his death-bed,
1774-
*7 He was the eldest son of Colonel
Nicholas FitzGerald, who was slain at the
battle of the Boyne, fighting for Jas. II.
In a fine relating to the moiety of
Pendleton in 1734, Richard FitzGerald
and Rebecca his wife were deforciants ;
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 321, m. 72.
28 Gillow, op. cit. 156.
29 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 65. See
also Pipe R. 5 Hen. Ill, m. 4d.
80 Among the forfeited lands of Sir
Robert de Holland in 1 324 was the manor
of Hope, farmed to Richard de Hulton at
625. zd. a year ; L.T.R. Enr. Accts. Misc.
no. 14, m. 76 d. (2). Richard de Radcliffe
of Ordsall, who died in 1380, held in the
Hope a messuage and 60 acres of arable
land by the service of £4 a year ; Lanes.
Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 8. The state-
ment is repeated later, the service being
corrected to £4 2s. ; ibid, i, 148 (the
'manor* of Hope); ii, 124.
A family took a surname from this
place. In 1346-8 Henry de Hope was
charged with 6d. (? 6s.) for castle ward on
account of a meadow in Pendleton held
by him; Add. MS. 32103, fol. 146;
Sheriff's Compotus, 1348. John Hope
of Pendleton occurs in 1448 ; Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. 1 1, m. 26.
81 A chief rent of 2s. 6d. was paid to
the Duchy for William Bradshaw' s land
in Pendleton in the time of Elizabeth ;
Raines, Lanes, (ed. 1770), i, 447. Law-
rence Bradshaw contributed to the subsidy
of 1 622 as a landowner ; Misc. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 154. The family
recorded a pedigree in 1665 ; Dugdale,
Vitit. (Chet. Soc.), 53.
Another Bradshaw family resided at
Newhall, Pendleton. George Bradshaw
contributed to the above subsidy, 'for
goods.' Richard Bradshaw of Newhall
and Robert his son occur in a deed in
1619. In 1633 Anne Bradshaw, widow,
had from William Dauntesey of Agecroft
a lease of lands in Pendleton for the lives
of Robert, Miles, and Thomas, children
of Miles Bradshaw, deceased. Robert
Bradshaw was living in 1696, aged 68 ;
Agecroft D. no. 225.
Bradshaws occur as late as 1744 ;
Eccles Ch. Notes, 55.
82 See E. Axon, Bayley Family (1894).
James Bayley, a prosperous Whig mer-
chant of Manchester, was in 1745 com-
pelled by the Young Pretender to raise
£2,500 as a contribution to his funds.
His eldest son Daniel, who purchased and
rebuilt Hope Hall, was one of the wor-
394
shippers at Cross Street Chapel, Man-
chester, where he is supposed to have been
buried. He was an uncle of Robert Clive,
afterwards Lord Clive, and sheltered and
educated him as his own son.
This son, Thomas Butterworth Bayley,
the only surviving child, was born in 1744,
educated at the University of Edinburgh,
was a trustee of Cross Street Chapel, but
conformed to the Established Church, and
became one of the leading men of the dis-
trict. He paid a rent of £4 45. to the
Duchy for Hope in 1779 ; Duchy of Lane.
Rentals, bdle. 14, no. 25. He was
elected F.R.S. in 1773, and died 24 June
1802. He took part in the philanthropic
and patriotic efforts of his time, his
special interests being agriculture and the
improvement of prisons. He published
several pamphlets. Of his sons and
grandsons several rose to distinction in
the service of the state and the Church.
See Baker, Mem. Dissenting Chapel, 87 ;
Diet. Nat. Biog.
83 Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, in 1292
granted to Adam de Prestwich a piece of
moorland in the waste of Salford, which
from the later descent appears to be Brind-
lache. The bounds were thus described :
From the corner of the ditch of Blackhow
riding down to Wodarneley and to Wo-
darneford in the Irwell ; by the Irwell up
to the beginning of Pendlebury ; up the
boundary of Pendlebury to Alvene mere,
and so to the ditch of Pendleton ; down
to the ditch to the starting-point. The
rent was to be 6s. Sd. See Lanes, and
Cbes. Antiq. Soc. v, 251, where a facsimile
of the deed (Agecroft collection) is given.
Alice de Prestwich in 1324 held Brind-
lache by the yearly service of 6j. 8d. ;
Dods. MSS. cxxxi, fol. 39. Maud widow
of Richard de Lynales paid zs. in 1348
for 2 acres of land ; while Richard de
Windle paid IQJ. for 10 acres of the waste
at Brindlache and near Newhall ; Sheriff's
Compotus of 22 Edw. III.
Robert Langley had in 1437 a lease
for twenty years of 20 acres of pasture in
Brindlache, previously held by the Prior
of St. Thomas, at an increased rent
amounting in all to i6s. ; Dep. Keeper s
Rep. xl, App. 534. In 1453 another lease
of Brindlache and an adjacent parcel called
Windleshay was granted to James Langley
at 401. rent ; Agecroft D. no. 78. By the
SALFORD HUNDRED
estate.84 A branch of the Holland family was seated
at Newhall in Pendleton.3*
In 1423 Robert Orrell and Margaret his wife made
a settlement of their estate in Salford, Pendleton, and
Pendlebury.56
LITTLE BOLTON, held by William de Bolton in
1 200, was assessed as six oxgangs of land, and held of
ECCLES
the king in chief in fee farm by a rent of 1 8/." The
Boltons were about 1350 succeeded by the Gawen
family, who continued to hold the whole or part for
about two centuries.18 The more recent history is un-
certain. The Valentines of Bentcliffe acquired two-
thirds ; 39 and the Goodens or Gooldens, a recusant
family, were seated here in the 1 6th and 1 7th centuries.4*
Act of Resumption of 1464, a £10 annuity
was secured to Thomas Langley, granted
by letters patent on farms in Pendleton
and pastures called Brindlache and Win-
dlehey ; Rolls ofParl. v, 247.
In 1539 Henry VIII gave a lease of
Brindlache and Windlehey to Robert
Langley at 421. rent, but six years after-
wards he sold the land for ,£42 ; Agecroft
D. no. in, 112, 116, 117. For a com-
plaint against Robert Langley in 1546
respecting this land see Duchy Plead. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 214.
84 By settlements of 1561 Brindlache
and Windlehey, with a slight exception,
were to descend to Anne daughter of
' Robert Langley of Agecroft, with remain-
der to another daughter, Margaret wife
of John Reddish; Agecroft D. no. 132,
129.
In 1623 it was found that William
Dauntesey of Agecroft held Windlehey of
the king by a rent of i zd. ; Lanes. Inq.
p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii,
349-
55 The origin of this branch of the Hol-
land family is unknown.
In 1534 the Prior of St. Thomas's
leased to Otho son of George Holland of
Eccles land in Pendleton ; the term was
eighty years, but renewable up to 240
years ; Clowes D. (recited in a deed of
1719). Otho Holland contributed, 'for
goods,' to the subsidy of 1541 ; Misc.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 141. In
1597 Otho Holland of Newhall was con-
tracted to marry Katherine daughter of
George Linne of Southwick, Notts. ;
Clowes D.
Otho Holland died in 1620 seised of
Garthall Houses in Pendleton, with land
attached, held of the king as of his manor
of Salford by a rent of $.d. His heir was
his son George, not quite of age ; Lanes.
Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), it,
, 218.
In 1699 Sir Edward Coke of Langford
leased Drinkwater's tenement in Pendle-
ton to Otho Holland, who agreed, among
other things, ' to plant yearly during the
term in some part of the premises four
good plants of oak, ash, or elm, and eight
more boughs of poplar, and to do his best
to preserve them from spoil ' ; Manch.
Free Lib. D. no. 109. Alice widow and
executrix of Otho Holland was party to a
deed in 171$ providing for the issue of his
daughters — Mary wife of Robert Cooke ;
Elizabeth wife of John Fletcher ; and
Alice wife of Robert Philips ; ibid. no.
in.
In later times what was called the Old
Hall was a residence built about 1760,
and in the possession of the Barrow
family ; while the New Hall, pulled down
in 1872, was a farm-house, built in 1640
on the lite, as it is supposed, of an older
house.
88 Final Cone, iii, 89.
*7 King John while Count of Mortain
made a grant of this estate to William son
of Adam, and confirmed it in 1201, after
he had come to the throne ; Chart. R.
90*; Lanes. Pipe R. 132. In 1212 Wil-
liam de Bolton was dead, and his heir was
in ward of the king ; the estate is called
one oxgang only ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents,
i, 71. The wardship was granted to Adam
de Pendlebury in 1216 ; Rot. Lit. Claus.
(Rec. Com.), 251. To the canons of
Cockersand William son of Adam de Bol-
ton granted the Tanner's assart in Little
Bolton, the bounds being Bindley (? Brad-
ley) syke, the carr, Croshaw oak, Brandale
clough, Brendoak clough, Rushylache, the
ditch, and Bradley syke ; common rights,
including quittance of pannage for sixty
pigs, were also allowed ; Cockersand Chart.
>>» 703-
Richard son of William de Bolton oc-
curs in 1241 ; Final Cone, i, 80. In 1324
another Richard de Bolton held Little
Bolton in thegnage by the service of iSs.
a year ; Dods. MSS. cxxxi, fol. 37^.
About the same time Richard de Bolton
granted to his son Henry a messuage
which Richard the Miller had held, to-
gether with half of the grantor's lands in
the hamlet of Bolton in the vill of Pen-
dleton, his capital messuage and an acre
near the Pool bridge being excepted ;
Vawdrey D. In 1326 Richard released
to his son Henry all his right in the ham-
let of Little Bolton ; ibid.
In 1332 Henry son of Richard de
Bolton was plaintiff in a suit respecting
four messuages and 30 acres in Pendleton,
Thurstan son of Margaret de Worsley
being defendant ; De Banco R. 288, m.
55 d. Thurstan is no doubt Thurstan de
Holland, ancestor of the Denton family.
Richard de Bolton in 1 3 1 9-20 had granted
to Thurstan son of Margaret de Shores-
worth a part of his land in Bolton in
Pendleton ; and Thomas, the grantor's
son, quitclaimed Thurstan in 1339 ; Harl.
MS. 21 12, foL 146/182. Thurstan de
Holland in 1324 paid 6s. So", a year
' foreign rent ' belonging to the manor of
Hope ; L.T.R. Enr. Accts. Misc. no. 14,
m. 76 d. In the Survey of 1346 appears
1 81., the rent of Thurstan de Holland (2
or 3 oxgangs), Henry de Bolton (3 ox-
gangs), and Ralph de Prestwich (i oxgang),
for their tenements in Bolton near Eccles ;
Add. MS. 32103, foL 146. Ralph de
Prestwich also held 6 acres of the waste,
called Bradley, by charter of Sir Robert
de Holland at a rent of p. zd. ; ibid.
Alice widow of Richard son of Henry
de Bolton released to Henry the son of
Richard all her claim to dower in Litley
in Little Bolton ; Vawdrey D. Henry
in 1357 made a settlement of his mes-
suage, mill, and land ; Final Cone, ii, 153.
The remainders were to Henry son of
John Gawen the Harper — probably a
grandson — and his issue ; in default to
Thomas and Richard brothers of Henry
de Bolton.
88 John Gawen or Gowyn, sometimes
called the Harper, and Agnes his wife had
lands in Davyhulme in 1 3 54 ; Agecroft
D. no. 337. John Gawen in 1357 leased
to Adam de Ainsworth land in Little
Bolton, between Bolton Brook and Shores-
worth Brook, at a rent of 241. and the
service of a reaper for one day in the year;
Vawdrey D. A grant of 9 acres of the
waste of Pendleton at a rent of 41. was
395
made in 1359 to John Gawen and his
issue ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App.
340.
Henry son of John Gawen acquired a
messuage and lands from Henry de Mon-
ton and Olive his wife in 1358 ; Final
Cone, ii, 158. A settlement of lands
between Shoresworth Brook and the Mill-
brook was made in 1390, in favour of
Henry Gawen and Ellen his wife ; Vaw-
drey D. Henry died in July 1398, and
his widow Ellen was claiming dower as
late as 1430 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiii,
App. 31.
Richard son of Henry Gawen had a
grant of land in the south-west comer of
Pendleton from his father in 1390 on his
marriage with Emanie daughter of Richard
de Holland ; one of the boundaries was
Bibbylumn on Bentcliffe Brook ; Vaw-
drey D. Richard Gawen made a feoff-
ment of certain lands in 1434, and other
deeds of his are extant, dated 1441, 1445,
and 1447 ; Vawdrey D. In 1445-6 he
held Little Bolton in socage, paying a rent
of 1 8*. ; Duchy of Lane. Knights' Fees
2/20. In the Cockersand rentals of 1451-
1537 various Richard Gawens held the
abbey's lands in Pendleton at a rent of
I2<£; Chartul. iv, 1238-41.
In a grant of lands in Little Bolton in
1451 the remainders were to Richard
Gawen for life, and then to William son
and heir of Thurstan Gawen, and to
Katherine, Margery, and Elizabeth, sisters
of William ; Vawdrey D. Richard Gawen
occurs in 1496 ; ibid. Three years after-
wards John Legh, son and heir apparent
of Margery daughter and one of the heirs
of Thurstan Gawen, released his claim to
Thurstan's lands in Little Bolton in
favour of his mother, then wife of Thomas
Smethwick ; ibid.
89 In the time of Queen Elizabeth
Thomas Valentine paid a chief rent of
281. 3</. for two parts of Gawen' s lands,
and Adam Hill and Edmund Gooden paid
141. zd. for the other part ; Baines, Lanes.
(ed. 1870), i, 447.
40 There is a notice of the family in
Gillow, Bibl. Diet, of Engl. Catb. ii, 524.
Isabel Gooden, widow, and Janet and
Jane her daughters had in 1560 a lease of
a messuage in Broomhouse Lane, which
Janet in 1595, as widow of Thomas
Travers, transferred to her son Edmund
Travers, Edmund Gooden being a wit-
ness ; Vawdrey D.
Edmund Gooden of Little Bolton com-
plained in 1566 that certain persons had
made a great ditch across the way from
his house to the church of Eccles, and
had stopped up other ways also. His
landlord, Thomas Billott, resided in Wales.
In defence Robert Barlow and Edmund
Parkington said that they had allowed the
tenants of Edmund Gooden to pass
through their lands to the church and
to carry fuel, but when this permission
was claimed as a right they withdrew
it ; Duchy of Lane. Plead. Eliz. Ixvii,
G.4.
In 1619 Edmund Gooden of Little
Bolton purchased lands in Highneld and
Pendleton ; Vawdrey D. Next year he
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
WE4STE, i.e. the Waste, is mentioned in the year
1570."
Humphrey Booth of Salford,4* Roger Downes of
Wardley,43 and Richard Pendleton,44 held lands in the
township in the time of Charles I. In 1784 the
principal landowners were John FitzGerald, John Gore
Booth, and Thomas Butterworth Bayley ; Miss Byrom,
Thomas Chorlton of Weaste, — Valentine, — Cal-
vert, and many others had smaller shares."
The Duchy of Lancaster has an estate in Pendleton ;
the rents in 1858 amounted to over ^l,ooo.46
In 1444 there was a serious affray at Pendleton,
several men being killed.47
A chantry chapel was founded in Pendleton about
1 2 20, but nothing further seems known of it.48
A considerable number of churches have been
erected in modern times, to accommodate the growing
population. In connexion with the Established
Church the first St. Thomas's, at Brindle Heath, was
acquired in 1776 and the second was built on the
present site in 1831 ;49 the old building is used as
a chapel of ease, and called St. Anne's ; the Vicar of
Eccles is patron of this. The Crown and the Bishop
of Manchester present alternately to St. Paul's, Pad-
dington, built in 1856.*° St. George's, Charlestown,
was built in 1858 ;" St. James's, Hope, in 1 86 1 ;M
St. Luke's, Weaste, in 1865 ;6S St. Barnabas's and
St. Ambrose's, both in 1887. The Bishop of Man-
chester collates to St. George's and St. Barnabas's ;
St. James's and St. Luke's are in the gift of trustees.
The Wesleyans are said to have been the first
possessors of old St. Thomas's, built about 1 760 ; they
now have a church dating from 1 8 1 4, and four others
more recently built. The United Free Methodists
have three churches, the Primitive Methodists and the
New Connexion two each, and the Independent
Methodists one.
The Congregationalists had a preaching station at
Irlams-o'-th'-Height about 1825, but no permanent
church followed at that time. At Charlestown a
Sunday school was begun in 1829, and next year
public services were held, a church being formed in
1836 ; a place of worship in Broad Street was built
in 1847-9. At Charlestown itself a church was
built in 1864, and a school chapel at Seedley ten
years later.54 At Weaste is the Lightbowne memorial
church.
The Baptists have a chapel here. The Society of
Friends have also a meeting-place.
At Seedley Grove is a place of worship of the
Presbyterian Church of England, founded in 1871.
The Swedenborgians have a temple called New
Jerusalem in Broad Street.
The Roman Catholic Church of the Mother of God
and St. James, Seedley, was built in 1875 ; the mission
began in 1858. All Souls', Weaste, was opened in
1892. In 1898 the Dominicans took over the
struggling mission of St. Charles in the north of the
township, and have built the church of St. Sebas-
tian.
died seised of various lands in Little
Bolton held of the king as of his manor
of Salford in socage by a rent of 31. $d. ;
also of lands in Monton and Winton ;
Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), ii, 209. Edmund his son and heir,
then twenty-two years of age, died a year
after his father, leaving as heir his daughter
Ellen, eighteen months old ; his widow
Ellen was living at Little Bolton ; ibid,
ii, 242. By virtue of a settlement recited
in the inquisition the estate passed to
Thomas Gooden, younger brother of Ed-
mund, with remainders to Richard, John,
and Peter Gooden. Thomas Gooden
contributed as a landowner to the subsidy
of 1622 ; Mite. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 154. In 1631 he paid £10 as
composition for declining knighthood ;
ibid, i, 215.
Thomas Gooden, a recusant and delin-
quent, was in 1651 suspected of having
borne arms for the king, and his estate
was sequestrated by the Parliament ;
whereupon he petitioned. His brother
John had been wounded by some of Prince
Rupert's men. Another man altogether,
Lieut. Gooden, had taken part in the de-
fence of Lathom house ; Cal. of Com. for
Compounding, iv, 2723, 3160 ; Royalist
Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
iii, 8 1, 86. Thomas Gooden of Little
Bolton, Edmund his son (of Traffbrd), and
Thomas Gooden of Pendlebury occur in
a deed of 1664. Richard Gooden of Pen-
dlebury, as a 'papist,' registered an es-
tate in Manchester in 1717 ; Estcourt
and Payne, Engl. Cath. Nonjurors, 153.
See also Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App.
iv, no.
In 1738 Thomas Gooden had lands in
Pendleton in the Old Hall (now the New
Hall) and Walness ; he was the grand-
nephew of Thomas Gooden of Pendleton;
Piccope MSS. (Chet. Lib.), iii, 262, from
Roll 12 of Geo. II at Preston. At the
expiry of a lease of the Old Hall in 1774
the tenant was of the same name ; Mancb.
Guardian N. and Q. no. 1123. Three years
later Little Bolton Hall was sold by
Dorothy sister and heir of Thomas
Gooden and wife of Albert Hodshon of
Leighton, to Thomas Worsley ; Dorothy
had two daughters — Mary wife of Ralph
Standish of Standish, and Anne ; the for-
mer had a portion of ^2,000 ; ibid, iii,
342, 344, from Roll 15 of Geo. II. In
the same volume (p. 236) is the will of
Richard Gooden of Pendlebury, 1728 ;
he had lands in Barton, Tottington,
Pendlebury, and Stretford ; Richard and
other sons are named.
In 1741 Thomas Starky of Preston
sold to Thomas Worsley the capital mes-
suage called Little Bolton Hall 5 ibid, iii,
344, from Roll 15 of Geo. II. Samuel
Worsley paid a rent of gs. nd. to the
duchy for Little Bolton in 1779 ; Duchy
of Lane. Rentals, 14/25.
41 John Gawen of Worsley and Robert
Barlow of Little Bolton were under bond
in 1570 to allow Thomas Tyldesley and
Margery his wife to occupy the mansion-
house called the Waste in Little Bolton
lately held by Ralph Malbon, former hus-
band of Margery ; John Gawen, however,
repudiated his liability ; Vawdrey D.
Kuerden (iii, P 3) has preserved a grant
by William Benastre to Roger del Wood
and Isabel his wife, of Salefield under
Pendleton and adjoining Little Bolton.
42 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvii, 44 ;
messuages and lands in Pendleton, Pendle-
bury, Little Bolton, &c., held of the king
as of his manor of Salford.
48 Ibid, xxvii, 54.
44 Ibid, xxix, 52 ; 4 acres held of the
king as of his manor of Salford in socage.
45 Land Tax Returns at Preston.
46 House of Commons Return, 5, 6.
The report also gives particulars of a
number of sales of land.
396
47 Margaret widow of Ralph Oldham
said that on the Monday after Low Sun-
day, 1444, Thomas Booth of Barton,
Nicholas and Henry his sons, William
Gawen of Swinton and many others way-
laid and wounded her husband, so that he
died in the following July. The jury
acquitted most of the accused ; Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. 8, m. 20. It was further
presented that Henry son of Sir Thomas
Booth, with others, had shot at John
Radcliffe of Ordsall and killed him ; and
had indicted a mortal wound on Nicholas
Johnson. In this case also there was an
acquittal; ibid. R. 9, m. 31^. At a
later assize, however, Henry and Nicholas
Booth were outlawed; ibid. R. ii, m.
32*.
48 Whalley Couch, i, 54 ; Richard de
Hulton would appoint the chaplain, who
was, however, to be approved by the
monks of Stanlaw. No injury was to be
done to the rights or dues of the parish
church. It was further provided that no
religious man should celebrate in the
chapel ; but secular priests, staying for a
short time as guests in the lord's house,
might celebrate during their visit.
49 Sentence of consecration was passed
26 July 1776 ; Church P. at Chester.
James Pedley, M.A., of St Edmund Hall,
Oxford, was incumbent for forty-nine
years, dying in 1825. For over forty
years he was also an assistant master of
Manchester Grammar School. ' No man
could exceed him in attachment to the
constitution as established in church and
state'; Gent's Mag. July 1825. For
district see Land. Gax. 8 Aug. 1865.
60 The district was formed in 1 846 ;
Land. Gaz. 17 Jan.
81 For district ibid. 10 Mar. 1860.
62 Ibid. 25 Mar. 1866.
88 Ibid. 6 Feb. 1866.
54 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf.v, 224-9.
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
PENDLEBURY
Penelbiri, 1201 ; Pennilbure, 1 21 2 ; Pennebire,
1226 ; Pennesbyry, 1278 ; Penilburi, 1300 ; Penul-
bury, 1332 ; Penhulbury, 1358 ; Pendulbury, 1561;
Pendlebury, 1567.
Lying on the west bank of the Irwell between
Clifton and Pendleton, but with a detached part — the
ancient Shoresworth — to the south of Pendleton,
this township has an area of 1,030^ acres.1 The town
proper lies in the north-west part of the district,
while Agecroft Hall stands apart upon the Irwell in
the north-east corner. The surface of the land slopes
generally from west to east, from nearly 300 ft. to
about 1 20 ft. above the ordnance datum. The popu-
lation in 1901 was 8,493.
The principal road is that from Manchester to
Bolton, from which the ancient Wigan road parts
company near the southern boundary ; a cross road
leads through Agecroft by a bridge over the Irwell to
Prestwich, and near the bridge another road from
Manchester joins it. The Lancashire and Yorkshire
Company's line from Manchester to Bolton runs
north-westward, and that from Manchester to Hindley
also crosses the township, and has two stations —
Irlams-o'-th'-Height and Pendlebury. The former
nearly follows the line of a fault which brings up the
Coal Measures to the west, leaving the New Red Sand-
stone in evidence to the east. The Manchester and
Bolton Canal runs along the easterly side of the for-
mer line, between it and the River Irwell.
There were thirty-five hearths liable to the tax in
1 666. Agecroft Hall was the only large house, having
eleven hearths.1
The manufacture and printing of cottons have long
been the principal industries.
Pendlebury was joined with Swinton in 1875 to
form a local board district ; it is now governed by
the Swinton and Pendlebury Urban District Council.8
The Public Hall was built in 1870. The detached
portion of the township was, with Pendleton, included
in the borough of Salford in 1852. One of the
Salford cemeteries is at Agecroft and another at New
Barns. The great children's hospital on the south-
west side was erected in 1873.
An ancient Campfield exists in the detached part of
Pendlebury near Salford ; and a neolithic hammer
axe was found at Mode Wheel in the excavations for
the Manchester Ship Canal.4
The manors of PENDLEBURr and
MANORS SHORESWORTH were in 1212 held of
the king in chief in thegnage by a rent
of 1 2/.s The tenant was Ellis son of Robert de Pen-
dlebury, to whom King John had granted Pendlebury
while he was Count of Mortain, confirming or renew-
ing the grant when he obtained the throne.6 Ellis
was also master serjeant of the wapentake of Salford,
and this office, like the manor, was to descend to his
heirs.7 Ellis was a benefactor of Cockersand Abbey.8
He died in or about 1216, and his son Adam suc-
ceeded him in his manors and serjeanty.' But little
is known of him, and his son Roger appears to have
been in possession in 1246 and 1254.'° He also was
a benefactor of Cockersand.11 At this stage of the
descent there is some difficulty. In 1274 Ellis son
of Roger came to a violent death," and Amabel, as
widow of Ellis son of Roger the Clerk, claimed
dower in various lands against Roger de Pendle-
bury.13 Again, a short time afterwards, Amabel hav-
ing received her dower, she and Roger de Pendle-
bury had to defend a suit brought by one Adam de
Pendlebury, who satisfied the jury of his title to the
manor.14
Ellis had a brother William and daughters Maud,
Lettice, and Beatrice. Maud married Adam son of
Alexander de Pilkington, and had a daughter Cecily."
1 This includes the detached part, now
included in Pendleton. The census report
of 1901 gives only 866 acres, including
36 of inland water, for the reduced town-
ship.
* Subs. R. Lanes, bdle. 250, no. 9.
8 See Worsley.
4 Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. x, 251.
* Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 68. Pendlebury
was assessed as one plough-land, and
Shoresworth as an oxgang ; the separate
rent of the former was ICM.
6 Chart. R. (Rec. Com.), 26. This
grant is among the Agecroft D. (no. i). It
concerns Pendlebury only, one plough-
land ' in free thegnage by the free service
of 10$. yearly.' Ellis de Pendlebury's
other lands, as shown by the survey of
1 21 2, were Shoresworth (i oxgang}, Hope
in Pendleton (2 oxgangs), and Snydale in
Westhoughton ( ? i oxgang) ; Lanes. Inq.
And Extents, i, 68, 65, 58. He also had
lands in Westhoughton, which went to
Thomas, a younger son. Robert de Pen-
dlebury, probably the father of Ellis, raised
a dyke in Westhoughton ; Cockersand
Chart. (Chet. Soc.), ii, 679.
7 Chart, R. 27. Ellis is mentioned in
the Pipe Rolls down to 1208 ; Farrer,
Lanes. Fife R. 151, 232, &c.
8 Cockersand Chart, ii, 688 — grant of
Priestscroft in Westhoughton.
9 Ellis de Pendlebury and Adam his son
•were witnesses to a grant by Gilbert de
Notton and Edith his wife ; Wballey
Couch. (Chet. Soc.), i, 47. Adam de
Pendlebury is named in 1216 ; Rot. Lit.
Claus. (Rec. Com.), 251. He succeeded
his father as serjeant of Salfordshire in
1218 (ibid. 366) ; but this office had been
lost by 1222 ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents , i,
133. In October 1219 the king ordered
livery to Adam, who had done homage,
of the lands his father Ellis had held, viz.,
a plough-land in Pendlebury and the fourth
part of an oxgang in Shoresworth ; Fine
R. Excerpts, i, 38. 'The farm of the land
of Adam de Pendlebury in Pendlebury,'
i CM., occurs in 1226, but Adam may have
been dead ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents, \, 137.
10 Roger is mentioned in Assize R. 404,
m. I ; Lanes. Inq. and Extents, \, 193 ;
Cockersand Chartul. ii, 676. He granted
land in Westhoughton to Richard son of
Geoffrey de Byron, held about 1244 by
Geoffrey and by Thomas, brothers of
Richard ; Whalley Couch. \, 66, 62.
11 He gave all his land in Westhoughton;
Cockersand Chartul. ii, 677.
12 Cal. Close, 1272-9, p. 97.
18 De Banco R. 5, m. 102. It seems
probable that Roger the Clerk was Roger
the son of Adam de Pendlebury, while
the defendant Roger was a trustee for
the daughters of Ellis. Amabel's claim was
for the third part of 1 1 oxgangs, 1 6 acres
of land, two-thirds of an oxgang, the half
of two mills, and two-thirds of one mill
with appurtenances in Pendlebury, Pen-
dleton, Whittleswick, and Halliwell. At
the same time she sought dower in 26
397
acres in Clifton, the holder being Alice
daughter of William the Clerk of Eccles.
Roger de Pendlebury granted Whittles-
wick to his son Ellis, and the latter
regranted it to his father ; DeTrafford D.
no. 276, 278. This Roger seems to be
the « clerk ' of Amabel's plea. The Clerk*
of Eccles appear here as in Whittleswick.
Among the Holland of Denton deeds
are some further illustrations of the pedi-
gree. Thus William son of Roger de
Pendlebury made a grant in Sharpies of
lands which should come to him after the
death of his brother Ellis's daughter Maud;
Harl. MS. 2112, fol. 145^/181*. Lettice
and Beatrice, other daughters, also occur ;
ibid. fols. 160/71966, 1456/1814.
14 Assize R. 1238 (6 Edw. I), m. 31 d.
It was ordered that Amabel should receive
equivalent land for dower from Roger.
Drailesden, the Mill ridding, and half of a
mill were excepted from the disseisin by
Roger.
15 From pleas relating to Whittleswick,
cited by Mr. Bird in the Ancestor, pt. iv,
211, it appears that Maud daughter and
heir of Ellis recovered land, &c., there in
1284; Assize R. 1265, m. 21 d. She
was dead in 1291, when William de Pen-
dlebury, as uncle and heir, claimed it from
Adam de Pilkington, who said he had an
estate for life because his wife Maud had
borne him a daughter Cecily. William
asserted that the child was stillborn, but
the jury found that she lived a short time
and was baptized ; Assize R. 1294, m. 8 d.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The manor was sold before 1300 to Adam de Prest-
wich.16
The new lord of Pendlebury married Alice de
Woolley daughter of Richard son of Master Henry de
Pontefract,17 the eventual heir being a daughter Alice,
wife of Jordan de Tetlow. Her heir also proved to
be a daughter, Joan, who married Richard de Langley,18
and the manor descended regularly in this family
until the end of the 1 6th century. Joan de Langley
died in or before 1374, and her son and heir Roger
being a minor the sheriff took possession of the manors.
Roger himself died in 1393, holding the manor of
Pendlebury as one plough-land
by a rent of i6/., and a mes-
suage called Agecroft, the fa-
mily seat, by a rent of 6s. 8</.
Again the heir was a minor,
Roger's son Robert being fif-
teen years of age, but already
married to Katherine daughter
of Sir William de Atherton.19
Robert Langley died in April
1447, seised of the manors of
Pendlebury and Prestwich, and
LANGLEY of Agecroft*
Argent a cockatrice table
beaked or.
16 In 1297 Adam de Prestwich granted
his manors, &c., of Prestwich, Alkrington,
and Pendlebury, to John, his son and heir,
and Emmota his wife and their heirs ;
Agecroft D. no. 4. In 1300 Adam pro-
cured a release of all her right in the manor
from Beatrice daughter of Ellis de Pendle-
bury ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), i, 1 8 8. Probably, as in the case
of Whittleswick, which was included in
the fine, William de Pendlebury had al-
ready transferred his claim. Shortly after-
ward? Beatrice brought a suit of novel dis-
seisin against William ; Assize R. 1321,
m. 3.
There are considerable difficulties in the
Prestwich succession. Adam's ' son and
heir' John, married by 1297, must have
surrendered the manors to his father, as
they did not descend to his issue. Adam
had another son Henry, to whom he gave
Whittleswick in Barton. About 1300, as
stated in the text, Adam married Alice de
Wolveley or Woolley, and her children
were made his heirs.
The elder family continued to appear.
In 1319 Thomas son of John de Prest-
wich released to Alice widow of Adam de
Prestwich all his right in the manors of
Prestwich, Alkrington, and Pendlebury ;
Agecroft D. no. 13. In 1340 appeared a
John de Prestwich the younger, the grand-
son of John son of Adam ; Lord Wilton's
D. Later, in 1375, Thurstan son of
John de Prestwich released all his right to
Robert de Holland, and gave a similar re-
lease in 1416 to Robert de Langley ;
Agecroft D. no. 37, 72.
V In 1304 Alice daughter of Richard
»on of Master Henry de Pontefract sought
leave to concord with Adam de Prestwich
concerning tenements in Pendlebury ;
De Banco R. 149, m. 34. Two years
later Henry de Trafford and Henry his
son made an agreement concerning the
manor of Pendlebury ; ibid. 161, m. 382 d.
In 1307 Alice widow of William de Pen-
dlebury claimed dower in the manor of
Pendlebury against Alice de Woolley
(whose attorney was Thomas de Ponte-
fract), and in Halliwell lands against Adam
son of Robert de Shoresworth ; ibid. 1 64,
m. 47 d. Adam de Prestwich, called to
warrant as to Pendlebury, denied that the
plaintiff's husband had ever been in
seisin ; ibid. 170, m. 35 d.
An Agecroft Deed (no. 7) shows that
Thomas de Clifton, perhaps as trustee,
gave to Adam de Prestwich and Alice de
Woolley various lands and services in the
Till of Woolley which he had had from his
kinsman William de Bri . . . hton, with re-
mainders to Alice daughter of Adam and
Alice and her heirs, and then in succession
to Robert and Joan, other children, and
in default of issue to the heirs of Adam.
Henry brother of the said Alice de Wool-
Icy was a witness.
In 1311 a settlement of the manor of
Pendlebury was made, whereby Adam de
Prestwich granted it, with land in Prest-
wich, to Alice daughter of Richard de
Pontefract for her life, with remainder in
succession to her children — Robert, Alice,
and Agnes ; Final Cone, ii, 12. Two
years later a more extensive settlement
was made by the agency of Thomas de
Woolley ; by this the manors of Prest-
wich, Alkrington, and Pendlebury, and
the advowson of Prestwich, were, after
the death of Adam de Prestwich, to go to
Alice de Woolley for her life, and then to
her children — Thomas, Robert, Alice, and
Agnes, with final remainder to Roger de
Prestwich and his heirs. Claims were put in
by Alice sister of John de Byron, John
son of John de Prestwich, Adam de Wor-
legh, Emma his wife, and John and
Thomas sons of Emma ; ibid. 1 6. About
the same time Alice de Woolley secured
from Alice daughter of William the
Lanedyman various tenements in Wool-
ley, with remainders to her children —
Thomas, Robert, Alice, Joan, and Agnes.
Henry son of Richard de Pontefract was
a witness ; Agecroft D. no. 10. In
1316 Henry de Bury of Woolley leased
all his manor in that vill to Adam de
Prestwich and Alice his wife, reserving
for himself and his son John ' proper sus-
tenance ' in board and bed during the lives
of Adam and Alice. Robert de Ponte-
fract of Woolley was a witness ; Age-
croft D. no. 12.
Alice survived her husband, and was a
plaintiff in 1323 ; Coram Rege R. 254,
m. 24 d. In 1 3 24 she held a plough-land
in Pendlebury, paying los. yearly ; Duchy
of Lane. Rentals and Surv. 379, m. 13.
She was dead in 1332, when her son
Robert claimed under the fine of 1311,
the elder son Thomas having taken pos-
session of Pendlebury in acccordance with
the later fine ; De Banco R. 290, m. 4 ;
292, m. 64 d. Hugh son of Hugh de
Atherton and Richard son of William de
Radcliffe were joined with Thomas as
defendants. In 1 349 Adam son of Thomas
de Prestwich released to John de Radcliffe
the elder all his claim to the manor of
Pendlebury ; Agecroft D. no. 27.
The separate descent of Pendlebury
freed it from the disputes which arose about
Prestwich.
18 Adam son of Thomas de Prestwich
demanded the manor of Pendlebury against
Robert de Prestwich in 1344, a messuage
and lands in the manor being excepted ;
De Banco R. 340, m. 557d. In 1346
Robert de Prestwich held lands in Pendle-
bury in thegnage, paying z6s . %d. a year
and double for relief; Add. MSS. 32103,
fol. 146.
In 1350 Richard de Langley and Joan
his wife, daughter and heir of Alice sister
of Robert de Prestwich, claimed the manor
of Pendlebury in accordance with the fine
of 1 311. They stated that Robert had
398
died childless, and as to the objection to
Joan's legitimacy the Bishop of Lichfield
made inquiry and adjudged in her favour ;
De Banco R. 362, m. 120. It had been
alleged that she was born before marriage ;.
Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 2, m. 5 d. A
settlement was made of the manor, to-
gether with lands in neighbouring town-
ships, in 1352, William de Langley, rector
of Middleton, being trustee for Richard
and Joan ; Final Cone, ii, 132. The re-
mainder was to William de Walton and
Katherine his wife. John de Radcliffe the
elder and Richard his son put in a claim,
John son of Richard de Radcliffe was de-
fendant in a Pendlebury case in 1358 ;
Assize R. 438, m. 8 d.
In Booker's Prestwich it is suggested
that Richard de Langley derived his sur-
name from a place called Langley or Long-
ley in Middleton. His parentage does not
seem to be known. A pedigree of the-
family is in Misc. Gen. et Herald. (Ser. 2),.
iii, 75.
19 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 50,
In this the fine of 1 3 1 3 is recited, and a
statement made regarding the descent,
whereby it appears that Thomas, the elder
son, who had Prestwich, left two daughters,.
Margaret and Agnes ; the former became a
nun at Seton in 1360, and the latter died
without issue, so that Roger de Langley
came into possession of the whole estate.
Further details will be found in the account
of Prestwich.
The descent through Alice de Tetlow
and her daughter Joan de Langley is also-
fully stated in the plea quoted ibid. 52. It
appears that Margaret, the nun, was mar-
ried to Robert de Holland, who put in a
claim to the lands; but in 1376 Robert
son of Thurstan de Holland and Margaret
his wife released to Roger de Langley all
claim on the lands of Robert son of Agne*
de Woolley in the vills of Pendlebury, Age-
croft and Prestwich (near the ferry) ;
Agecroft D. no. 49. They further re-
leased all claim to the manors and lands-
of Thomas son of Adam de Prestwich ;
ibid. no. 50. Roger de Langley made a
settlement of lands in Pendlebury, Prest-
wich, and Middleton in 1390 in favour
of his son Robert, probably on the latter' s-
marriage ; ibid. no. 52, 53.
The reason of the increase of the thegn-
age rent from IDJ. to i6s. does not ap-
pear, and though Agecroft or Achecroft
continued to be the manor-house, the
rent of 6s. 8<l. for it is not recorded in.
the later inquisitions. From the inquisi-
tions of Thomas Langley quoted below
it would appear that Pendlebury proper
continued to be liable for lot. and Age-
croft for 6s. 8</., yet the total of i6s. in-
stead of 1 6s. 8</. seems later to have been
accepted.
Dower was assigned to Margaret, widow
of Roger, in her husband's lands in 1394 ;
Agecroft D. no 56. In Pendlebury she
SALFORD HUNDRED
various other lands ; Thomas Langley his son and heir
was then forty years of age.20 Another son, Ralph,
was rector of Prestwich and warden of Manchester.
There was a third son, John.21 Thomas had a son John,
who succeeded him n in the manors and died in 1496,
leaving a son and heir Robert about forty years old.23
Dying in 1527, holding the manor of Pendlebury in
socage by a rent of l6s. yearly, besides other manors
and lands, he was succeeded by his grandson Robert
ECCLES
son of Thomas Langley, the last of the male line in
possession.24 Robert was made a knight in 1547,"
and died 19 September 1561, leaving four daughters
as co-heirs.26 On the division of the estates, Agecroft
and lands in Pendlebury became the portion of Anne,27
who married William Dauntesey, springing from a
Wiltshire family.28 The ' manor ' of Pendlebury also
was claimed by the Daunteseys for some time,29 but
was afterwards said to be held with Prestwich, descend-
rcceived the Crimbles, Anesley, the Lumns,
Ac.
Robert de Langley proved his age in
1403. John de Langton stated that
Robert was born at Huntingdon on 6 June
1379, and baptized at Eccles by Robert de
Monton, Robert de Worsley and Ellen
Gawen being sponsors ; he remembered
because he was present in the church at
the obit of Robert Johnson ; Towneley's
MS. DD, no. 1466.
In 1416 Robert de Langley leased to
Piers de Holland for life lands called the
Wete Park in Agecroft, which Piers
thereupon leased to Robert for eighty
years ; Agecroft D. no. 70—1.
20 Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxix, App. 541.
Pendlebury was held in socage as I plough-
land by a rent of ios., and the residue of
the manor by a rent of 6s. 8</. Margaret,
the widow of Roger, was still living and
in possession of Tetlow, which would
revert to Katherine, the widow of Robert.
Thomas Langley, the son, was in 1412
contracted to marry Margaret daughter
of Sir John Ashton ; Piers and James,
brothers of Thomas, are mentioned ; Age-
croft D. no. 60. Thomas and Margaret
were married in 1419 ; ibid. no. 74.
21 Thomas and John Langley were living
in 1470, when the latter was defendant in
an Alkrington case, in which the fine of
1313, with pedigree, was recited ; Pal. of
Lane. Plea R. 37, m. 12 d. ; also R. 55,
m. 7, where John Langley is called the son
of Robert.
23 Thomas Langley died 20 Jan. 1471-2,
seised of the manors of Pendlebury and
Prestwich, the advowson of Prestwich
Church, and of various lands. The tenure
of Pendlebury is stated exactly as in the
preceding inquisition. John Langley, his
son and heir, was forty-two years of age,
and had married Maud daughter of James
Radcliffe ; Agecroft D. no. 80, 8 1.
In 1475 John Langley enfeoffed Ralph
Langley, warden of Manchester, of all his
manors, &c. ; Thomas son of John was
•one of the attorneys to deliver seisin ;
ibid. no. 82.
28 The inquisition (taken in 2 1 Hen. VII)
after the death of John Langley, who is
stated to have died in Aug. 1496, is given
in a plea of 1511 ; Pal. of Lane. R. 112,
m. 4 ; printed in Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet.
Soc.), ii, 145. Robert the son is said to
have been fifty years of age and more at
the time of the inquisition. He and his
wife Eleanor daughter of William Rad-
cliffe of Ordsall, recovered the disputed
lands. Robert Langley received a general
pardon from Henry VII in 1486, and an
annuity of 10 marks for services rendered
and to be rendered ; Agecroft D. no. 88,
89.
24 The first part of the inquisition is
torn off, but Robert Langley's will, dated
22 Feb. 1524-5, and proved i Apr. 1528,
is printed in Wills (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and
Ches.), 62. He desired to be buried in
the new chapel on the south side of
St. Mary's, Prestwich, and left legacies to
his younger sons Edmund and Lawrence,
his grandson and heir Robert, and his
sisters ; also money for trentals of masses.
The executors were his brother Thomas,
late rector of Prestwich, his son William,
then rector, and his wife Eleanor. The
bequests to Robert included 'all things
appertaining unto the chapel, that is to
wit, a chalice, a mass book, all vestments
for a priest to say mass with, an altare
portatilc, with other cloths belonging to
the altar.' The will of Eleanor widow of
Robert Langley, dated 1532, is printed
inPiccope's Wills (Chet. Soc.), ii, 16-18.
Thomas, the father of the heir, had in
1504 been contracted to marry Cecily
daughter of William Davenport of Bram-
hall, and they were married by 1518,
when various lands in ' Pendlebury in the
vill of Pendleton ' and elsewhere were set
apart for Cecily ; Agecoft D. no. 94, 98.
The possessions of the family in
1528 included the manors of Prest-
wich (with the advowson of the church),
Pendlebury, and Alkrington, messuages
and lands in Tetlow, Cheetham, Cromp-
ton, Oldham, Middle-ton, Broughton,
and Salford. The date of death is
given as 'the Friday before the feast of
St. Peter last,' i.e. probably June 1527.
Robert the grandson was of full age and
married to Cecily daughter of Edmund
Traffbrd ; he had younger brothers, Wil-
liam and Ralph ; Duchy of Lane. Inq.
p.m. vi, no. 7. Dower was assigned to
the widow on 6 Mar. 1527-8. Lands
producing £10 171. zd. a year were
granted, including Anesley, the deer park,
and Little Oxhey in Agecroft ; Agecroft D.
no. 105.
For pedigree see Visit, of 1533 (Chet.
Soc.), 70.
25 Metcalfe, Bk. of Knights, 94.
Leland writes : ' Coming from Man-
chester towards Morleys, Sir William
Leyland's house, I passed by enclosed
ground partly pasturable, partly fruitful of
corn, leaving on the left hand a mile and
more of a fair place of Mr. Langford's
[«'c] called Agecroft ; and there is a
bridge very high and great of timber, on
Irwell ' ; Itin. v, 94.
In 1540 Sir Alexander Radcliffe, deputy
bailiff of the Wapentake of Salford, gave
a receipt for 371. \d. to Robert Langley,
for his chief rents in Prestwich, Pendle-
bury, Tetlow, and Alkrington ; Age-
croft D. no. 114. The rents are stated
differently at different times ; in the in-
quisition last cited they amounted to 341.
Sir Robert Langley in 1559 procured
a general pardon ; ibid. no. 123.
26 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xi, 16 ;
mostly illegible. The manor of Pendle-
bury was held of the queen as of the
Duchy of Lancaster in socage, by a rent
of 1 6s. ; the tenure of ' the manor of Age-
croft' is not separately recorded. His
daughters and heirs were Dorothy, aged
thirty, wife of James Ashton ; Margaret,
twenty-four, wife of John Reddish ; Anne,
twenty-five, and Katherine, eight years.
399
Sir Robert's brief will is printed in
Wills (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 1 90.
The executors were his wife Dame Cecily,
and his 'cousin* Edmund TrarFord.
Seisin of a fourth part each was given
to Anne, Margaret, and Dorothy, in 1563,
and to Katherine, then wife of Thoma»
Legh, in 1568 ; Dep. Keeper1 1 Rep. xxxix,
App. 556.
Dame Cecily, who afterwards married
Edward Holland of Denton, died in or
before 1572, when in accordance with her
nuncupative will William Dauntesey gave
certain of her goods to Francis Wolryche
of the Inner Temple, in trust for his
son John Dauntesey ; Agecroft D. no.
139.
V Three days before his death Sir
Robert had given to trustees for his
daughter Anne the ' capital messuage or
mansion house of Agecroft with its appur-
tenances in the vill of Pendlebury, and
also all the closes, lands, &c., in the vill
aforesaid, commonly called Pendlebury
demesnes, and known by the several names
of the Old Agecroft, the Lower Copies,
the Over Copies, the Park, the Great
Ryefield, the Little Ryefield, the Sour-
butts, the Lumns, the Warth, the Crim-
bles, Aynesley, the Oxhey, and the Little
Oxhey' ; also the water-mill in Prest-
wich, and a meadow called the Springs,
&c. ; also common of pasture and turbary
on Swinton Moor ; Agecroft D. no. 130.
These lands were given to Anne in June
1562; ibid. no. 134. She had married
William Dauntesey by 1571 ; Ducatus
Lane. (Rec. Com.), ii, 390. Two of Sir
Robert's daughters, Dorothy and Kathe-
rine, died childless, but the lands assigned
to them appear to have remained in their
husband's families.
28 Dauntsey is near Malmesbury.
From deeds at Agecroft it appears that
John Dauntesey died in or before 1506,
when the wardship of Richard, his son
and heir, was granted by the king to
Philip Baynard. John had two brothers,
Ambrose of West Lavington, and William,
citizen and mercer of London ; the latter's
estate appears to have descended to his
nephew Richard. This nephew, who was
usher to Queen Katherine Howard and
then to Queen Mary, married, apparently
as his second wife, Mary widow of — Wol-
rych, and is afterwards described as 'of
Dudmaston, Salop.' He died in 1556
and left a son and heir William, who
came of age in 1563. The estates in-
cluded the manor of Compton Bassett in
Wiltshire, and various lands in Wiltshire,
Middlesex, and Essex. William had a
younger brother Robert. There is a
pedigree in Booker's PrestwicA, 228, 229.
29 The manor of Pendlebury is not
named in the inquisitions, but was the
subject of fines in 1613 and 1625, the de-
forciants in the former being William
Dauntesey and Anne hit wife, and in
the latter William Dauntesey ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdlc. 83, m. 46 5 107,
m. 14.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
ing in the Coke family50 until about 1780, when it
was sold to Peter Drinkwater of Irwell House, Prest-
wich.31
William Dauntesey of Agecroft, who died in 1622,"
was succeeded by a son 3S and a grandson, also named
William. The last-named, a minor at his father's
death in 1637, was succeeded by his brother John,
who, dying about 1693," was succeeded in turn by
his sons William and Christopher.85 The latter of
these married Mary daughter of Sir Edward Chisen-
hale or Chisnall,and had several
children.36 Edward, the eldest
son, was subject to fits of lunacy,
and his younger brother Chris-
topher had the management of
the estates, and succeeded.37
He left a son John, in holy
orders, who resided at Age-
croft 3S till his death in 1811,
and bequeathed his estate to
cousins, the Hulls of Chorley.39
John son of Richard Hull had
but a short enjoyment of Age-
croft, dying in 1813, when he
was followed by his brother-in-
law, the Rev. Richard Buck,
who had married Margaret
DAUNTESEY of Age-
croft. Perfette dancetty
or and gules a lion ram-
pant seizing upon a
ivyvern erect counter-
changed, a bordure en-
grailed ermine.
Hull, and their son Robert succeeded.40 His younger
brother, John Buck, the next owner, took the name
of Dauntesey in i867,40a and was followed by his
sister Katherine Dauntesey Foxton, who died in 1878,
when Agecroft Hall passed to Robert Brown, grand-
son of Thomas Hull. Mr. Brown took the name of
Dauntesey on succeeding. Dying in 1905 he was
succeeded by his brother, Captain William Thomas
Slater Hull, who also adopted the surname of
Dauntesey.40b
Agecroft Hall stands on slightly rising ground on
the west side of the Irwell valley, where the river
flows southwards towards Manchester between the
high ground of Kersal and Prestwich on the east and
north, and Irlams-o'-th'-Height and Pendlebury on
the west. The surroundings of the house are now
greatly altered from what originally obtained, the
colliery workings of the neighbourhood and the im-
mediate proximity of railway and canal having almost
entirely destroyed the former picturesqueness of the
scenery. The hall, however, yet stands in grounds
which preserve to the building something of its original
country aspect, though the trees have suffered much
damage from the smoke and fumes of the surrounding
district.
The house is a very interesting example of timber
construction standing on a low stone base with por-
tions in brick, built round a central courtyard. The
ground on the west side of the building falls precipi-
tously, the walls standing close to the edge of the
cliff. The three remaining sides are said to have been
80 The manor of Pendlebury was in
1630 counted as the inheritance of Sarah
Coke, who died in 1623-4 ; Duchy of
Lane. Inq. p.m. ixvi, no. 53 ; see also
Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 179, m. 92;
2 1 7, m. 20.
31 Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1870), i, 599.
88 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), iii, 349. The rent of St. is
half of the old composite rent for Pendle-
bury. William Dauntesey died 19 May
1622, his wife Anne having died in 1618 ;
William, the son and heir, was over forty
years of age. He had entered Oriel Col-
lege, Oxford, in 1590, giving his age as
nineteen ; Foster, Alumni.
In 1613 a settlement was made on the
marriage of William son and heir apparent
of William Dauntesey and Anne his wife
with Katherine daughter of Lawrence
Crompton, late of Breightmet, and Alice
his wife ; Roger Downes of Wardley was
the principal trustee ; Agecroft D. no. 143.
The subsequent fine is recited in the
Inq. p.m. In 1624 William Dauntesey
acknowledged the receipt of the goods due
to his wife from Lawrence Crompton her
brother ; Agecroft D. no. 147.
88 William Dauntesey II paid £10 in
1631 as a composition on refusing knight-
hood ; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.),
i, 215. He died 2 Jan. 1636-7, his son
and heir William being about fifteen years
of age ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxviii,
no. 78. In 1634 he had made a settle-
ment of Agecroft Hall and the rest of the
estate, eight children being named : Wil-
liam, John, Mary, Anne, Elizabeth, Sarah,
Alice, and Katherine. A third part hav-
ing been assigned to his wife Katherine,
another third was given to his son William
for his maintenance, and provision for the
other children was to be made from the
rest; Agecroft D. no. 152. His will,
dated the day of his death, mentions the
£500 bequest from Sir John Dauntesey
of Bishop's Lavington, a kinsman ; ibid.
no. 153, 317. See also Fun. Cert. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 202.
The king granted the wardship and
marriage of the heir to the widow,
Katherine ; Agecroft D. no. 155.
84 He was party to an indenture of 1 5
Feb. 1692-3, but deceased in June 1694 ;
ibid. no. 159, 1 60. His children's
names are recited in the latter deed : Wil-
liam, Christopher, John, Thomas, and
Byron ; Katherine, Elizabeth, and Jane.
86 William entered Brasenose College,
Oxford, in 1686, aged 17 ; Foster, Alumni.
He died in Aug. 1695, Christopher suc-
ceeding ; Agecroft D. no. 162.
86 The marriage agreement is dated
1 8 Jan. 1696-7. Mary Chisenhale's por-
tion was £1,000 ; Agecroft D. no. 197.
In 1703 Christopher Dauntesey was
appointed captain of a militia company
commanded by Sir Ralph Assheton ; ibid,
no. 175. He was appointed sheriff in
Dec. 170$ ; ibid.no. 182. He died in 1711.
87 An agreement made in 1733 recites
that * whereas the said Edward Dauntesey
hath been for several years past and now
is at certain times and seasons unhappily
visited with a melancholy or lunacy, though
often enjoying clear, lucid, and very sen-
sible intervals and as now of sound mind,
which continue not long enough tho-
roughly to manage and improve his real
estate to his and his family's best advan-
tage, whereby he is rendered incapable to
marry in such manner as his quality and
estate would and do otherwise require ' ;
and arranges for the conveyance of the es-
tates, in consideration of an annuity of £30,
to his brother Christopher, so that the lat-
ter may make a suitable marriage and pre-
vent the extinction of the name and family;
ibid. no. 194-6. Christopher in 1735
married Elizabeth daughter of Robert
Billinge of Eccleston in Leyland ; ibid,
no. 200-3. By his will, dated in 1747
and proved in 1748, he provided for
annuities to his wife Elizabeth and his
400
brother Edward ; his lands went to his
son John, but £600 was to be paid to his
daughter Katherine when she came of age;
ibid. no. 204.
A monument in Eccles Church states
that Christopher Dauntesey died 28 Apr.
1748, aged 44, and his wife 15 July 1791,
aged 77.
88 John Dauntesey in 1779 paid the free
rent of 9*. 4</. for Agecroft ; Duchy of
Lane. Rentals, 14/25.
89 John Dauntesey was a student of
Peterhouse, Camb., in 1757 ; M.A.
1762 ; ordained deacon in 1760, and priest
in 1761 ; licensed to the curacy of
Ashton on Mersey ; in 1780 described as
of Agecroft (Agecroft D. no. 205-20). The
will of his sister Katherine was proved in
1805 ; ibid. no. 221. His own will,
dated 10 Oct. 1811, left sums of £500
each to two of his servants and others.
His lands, &c., in Pendlebury, Pendleton,
and Prestwich, he bequeathed to John
Hull, son of the late Richard Hull of
Chorley, surgeon, with remainders to
John's sister Margaret wife of the Rev.
Richard Buck of Fletton, to their brother
Thomas Hull of Beverley, and their sister
Elizabeth Hull of Chorley ; ibid. no. 222.
John Hull was not a descendant of the
Daunteseys ; Manch. Guardian N. and Q.
no. 1084; see also no. 970, 998, 1042,
for other particulars of the families of
Agecroft.
40 Booker, Presttvich, 227. The Rev.
Richard Buck (who was second wrangler
in 1783) and Margaret his wife in 1823
procured an Act of Parliament to grant
building leases. The duchy rent was
purchased in 1826. For the Buck family
see the account of Much Hoole, and for
the Hulls that of Poulton in the Fylde.
40a Baines, Lanes, (ed. 1870), i, 599.
40b Burke, Landed Gentry.
For an account of the Agecroft Hall
deeds see Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. iv,
199-220.
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
protected by a moat, but there is no trace of this, and
the position of the house, being not far from the
River Irwell on the east side, does not make the prob-
ability of the moat having existed very great.41
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway from Bolton
to Manchester and the Bury Canal both pass close to
the house on the north side.413
The entrance to the court is on the east side, and
the great hall is at the south end of the west wing,
with the former kitchen and scullery at its north end.
The chief living rooms are in the south wing, and the
north and east wings were occupied by the offices
and servants' quarters. The building appears to be
of two main dates, but has been very much modernized
both inside and out in the middle of the last century,
considerable repairs and alterations having taken place
been rebuilt about a century later, though the south
wing has been so much modernized that its original
date is somewhat difficult to determine. The great
hall shows toward the courtyard a wealth of ornament
in the timber framing and gables, in great contrast to
the very plain construction of the east front, which
consists entirely of horizontal sill pieces and straight
uprights with a cove under the eaves. The building
is of two stories throughout, about 1 8 ft. to the eaves,
and the roofs are covered with grey stone slates, which
offer a charming contrast to the black and white work
of wood and plaster. The chimneys are of red brick,
giving a welcome note of colour, but they are largely
rebuilt or covered with ivy. The west side of the
house is wholly faced with small 2 -in. bricks, and has
two projecting plain gables and a large central chim-
AGECROFT HALL
there about the year 1865-7. There have also been
subsequent additions and alterations, the last having
taken place in 1894 after afire which destroyed the
roof of the greater portion of the east and south
wings.
The house was probably begun at the end of the
reign of Henry VII, or the beginning of that of
Henry VIII, and much of the carving under
the bay windows on the east side is very Gothic
in detail, and of excellent design. The south wing
and the greater part of the west wing appear to have
ney. The general external appearance of the build-
ing, however, lacks some measure of that picturesque-
ness which is common in many other Lancashire
timber houses, owing to the monotony of its main
roof-lines, one gable only (that at the end of the south
wing facing east) breaking the long perspective of the
eaves. The roof of the south elevation, which is 96 ft.
in length, is broken by three chimneys, but there is
little diversity in the long line of wall, the projections
of the chimney, bay windows, and the brick in the
walling being very slight. The east or entrance
41 A small pond in the grounds to the
south-east of the house is sometimes said
to be the remains of the moat, but there
seems to be no good evidence of this. The
course of the Irwell is stated to l.ave been
formerly much nearer to the hall, forming
a natural protection on that side.
41a When the line of railway was first
projected between Manchester and Bolton,
Agecroft Hall narrowly escaped destruc-
4-01
tion, the owner, Mr. Buck, offering the
most uncompromising opposition; a slight
diversion in the contemplated route of the
line was made, and the hall preserved
intact. See Booker, Pretfwicb, zo i .
51
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
elevation, which is 101 ft. in length, had formerly only
one chimney at the junction of the old and later work
of the two wings, but a modern brick chimney added
in the north end has had the effect of breaking the
straight line where most needed, and giving a balance
to the original elevation which it formerly lacked.
The windows are for the most part slightly projecting
wooden bays carried on carved brackets, the carving
along the west wing being mostly original, but in the
south side modern copies. Over the entrance archway
is a small oriel, the corbel beneath it richly carved
with Gothic tracery in a series of radiating panels
springing from a shaft which rises from a small blank
shield on the crown of the four-centred entrance arch-
way. The projecting sills of the other first-floor
windows exhibit equally good carved tracery, and one
has the figure of a hart couchant, a fine piece of
work.41b
The entrance to the court on the east side is under
a plain timber arch, i o ft. 6 in. wide, the old oak door
and wicket still being in position. An inner wall,
however, has been built, blocking the open way to the
court ; the present entrance therefore now only leads
into the corridor which runs along the east side of the
courtyard. Originally this corridor, which runs round
the court on the east and south sides, was an open
one carried on wood posts resting on stone bases, but
the greater part of it is now inclosed. Its original
appearance, however, can still be gathered from the
north-east corner of the courtyard, where a length of
about 20 ft. still remains as built, forming a very pic-
turesque feature of the inner elevation. The old stone
and wood posts are still in position the full length of
the east side, the later wall being merely filled in
between them, and continue for a distance of about
1 2 ft. along the south side, opposite the junction of
the dining and drawing-rooms. The open corridor
may indeed only have extended this far, and the
dining-room (which is said to have been the ancient
chapel) may belong to the earlier portion of the
building. Its present condition is so entirely modern
as to make it impossible to say whether this is so or
not. The dining-room and drawing-room, however,
are clearly of different dates, the division between
them consisting of two walls side by side with a small
space between, and their floors on different levels.
Probably the rebuilding of the south wing was begun
from this point westward at some time in the ijth
century, and the old chapel converted to its later use
at some subsequent date.
The courtyard is of irregular shape, and measures
43 ft. 6 in. across at its widest part from west to east,
and 5 2 ft. from south to north. It presents a great
contrast to the outer elevations of the house, the sky-
line being broken on the west side by three gables,
two over the hall and one over the projecting bay
formed by the old kitchen. The timber framing of
the bay preserves something of the plainness of the
garden fronts, but the vertical lines give place to
diagonal tracings, and the upper story projects on
brackets and a plaster cove. The gables over the hall,
however, are richly ornamented with quatrefoil panels,
and a panelled cove runs the full length of the hall,
at the first-floor line, at a higher level than those of the
old kitchen bay line, the lower portion of the wall being
occupied by a long continuous window of fifteen
lights on a moulded stone base 3 ft. 6 in. high. The
gables are without barge-boards or hip-knobs, being
quite plain, with overhanging slates. The only two
gables in the building with barge-boards are shown at
the ends of the south and east wings facing east and
north, which have both been constructed in late years.
The north side of the court preserves its old black and
white wood and plaster construction, but in the west
and south the elevations have been a good deal
modernized, though in harmony with the old work,
and much of the 'half-timber work' is paint or
plaster. The east corridor runs right through the
building to an outer door on the north side, and the
south corridor leads direct to the great hall. A modern
butler's pantry has been added in the south-east corner
of the courtyard.
The rooms in the north and east wings, which are
9 ft. 6 in. high, are for the most part unimportant,
being still used as the servants' part of the house, the
present kitchen being immediately to the north of the
entrance. North of the kitchen is a small staircase
leading to the upper floor with good 17th-century flat
pierced balusters. Another small staircase in the west
wing north of the hall also preserves some I yth-century
detail, but the main staircase in the south wing is
modern. Internally the whole of the south wing is
so much modernized as to be of little architectural
interest ; it contains the library, drawing-room, and
dining-room, with the principal entrance and stair-
case. In the east window of the dining-room, which,
like the oak panelling and other fittings, is modern, is
preserved some ancient glass, some of which was
formerly in other parts of the house. The initials
R.L. (Ralph Langley) occur in several of the lights,
either in a lozenge or circle, and sometimes with
the Langley crest (a cockatrice). The centre light
bears the Royal Arms (France and England) encircled
by a garter, and surmounted by a crown, and in
other lights are the badge of Edmund of Langley,
Duke of York (a falcon in a closed fetter lock), a lion's
head crazed gules collared and lined or, a red and a
white rose with stalks entwined, and a crown and
initials H.E. for Henry VII and Elizabeth of York,
and a daisy (root and flower) with the head of a
greyhound over. The Langley crest also occurs
twice by itself. The drawing-room preserves its
original square - framed oak panelling on three
sides, and over the north door are four full-length
figures and four heads, said to be emblematic of peace
and war, originally part of the pulpit in the private
chapel.42 On either side of the same door are carved
panels, some with tracery, and others with a variety of
linen pattern. The library, which is wholly modern-
ized, has also some fragments of heraldic glass in the
window, one showing part of a shield argent, two
hunting horns gules, stringed or. The staircase
window preserves some old diamond quarries, five of
which bear the initials R.L., while on another is
scratched the name of William Dauntesey, and the
date 'June ye 12, 1645.'
The great hall is 146. in height, and has a flat
panelled ceiling divided into four bays by three wide
oak beams, and with intermediate moulded ribs. It
measures 29ft. in length and 23ft. 6 in. in width,
41bThi» his made Booker (Prestwicb,
100) suppose that the figure is the
badge of Richard II, and makes him
think the work may date back to the reign
of that monarch. But, as he himself
allows, the animal has no collar and
402
chain, and there is nothing in the rest of
the work to suggest such an early date.
42 Booker, Prestwicb, T98.
SALFORD HUNDRED
ECCLES
and is lighted on the east side by the continuous
ranges of mullioned and transomed windows already
referred to, and has three similar lights in the return
to the lobby at the end of the corridor in the south-
east corner. In each of the top lights are the initials
R.L. with an interlacing pattern between, surmounted
by the cockatrice, and in the lower middle light are
the arms of Dauntesey with helm, crest, mantling, and
scrolls. The walls are mostly panelled to a height of
6 ft. 6 in. The hall appears to have always had a flat
ceiling, and there are no signs now of either dais or
gallery. The position of the screens is marked by the
vestibule and passage on the north side, and the kitchen
and pantry have now been made into a sitting-room
and smoke-room. Neither of these rooms retains any-
thing of its original ap-
pearance except the great
twelve-light kitchen win-
dow overlooking the
courtyard, which occu-
pies the whole of the east
side of the room. The
fireplace opening, now
modernized, is 10 ft.
wide, the wall above
carried by a beam 1 2 in.
square at a height of
5 ft. 8 in. from the floor.
On the first floor cor-
ridors run round the in-
ner sides of the north,
east, and south wings,
opening to a series of
rooms which have little
architectural interest. In
the south wing the bed-
room over the drawing-
room, known as the
' panelled room,' pre-
serves its original square
oak wainscot mouldings
worked in the solid, and
contains a fine oak bed-
stead. Other rooms also
contain good oak furni-
ture, though much has
been taken away, the
house being at present
(1910) unoccupied. The
rooms in the east range
exhibit their timber con-
struction throughout, and their ceilings, together with
those on the south side of the house, partly follow
the rake of the roof. A small room at the west end
of the north wing has a good ijth-century angle
fireplace with plaster ornaments and egg-and-dart
moulding.
The upper corridors on the east and south appear
to have been originally open to the court and carried
on posts, forming a kind of upper gallery. A portion
of what appears to have been external quatrefoil panel-
ling is still in position on the inner wall at the east
end of the south corridor. The appearance of the
courtyard as originally erected must have been ex-
ceedingly picturesque, and in marked contrast to the
plain work of the outside elevations.
The house contains a valuable collection of paint-
ings, including a so-called portrait of Jane Shore,
attributed to Holbein."3
In a deed dated 26 June 1694, and an inventory of
the same year,4lb the following rooms and places at
Agecroft Hall are mentioned : — * The great parlor and
chamber over it, the hall, the dyneinge roome, the
chappell, the chappell chamber, the farther chappell
chamber, the greene chamber, the porter's warde, the
kitchen, the buttery, the seller and chamber over it,
the seller and brewhouse and the chambers over them,
the great barn commonly called the new barn, the
stable, the garden and orchard behind the garden.'
PLAN OF AGECROFT HALL
An old painting of the house preserved at Agecroft
shows a long building, either a stable or barn, standing
at right angles to the east side of the house at the
north end, apparently meant to be some distance
away, with a stone wall and gate-piers along the east
front. This building is said to have stood until the
construction of the railway. The present stables and
outbuildings are on the north side of the house, and
are all modern.
SHORESWORTH* though the name has long
been forgotten, was the detached part of Pendlebury.
In 1 2 1 2 it was held as one oxgang of land by Ellis
de Pendlebury in thegnage by a rent of 2/., and of
42a Booker, op. cit. 1 99.
nb Lanes, and Cbts. Antiq. Soc. iv, 214.
48 Chadeswrthe, 1212 j Schoresworth,
1241; Scheresworth, 1276 ; Short wrth,
1292. A deed quoted in the account of
Little Bolton in Pendleton describes land
in that hamlet as situate between Shores-
403
worth Brook and the Millbrook. A cen-
tuiy ago three fields were still known at
Shoolsworth.
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
him it was held by the same service by his nephews,
or grandsons, Richard, Adam, Henry, and Robert."
From these descended one or more families taking the
local surname, but no detailed account can be given
of them.44 Early in the 1 4th century the Radcliffes
of Ordsall acquired it, and held possession for several
generations.46 The place-name occurs as late as 1590
in the inquisition after the death of Sir John Rad-
cliffe, who held ' 20 acres of land, &c. in Showersworth
in the town of Pendlebury,' but it was then included
with Ordsall so far as the service was concerned.47 On
the alienation of the Radcliffe estates in the iyth
century it was obtained by Humphrey Chetham,48 and
descended through the Chethams of Smedley and
Castleton to Samuel Clowes, who owned it about 1 800.
The principal landowners in 1798 were the Rev.
John Dauntesey, Thomas William Coke, and Samuel
Clowes, whose lands together paid three-fourths of
the tax.4'
A monument to Joseph Goodier of Mode Wheel,
Pendlebury, who died in 1854, is in Eccles Church.
In connexion with the Established Church, St.
John the Evangelist's, Irlams-o'-th'-Height, was built
in 1842 ; the patronage is vested in five trustees.50
The Bishop of Manchester is patron of Christ Church,
built in 1859," and of St. Augustine's, built in
1874 ;** the latter has a mission hall — St. Matthew's.
The Wesleyan Methodists have two churches in
Pendlebury ; the United Free Methodists also have
two, and the Primitive Methodists one.
The Congregationalists began preaching on Sun-
days in 1819, the population of the place having at
that time an evil reputation for profligacy. The first
chapel was built in 1821, and a somewhat larger one
four years later. The congregation declined, but in
1832 a fresh start was made, and in 1882 a new
church was built in Swinton, the old building being
used for a school.43
A Swedenborgian church was erected at Pendle-
bury in 1852.
CLIFTON
Clifton, 1184; Cliffton, 1278.
This township stretches along the Irwell for some
two miles and a half, having a breadth south-westward
from the river of three-quarters of a mile. Its area is
1,194^ acres.1 The highest land, over 300 ft. above
sea level, lies at the western end, near the Worsley
boundary, and is moss land. The population in 1901
numbered 2,944. The main road from Manchester
to Bolton passes through the township, and along it
the village of Clifton has sprung up. The Lancashire
and Yorkshire Company's railway between the same
places also runs through it near the Irwell, and has
two stations near the east and west ends, named
Clifton and Dixon Fold. Worsley Fold is a hamlet
to the east of Clifton village. The Manchester and
Bolton Canal passes through part of Clifton, crossing
the Irwell. A strip of the New Red Sandstone for-
mation is traceable up to Ringley. All the rest of
the township lies upon the Coal Measures.
There are several collieries in the township.
There were in 1666 forty-nine hearths liable to
the tax. The largest dwellings were those of Eliza-
beth Holland and Daniel Gaskell, with six hearths
each.8
The township is now governed by a parish council.
An urn or ' incense cup ' with ashes, &c. was dis-
covered here.la
Robert Ainsworth, the lexicographer, was born at
Woodgate in 1660. He kept a school at Bolton, but
removed to London, teaching at Bethnal Green and
Hackney. His Latin Dictionary was published in
1736 ; and he wrote some smaller works. He died
in 1 743 and was buried at Poplar.3
The earliest record of CLIFTON by
M^NOR name is that in the Pipe Roll of 1 183-4,
the sheriff giving account of 8/., the
issues of Clifton, which had belonged to Hugh
Putrell, outlawed ;* in the following half-year 4*.
was received.6 Hugh was probably pardoned, for a
few years later Richard, ' the heir of Clifton,' son of
Hugh the Hunter, made grants to Cockersand Abbey.6
* The heir of Richard de Clifton ' paid half a mark to
the scutage in 1205-6.' He was probably the Robert
de Clifton who in 1212 held four oxgangs in Clifton
of the king in chief by a rent of 8/. ; at this time
Roger Gernet held three of the oxgangs of Robert by
44 Lanes. Inq. and Extents, i, 68. Ellis
de Pendlebury had a brother Richard
(Cockersand Cbartul. ii, 725), and these
may have been his four sons. By 1219
one of the part* into which it was divided
seems to have escheated to the Pendle-
burys ; Fine R. Excerpts, i, 38.
45 Hugh de Shoresworth in 1241, as
tenant of the fourth part of an oxgang of
land there, had his title recognized, but
agreed to pay Richard son of William de
Bolton 2s. a year ; Final Cone, i, 80. It
was probably the latter who, as Richard
son of William, at the same time acquired
an annual rent of is. from Richard son of
Robert, the holder of another fourth part;
ibid, i, 87. In 1276 Hugh son of Alex-
ander the Mey claimed a messuage and
acre of land from Hugh son of Adam de
Shoresworth; De Banco R. 13, m. 32.
In 1292 Avina widow of Roger son of
Loueote was non-suited in her claim
against Adam the Smith and Isabel his
wife for a tenement in Shoresworth ;
Assize R. 408, m. 44. Margery widow
of John de Shoresworth occurs in 1292 ;
De Banco R. 92, m. 113 ; Assize R. 408,
m. 72 d.
Others of the family will be found men-
tioned in the accounts of neighbouring
townships. The most notable is the
Margaret de Shoresworth who married
Henry de Worsley, and was mother of
Thurstan de Holland, ancestor of the
Denton family ; see Lanes, Inq. f.m.
(Chet. Soc.), i, 150.
46 The particulars of the acquisition are
not known. Richard de Hulton was in
1324 returned as paying js. -jd. (?) for an
oxgang of land in Shoresworth ; Duchy of
Lane. Rent, and Surv. 379, m. 13 ; but
John de Radcliffe the elder, of Ordsall,
appears to have held the oxgang in Shores-
worth by the old service of zs. about the
same time ; Dods. MSS. cxxxi, fol. 38.
The Hulton and Radcliffe estates in
Pendlebury in 1 316 and 1337 respectively
may have relation to Shoresworth ; Final
Cone, ii, 23, 103. Henry, Earl of Lan-
caster, in 1341 demanded from John de
Radcliffe a messuage, &c. in Pendlebury
which Robert de Shoresworth had held of
him and which ought to revert to the
earl ; De Banco R. 328, m. 123.
In 1380 Richard de Radcliffe was found
to have held Shoresworth by 2s. rent.
There were a messuage and 60 acres of
land, worth 6<M., and 2 acres of mea-
dow worth 4*. ; Lanct. Inq. p.m. (Chet.
Soc.), i, 8. In 1422 it was called a
404
' manor,' and again in 1498 ; ibid, i, 148;
ii, 124.
47 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xv, no. 45.
48 Humphrey Chetbam (Chet. Soc.), 114,
247 ; Sholsworth otherwise Suzeworth.
49 Land tax returns at Preston.
60 See End. Char. Rep. for Eccles, 1904,
p. 46.
51 For district see Land. Gam. 15 Oct.
1861.
63 For district ibid. 20 Oct. 1874 ; End.
Char. Rep. 44-7. This church is con-
sidered one of the finest works of the late
G. F. Bodley, the architect.
58 Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconf.v, 16-21.
1 1,267 acres, including 45 of inland
water, and 72 of an unnamed area ; Cen-
sus Rep. 1 90 1 .
8 Subs. R. Lanes, bdle. 250, no. 9.
23 V.C.H. Lanes, i, 252.
8 See account in Diet. Nat. Biog.
4 Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 52. For Hugh
Putrell or Pultrell see further in the
account of Worsley. 6 Ibid. 54.
• Cockersand Chartul. (Chet. Soc.), ii,
724. By one charter he gave 2 acres of
the demesne, with a toft sufficient for
building houses. By another he gave 3
acres adjoining Asseley Ford.
1 Lanes. Fife R. 205.
SALFORD HUNDRED
8/., thus discharging the service due from the whole.8
Hugh son of Robert was in possession in 1 246^ and
seems to have left a family of daughters — Ellen, Alice,
and Margery being named in 1 276-8. 10
About this time the manor passed to the Traffords,
apparently by Alice's marriage,11 and descended in
this family for half a century or more.18 In 1 346
William son of Thurstan de Holland and Roger son
of Richard de Tyldesley held one plough-land in Clif-
ton by a rent of Ss.13 Shortly afterwards William de
Holland had possession of the whole.14 He was suc-
ceeded by his son Otes,14 and by another Otes living
about 1 440." This last had a son and heir William,
ECCLES
who died in 1498, and his son Ralph being childless
Clifton passed to a cousin, William Holland son of
Thomas son of Otes.17 The new lord, or perhaps
another William, died in 1521 or I522,18 leaving,
among others, sons named Thomas and John. The
elder's heir was his daughter Eleanor,19 who married
Ralph Slade, and retained the manor till her death in
1613.*° It then went to John Holland's grandson
Thomas," whose estates were sequestered by the Par-
liamentary authorities during the Civil War for his
own delinquency and that of his son William, who
had servtd with the king's forces at Lathom and
elsewhere/3
8 Lanes. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 69. The rent of
8i. continued to be paid for Clifton (ibid.
138, 301), but later the vill was assessed
as one plough-land.
Of the Gernet holding nothing further
appears, but there may have been a con-
nexion by marriage with the Masseys
(ibid. 119), so that Henry son of Hamlet
joined as defendant in a Clifton suit of
1278 mentioned below, may represent
the Roger Gernet of 1212.
9 David son and heir of Richard de
Hulton recovered from him 4 acres in
Clifton ; Assize R. 404, m. 13.
10 Alice widow of Hugh de Clifton
claimed dower in 1277 against Henry de
Trafford and Alice daughter of Hugh ;
she also made claims against Robert son
of Beatrice, and Ellen and Margery
daughters of Hugh de Clifton ; De Banco
R. 21, m. 1 8, 82 d. In the former case
Robert de Brumscales and Maud his wife
were called to warrant, and Margery and
Cecily, Maud's sisters, were also sum-
moned.
Alice daughter of Hugh de Clifton was
prosecuting a suit in 1292 ; Assize R.
408, m. 32, 44. She granted to Alice
daughter of William the Clerk of Eccles
the house and grange, with adjoining
land, formerly held by Diota, Hugh's
mother, at the rent of a pair of white
gloves ; Ellesmere D. no. 223. Alice
daughter of William the Clerk was de-
fendant in a Clifton plea in 1274 ; De
Banco R. 5, m. 102.
11 See the preceding note. Alice de
Eccles complained in 1278 that the had
been disseised of her common of pasture
in Clifton by Henry de Straffbrd (Trafford)
and Henry son of Hamlet. The former
Henry stated in reply that Clifton was of
his fee and demesne and that he approved
for himself what he liked, by the Pro-
vision of Merton. The jury found that
Alice had a several tenement, and that by
Henry's improvement she had lost free
entry and egress ; she therefore recovered
and damages of i id. were allowed ; Assize
R. 1238, m. 32 ; 1239, m. 37.
Henry de Trafford in 1280 purchased
land in Clifton from Hugh the Mey and
Alice his wife ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), i, 157.
12 In 1292 Richard son of Henry de
Fraffbrd claimed lands in Crompton,
Edgeworth, Quarlton, and Clifton against
his brother Henry, and against Lora his
father's widow ; Assize R. 408, m. 5, 36.
The settlement effected did not touch
Clifton ; Final Cone, i, 170. It seems to
have been the younger Henry who was
the husband of Alice.
In 1307 the manor of Clifton was by
Henry de Trafford settled upon his sons
in succession — Henry, Richard, Robert,
Ralph, and Thomas ; ibid, i, 210. These
were probably younger sons.
In 1324 Henry de Trafford held a
plough-land in Clifton by the yearly ser-
vice of St. ; Dods. MSS. cxxxi, fol. 38.
This Henry died about ten years later.
In 1338 the fine of the township for
the goods of Henry son of Henry de
Trafford, a fugitive, was 40^. ; Coram
RegeR. 312, m. 50.
18 Add. MS. 32103, fol. 146 ; they
obtained it by marrying respectively
Margery and Cecily, daughters and co-
heirs of Henry de Trafford, i.e. Henry
son of Henry.
14 In 1353 William de Holland prose-
cuted William Bridde for cutting down
his trees at Clifton; Assize R. 435, m.
II. In the following year Thurstan and
William de Holland were plaintiffs ;
Duchy of Lane. Assize R. 3, m. vi.
15 Thurstan de Holland, the father of
William, seems to have been the ancestor
of the Denton family. William de Holland
was son of Alice de Pusshe ; he and his
son Otes are mentioned in 1368 ; Final
Cone, ii, 165, 174. Otes son of William
de Holland occurs in 1397 ; Towneley'g
MS. CC (Chet. Lib.), no. 854.
16 Extent of 1445-6 ; Duchy of Lane.
Knights' fees, 2/20. He held one plough-
land in socage, rendering 8*. yearly.
Ralph son of Otes Holland of Clifton
was with others charged with trespassing
in the wood of Sir John Pilkington in
1444, and taking three hawks, worth
£20 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 6, m. 5*.
17 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), ii,
1 34-7 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxix, App.
539. The succession is stated also in Pal.
of Lane. Plea R. 119, m. n.
18 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. v, 49.
He was seised of the manor of Clifton
with its appurtenances, and of lands in
Clifton, Manchester, Swinton, Leyland,
and Farington, and in 1517 made a
settlement, providing for the dower of
Alice his wife and for his younger chil-
dren. Thomas the heir was sixteen years
of age at the taking of the inquisition,
the date of which is uncertain — ' Satur-
day after Low Sunday, 14 Hen. VIII.'
An agreement respecting the marriage
of their children was made in 1517
between William Holland of Clifton and
Robert Langley of Agecroft 5 Agecroft D.
no. 97.
At the Court of Clifton held in 1514
the bounds were thus described : Begin-
ning at the Fennes stock at the end of
Redford hedge and at the end of Cheping
clough, and so following up Nordenbrook
unto anends the Tynde oak, and so up
the Fether snape as the water falls from
the head, and so in again unto the
[Qwab] head, and from thence unto the
Black dyke, following tins to the Butted
405
birch, and thence down to the syke and
sykeyard to Riddendenford, and down
Riddenden Brook to the Irwell, and along
the water to the Parrok gate, and thence
to the true mere between Clifton and
Pendlebury, and so following up Norden
Brook to the Fennes stock, where it
began ; Ellesmere D. no. 224.
In 1533 the herald found that Mr.
Holland of Clifton was ' not at home ; '
Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 214. A pedigree was,
however, recorded in 1567 ; Visit. (Chet.
Soc.), 1 6.
As to a dispute about the mill at
Prestwich in 1550 see Duchy Plead. (Rec.
Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 72-4. It was
followed by an agreement for an exchange
of lands, made by Sir Robert Langley of
Agecroft and Thomas Holland ; among
other things the former was bound to
safeguard the Holland lands ' which
might hereafter be hurted by the course
of the water of Irwell by means of the
erection of the weir therein made by the
said Sir Robert, that is to wit, from two
roods above the " Head of Holme " to the
lowest end of the lands which the said
Thomas now exchanges' ; Agecroft D. no.
118.
19 Settlements of the manor, &c. were
made by Thomas Holland in 1565 ; of a
messuage, &c., by Ralph Slade and Ellen
his wife in 1592 ; and of the manor by
Ralph Slade, Richard Holland, esq.,
Edward and Otho Holland in 1590 j Pal.
of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 27, m. 122 ; 54,
m. 138 ; 52, m. 165.
20 Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes,
and Ches.), i, 284, where the descent is
set forth. The manor and lands in Clif-
ton were held in socage by the rent of
8*. Ralph Slade and Eleanor Holland
were defendants in 1591 and 1592, at
which time William Holland (father of
Thomas) was living ; Ducatus Lane. (Rec.
Com.), iii, 256, 273.
81 Thomas Holland of Clifton con-
tributed to the subsidy of 1622 ; Misc.
(Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 1 54. He
was the only landowner named in the
township. A settlement was made by
him and Jane his wife in 1624 ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 102, no. 40.
M Royalist Comp. Papers (Rec. Soc.
Lanes, and Ches.), iii, 244-9. The
estate, except the hall and demesne, had,
about 1635, been mortgaged to Thomas,
George, and John Sorocold of Barton,
who had subsequently obtained half the
demesne also ; see Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 128, m. 19 ; 145, m. 22. The
Sorocolds therefore prayed for a discharge
of the sequestration, pending the payment
due to them. The mortgage was raised
on the proposed marriage of William
Holland, son and heir apparent of
Thomas, with a daughter of William
A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE
The Holland family do not appear to have been
able to overcome their losses. The manor was sold a
number of times." It after-
wards came into possession of
the Heathcotes, Captain Jus-
tinian Heathcote Edwards-
Heathcote being the lord of
it.14 The hall was sold to
Lawrence Gaskell in 1652,
and was his family's chief resi-
dence for some generations.
It has descended regularly to
the present owner, the Rt.
Hon. Charles G. Milnes Gas-
kell of Thornes House, near
Wakefield." About 1 800 Ellis
GASKELL. Gules a
saltire -vair between two
annulets in pale and as
many lions passant in fesse
Fletcher, coal proprietor, acquired an estate in Clif-
ton ; he was succeeded by his son Jacob, whose
daughter, Mrs. Wynne Corrie, is the present owner.26
In 1786 Sir John Heathcote owned nearly two-
thirds of Clifton, Daniel Gaskell having the re-
mainder.27
Clifton Hall stands close to the Clifton rail-
way station and is a red brick house of plain i8th-
century type. During its occupation as a private
asylum in the igth century it underwent consider-
able alterations. About 1825 Benjamin Heywood,
one of the founders of Heywood's Bank, lived
here.
St. Anne's was built in 1874 for the Established
Church ; Mrs. Wynne Corrie is patron.18 It has a
mission chapel — St. Thomas's.
Lever, but the marriage had not taken
place. Besides the mansion reservation
was made of certain liberties for digging
for coal and cannel, and carrying away
from the mines there open.
As to the delinquency nothing is stated
about the father's share, but William
Holland had stayed some days in the
garrison at Lathom House, and was one
of the foot company under Captain
Rawstorne ; he had asked for a place of
command. He had also been seen in a
troop of horse at Wigan, when that town
was kept by the Earl of Derby against
the Parliament.
28 In 1671 Humphrey Trafford and
Elizabeth his wife made a settlement of
the manor of Clifton and various lands,
&c., there and in Manchester, Pendle-
bury, and Leyland ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of
F. bdle. 1 8 6, m. 138. The wife was
the daughter and heir of William Holland
of Clifton, but her children did not sur-
vive ; Stretford Chapel (Chet. Soc.), ii,
142. The estate appears to have been
mortgaged to James Butler and others
about 1685 and eventually sold ; Pal. of
Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 215, m. 57 ; Exch.
Deps. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 73,
75, 76. In 1731 and 1743 it was the
property of Tobias Britland ; Pal. of Lane.
Feet of F. bdle. 305, m. 112 ; 331, m. 4.
He died in 1750 and ordered his estates
to be sold for the benefit of his daughters;
Earwaker, East Cbes. ii, 148.
In 1687 Holland paid 6s. and Daniel
Gaskell zs. T,d. to the bailiff of the wapen-
take for Clifton.
In 1777 Richard Edensor and Richard
Ireland paid the Duchy 5*. n^d. for the
manor of Clifton, while James Gaskell
paid 2i. 6d. for Clifton Hall ; Duchy of
Lane. Rentals, 14/25. The total is
rather more than the old rent of 8j.
34 For pedigree see Burke, Landed
Gentry.
25 Information of Mr. Milnes Gaskell.
For pedigrees of the family see Foster's
Yorkshire Fed. and Burke, Landed Gentry,
Gaskell of Thornes House ; also Lane*.
and Ches. Antiq. Soc. iii, 170, and Baker,
Mem. of a Dissenting Chapel, 69, from
which it appears that the Gaskells
were worshippers at Cross Street Chapel,
Manchester. There is a short notice
of the family in Booker's PrestwicA,
225.
26 Ellis Fletcher was living at Clifton
House in 1824. He died in 1834. His
eldest son Jacob entered Brasenose Col-
lege, Oxford, in 1807, aged 16 ; Foster^
Alumni ; see also Manch. School Reg.
(Chet. Soc.), ii, 22, 23. For Jacob's
daughter and heir, now Mrs. Wynne
Corrie, see Burke, Family Rec. 181, and
the account of Little Hulton.
2' Land tax returns at Preston.
28 For district assigned see Lend. Gats.
5 Feb. 1865.
DA The Victoria history of the
670 county of Lancaster
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